My favorite:
I have written before about my favorite apps to use in class - read about that here. Explain Everything and Plickers serve such different purposes that I can't choose just one as my favorite. They work well in tandem. Although, next year when my freshmen have their own Surface tablet/PC, I may move away from using Plickers. We'll see.
On a completely different note, cleaning my whiteboards before I leave work on Friday is my favorite organizational tip. It keeps the boards cleaner throughout the week, and it helps me feel ready to start the week when I arrive Monday morning. In fact, last week I was out of the building Thursday afternoon and Friday, and my students noticed how messy my boards were. 5 minutes or less, and a less stressful Monday? Yes, please.
Read about other Math Teacher favorites here
It was interesting to read about all the apps that you use to maintain classroom management. I don't have a smartphone nor access to computers in the class, so I've never been able to take advantage of any of these.
ReplyDeleteThe best I'm able to do is write a short TI-83/84 program which chooses the name of every student in the class (which I must add by hand), and then the calculator chooses a name at random. But the Plickers app that you mention in this post and your July link is obviously much easier!
David,
ReplyDeleteDo you have wireless internet? If so, I highly recommend that you find someone's old smartphone to use in class! You don't have to have a data plan, just connect to the wireless! (I've never owned a smartphone, but I get my mom's hand-me-downs.) Then you could use plickers! All it takes is one smartphone in your hand, and the students get pieces of paper!
And if you have a computer to use at work (just one), you could show the students their plickers 'poll results' on a projector.
Thanks for reading!
I agree about how a few minutes cleaning on Friday makes a world of difference on Monday! I work in our district's curriculum department so I'm at a desk for most of my day. If I take 10 minutes or so to tidy things up before heading home on Friday, I feel so happy on Monday morning. There's just something about starting the week with a tidy desk that makes me feel like I'm starting my week fresh rather than drowning in whatever mess I left from the previous week.
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