EDUC 462 Blogs

  Reflex Math       Reflex Math is a website that offers a research-based system where students can practice math facts like subtraction, addition, multiplication, and division in a gamified way. I came across Reflex Math through my mentor teacher this year who uses it as often as she can with her fourth graders. Students get to play a set of fun and engaging games on a device such as a computer or a tablet that includes mathematical concepts throughout. It is unique in the way that 25 students could all be on reflex math but all be doing different problems because it automatically differentiates instruction as each student answers a question. It really helps the teacher reach all of her students whether they are underdeveloped in math concepts or achieving very high. It is a math fact fluency tool that adapts to each student resulting in student growth throughout the entire classroom.  Eaze of Use/ Accessibility       It is very easy to...

Readworks  Readworks is a website that is driven by cognitive science research to enhance student reading comprehension and curricular supports to solve the student reading crisis and close the student achievement gap for grades from kindergarten to 12th grade. I heard about Read-works from my mentor teacher because she uses it daily for her fourth-grade students to learn something new and practice their comprehension skills. Teachers can assign or give students specific lessons that have a certain topic where they read a part of a text and have comprehension questions that follow.  Eaze of Use/ Accessibility  There are over 1.4 million teachers using Read works and over 17 million students benefitting from it currently. It is a completely free resource and very easy to use because of it’s organization and guides on how to enhance learning and integrate readworks in it. You can push “find content” and on the left-hand side choose what kind of text you want like an article...

  Flocabulary  Flocabulary is a unique tool found in article 8 MUST-HAVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL APPS AND TOOLS by Matthew Lynch on “The Ed Tech”. It is a website that helps students learn and engage in learning by turning new concepts or a group of vocabulary words into rap songs. There are hundreds and hundreds of pre-made raps that help teach a variety of concepts k-12 including math, language arts, science, social studies, life skills, vocabulary, and current events.  Each concept and topic you choose has not only a premade rap video, but tools such as premade vocab cards, a vocab game, read and respond, a quiz, and a “lyric lab” where students get to design their own rap with their own lyrics and can choose a unique beat to pair it. The creators of Flocabulary intentionally created each video to line up with common core standards to help teachers organize content.   Eaze of Use/ Versatility  Flocabulary is a very easy tool to use because it organizes the vid...

Generation Genius      Generation Genius is a website that provides a wide variety of science and math lessons for grades k-8 that I learned about from my mentor teacher. It has pre-made lessons and experiments with step-by-step directions on how to teach or introduce it. All of their science content encourages hands-on, Inquiry-based learning across all of the science NGSS and common core standards. There are also 5-20 minute long videos that teach and reinforce certain concepts depending on the topic and grade level. Eaze of Use/ Versatility      It is very organized and easy to find what you want to teach for your desired grade level. First, you select if you want math or science lessons and then explore by topic, grade, or scroll through the options to find what you are looking for. It provides the lesson plan, directions, assessment, vocabulary, teacher guide, online quiz game, and an exit ticket pre-made. Although it is very easy to use once you have ...

  Dojo      I learned about this technology from my mentor teacher in my practicum who uses it multiple times throughout the day in various ways. Class Dojo is a site that allows teachers to connect with students and parents to build positive classroom communities. It is one of the most versatile tools I have used and makes communicating with parents direct and easy, provides classroom management tools, and contains resources that make teaching easier.  Versatility/ Experience      One of the most common reasons teachers use this free and very easy-to-use tool is to have direct, quick, and simple communication with each parent. The site can be pulled up on the teacher's account and shows every single parent under “contacts” and throughout the day, teachers can click their name and send them a message about anything and can have a conversation about anything. Parents have to create an account in the beginning of the year and can download it on thei...

  Epic Epic is a digital reading platform found on Dr. Wang’s PowerPoint slides where students can access thousands of books to read or listen to as an audiobook. Students have access to many different genres of books (fantasy to nonfiction), different reading levels, and various lengths of books. When students read each book, teachers and parents can see the progress of the students showing them the time they have spent reading, how far they are, and what books they have read so far. Once each child reads a book, Epic personalizes the choices of books they offer based on the interests they detect the student has. It also has extra tools where students can highlight what they are reading, look up definitions of words in a connected digital dictionary, and “read to me books” where students can listen to the book while simultaneously reading it.  The Use This is a very easy tool to use for anyone who chooses to use it and is especially useful for teachers. Teachers can set up a ...