Tech Play-Content
There are so many online resources available for teachers that the list can quickly become overwhelming. We have access to several online tools through the district adoption materials, but sometimes, you need to expand your search. I looked at two different online resources that extend students' thinking.
The first online tool I looked at was Braining Camp (www.brainingcamp.com), an online collection of math manipulatives. It is a subscription-based site, but I have found multiple codes for extended trials, and we have even gotten district codes in the past. There are many features that I like on this site. It is straightforward, with little time to figure out the platform. There are multiple tutorials geared towards students and teachers if you need help. Braining Camp has a library of tasks/lessons built in, or you can create your task for students. You can sort the lessons by domain and grade level. Tasks are also available in Spanish. The site also has built-in professional development with webinars and blogs, which are excellent resources for ideas and lessons.
I like the fraction lessons that Braining Camp has on the site. Fifth graders have to be able to create models for fraction operations. This can be a challenge for students for many reasons. Model creation takes a lot of time and must be done neatly to be of use. Students who have dysgraphia can especially struggle with this. Braining Camp allows them a different way to meet this content standard and will enable you to meet student accommodations. Fraction circles can challenge any student to draw and divide into even shares. Braining Camp has several lessons to address this skill. Working with manipulatives in math is essential to building understanding, but monitoring and assessing students' knowledge with so many students in the classroom can be challenging. With Brianing Camp, you can see everyone’s screen at once to assess understanding and give immediate feedback quickly. Another asset of Briaing Camp is that you can assign lessons to students who need a reteach or might be absent that day.
Another tool I looked at was Pear Deck (www.peardeck.com), which can be used as an extension for Google Slides. Pear Deck in one feature is a suite of options from the Pear Deck team. Pear Deck is free to use for educators. The other options are not, but they look like a good resource. The upgraded features include ready-to-use templates, content libraries, tutoring, and assessment. It is steep at $129 for the year if you already have online resources included in your textbook adoption.
I use Pear Deck in the classroom to boost student engagement during presentations and provide an opportunity to practice the different question types now included in STAAR. When we practice writing our Short Constructed Response questions, I will use Pear Deck to display student responses quickly. Then, as a class, we can all look at the responses anonymously and give constructive feedback. I can also go into each response and provide individual feedback to each student and assess their level of mastery. Students can also reflect on how they felt like they did on the questions with a quick feedback emoji.
We also utilize Pear Deck to practice answering the different types of questions students will now see on the STAAR test. This has to be done digitally since that is how they are assessed. Pear Deck allows students to answer question types such as drop-down, multiple choice, lists, and hot spots. Student engagement during STAAR review immediately increased by using Pear Deck, allowing you to see which content standards you need to continue working on and what types of questions need further practice. Pear Deck also allows those students with accommodations to participate fully in the lesson.
These digital tools allow students to show their thinking in multiple ways and increase student engagement and accessibility in the classroom.
