As a student, I was always frustrated when I had to do a page of 20-30 math problems. I either knew how to do them and felt that it was a waste of time to do so many or worse, I didn't know how to do them so I spent an evening frustrated. I tried to get help, but often I would end up with a whole page of wrong answers and no clue as to what I should have done.
As a math teacher, I hate scrambling around for nightly homework assignments. I won't get into the homework vs. no homework debate here, but I do believe that students need to practice what they have learned in school and the 80 minutes of class time I have them each day is not enough. That being said, I don't believe in busy work. Homework should be meaningful and help with understanding. But finding or creating meaningful homework can be very time consuming.
Welcome, Khan Academy! While the videos may not be the most engaging, they serve an important purpose. I tell students that Khan is their personal tutor. If they don't understand a concept, they should watch the video and use the hints. If they do understand the assigned concept, they can breeze though the practice problems and move on to something else. As a teacher, I can "Recommend" (Khan lingo) specific lessons and monitor student progress. Khan Academy has allowed me to tailor both practice and remediation to meet individual student needs.
At first I was unsure how it would work. Would students get enough out of it to warrant the time investment? I had tried using Khan last year but, it was more of a "drive by" approach. I'd assign a lesson or send students a link to a particular lesson every once in a while. I found the inconsistency did not led to student buy-in. This year, starting from day 1, my students have been assigned Khan Acdemy as homework and sometimes classwork. (Works great when I have to be out unexpectedly.) My students say they enjoy the videos and find them helpful. They like the fact that it gives them more flexibility each night because I assign a weekly goal in regards to minutes spent on Khan. I then monitor each student to see which lessons they are working on. Students can also chart their own progress from mastery of specific skills to percent completion of the whole course.
But it hasn't been all roses on my end. For example, the 7th grader who spent 73 minutes watching a video on Telling Time, needed a reality check. When I showed him how I could drill down to see exactly how his minutes were spent, he was astounded. Likewise, the honors student who was struggling with a particular concept had attempted 36 problems, but never watched the video or the stduent that spent 2 hours reading psychology articles, and didn't get any credit for minutes spent. It's a learning process for all of us, but in my opinion, well worth it.
Have you used Khan Academy in your classroom? Share your ideas, tips and tribulations.
As a math teacher, I hate scrambling around for nightly homework assignments. I won't get into the homework vs. no homework debate here, but I do believe that students need to practice what they have learned in school and the 80 minutes of class time I have them each day is not enough. That being said, I don't believe in busy work. Homework should be meaningful and help with understanding. But finding or creating meaningful homework can be very time consuming.
Welcome, Khan Academy! While the videos may not be the most engaging, they serve an important purpose. I tell students that Khan is their personal tutor. If they don't understand a concept, they should watch the video and use the hints. If they do understand the assigned concept, they can breeze though the practice problems and move on to something else. As a teacher, I can "Recommend" (Khan lingo) specific lessons and monitor student progress. Khan Academy has allowed me to tailor both practice and remediation to meet individual student needs.
At first I was unsure how it would work. Would students get enough out of it to warrant the time investment? I had tried using Khan last year but, it was more of a "drive by" approach. I'd assign a lesson or send students a link to a particular lesson every once in a while. I found the inconsistency did not led to student buy-in. This year, starting from day 1, my students have been assigned Khan Acdemy as homework and sometimes classwork. (Works great when I have to be out unexpectedly.) My students say they enjoy the videos and find them helpful. They like the fact that it gives them more flexibility each night because I assign a weekly goal in regards to minutes spent on Khan. I then monitor each student to see which lessons they are working on. Students can also chart their own progress from mastery of specific skills to percent completion of the whole course.
But it hasn't been all roses on my end. For example, the 7th grader who spent 73 minutes watching a video on Telling Time, needed a reality check. When I showed him how I could drill down to see exactly how his minutes were spent, he was astounded. Likewise, the honors student who was struggling with a particular concept had attempted 36 problems, but never watched the video or the stduent that spent 2 hours reading psychology articles, and didn't get any credit for minutes spent. It's a learning process for all of us, but in my opinion, well worth it.
Have you used Khan Academy in your classroom? Share your ideas, tips and tribulations.