In the content area of
mathematics it is important to grab the students’ attention the moment they
walk into class. It is essential to start the class off with an engaging
activity for them to work on or view. For example, the Khan Academy offers video
tutorials for different math topics. Teachers can present these videos in the
beginning of their class and then facilitate a discussion after the students
have viewed it. These videos can grab the students’ attention and formulate a
discussion for the lesson. Students can also ask questions about the video and
use it as a resource to look back on if they are confused with the lesson at
any point. If I use these videos as an attention grabber for my students daily,
they will become accustomed to it and be prepared for my class every day. It
will become a routine for them when learning new topics. The students can also
have access to the videos at home by simply going to the URL site for the
specific video. I can also give them the URL link in class so that they have it
and have no reason not to use it as a resource. Students need to have as many
resources and aids as possible, especially with math, because some concepts are
difficult to understand by learning it one way. It is important to teach math
lessons in different ways. The traditional way of teaching is by having the
teacher lecture and writing notes on the board. However, nowadays the Khan
Academy can serve as reinforcement to the lesson and can teach students
differently.
If something similar to the Khan Academy were available
for your content area, would you use it in your classroom? I would love to hear
your feedback!
I think Khan Academy is a great site to use in Math. This site contains many math videos that reinforce concepts and even teach new concepts. I like your idea of using them as a grabber in the beginning of the class period to get the students attention. I would use this in my classroom in the future.
ReplyDeleteI never used Khan Academy, but I heard so much great things about it. I think its great to use Khan Academy for students, because it helps the students to learn, when its visual. Also, using this can easily grab their attention in class, if you have students who are visual learners. (In my opinion)
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of the Khan Academy until I'm in college. I really like it after I have checked out the website. The videos are great because the explanation is clear, and easy to follow along. I will definitely recommend it to my students because we are living in a digital world now, students will probably prefer to watch a video and take notes from it than listen to a boring lecture. I think that using that as a grabber or introduction of the class is a good idea, but using it as something to wrap up the lesson will be great too.
ReplyDeleteI have used the Khan Academy before because I heard so many great things about it and I wanted to see what it was all about. I really enjoyed its concept and the way the math instruction is clarified and demonstrated through the tutorials. I wish, as a student, I had been exposed to this source because it would have helped me extensively. However, I am unfamiliar of a similar concept in my English content area. There are resources students can use, but nothing to the same caliber as the Khan Academy. Hopefully one day there will be a similar source that my students can use.
ReplyDeleteAntonietta, I agree with you that a student’s attention needs to be grabbed from the moment they walk in because it is difficult to get it back. I like how you mentioned that you would use the Khan Academy videos and then discuss them with the students, because I have seen them before and they are great. The videos are very clear and descriptive; the videos would definitely engage students. I also liked how you mentioned that the URL would be available to the students at home to watch again. This is a great idea, which I also plan on doing. I believe that every student will have at least a day where they will not be in the mood to learn or simply be absent, so it is great having the opportunity to make up the loss time and learn at the student’s own time.
ReplyDeleteAntonietta, this sounds like an awesome tool! As we have learned from Professor Weiner in the READ 411 class, capturing the students' attention is VITAL! Without the attention of your students, no matter how important and maybe even interesting your lesson plan is, the students will not gain anything from it if you do not first get their attention! I would ABSOLUTELY use a tool like this for French for all the reasons that I stated above. I love that there are a collection of videos on a website for you to use, that's great!
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some very interesting points in this post. Most of my classes were similar to what you explained in you post, the teacher lectures (often facing the board), and the students are suppose to take meaningful notes. In my high school math experience, an absurd amount of time was often wasted in the beginning of class. Student's were sluggish, and the class often went like this: (Teacher) Hey class, so the other day we were talking about pythagorean theorem theory. (The students) The pythagorary what? After 15 mins of refreshing everyones mind, they were finally ready to start the days lesson. This should never happen.
ReplyDeleteKhan Academy is amazing! I have used it and I know many friends and family members who have used it and who have found it to be successful as well. It really breaks down problems for you and walks you through them step by step. This is great for visual learners. If there was something similar to Khan Academy that could be used for Foreign Language or ESL I would definitely incorporate it into my classroom.
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