Ginny will be exhibiting at 60th annual Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics. PCTM is an opportunity to network with colleagues from across the state, with the main focus on teaching and learning mathematics in Pennsylvania. Please stop by our booth November 10-11th to learn more about how Math-Whizz can raise achievement in your classroom. Our program is helping teachers deliver effective, individualized instruction for each student, whether struggling or advanced. Math-Whizz’s personalized, interactive and collaborative approach to teaching math is helping all students build the foundation they need to achieve proficiency in math. Math-Whizz can be beneficial in your classroom by:
- Providing differentiated instruction
- Allowing personalized learning for students at all levels
- Ability to login while in school or at home
To learn more about Math-Whizz content as well as to access sample exercises please visit our Math Pages.
Ginny Harbold is our Regional Sales Manager. She grew up in a small town in North Carolina and completed her B.A. in History and later Masters in Business Administration from Wake Forest University. Ginny’s career has always centered on education, from test preparation to higher education publishing to her current role with Math-Whizz. She lives in Maryland with a menagerie of animals and her 3 kids.
On Tuesday we looked into our robust reporting feature, highlighting some of the information we make readily and easily accessible. Today we will be doing more of the same, filling in some gaps here and there to ensure you get the most out of Math-Whizz. Liam, who works as an Independent Schools Advisor in our UK offices, will once again act as our guide.
Liam does a great job of showing us how we can use the report period feature to enable teachers to assign Math-Whizz as homework, and then check to ensure they are indeed logging on. Perhaps my favorite section of this video tutorial however is all about success and celebration. We’ve talked about student motivation and know that kids love receiving messages – which is why we’ve included that feature. While in class reports just click on a student on the timeline to quickly send them a message of encouragement, it goes a long way. Oh, and don’t forget to add a sticker! We also have certificates that can be customized and presented during assemblies, end of quarter celebrations – or just because.
Specific student reports are great not only for teachers, but parents as well. Creating a dialogue about math between teachers, parents, and students ultimately leads to a solid support system that fosters success. The progression report will allow a teacher to identify strengths and weaknesses of a given student. This information can easily be shared with parents, keeping them informed of their child’s progress giving them an opportunity to help their child catch up in needed areas and celebrate their achievements.
Let’s start those school bus engines and get back to school!
About the Author: Rita Rogers grew up in the PNW and despite her “low-tech” houseboat upbringing, went on to complete her Master’s of Communication in Digital Media at the University of Washington in 2010. She is passionate about the convergence of education and technology, educational gaming, and outer space.
A collective sigh of relief from parents can be heard, the 2011-2012 school year has arrived! However, from the kids it may be more of a collective gasp brought on by the start of school jitters. Perhaps your child is just starting school for the first time or will be “the new kid” and may be nervous about fitting in. Maybe he found out his best friend was assigned to a different class, or that he didn’t get the teacher he hoped for. Start of the school year jitters can be overwhelming for children, but also for their parents who want to help. Over the past couple of months, we have talked with parents and teachers to gather suggestions on how to help kids be at their best this year.
Here are their suggestions:
Be involved! Go to school sponsored events, such as beginning of the year “Meet and Greets,” orientations and parent nights. Take these opportunities to help your child feel comfortable. If your child worries about how to approach classmates or teachers, do some role-playing where you help to work through some situations that she might experience at school, such as asking to sit next to someone at the lunch table. Give her the tools she’ll need to build new relationships.
Get Organized!Create a system to stay organized that works for you and your family. Model this organization for your child, and you will both be less stressed as the year progresses. Identify a place where backpacks should be stored and where papers that need to be signed or homework that needs to be checked should be placed each day. This will help eliminate morning searches for backpacks and the paper that “I put on the table last night.” Indentify key dates as early as possible and post them on a calendar where everyone can view. Set a time and place for homework that you follow every day. Everyone will have a different system – the goal is to create a system that works with your family’s schedule and stick to it!
Show Encouragement! No matter how successful your child is in school or on the playground, encouragement will be needed to work through the more challenging moments. Let him know that everyone struggles at times, and help give him tools to work through it.
Talk to your child about his day. Try to avoid the “nothing” or “I don’t know” answers by asking specific questions about what they learned in Math or English class, who they sat next to at lunch or the games played at recess. Find a time when your child is likely to want to talk, maybe in the car after school or during dinner.
Get into a routine and stick with it.A few weeks before school starts, start easing your child into the school bedtime/wake-up routine. Gradually start having your child go to bed and wake up at the times they would have to for school. Once school starts, it is easy to let the routine slip due to schedules and commitments, but keeping to the routine will ensure your child is rested and ready for each day.
Today we are going to take a general look at the robust reporting features of Math-Whizz for teachers with our very own UK Independent Schools Advisor, Liam. This is great information for teachers and administers who are getting ready for new school year and want to get the most out of Math-Whizz.
As Liam pointed out, status icons help you easily decipher at a glance how your students are progressing. Remember we don’t leave you wondering what factors have contributed to each student’s status; you can always hover your mouse over an icon for a more in-depth look behind the status. This is particularly helpful in identifying areas that need improving quickly and effectively. The hover over feature is also found in a number of other reporting areas. For example, this feature appears on the number line when looking at students in the class view. Hover over a student icon on the line to see who’s who and their current Math Age™. We also want to make sure teachers and administrators are able to ensure students are using Math-Whizz properly. Just click on the usage tab while in class reports to see each student’s usage while in the tutor mode. So remember – time spent in the bedroom watering plants or using the replay feature are not counted toward usage. This is helpful if you feel as though your students are scheduled to use Math-Whizz 60 minutes a week but their usage is only registering say 40 minutes.
I hope you found this video tutorial and post useful. Next time we’ll be taking another look at reporting features, with even more tips and recommendations for how you and your students can get the most out of Math-Whizz!
About the Author: Rita Rogers grew up in the PNW and despite her “low-tech” houseboat upbringing, went on to complete her Master’s of Communication in Digital Media at the University of Washington in 2010. She is passionate about the convergence of education and technology, educational gaming, and outer space.
Edweek ran a story on July 13th by Sarah D. Sparks titled , “Studies find Students Learn More by ‘Acting Out’ Text.” This article cited research at Arizona State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison that found that students “can understand and infer more by physically acting out text—either in real life or virtually—than by reading alone.” Arthur Glenberg from Arizona State University is quoted in the article as saying, “Researchers found that elementary school students working through narrative math problems were less distracted by irrelevant information if they used a computer program to act out the text by moving images on the screen.”
The second article came just two weeks later with the announcement in Edweek by the AP that South Korea is replacing all their school textbooks with digital content to be run on tablets, iPads, handhelds and computers. My first thought was, “Wow, they act very quickly on research in South Korea.” My second though, however, was that this is absolutely the right thing to do and they will be richly rewarded for this $2 billion investment.
This will enable every student in South Korea to do what the first article is recommending, which is allowing to virtually engage in a lifelike experience where they can create understanding from situations. According to the researchers in the article, when we read words and are trying to understand their meaning, we call on all our prior experiences with that word. For example, when we read the word “giraffe”, we are accessing all our prior experiences with the word. If we have had very few experiences with this word, we will have a shallow understanding of the word and its place in what we read. However, the exciting part of this study is the opportunity for computers to fill in experiences virtually. While never as good as a first-hand experience, it enables more learning to take place for more students in ways that textbooks alone could never do – bringing ideas and learning to life through engaging activities and helping students make connections.
About the Author: Kevin Judd taught mathematics for 13 years before spending 5 years as a math specialist and curriculum administrator. He holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Policy Studies and has also consulted with schools on ways to reform mathematics curriculum and instruction for students. He is a frequent conference speaker on the topic of aligning math instruction to research on how students learn.
If you are interested in engaging and motivating your kids in authentic learning for math, give Math-Whizz a try. For a free trial, check out www.whizz.us.
We are thrilled to say that we have already started to hear from teachers who are gearing up for the new school year to start! With that in mind, our next video tutorial will offer information for teachers and administrators on how to cultivate and increase parental involvement. Research has shown and continues to confirm what many have known for years – the more parental involvement the better.
Let us take a look below as Natalie, our UK based Product Manager, highlights ways teachers can use Math-Whizz to increase parental involvement.
As you can see, Math-Whizz allows parents and teachers to share information, track progress, and act as motivational forces helping to drive educational improvement and excellence.
About the Author: Rita Rogers grew up in the PNW and despite her “low-tech” houseboat upbringing, went on to complete her Master’s of Communication in Digital Media at the University of Washington in 2010. She is passionate about the convergence of education and technology, educational gaming, and outer space.
Parents this post is just for you! In this first targeted post in the Math-Whizz 101 series, we are going to focus our attention on how parents can prepare and help their child complete the assessment to their best ability.
The quick video tutorial below, presented by our London based Don Graham, will present some simple suggestions for success in the assessment.
You should also know that it is very important not to help your child during this exercise. They may have to struggle through, or click “I don’t know” at some point during their assessment. This is not out of the ordinary as the tutor is trying to establish, as accurately as possible, your child’s current Math Age™. Instead of helping your child answer the question remember to encourage them, and remind them that getting some answers incorrect, or not knowing an answer is not a bad thing. This will ensure that the tutor delivers precisely the right lesson plan to your child once the assessment has been completed.
Still want more information? Check out our other post on the Student Assessment.
About the Author: Rita Rogers grew up in the PNW and despite her “low-tech” houseboat upbringing, went on to complete her Master’s of Communication in Digital Media at the University of Washington in 2010. She is passionate about the convergence of education and technology, educational gaming, and outer space.
Math-Whizz 101 is back for our second installment in the series! Now that you have an understanding of how the Math-Whizz tutor works, you are certainly ready to take a deeper look into one of the first things a Whizzer will accomplish – the assessment. Our very own Whizz Professor is going to take us on a guided tour of the initial assessment that, after completion, will help the tutor begin assigning individualized, targeted math lessons. This video tutorial is a great way to get your student, or child, excited and ready to begin using Math-Whizz – let’s take a look!
The first question of the assessment will be delivered based on the actual age of the student. If the student should correctly answer this question, the level of difficulty will increase with each subsequent question until the student reaches a point where they no longer demonstrate sufficient knowledge in the area. Conversely, if a student has difficulty answering the first question presented, questions with a slightly lower level of difficulty will be delivered.
Typically, the assessment will last about 20 -45 minutes, although this time can vary based on the amount of knowledge (and concentration!) a student brings to the session. Remember it is more than OK to take breaks during the assessment, the progress will be saved. This adaptive and responsive assessment is the foundation upon which Math-Whizz is built, ensuring that each student continually receives precisely the right lessons for their needs. Essentially, the assessment provides a snapshot of the student’s math ability by topic, and assigns them a beginning Math Age™ which will help in determining their initial lesson plan. Now the student is ready to begin using the tutor and exploring all that Math-Whizz has to offer.
It’s worth mentioning that the assessment can be reset at anytime – just contact us!
About the Author: Rita Rogers grew up in the PNW and despite her “low-tech” houseboat upbringing, went on to complete her Master’s of Communication in Digital Media at the University of Washington in 2010. She is passionate about the convergence of education and technology, educational gaming, and outer space.
We are happy to announce a new series of posts that will help you better understand and utilize the countless Math-Whizz features by highlighting and guiding you through some of our video tutorials. A portion of the tutorials will be targeted towards specific audiences, while others will prove helpful for all those who come in contact with Math-Whizz – from those just looking to experienced Math-Whizzers – there will be something for everyone.
So, to get things started let us take a deeper look into just how the Math-Whizz tutor works to deliver such an engaging and personalized learning environment.
“How the Tutor Works” is presented by our London based CEO, Richard Marett.
As you can see, after initially completing the assessment, the tutor begins tailoring Math-Whizz to each student; the math lessons and online games are completely customized to the child with the intention of boosting the students’ overall Math Age™. Content is aligned with Common Core as well as encompassing many individual State standards. The more than 1200 math lessons are delivered using interactive and entertaining math games that not only engage each student, but make them excited and motivated to learn. Math-Whizz recognizes that these lessons, while incredible teaching tools, are not always representative of testing situations students experience in school, and thus delivers short assessments at the end of lessons when appropriate. This not only ensures success in the classroom, but total comprehension of a mathematical concept as well.
About the Author: Rita Rogers grew up in the PNW and despite her “low-tech” houseboat upbringing, went on to complete her Master’s of Communication in Digital Media at the University of Washington in 2010. She is passionate about the convergence of education and technology, educational gaming, and outer space.
Math Anxiety….Ah, a subject near and dear to my heart. In the article “Researchers Probe the Causes of Math Anxiety,” all of the issues we’ve heard around math and math anxiety are repeated. These include gender bias and the fact that the “fear” of math can be passed down to us by our parents and even our teachers.
Sarah Sparks, the author, brings up a quote from Dr. Sian Beilock that I had never really thought of, which is the fact that no one goes around saying, “Oh, I just don’t read well.” However, no one seems to feel embarrassed to say “I don’t like Math” or “I’m just not that good in Math.” When those words are said, they elicit nods of agreement (often we forget our children are listening). Ms. Sparks goes on to say that while there are certainly genetic tendencies which affect math ability there are also social components. Stress and anxiety in math even affect those who love math. Worrying takes up energy that could otherwise be used in solving a problem. Of course, isn’t this true in so many situations? There are of course then chemical reactions and how our bodies then react to the stress.
So the question is, for those of us on the front line, is how to we decrease this anxiety in our kids if not in ourselves? As adults we have to learn again as our children are learning. Don’t let them see your own fear, but rather a joy of learning it again (or maybe even for the first time). For this mom, it was a struggle relearning how to factor binomial equations, but you know, once I relearned it, it was really fun! I CAN do Math and I’m proud to say it!
