Past projects 22
Keeping Current & Making Math Meaningful
Funded Nov 20, 2019I was thrilled with the news that you had funded my registration fees for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Centennial Conference. I pored through the workshop catalog, looking for workshops that would make me a more equitable teacher, a more culturally-responsive teacher, a more tech savvy teacher, and a more inquiry-based teacher. I was excited to learn more so that I could be more for my students.
Then COVID struck and NCTM was cancelled.
Donors Choose was kind enough to allow me to repurpose your donations to further the same goals. I used some money to fund a virtual NCTM conference over the summer. Other money I used to buy books by Jo Boaler, a trailblazer and rockstar in the field of mathematics instruction. I've been poring through these books and using them to inspire/influence my lessons and learning activities. I used some money to fund some online edTech subscriptions, so that I could make our remote learning experiences richer and more equitable. And finally, used some money to purchase some tech hardware to make me a more effective remote teacher now and to enjance our classroom learning experiences in the future.
I didn't get to join thousands of fellow math educators for a learning experience in April, but I still got to learn thanks to your generous support. My students have a better teacher with better technology. We are all grateful for you.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shiu
This classroom project was brought to life by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and 10 other donors.The Next Best Thing to Being in the Math Classroom
Funded Jun 25, 2020Edpuzzle has been amazing in our classrooms so far this year. We can't thank you enough for giving us the gift of this EdTech to help our students learn in this topsy-turvy situation.
All three grades are using Edpuzzle in our math classrooms and leveraging its functionality to meet the needs of our specific students and the content we're teaching. The 6th grade teachers are looking closely at the student responses to the questions they embed in the videos (part of the great functionality of Edpuzzle) to check for understanding and give student feedback. They report that students love that they can work at their own speed and focus is improved when they work in Edpuzzle.
The 7th grade math classes use Edpuzzle as part of class-wide discussions in Zoom. The teachers share the Edpuzzle videos in the main screen and have students discuss the answers to the embedded questions aloud or in the chat to instantly gage understanding and offer immediate feedback before students practice in another EdTech platform.
In 8th grade we like that students can work at their own pace and we embed more practice-style questions into our daily Edpuzzle work. We also do a lot of social-emotional check in questions to get a sense of how students are feeling about their learning. We're also planning on using Edpuzzle with the students who choose to take an accelerated math course later this year.
IT's not easy teaching remotely, but Edpuzzle is making the experience richer and more positive for our middle schoolers. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shiu
Remote Learning Doesn't Mean Learning Alone
Funded May 5, 2020Some of us are at home. Some of us are in school, masked up. All of us are learning and growing.
Thank you for supporting our 8th graders with a subscription to Moby Max. We're off to a great start this year. We've used Moby Max so much already. During the first two weeks of school we administered diagnostics to get to know our students' math skills a bit better. We used that data to rearrange our unit order to better support students and started crafting lessons knowing what they need more support in. We have also built Moby Max into our daily routine, and have our students practice their new math skills there after we do our lesson in Zoom. Students have said they love that Moby Max explains problems to them when they get them wrong. We love that we get immediate feedback about how students are doing after one of our lessons.
We've also given two quizzes in Moby Max, something we've never done before. Students love the ease of using a familiar platform and we love the immediate grading and feedback about students' learning. We use the data to form small support groups in our next class session, which is so valuable for the students.
This edtech is a game changer. We can't thank you enough for making this available to us this topsy-turvy year. Stay safe and healthy!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shiu
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 6 other donors.Real-Time Support for Remote Learning
Funded May 5, 2020During this crazy topsy-turvy time of remote learning, you have made a huge impact on our student learning experience! Thank you so much for your support in giving our students access to Delta Math Plus.
We've been using the free version of Delta Math all year with some success. It's a great platform to give students high-quality math practice with some detailed feedback. It's also been great for us to have a record of student growth all in one place. Getting access to Delta Math Plus' premium features has unlocked some amazing resources to help our students. The video access allows students to get a video explanation of the work in the moment. This is fantastic for our auditory learners and students for whom a screen full of text is a barrier to understanding or focusing.
We're looking forward to some of the features coming soon, like the ability to assign problems on the same topic but different difficulty levels to students, so that everyone is practicing at their just-right level. Thank you for making the challenges of remote learning a bit less challenging for all of us right now and in the future!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shiu
This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 6 other donors.Higher Level Math Thinking for All
Funded Jan 27, 2020I'm sitting in a classroom full of students doing so much math. It's silent except for the sound of calculator keys clicking and pencils scratching on paper. So much learning is happening.
Today we're learning how to calculate the volume of a cylinder. It's a standard 8th grade topic. It can be pretty intimidating, with the squaring of radii and the ever-puzzling Pi. Students tend to shut down pretty quickly in the face of all of this calculation. Calculators to the rescue! Knowing that the arithmetic will be handled by our class set of calculators, students are freed up to think about and understand why the formula works. We had some pretty amazing discussions before we started working. Then, the blissful silence of clicking calculators and questions being answered.
Students love the new calculators. They're free of the dents and scratches our old calculators have suffered after passing through class after class of students. They don't have to share two calculators per table of four students. They're fascinated that the calculators have a Pi button.
These calculators are especially useful to some of our struggling math students - especially the ones who haven't mastered their math facts. No need to worry about your times tables being a barrier to learning and work when there is a calculator handy. No need to worry about being embarrassed by using a calculator when everyone in the class has one and they're all using them!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shiu
Engaging 8th Graders With Social Justice Issues
Funded Dec 20, 2019What can I say? We were all blown away by our screening of _Just Mercy_. The experience was powerful on so many levels: the movie itself is amazing and emotional, the experience of seeing it together as a community brought it to another level, the theater we saw it in was amazing and the students felt that they were special and cared for to be given such an experience.
The trip was a success in every stage. Before our screening date, staff members shared resources we could use to prepare students for the experience and we had amazing discussions in our small advisories. The day of the trip was a rare treat - all students came to school on time because they were so excited about the trip itself. We were so fortunate to be placed at a theater near our school, so we walked and talked as a community. It was a nice community building time. The theater was amazing - brand new and beautiful and comfortable. Students were so excited that we were given our own theaters to see the movie. You could hear the tears and feel the tension in the air during the movie. I think the fact that it was only us in the theater let the students keep their guard down so that they could react that way.
The discussions in our classrooms after the movie were intense and interesting. Some students wanted to learn more. Some students wanted to share their thoughts and feelings. Some students asked questions. Some wanted to read the book the film was based on. It was a powerful and moving experience. Thank you for giving us this opportunity.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shiu
This classroom project was brought to life by An Anonymous Classroom Supporter and one other donor.Flexible Seating for Flexible Learning
Funded Jan 30, 2020Our new seating is a hit! The four benches are the most popular seats in the house. When we have our students in the meeting area at the beginning of every class, these four seats are some of the first filled. In fact, some students are coming to the meeting area faster now because they want a chance at securing one of these awesome seats. (Did I mention they're super comfortable too?) Students are also moving the seats out of the meeting area to form small work groups during class. That has made for some fantastic wrok partnerships and small discussion groups.
When we first set up the seats in the classroom, there was a mix of reactions. Some of our music majors immediately identified them as keyboard benches and thought they had been delivered to the wrong classroom. Others immediately plopped down on them and declared them comfortable. My favorite reaction was the student who asked if he could switch one of the benches for his chair at his desk.
We're looking forward to some of our big projects coming up and having students utilize the flexibility of this seating to form small, independent work teams. We're excited to see how this facilitates choices and work dynamics. Many many thanks!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shiu
Math Materials Make Math Meaningful
Funded Oct 24, 2019You are angels! Thank you so much for the math supplies for our classroom. We're already putting some to good use and have plans for the others in the near future.
The rulers, chart paper, and colored paper are the first supplies to make a big impact. We're currently in a unit that has a lot of graphing involved, so those supplies are getting quite a workout. We're also having students study different aspects of having a growth mindset and they've been making inspirational posters on the colored paper. We've also used the colored paper for our word wall.
Coming up, we'll be using the protractors to measure and compare angles, making more inspirational posters, filling our word wall with new vocabulary, and creating lots of anchor charts. The golf pencils with erasers (these are amazing!) will be helpful on our math/science field trip in January. Thanks so much for these little details that add up to a big impact in our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shiu
This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous classroom supporter and 2 other donors.Flexible Seating to Engage Eighth Graders
Funded Sep 19, 2019The benches arrived on Friday and students were so excited when I set them up in the classroom. When they walked into the room and saw them there was a rush to try them out and lots of positive comments. "These are nice!" "They're so much more comfortable than the milk crates." "This is my new favorite seat." "
We put them to use right away by sharing our projects in progress with a neighbor or two. We asked students to discuss their choices and any changes they foresee making. There was so much lively discussion and we noted that students who never participated in class before raised their hands and added to the discussion. Even more exciting - some students chose to stay in the meeting area on the new benches to work with a small group on their projects. They said having a place to get and give feedback without everyone around them helped them.
Our big push this year is to get students more engaged and talking about their thinking in our classroom. Making the meeting space more comfortable physically (milk crates are pretty hard on the behind!) and emotionally (smaller discussion groups are safer) is key to making that happen. Thank you for your generosity and support!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shiu
Privacy, Please!
Funded Nov 4, 2018How can we ever thank you enough? The privacy shields and storage rack are a game changer in our classroom. Students use them in different ways: some like to use them during "Private Think Time" (a daily period of independent practice), some like to use them at the beginning of class to find their focus before the lesson begins, and most like to use them when taking a quiz or test (so they're not distracted by the people around them).
When I first opened the box, there was a rush to see and touch the new shields. They're so pristine and shiny. (Our old shields are covered with writing - some not appropriate at all - or drawings, and many have holes poked through them. Those old shields are an eyesore and often a distraction, so students were thrilled to see these perfect shields.) Some students love the colors and some immediately asked if they were dry-erasable. We tested them out and they are! That's a very exciting feature around here. You wouldn't believe how much more work we can get out of a student with a dry erase marker around. Everyone, including other teachers, were impressed with the organizing rack. It helps keep the classroom tidy and protects the shields from bumps and bruises.
One of our big goals this year is building independence in our 8th graders as they prepare to move on to high school. We strive to give them lots of choice and collaboration while emphasizing the importance of independent thinking and self-advocacy. These shields allow students to structure their work time in a way that suits them best and makes them most productive. Some students have suggested creating math games to review what we have learned and using the shields as a way to give partners/teams some privacy as they strategize and solve. Other students have been advocating for more dry-erase work opportunities, so we're working to use these as display boards for sharing thinking around a common problem.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your generosity. You have made our classroom a better learning environment.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Shiu