Digital Tools in the Math Classroom

Last year, I was able to having my math block work on a four center rotation for students.  The biggest difference this year is I do not have a math curriculum to follow, so I am blending a variety of resources to meet the Common Core State Standards and still meet my students' needs and only have three centers with about five more minutes at each one. Here is how I have designed my math block with technology tools to support my students, allow them to explain their thinking or practice skills.

Teacher Center

My students load an Explain Everything file that I have created with the lesson and practice problems they will complete with me at the teacher center.  I can make my file in Google Drive, export as a PDF and then load into Explain Everything.  Once I have changed it to an Explain Everything project I upload to Dropbox and my students easily downloaded from Dropbox to their iPad.  This workflow allows my students to all have the lesson on their personal device along with the projected version and with the Explain Everything tools they can work right in the file.  Students can then save their work to their device to reference later.  Although I haven't attempted this yet, the Explain Everything files can also be uploaded to Youtube for students for future use, or for absent students.  Explain Everything is a tool to grow with as it allow video, pictures, voice recording over slides and other tools I hope to use with my students as we advance in our math work.

Example of a PDF loaded to students via Explain Everything.

Independent Work Center

My students complete independent work from a variety of sources, but mostly use paper and pencil at the Independent Work Center.  I find that students like to write with their finger, but also can get a lot done with paper and pencil.  The work my students do here is mostly review problems of previous lesson's skills.  I am using Everyday Math math boxes, although I am assigning pages out of sequence and only relevant problems to my students learning so far this year.  They are also working in St Math, which is a great conceptual program that is image based and viewed by students as puzzles that can be organized by strand by teachers via the website.  My students get access to problems that are interactive and can see puzzle progress as well as percentage progress.  The program is also helpful for teachers as it shows areas of struggle for students in hurdle, shows time on task for students, and completion level by student.  I am also using Learn Zillion to review skills or reteach skills with students.  Learn Zillion not only has a rich bank of resource videos that are organized well, but they play on students' iPads.  Teachers can favorite lessons or strands, create assignments and due dates for individuals or classes.  They also have guided practice and quizzes if that is of interest,  I build a practice set of problems for the skill for students that is differentiated based on the group's current ability level.  Learn Zillion allows you to have student log in and teachers can assign videos to specific students or all students.  It's a great way to review concepts, allow students to practice and target lessons based on student need.

Problem Solving Center

My final center is a problem solving.  This has a mixture of word problems, math games and video lessons with practice.  I have my students solve real world math word problems via Doceri.  The students use Doceri as a whiteboard to solve the problem, but also talk through their problem solving process.  The standards of mathematical practice are exhibited on many levels when students solve and discuss their thinking.  My students are also using Doceri to record math game scores and practicing target skills.  Everyday Math games are a great tool for students to practice and also allow variety of problems with cards or dice. I also add components to games, for example, my students were practicing making and saying large numbers with the EM game Number Top It, but because they also needed practice with expanded form and written form, I added that as a score sheet component.

Below is an example of a student problem solving!