Corbett Math

Many middle school math websites today try and make everything about them look fancy and nice so that people will use their resources, even though sometimes those resources might not be the best thing for the students that are trying to learn. I decided to go with Corbett maths as my final resource, because it is a pretty basic website besides the fact that it has a variety of different abilities and opportunities for students to grow and learn better. Its wide variety of information is available for kindergartners, all the way up to seniors in high school. Another positive about Corbett maths is that it is free for everyone to use, teachers and students alike. This Corbett maths provides math videos, math practice questions, and worksheets with answers for students to practice on their own and for teachers to be able to use in class to better prepare their students. Another one of my favorite things about Corbett maths is that it has a drop down bar titled 5-a-day, which has 5 questions for students to practice with every single day of the month. Taking one look at the website, one might think that it might not be a very good source. But investigating a little deeper might reveal a hidden gem for teachers to give to their students. 

Word count: 222

https://corbettmathsprimary.com

Synthesis blog 5

The idea of using a book club in a math class seems extremely odd to me and also to other students if I had to guess. Although this seems like a very peculiar idea, incorporating book clubs into math curriculums can expand the students’ minds on how math works in the real world and how they can handle real life situations. Another fine example of why it is a good idea to incorporate book clubs into the math curriculum is that we can better show students how easy it is to organize cross content subjects with math, just like how easy it is to do that for English language arts classes. Incorporating a book club into a math class could also be a great way to get students that may not enjoy math as much more involved in the math setting, giving they are probably more comfortable reading than solving problems. Diversifying your classroom is a great way to keep your students interested and engaged. Although, it might be difficult to introduce something very alien into the classroom, so it is our job as teachers to make sure we provide well explained instructions to the students. Book clubs are a great way to incorporate different ideas into the math class and engage students who may not be interested in math. 

Word count: 220 

Math TV

For my resource blog for October 6th, I came across a website called mathtv.com. This website was described as the “Netflix of online learning”. Math TV is home to 10 thousand free math videos covering topics such as algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. However, their “Basic Math” topic will be most relevant for middle school students. They have 34 amazing math tutors that make their videos. The reason the website uses so many tutors is because they use all of the varied approaches to the same math topics and problems help students see how to solve problems differently. The website can also be used on all mobile devices so students can watch them on the go or teachers can incorporate them into daily mathematics instruction. I think it is self-descriptive as to why this resource can be so valuable. One of the many things that I enjoyed about this website is their variety of videos and tutors. I think a lot of the times we get caught up teaching one way to do things (often our own way) and we do not allow our students to think of different ways to solve a problem, even though it might be easier for them that way. Overall, I think this website will provide a useful tool for teachers that allows them to show different ideas on different problem-solving techniques. 

https://mathtv.com

Word count: 235

Historical Fiction in English and Social Studies Classrooms: Is It a Natural Marriage?

In the article titled “Historical Fiction in English and Social Studies Classrooms: Is It a Natural Marriage?”, we see a study group of ELA and Social Studies teachers that share the lessons they learned from reading historical fiction and nonfiction together. Through this, they are able to explore different approaches for a text from both disciplines, and how seeing through the different approaches can more fully contextualize the work, as well as cultivate historical empathy. For me, this was a difficult read. I had a hard time focusing in on the information the author was giving us and picking out certain topics that seemed important. I did pick up on a few things, such as contextualizing. Contextualizing is described by the author as, “the act of placing an event in its proper context—within the web of personalities, circumstances,” (Hinton, Suh, Colòn-Brown, O’Hearn, 23). When I was in high school, one of my social studies teachers gave us a historical novel. She told us the object of the novel was for us was to gain a better sense of knowing and understanding of the context of the time period discussed in the novel and the chronology of that context. This allowed us as students to gain a true understanding of the characters, time period, and events that happened in the novel. 

 Word count: 222