EduGain

Using EduGains as an Educator

 

Benefits To This Site
The EduGains website is a great resource to have as an educator as it has many different components and elements to it that are useful within in the classroom and ones own teaching practice. There are specific lessons for teachers to follow that follow a 21st century learning model which engage students and help prepare them for the world they will enter. The lessons provided connect math with other areas such as financial literacy or digital manipulatives making it interactive and allowing for other areas of knowledge to be intertwined to further a students understanding. Lastly, there is a grade/ course overview that provides teachers with a scope and sequence to help guide their planning. 


How To Use It In The Classroom
I would use the different online manipulative tools and educational games as accommodations and extensions for my students. Using these tools is a great way to have students engaged in their learning and work at their own pace. Specific tools or games could be selected for students depending on their needs and students can all work at their won pace to accomplish the tasks.There is also a section called "Home Support" which I would use in my classroom as a guide for parents to help their children if they are needing extra support or wanting extra work for home.


3 Take Aways
Through this website there are many resources that focus on professional development for teachers. I loved the eLearning Experience modules and they are something that I will look further into as i begin my teaching career. These modules help teachers understand and support the mathematical learner, planning with young mathematicians in mind. There are also webcasts through this site on  empowering students in math, assessment in the math classroom, and math in action. Lastly, the RMS PL tab directs you to professional learning opportunities such as algebraic reasoning, building number sense, promotional reasoning, parent engagement etc. and is something that could be very useful knowledge before stepping into the classroom, in regards to mathematics.

Math Olympics 

Math olympics is a great way to make math fun and engaging for you students. By having them create teams and dress in corresponding colours, they are working on collaboration and group skills right from the beginning. As they move through the different activities, groups are able to work on multiple problems as well as different concepts. Math olympics takes the ownership off of teacher directed learning, and allows for more students directed thinking to occur. I would use math olympics at the end of a unit before a test as a way to review what we have done. Because students move through stations, math olympics allows students to move through all the different parts of the unit we have covered in a timely manner without feeling like they are overwhelmed with the concepts. How I would set this up is by having an olympic trophy and each unit counts as a different "event." Students would stay in the same groups throughout the year and at the end of each unit, we would do a math olympics and the winning team would have their team name placed on the trophy. Another way I would incorporate math olympics into the classroom is by having it after we get back from a long break as a way to refresh students about the concepts. This may be after Christmas break or March break, for example.