Today year 10 used 'popplet' to creat reason notes on the topic of straight line graphs. They have emailed them to themselves in order to print so that each member of the group has a copy. I will place a copy of the finished products on my next post.

Not just for the classroom!

The use of my iPad outside of the classroom is also proving beneficial and supports the time saving training delivered to myself and colleagues on a recent training day. Taking photos of materials delivered to myself and other teaching colleagues during the training day meant I was able to easily and quickly feedback to my department. When reflecting on the day, I was able to refer to the pictures to jog my memory.
Pictures taken during the training day:

Using iPads for Maths Intervention

I have been using iPads with my Year 7 Maths Intervention group. We have limited time available during morning tutor time (20 mins max) so the fact that students can login almost instantly is invaluable. Sixth form students offer one to one support to the year 7's whilst they carry out activities on 'Mathletics' enabling them to have personalised learning.

Year 8 Percentages APP 'Little Genius'

This week I have started the topic of Percentages with my Year 8 . During the lesson students took it in turns to have 10 minute use of the 'Little Genius' app. Whilst some students were on the ipads the other students were answering questions from a sheet.
One student said 'it was a useful app and very enjoyable'. Another student who is a reluctant attendee and learner answered more questions on the ipad than ever! The whole class are loving using the ipad and are very concerned if one student gets longer than another!!

Please comment on my exit stickers....

Here is a copy of an exit sticker that I am asking students to fill in at the end of a lesson. Please let me know if you think it could be improved in any way.

·      

Exit Stickers for Mrs Bate’s Maths Class  Date: App:   WWW(Write at least one thing the ipad has enabled you to learn today) EBI(write down something about the app that could be improved) Would you recommend the app? Why?

Apps I have trialled so far....

Here are some of the apps that I have found and used so far:-

a)Useful tools

·         Reflector

This is a great tool for showing what’s on my ipad on my laptop and hence the whiteboard

·         Calculator

·         Spreadsheet

·         Pencil case

·         Protractor

All of these are self explanatary and naturally a must have for any maths classroom!

·         Free Gra Calc

This is a superb app for graphing any equation including modulus graphs (used with my sixth formers). My Year 10 enjoyed using this app when they were working on quadratic equations. We were working out the value of the discriminant to indicate how many solutions a quadratic equation should have. Students were then able to quickly sketch the graph on the ipads to see if how many times the curve cut the x - axis to then check their answers. One student said ‘The value of my discriminant was negative but the curve definitely cuts the axis twice so I have made a mistake somewhere!’ and yes she had incorrectly substituted into b²-4ac.  Students wrote on their evaluations how useful the graphing tool was in this lesson.

·         Geoboard

This is a lovely tool to replace elastic bands and pin boards. Great for splitting a shape into two congruent halves.

b) Reinforcement of basic skills such as times tables, addition etc

·         Kakooma Addition, Kakooma Negative, Kakooma Times

·         Maths LG

·         Math 7

c) General Revision

·         Puffin Academy to access mymaths

·         MDT

A diagnostic tool for Higher and Foundation maths

·         Mathletics (NOT FREE)

·         Edexcel Mechanics 1 Exam solutions

Specific topics

·         Transformations (NOT FREE)

To be used with my year 8 over the next few weeks – keep watching my blog for an update!

What’s my blog about?

I am a Maths teacher at a school in Birmingham.  I have been teaching for  XX (too many!) years and have seen many changes take place in the world of teaching.  When my school advertised a ‘Digital Innovators’ research project, I was very excited at the prospect of using ipads in my classrooms and applied for the role. I fully believe that we need to use the ever emerging technology in our teaching and learning to keep students engaged, to be successful in their education and equipped for life beyond school.

Along with 6 other teachers in my school, across all subject areas, I have been given a set of 8 ipads to use with my classes and a teacher ipad. Over the next year we shall trial the pros and cons of using them and their impact on students learning. We shall share our findings with our departments and other colleagues in our school.

Having used ipads at home with my own children I know that there are numerous educational apps available. I now need to ensure I choose the best apps for teaching and learning and can demonstrate how to make best use of them in a classroom.