Learning Objectives:
- My main objective is to assess where my students are in terms of their mathematical skills since students coming into the classroom are on a variety of levels when it comes to their academic skills.
- I want the students to be able to gauge themselves on their academic capabilities and learn that it is okay to make mistakes and that sometimes asking for help from a peer or teacher will always be the best choice to make in my class.
- I need to free up class time so I can register students onto WordPress (or some equivalent like Edmodo) accounts so we can do online help forums on the various units we will be covering in the year.
Digital Resource(s) I will be using for the lesson:
- I will be using a WordPress blog post with a multitude of links titled with mathematical concepts that will lead students to online worksheets to practice on.
- Examples: Addition and Subtraction, Multiplication and Division, Long Division, and so on. *I just underlined them so they are not actual links*
- The list will go on up until the last concept we will be covering in the year. A lot of the students may give up before that point since they have yet to learn these concepts, but some will give it a try.
- Each “worksheet” will contain around 5 – 10 problems each. 3 – 5 if they are word problems.
Active Learning Strategies
- Students will be gauging themselves on how well they are able to do the following concepts. The quicker, the farther. They will have a huge confidence boost at the beginning since the work will be “easy” for them, but the challenge will slowly rise as they continue.
- Students will be able to work with fellow peers on problems they are unable to get passed, establishing that teamwork and group work strategies will be used in the classroom.
- Once I have finished with setting up the WordPress accounts with the students individually, I am then able to walk around the classroom and interact with the students. Getting to know and/or answering any of their lesson specific questions.
How the digital resource integrates into other instructional elements of lesson – what’s the flow of the lesson?
- The flow of the lesson is quite free form. On my WordPress blog post, all the students will see is a bunch of math concept titles that they are able to click on that will send them to a worksheet with problems related to the title. They do not necessarily have to go in order (top to bottom), though I feel like some students will do that. If students are comfortable enough with the concept/skill, they are allowed to “skip” on clicking that link and move onto another that perhaps will provide a challenge to them or that will allow them to revisit a concept/skill they are not strong in and practice. Students are allowed to ask others for help, but only after they have given the problem an honest-to-God attempt.
Benefits for student content mastery, collaboration or learning workflow – Why is it worth it flip / blend some of the content?
- I believe it is worth it to doing this because the students (most of them at least) will see that they have learned many things in their academic journey and that they are able to do them all and are going to learn more concepts to add to that repertoire of theirs.
- Hopefully, the students will see that math skills build upon themselves and what they are doing is adding tips and tricks to those skills. It is an important skill to be able to do math problems on pen and paper since the work will be saved “eternally”, or until one throws it away, that can be used to check back in and refresh oneself, to have others check your work more visually and easily, and as physical evidence to the teacher that one is doing the work.
- I also see this lesson as a practical lesson on the expectations of the class surrounding teamwork, behavior, and conduct in my classroom.
Featured Image: Mathematics Title
