Symbaloo ... woohoo!

I had the opportunity to attend professional development training on the new platform our district is using for teacher websites.  We used TeacherWeb last year; this year we will use SharpSchool.  The training was fine, and I have a head start on creating my website for the coming year.

But more importantly, the instructor shared a website called Symbaloo with us!  Oh my!  It is a way to organize favorite websites for a topic using visual buttons.  So I played with it ... organizing online interactive games, textbook videos, and more around our introductory unit on functions.  I know it still needs work making the buttons prettier ... but it sure is useful already!  I think my students will appreciate the ease at which they can choose online activities!





How do you organize approved websites for students?

Exploring Manga High!

I've been reading with interest the discussions around Khan Academy.  I don't assign the Khan videos.  I do post links to Khan videos that highlight particular skills for students who were absent or want/need more practice.  This past week I posted a set of videos (some from Khan, some from other sources) plus a practice set or two from Khan for students who failed the last test.  The idea is that students will review the skills and practice before retaking the test.  I'll let you know how it goes.  One of our math coaches recommended a training in our district on flipping a classroom.  She said I would learn why it is much better for me to create my own videos than to use Khan.  Not sure when I'll get to pause for the training but the teaser info was interesting!

The online practice site that I am exploring the most right now is Manga High.  It's a free site, with tutorials and practice.  Students earn points and medals for their practice.  The teacher can assign specific "games" as challenges and set a proficiency level. I uploaded my students' names just last week.  My A day students used Manga High in class for the first time on Friday.  So it is too early to report any significant findings.  We were starting our unit on polynomials.  Since adding and subtracting polynomials is a review of combining like terms from the fall I wanted students to engage in something other than our routine practice.  All of my ninth graders were just issued laptops 2 weeks ago ... so almost every student could practice online.  It was amazingly quiet in the room ... the talking was about math ... and students were celebrating the high scorers.  Naturally I was pleased with that for sure!  But will students practice on their own time?  Will they go to that program when they feel like they are missing a key piece of instruction?  I don't know yet!