Math

Very often as teachers we can forget that sometimes our students aren't engaged when they aren't enjoying the subject they are taking. Math is one of those tricky subjects that students either love or hate. Through games and apps we can really see a difference in our classrooms that can help to improve student engagement. If students are having fun in a learning environment then we know they are fully engaged. When they understand they can get involved and build that confidence that this something they can do.

Example One:

When dealing with a lesson on money a great app to use that is free is money by mathies. This app can help students to figure out money in any grade. They can see a visual much more clearly and work with money in real time. This can help students to represent amounts, add/subtract amounts, represent place values, represent equivalent values, etc. There are endless ways you can use this app. Students can take a picture and send it to you or each other when learning about money to compare with each other the different answers they were able to make. Many different grades can use it because it is something that can be adaptable to any student. If using other apps like nearpod you can use pictures of students answers to this and share them with the class to compare as well all together. This app gives students the confidence to handle money without it physically being in their hands. This is also a much better visual representation of money rather than a paper copy or play money (which do not represent coins). Many students seem to enjoy using this app.

Example Two:

 
Prodigy is a great game for students to play to help improve their mental math skills. The teacher can control what math problems the students use depending on what they are learning. This is more for grades 1-8. This  gives students the opportunity to play a game while learning at the same time. Students in my own classroom love this game and always want to play it. It gets students to fully engaged in the game and figure out what the math problems are. To advance in the game students attack an opponent by answering a math problem correctly. To beat higher level opponents you must advances yourself through different levels. Answering more questions gets you higher in the game. This gets students to learn how to do the questions quickly in order to advance.