Part 1
Teacher’s name: Emily O’Riley
School name: Pottsville
Teaching grade:4th
Teaching subject: Math
How many students are in the class?20
What technology is available in her/his class?Each student is equipped with his or her own lap top to complete assignments. There is also a classroom smart board available.
Some problems that Mrs. O’Riley pointed out it had to do with technology. Pottsville does a good job of providing technological equipment for their students,according to Mrs. O ‘Riley. Students have their own laptops in each class with assigned numbers. For the math class being taught, students use IXL to complete many assignments. While this is a great source for students to use, there are still a variety of problems that occur on a daily basis. For one, the IXL formatting poses some problems. There are blank answer boxes for students to type in their answer. There are restrictions that cause the students to get the wrong answer according to IXL, even if they are right. If the student ccidently adds an extra space, IXL will count them off. Mrs. O’riley also has trouble with keeping the students attention at times. As 4th graders, students do not have an insanely long attention span. The problem with the curriculum and standards are they require most work to be done through the text book, which in turn makes lessons seem “boring” to the students. I think that incorporating technology in the classroom could add some more pep to lessons. Students are already allowed to play math games when they are done with their work, which gives them an incentive to complete their assignments. By using the smart board, Mrs.Oriley can incorporate interactive lessons such as kahoot to regroup the classe’s attention span. Students also believe that they can play games instead of doing the lesson assigned, which is why Mrs. Oriley has a screen that proctors the students website they are on. There is a lot of technology incorporated in her classroom, and it is used on a daily basis. While there are many ups and downs, and things can always be improved on, Pottsville really does a great job of providing technology resources for the teachers, anfd the teachers do a great job of incorporating it in the classroom. If we could use technology to give students a break from the blackboard or books, it would have a positive impact on the classroom.
Lesson 2:
Teacher: Mrs. O’Riley, Middle Level Mathematics
Teaching issue:Mrs. O’Riley says that she is having trouble getting students to pay attention/ hold their attention when she is teaching for periods of time. When students are sitting down in classes all day, they can become a bit stir-crazy. Class periods last for one-hundred minutes, which is longer than the students are typically use to, based on a new rule by the school. This causes students to be more disruptive, as well as more loud throughout the day. Mrs. O’Riley has thought about taking “brain breaks” and implementing technology games into the class in order to keep the students more involved, and give them a “reward” for paying attention.
cool math games - Search Technology Tools to be used: Login | Zearn Math IXL | Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Spanish Propsoed solution: Tool #1- Cool Math games Cool math games are something that almost every student loves. This website provides hundreds and hundreds of educational games that can be used in the classroom setting.This can be used as a reward for students that have completed their schoolwork, and help them be motivated to pay attention to learn. If students are disruptive in class and do not pay close attention, then this time will be cut down, and they will not be able to complete and compete in games while the students that paid attention are playing. This is an excellent resource in the classroom, and gives students an incentive to behave and learn.
Tool #2: IXL IXL is a great way to give students a break from the whiteboard, and let them have a mor technology focused learning experience in the classroom.IXL is a personalized online learning platform that adapts to students' skill levels, providing interactive exercises across math, language arts, science, social studies, and Spanish. It offers immediate feedback, detailed explanations, and gamified rewards to keep learners engaged. With data-driven insights, parents and teachers can track progress and identify areas for improvement. Aligned with state standards, IXL supports self-paced learning on multiple devices, making it a valuable tool for both school and independent study. This is a great way to get students excited to learn through technology, while still making sure they are learning standards and objectives needed.
Tool #3: Zearn : Zearn is a math-focused learning platform designed to complement classroom instruction with interactive, self-paced lessons. It provides personalized support, immediate feedback, and step-by- step explanations to help students master concepts. Aligned with many state standards, Zearn offers engaging digital lessons alongside hands-on practice, making it effective for reinforcing skills. With real-time progress tracking, teachers can identify learning gaps and provide targeted interventions, making it a valuable tool for both classroom and independent learning. These lesson sgive students a break from the classroom environment and lets them get absorbed in the technology aspect of zearn, which helps the students work at their own pace. Assessment: Mrs. O’Riley is having trouble with providing enough different activities in teh long class period to keep students entertained. By incorporating thes technology resources, she will be able to provide diversity in assignemnts which will help students have a variety in the classroom. Through coolmath games, IXL< and Zearn, she will be able to entertain students all while abiding by objectives and standards that students need. These are fun, ineteractive resources that will give students an incentive to pay attention and stay ontop of their schoolwork in class. In coolmath, students can play fun educational games, however they know that if they are not paying attention or beinf disruptive, they will not be allowed to play games with the rest of their classmates. Zearn and iXL are based on the student, and lets them work at their own pace after a lesson. Overall, each of these tools are extremely useful in the classroom, and will help Mrs. O’Riley inplement techonlogy and fun in her class.
3. Lesson 3
Introduction: In this lesson, students will learn how to add and subtract fractions with common denominators. They will explore visual fraction models, solve word problems, and apply their understanding of fractions to real-life scenarios. The objective is to enhance students’ skills in working with fractions and develop a deeper understanding of fraction concepts. Fractions will also be on the ATLAS test at the end of the year, so it is important for students to have practice completing questions involving fractions. Fractions are used in everyday life, and are real-world situations that students need to be prepared for. 4. Curriculum Alignment: This lesson aligns with the Arkansas Academic Standards for Math, specifically Standard 4.NF.2, which involves adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. It also meets the ISTE Standard for Students (6a) which encourages students to use digital tools to explore mathematical concepts and represent problems visually.This lesson also aligns with Arkansas Academic Standard 4.NF.3, which focuses on understanding fractions as parts of a whole and using them in real-world contexts. 5. Technology Resources: Tool #1: Google Slides Google Slides Google slides will be used to work through problems with students, giving an auditory as well as a visual aspect when teaching. Tool #2: Kahoot Play Kahoot! | Fractions Kahoot! will be used for an interactive quiz to assess students’ understanding of adding and subtracting fractions. It also adds a fun- competitive aspect to the classroom. Tool #3: Cool Math Fraction Splat - Play it Online at Cool Math Games Cool Math is a great way for students to practice fractions in a fun educational way. 6. Activities There are so many ways to teach this subject and content area, and technology is a great resource to use when teaching. Technology gives a balanced way for teachers to hit each student’s needs and helps keep students entertained and involved in class. a. First, the teacher will need to make a full powerpoint of addition and subtraction fraction problems. These slides will need to include multiple colors, and fun effects to give a visual factor for students. There will be about twenty minutes where the teacher will work out the problems with students as guided practice. With the white board or smart board, the teacher can show the students how to work out each individual problem, and drawing it out will help show the students what they are needed to do. This is great for visual and auditory learners.Google slides could also incorporate fraction models and pictures for students to visualize. B. After the students have completed guided practice and asked any questions they might have, the teacher will need to give a few practice problems to students to independently answer in order to test if they fully understand the concept. Using another Google Slide, the teacher will place 5 practice problems for students. Giving the students ten minutes to solve the problems, the teacher will then need to review the questions and work through them with students and solve any remaining questions. C. From here, students will test their knowledge in a competitive atmosphere with Kahoot. By doing a class kahoot, students will be able to apply their knowledge and think quickly in order to answer problems. This gives the teacher an opportunity to see if students are getting the concept. The students will know if their question is right or wrong, and their final scores will be tallied at the end. This competitive atmosphere adds motivation for students to complete their work correctly. The answers also give the teacher feedback on what the students understood and what they still need to work on. We will play kahoot for a full class period as a “review” for the assessment the next day in class. The teacher will need to make sure to give students time to ask any questions needed as well. D. Assessment. Once students have completed each of these steps and have asked any questions needed, there will then be an assessment of their knowledge. There will be 15 multiple choice questions that students will need to show their work on in order to answer. The students will have 30 minutes to complete this assessment, which is 2 minutes per question. They are required to show their work. If students are not completely done with their work by the end of the class, they will turn in their papers and complete the test the next class. This test focuses on simple adding and subtracting problems for students. It is multiple choice therefore students should be able to work out the problems with ease. For the students that complete their test and have paid attention throughout class and have had a respectful attitude, they will be allowed to play Cool Math Fraction Games in the next class period.This is a great incentive to work hard and complete their work in class. These fun educational games are a win-win, and students will get educational benefits out of completing the game. The students that have not completed their test will be given this time to complete the remainder of their test. This way, students waiting on classmates to finish their work will still have an educational activity to complete