Marty Cryer
Math Resources LIveBinder
Project Description:
With the CCSS coming on strong and digital native students in our classrooms, it is more important than ever to integrate technology as much as possible. This, of course, means more than just throwing out a few links for fun games that happen to connect to a specific content area or skill. As part of a course on integrating technology in the math curriculum, I created a series of LiveBinders that connect to our third grade math curriculum. There is a binder for each unit with a tab for each lesson. These binders, along with the log in information will be shared with the other 3rd grade teachers. The resources I have included in the
Click on the image to access the LiveBinder.
binders will then be available for teachers to use with students, to include in technology math centers or use for differentiation in one way or another.
Each binder includes website links for each lesson as color-coded sub tabs. Purple tabs are for teacher resources, blue are for practicing skills and red are resources that help students solve problems, use higher order thinking skills or give students an opportunity to learn more about a concept. It is these last resources I see are the most valuable, but certainly not the only ones students should use.
Objectives:
This project began as an assignment for my Technology in Elementary Classrooms, but I quickly saw the value of building a good collection of resources. First, it would organize some of the best and most useful resources for student and teacher use. So often teachers
provide resources for students that only help them practice a skill. Rarely do the resources help them solve problems and really work toward better understanding with higher-level thinking. With this list they will have access to sites that are of high quality and can lead to better and deeper understanding of concepts.
Second, the resource lists will help teachers gain a better understanding of how to use the web as a tool for learning, not just practice. By providing examples of what is available out there, teachers will, hopefully, begin to seek out other resources and add to the list.
Finally, since the log in information will be shared, other teachers will be able to add new resources, making it more of a collaborative venture.
Future Changes and Improvements
This is a work in progress. With as many as 30 lessons for each unit, there are a lot of resources to find. Some lessons do not need web resources and some resources can be used more than once, but it is my goal to complete the work and then build one for literacy.
Understand, however, the collection will never be completely finished. Since there are new resources being added to the web all the time and there are so many great resources available, I would be silly to suggest I have found the only ones of value. The LiveBinder account was established as a collaborative venture and log in information will be shared so other teachers may add resources. It is my hope, they will begin looking at resources with an eye toward learning as well as practicing.
I chose Live Binders for this project because it was easy to present additional information about a resource as needed. For example, Thinking Blocks is one of the best resources I have found to help students learn to model word problems. I can easily include this information in the Live Binder. An additional benefit to using LiveBinders is that resources are live sites within a site, not just a blue underlined link. This allows teachers to see and try a resource before passing it along to students.
When I present this to teachers I will encourage them to add links and work with them to find resources that are more than just fun practice sites as this make the technology integration more than just a cool tool. It turns into an educational tool that can be used for differentiation.
Connection to ISTE Standard 3D: Model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.
Providing students with quality resources to learn as well as practice their learning is an important piece of technology integration. There ust be a balance, however, of the types of resources used. Some must help students better understand or review a concept while others should allow practice. Pulling together resources that fit directly with specific lessons and concepts makes it easier to incorporate them into the day-to-day classroom routines.
Standard 5D: Contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community.
By sharing this document and the log in information it will be a continuously evolving list of resources for other teachers. As we find new resources they will be added. As others become less useful or we determine students are not engaged with them we can delete them.