13 Peer-Recommended Online Resources For Math Teachers
Math teachers enrolled with the Rutgers Alternate Route program recently identified and reviewed free web resources that align with NJ Professional Standards for Teachers (NJPTS). Direct feedback from more than 200 teachers was consulted when preparing this blog series. What follows is their recommended sites and an explanation of how they use the sites in their classrooms.
These online resources can be of service to math teachers of all grade levels:
“I utilize the services on Front Row every day for my 6th grade Math students. Pre- assessments are available by subject as well as adaptive activities and practice. My students can work at their own pace and be rewarded for their time practicing as well as their improvement. Progress is monitored by the website so I can access weekly updates on what the students are doing and how they are doing. This service also allows me to assign specific assignments, target concepts and also gain much needed benchmarks. I gave my students a "DO NOW" assignment today that was generated by Front Row based on their activity on exponents on the system to date. I will note that I found a few errors in the answer key but still appreciated the ability to offer an assignment tailored to all the students' needs without much effort on my part.”
“This is a great resource prepared by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. It contains lesson plans, activities, online resources, and interactive games for math students.”
Against All Odds (Module 19. Probability Models)
“This site is great. It introduces statistics through a series of 30+ video modules aligned with classroom lesson guides and student notes. Each lesson introduces students to a statistical context via real world application. Each series allows students to step into different lines of work and explore statistical applications. Additionally, Against All Odds provides teacher guides and for some of the modules teacher reflections to help avoid problems or difficulties other teachers have experienced.”
Get the Math
“Get the Math is an awesome site aimed at addressing real world algebra applications. Students get to explore how math is used in music, fashion, videogames, restaurants, basketball, and special effects industries. Student learning is supported by interrelated videos and interactive tools. Each module includes an interactive video lesson, either taught by a celebrity or a student; an assessment, reflections and educators use of the resources within their own classrooms, lesson plans, and editable student handouts. Best of all it is all aligned with the Common Core Standards and Mathematical Practices. I have used two of these modules in my classroom in the past and my students have loved them!”
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives
“National Library of Virtual Manipulatives lets you look at different math skills and practice them online. They have modeling, charting, etc. With Java, you can do the online version, or there is a paid subscription download version. The other website is XPMath where you can play interactive math games for one or two players. I use this website a lot in school as a center activity. The students love playing the games, but they're also learning their math facts and terms in the process.”
“TenMarks is a web-based educational program for mathematics teachers that provides comprehensive web-based math curriculum resources that align with Common Core standards. It contains multimedia resources, interactive lessons, and research-based insights. The website offers a free teacher account as well as a paid, premium subscription option.”
“I love this resource because it is filled with amazing lesson ideas. Each idea is organized by standard so I typically will search the standard I am teaching in to find ideas that reinforce what I have taught.”
“This is a quick and easy tool to for finding math worksheets. You can filter what skills you want the students to practice and then print out worksheets along with their corresponding answer sheet. It can be used for homework assignments or differentiating classwork.”
“This is an online graphic calculator and is handy for showing multi color equation graphs. I collaborated to create an online assignment using Desmos. The kids really loved it. I recently also started using GeoGebra, though it is an application you need to install. It, too, is a great resource for developing interactive lessons”
“Online graphing calculator site that offers a free online graphing calculator, where a teacher can create an activity or use an activity made by other teachers to introduce and teach difficult concepts pertaining to unit rates, lines, slopes, functions, trigonometry in grades 5-12. Teacher provides a code for all the students to use to join the activity and can ask students to perform certain tasks during the activity, making it a very interactive learning. Teachers can see student’s progress and the work they do immediately and provide feedback right away. Student engagement and learning increases due to the hands on nature of the site.”
Mathalicious and Socially Conscious Math
“Two websites that are great for learning math include Mathalicious and Socially Conscious Math. Both create engaging math problems that allow for students to be more invested in the material being learned. One of the challenges that math teachers traditionally face is that they are forced to teach content that is not on face value engaging to the students. Factoring and distributing or solving for X are not enticing problems to tackle, whereas books in Language Arts can be targeted at an age-range or a demographic. There's where Mathalicious and Socially Conscious Math - they target math concepts from two directions, one from an age-culture specific direction and the other from a social justice lens. Having pre-made topically relevant problems available is an incredible advantage for math teachers.”
“Our math curriculum uses Bar Modeling and this website has numerous tools to support it. Along with grade levels 1-8, it also includes word problems, logic problems, math game, math videos and problems relating to the common core. This is a beneficial website for elementary/middle school math.”
“This site offers a variety of problems specifically related to the curriculum (in this case 6th grade math). It has an increase of difficulty levels and the students can use the site outside of the classroom. It is a great tool for down time or reinforcement time at home.”
Heather Ngoma has over 25 years of experience collaborating with educators across New Jersey to drive education innovation. She currently serves as the Director of the Rutgers-GSE Alternate Route Program in the Department of Learning and Teaching, a program which helps career changers, recent college graduates, and other aspiring education professionals become licensed teachers in New Jersey. Follow her on Twitter @heatherngoma.
