Problem of Practice: How can the use of technology improve students’ completion of math journal entries?
District: North Shore
School: Sea Cliff School
Facilitator: Mary Ann Goetz
Principal: Jeanette Wojcik
Teachers: Wendy Bruno, Julie Uanina, Beth Pipala
We are using different platforms to achieve our desired outcomes. Math journaling has always been done as written responses. Some students have difficulty expressing their thinking in written form, others find the writing aspect of the work to be daunting and a non-preferred task. We are hoping to improve the completion rate of our students by allowing them to use technology as an alternative to pencil and paper.
While the targeted problem is the same for the three of us, we are each using different platforms to address the needs of our students.
Wendy is using Google Slides to compile videos into a journal format with her first grade special education students. Recording of the videos is facilitated by a teacher.
Beth is using FlipGrid with her fifth grade special education students. This allows them to post a video recorded response to the journal prompt.
Julie is using Padlet with her fifth graders. This allows students to respond to the journal prompt with a video recording, written explanation, or picture.
