My favorite book of all time is Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler. Truly a life changing experience for me to read it. While the title says Math, it is really a book about teaching. Every educator should read it. To say the least, I am a huge fan of Jo Boaler. A huge honor for me was being able to present with her at the ISTE conference this year. She was not able to be present in person, which allowed for the recording of the session to YouTube Live.
YouCubed
Youcubed provides resources math teachers including research articles, Week of Inspirational math activities, online courses on modern ways to instruct math, ideas and tasks to use in the classroom, and more.
G Suite and Google Apps
Being digital is not necessarily better. If your school is a G Suite school it is possible to modify some of the activities on the YouCubed site to use with G Suite. Collaboration in G Suite is as easy as clicking the blue share button. Youcubed activities in G Suite allow students to collaborate with students in class and possibly even outside of the 4 walls. G Suite makes faster feedback possible. Using conditional formatting, commenting features in G Suite, or using formulas provides opportunities for students to receive feedback. Talking about math is an effective way of helping students understand math. The commenting features in G Suite allow for back and forth conversations rather than simply leaving comments on a paper.
YouTube Live Recording
Here is the recording of our ISTE presentation on Using Google Apps with Youcubed.org Math Activities.
Presentation Slides
Sample Google Activities
Four 4’s
Google Slides allows students to show their work multiple ways including with Video, EquatIO, drawing shapes, text boxes, inserting pictures and more.
Make 100
A focus on fluency over fast. This Google Sheets representation of the activity allows students to easily play anytime or to find a partner. Can play with people who are not nearby.
Boaler Brownies
Valuing multiple approaches and understanding of the concepts. Sheets allow students to customize the problem with their name and to try out different situations. Students can customize their own brownie pans.
Stairs to Squares
Google Sheets. Develop critical thinking. Let students think, get feedback and think some more.
