Teaching Math with the 'Tubes

One of the more popular posts on this blog was one I wrote about using YouTube as an instructional tool. Though YouTube does have its fair share of videos with some educational value, teachers have to be careful when recommending the site to students (hopefully the reasons are obvious). For this reason, many of us have started recommending sites like TeacherTube and SchoolTube to our students. Both of these sites house thousands of videos that were created by teachers and their students.

One problem with the videos on these two sites is that they may not be “just right”—they may not teach the skills or concepts your students are learning the way you would teach them. I've encountered this problem, so this year I've decided that I needed to do more than just direct my students to the sites--I needed to add some instructional videos myself. A couple weeks ago, I started making my own videos using SMART Recorder: the SMART tool that lets teachers record their SMARTBoard lessons, complete with voice narration, and save them as a Windows Media file. After recording the videos, I upload them to SchoolTube and then embed them on my classroom wiki. I’ve created just four videos to this point, but so far I feel they have been a big success. Here's why:

• There is more time in class for homework/enrichment/problem-solving - Though we have 55 minute math periods (a dream for most math teachers), I often find myself teaching up until the final minutes of class. Now that my students are viewing videos of the lessons, I can review the concepts/skills on the video and answer any questions the kids might have in a fraction of the time it would have taken me to teach the lesson. This leaves more time for kids to work on homework in class. More importantly, the instruction time saved will eventually free up time for enrichment activities like problem-solving and lessons on math concepts that don’t fall into the traditional curriculum (fractals, Fibonacci sequence, etc.).
• I have lessons for kids who are absent – I’ve already heard from parents that the videos have been helpful for students who are absent. They have been watching the videos at home and, as a result, haven’t fallen as far behind as they normally would have.
• Students can review the videos to prepare for tests and quizzes – The videos are there for eternity (or until Wikispaces closes up shop), so the kids can always go back and use them as review for tests and quizzes.

Now that you know how using the videos can benefit you, let’s get into how you make them. As I said, I make mine using SMART Recorder. This allows you to set up a lesson on SMART Notebook and teach it like you would in class (without the student interaction of course). Though it takes a little preparation, you don't have to memorize every action and word because you can pause your recording and then pick up where you left off. I keep my videos short--the longest one was just over 7 minutes--and lately I've tried to add a little enthusiasm to them. It's easy to speak in a monotone voice when you're focused on the quality of the lesson in the video.

As with every web-based instructional tool, there are issues with access--not every kid has the Internet at home. To deal with this, I create the videos ahead of time and give enough notice so that students without access to technology can make arrangements to watch them. In my school, we have a computer lab that is open to students after school four days a week and an after school "homework place" that also has computers for students to use. I know that my students who do not have internet access can go to these places and watch videos if they need to. If they get desperate, they can also go to the local library.

Hopefully this post has sparked your interest and you're entertaining the idea of creating instructional videos for your students. The technology is there, why not use it?

Technorati Tags: education| learning | SchoolTube

Check out: SMARTBoard Mini-Movies | Number Properties | Angles in Geometry

New Teaching Resources on misterteacher.com

What's New on misterteacher.com

Clip Art

Rather than offer new mini-movies this month, I've created new pages with a lot of the clip art that appears in them and the related student activities. Teachers can use the clip art in their Notebook presentations or for creating worksheets. You can find the clip art on the mini-movie page, or you can just click below:

• Alphabet Geometry Clip Art - If you teach geometry concepts with letters, then you'll want to check out this clip art.
• Everything Geometry Clip Art - Here you'll find triangles and quadrilaterals with the symbols that help kids classify them, types of angles, and more.
• Dominoes Clip Art - There's a full set of double six dominoes--perfect for teaching addition, subtraction, doubles, and family of facts.
• Science Clip Art - This modest collection includes some images for teaching various forms of energy.

Math & Social Studies Printables

Introduce your students to writing in the math classroom with a popular resource on misterteacher.com. The 59 printable math prompts that you can find in the Bright Ideas section of the site (click here to see the prompts) are perfect for assessing disposition, learning, and process.

All of the webpages that you'll find in the Slavery in America and Waves of Immigration student activities are printable. Just look for the GRAB IT! button:

The printed pages (or web-based activities) would be perfect for teaching nonfiction reading or as supplements to a social studies curriculum. You can use them to teach about the following:

• Slavery in America: The life of a slave before emancipation, the Underground Railroad, Negro Spirituals, and emancipation.
• Waves of Immigration: Ellis Island, The Immigrant Experience, Italian Immigrants.

Look for more mini-movies in the weeks ahead. For immediate updates, follow misterteacher.com (jtubbs) on Twitter.

More Social Studies Resources: Declaration of Independence | Constitution WebQuest

Technorati Tags: education | learning | History

New Teaching Resources on misterteacher.com

SMARTBoard Mini-Movies

Using dominoes is an effective approach to teaching addition and subtraction. This month I created almost 40 new SMARTBoard mini-movies that teachers can use to teach doubles addition and family of facts with dominoes.

With the domino doubles, students can write an addition equation horizontally and then click the button to turn the domino vertically and write the equation with one number on top of the other. Family of facts dominoes present students with a domino with no dots on one side. Above the domino is a number. Using that number, and the number of dots on the domino, students must figure out the number of dots on the blank side.

More math resources: Number Properties | Integers | Circles | Alphabet Geometry

Fall is the Perfect Time to Teach about Nature & Photosynthesis

With the change of season comes less daylight. Less daylight results in the fall color change for trees. This is the perfect time to get your students outside into nature to explore a local habitat, gather some leaves, and discuss the connection between the leaf change and photosynthesis. Check out the resources below for ideas and activities:

• Nature-Based Learning - A lesson where students take a field to a local ecosystem and then create a presentation about biodiversity.
• Teaching about Photosynthesis and the Fall Leaf Change - Resource guide for fall lesson plans.

More science resources: Properties of Light | Thermal Energy | Forces | Magnetism & Friction

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Teach Multiplication with SMARTBoard Version of Circles and Stars

Now teachers can use SMARTBoard mini-movies on misterteacher.com to teach multiplication with a SMARTBoard version of the dice game Circles and Stars. In the traditional version, students roll a die once to determine the number of circles. They draw the circles on paper. They then use a second roll of the die to determine the number of stars to draw inside the circles. Finally, they write a multiplication expression and product based on the circles and stars.

In the SMARTBoard version, students come to the board, push the CIRCLES button for the number of circles and then the STARS button for the number of stars. From there, students can write the multiplication expression over (or under) the mini-movie. The circles and stars animations aren't revealed until students click the buttons. There are 24 multiplication mini-movies in all so most teachers should be able to create a SMART Notebook presentation with enough problems to engage the whole class.

Have some cool ideas for using this game? Add them as a comment.

Check out: SMARTBoard Mini-movies | Light Energy | Forces | Thermal Energy

New Teaching Resources for September

Student Activities

Several new student activities have been added since the last update. Teachers can find a set of three activities that will help students learn how to represent and compare integers and determine absolute value. How many computer-generated arithmetic problems can your students answer in 60 seconds? Arithmattac
k is a new math resource on misterteacher.com that teachers can use for drilling math facts.


A number of science activities have been added as well. First, there is a set of activities that teach students about thermal energy and temperature. Next, students will be able to define reflection and refraction after completing activities on the properties of light. Finally, activities on forces will teach your students about contact and non-contact forces like air resistance, gravity, magnetism, and friction.

COMING SOON! Student activities on probability, simple machines, and motion.




SMARTBoard Mini-movies


There are few new SMARTBoard mini-movies for math teachers. You can find one on parallel lines and two on parallelograms: one that shows congruent angles and one that shows congruent sides. Two new probability mini-movies are now up: coin flip and roll of the dice.

I've added a K-2 section to the library. Here you'll find mini-movies on recognizing patterns, addition and subtraction, and adding doubles. The
re will be many more mini-movies to come for this section.


There are four new science mini-movies, all on the topic of simple machines. Teach your students about the three classes of levers with two simple animations. Also, be sure to download both inclined plane movies to teach about the relationship between length and effort force.

COMING SOON! More mini-movies on K-2 math concepts, probability, and patterns (more advanced).




If you like the resources on misterteacher.com please share this post.

Please help me improve the resources on misterteacher.com. I welcome feedback and I do take suggestions on content that you would like to see as a mini-movie or student activity. Email Jamie Tubbs.




Check out: Everything Geometry Alphabet Geometry Social Studies Resources

Goal for 2009-2010: Integrate iPods into the Subject Areas

A few years ago another teacher and I received a grant from Best Buy for the Online Science Fair. After purchasing the materials, we had quite a bit of money left over and decided to buy three iPods. Unfortunately, because of other priorities, the iPods were put in a box and set aside for the past three years, wasting away.

NO MORE! This year I have decided to put these tools to use. One of my goals for 2009-2010 is to find the best ways to use these three iPods in my classroom. At this point, my goal is to have my students consume information from the iPods rather than produce information for them. In other words, I have no plans to have my students create podcasts, videos, slideshows, or any other content. Instead, I'm looking to use the iPods in the following ways:

• Math Intervention: Students will view video podcasts and Unitedstreaming videos on topics that they are struggling with in math. For instance, say my students take a quiz on prime factorization and a few don't do so well. During a specified time they will be invited to my classroom to watch a video on an iPod that teaches prime factorization. After viewing the video and completing some more practice, they will be allowed to retake the quiz for a better score.
• Math Enrichment: It's unfortunate, but we math teachers often are so busy teaching our students the required concepts that we often don't get a chance to show them how cool math can be outside of the classroom. I'd like to have several videos/podcasts on the iPods that show situations in the real world where math is involved (like the Fibonacci sequence in nature, Game Theory, etc.). There are a few on the Math Guy Podcast.
• Science Enrichment: If a student shows an interest in a topic we are studying, I'd like to be able to find a podcast or video for him/her and have it ready for them to watch on an iPod. HowStuffWorks has a content channel on the Apple Learning Interchange with some interesting videos.
• Social Studies Enrichment: Current event videos come to mind here.

After doing a simple Google search (ipods classroom) I found some sites that will be helpful to any teacher looking to integrate iPods:

• Learning in Hand - Here I found out how to download a video from UnitedStreaming, add it to iTunes, and then convert it to a format that the iPod will understand.
• Education World has a nice page of links to some sites on iPods in the Classroom.
• Apple Learning Interchange

I Need Your Help

I don't get a ton of comments on this blog, but I'd like to ask if any readers have other ideas for using iPods with your students and/or if you know of other resources where I could find some. Thanks!

Check out: SMARTBoard Mini-movies Student Activities

Guest Post: Teachers of Tweens: Top Tips for Grabbing Your Students’ Attention

If you’re a teacher who works with kids around the “tween” stage – 9-13 years old – you’re probably exhausted by the end of the school day. This age group can be a lot of fun, because they’ve yet to become cynical or snobby and are still young enough to enjoy playing games, going out to recess and doing projects with friends. On the other hand, tweens are just entering adolescence, which means that they’re self-conscious, experimenting with romantic feelings, joining cliques, and starting to get the appeal of sarcasm, eye rolling and rebelling. Teachers, not just parents, may find it tough to catch, and then keep, the attention of teens as they try to educate them day after day, but there are a few tricks you can use yourself to outwit your tween students.

• Reference current pop culture: Kids get sucked into the pop culture and celebrity world at an even younger age than the generation before them. If you want to keep up with what they think is cool, educate yourself on the names of a few pop stars or teen actors that your students respect. Use these references when appropriate to help your kids relate to the lesson.
• Work with technology. An old-fashioned projector or even PowerPoint presentation isn’t going to impress your kids, so learn how to use tools like Twitter, wikis, iTunes, or Flickr to keep up .
• Invite guest lecturers. Show your kids ho relevant the skills they’re learning in class are to the real world by inviting guest lecturers to talk about their jobs and experience. Students are always interested in anyone new who shows up in the classroom, and you’ll get a break, too.
• Start with a media clip. Before introducing a new lesson – or as a way of reinforcing an old one – start your presentation with a clip from a popular song, a movie or a TV show that illustrates your point. Your students will be more likely to analyze the situation and discover the lesson’s real-life impact that way.
• Host mock or mini events. Get your kids to participate in an important lesson by setting up experiments, mock debates, classroom polls or elections and other projects that allow them to take on an active role. Their experience will help them understand the lesson on a deeper level.

This post was contributed by Emily Thomas, who writes about the best online universities. She welcomes your feedback at Emily.Thomas31@ yahoo.com

New on misterteacher.com: Thermal Energy | Properties of Light | Arithmattack

New Teaching Resources on misterteacher.com

Student Activities

On the Everything Geometry website you'll find several new student activities on Angles. With these activities kids can learn to identify and describe the relative size of acute, obtuse and straight angles with respect to right angles. The activities begin by defining what an angle is and how they are measured. From there, students can navigate through three additional pages on right, acute, and obtuse angles. There are several mini-movies throughout the activities and quick quizzes to check understanding.

Coming Soon! Student activities on integers, basic geometry terms, forces, kinetic and potential energy, thermal energy, and light!

Mini-Movies

The SMARTBoard mini-movie library continues to grow with mini-movies on angles mentioned above as well as science movies on thermal energy and properties of light (reflection and refraction). Use them to teach your students the following:

• Temperature is a measure of thermal energy.
• Light bends, or refracts, when moving from one medium to another.
• Law of reflection - light reflects off an object at the same angle it strikes it.

Remember, to preview the mini-movies, just click on the link of the movie you'd like to see. To download them, right click (control-click on a Mac) on the link and download the movie to your computer. To insert it into a Notebook file, open Notebook and simply go to the INSERT menu and select FLASH FILE. From there, just navigate until you find the file you downloaded.

Coming Soon! Mini-movies on simple machines and probability.

If you like the resources on misterteacher.com, please share this post.

Check out: Rainforest WebQuest | Constitution WebQuest | Bright Ideas

Guest Post: 15 Free Math Resources for Students and Teachers

Learning math can be a struggle, but there are lots of online resources that can help. The web is full of tools, games, and websites that can be used to practice math problems. Here is a list of 15 math resources for students and teachers.

Illuminations - Illuminations is a free website from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The site offers more than 100 interactive math activities for kids, 500+ lesson plans for teachers, and web links to other online math resources.

NumberNut - NumberNut is a fun math site for people of all ages. It works like an interactive math textbook: it teaches a concept and then provides two activities to reinforce learning. NumberNut includes learning resources for basic math and advanced math.

Arcademic Skill Builders - Arcademic Skill Builders are entertaining educational games that can be played online. Game options include addition and subtraction games, multiplication and division games, and fraction and ratio games.

Math Playground - This website was created specifically for elementary and middle school students who need help with math. The site offers fun games, math videos, and logic problems.

Tutpup - On the Tutpup site, students can compete in educational math games with other students all over the world. Competitors race against the clock to solve math and algebra problems.

Math Arcade - Funbrain's Math Arcade provides access to 25 free math games that can be played online. Returning users can enter a password to try to beat their own high score.

Lure of the Labyrinth - For kids who like to game, Lure of the Labyrinth is the ultimate way to learn math. This online game guides players on a mythological quest to retrieve a beloved and lost pet.

Mathway - At first glance, Mathway looks like it is just a math problem solver, but it so much more. Mathway shows you how a problem can be solved so that you understand how the answer was calculated.

Multimedia Math Glossary - Harcourt's Multimedia Math Glossary is a fantastic resource for teachers and students who want to see visual definitions to math terms. Simply select your grade at the top of the page and browse through the list of terms to find what you need.

Ambleweb Addition Machine - The Ambleweb Addition Machine provides excellent practice for students who are learning addition. Students can choose their skill level, answer the question that pops up, and check their answer to see if it is right. The machine tracks scores so that students can compete with themselves or each other.

ClassBrain - ClassBrain provides a wide range of math games for students of all ages. All of the games are interactive and many can be used with a projector or interactive white board so the whole class can participate at once.

Teacher Led - Teacher Led offers a large collection of interactive white board resources and games for math teachers.

Crickweb - Although this website was created for UK students, it does provide a number of interactive math games that would be useful to any student. All of the games were designed for use with an interactive whiteboard and include fun activities that will reinforce learning in the classroom.

Math TV - Middle school students who are having difficulty solving complicated math problems will love Math TV's helpful videos. Math TV works especially well with projectors and interactive whiteboards.

iknowthat.com - This website offers a wonderful collection of math tools for teachers and students. The site hosts an arithmetic workshop, math stories, math videos, games, and other resources--most of which can be used with an interactive white board so that the whole class can participate at once.

Guest post from Karen Schweitzer, the About.com Guide to Business School. Karen also writes about online college courses for OnlineColleges.org.

Check out: Interactive Student Activities | Mini-Movies for Your SmartBoard | Everything Geometry

A Test

This is an email to myself.