By Clara Galan and Elizabeth LaPadula
Spring fever is in the air! This March, we’re excited to announce that we’re launching the new Spring Forward Math Toolkit, a free resource to help solidify learning in math and energize the students in your school. This spring toolkit focuses on some innovative ways to use TenMarks, in addition to external resources to nurture a culture of growth mindset in classrooms across your school.
The Spring Forward Math Toolkit, inspired by teachers, provides tips and strategies for grades 1 – Algebra 2, so it’s versatile across the grade levels. From worksheets to lesson planning ideas and teacher guides, you’ll be sure to find the math resources you need to keep your class engaged for the remainder of the school year and beyond. Please note that the Spring Forward toolkit enables you to mix and match different resources, and use the lessons and activities that you find most meaningful in your classroom.
Some highlights of the Spring Forward Math Toolkit include:
- Ideas to motivate, celebrate, and build confidence in math.
- Tips to focus on precision and analyze valuable mistakes
- Strategies for student goal setting and tracking in math
and more! By completing the full Spring Forward Math Toolkit with your students, you can also award them with this certificate exclusively from Amazon Education.
We look forward to learning how you’re springing forward in math with this year’s toolkit! Even better news, we’ll be giving away 4 $100 Amazon.com gift cards to four lucky winners to help support math classrooms across the United States! Enter for a chance to win by following @TenMarks on Twitter and clicking and retweeting this tweet: “Spring Forward Math Toolkit: http://amzn.to/springforward follow @tenmarks + reweet for chance to win 1 of 4 $100 @amazon GCs! NoPurchNec #sweeps" within the sweepstakes dates of Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 3:00pm PST to Tuesday, April 18, 2017 at 11:59pm PST. We will reply to the 4 winners’ retweets from @TenMarks with instructions on how to claim the prize. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. See Official Rules: http://amzn.to/Rules
We’re Inspired by These Teachers
This spring toolkit was inspired by teachers Dustin Ecker (MSD Warren Township, IN) and Amy Filiaga (Weber SD, UT). How did these teachers motivate students to complete TenMarks math problems? As we interviewed both teachers, we captured a few strategies and turned them into a menu of activities for you to try with your own students.
Domain Booster was designed from Ms. Filiaga’s wise words, “Students who continue to struggle in math often times are highly motivated when they first begin to have success. Success leads to a new confidence boost, and that feeling of excitement becomes addictive!” See how you can help struggling students begin to have that success with the Domain Booster Teacher Guide.
Mistake Mondays originates from another practice in Ms. Filiaga’s classroom. She shared with us, “It is absolutely okay to make mistakes. In my class, we make mistakes together.” The Mistake Mondays Teacher Guide is designed for teachers who want simple and effective ways for students to approach math with a growth mindset.
Both Ms. Filiaga’s and Mr. Ecker’s students used TenMarks monsters to monitor progress. “I want my kids to know, ‘This monster means I’m working on Geometry, or, I’m working on Number Sense”, Mr. Ecker explained. Ms. Filiaga agreed that some students are motivated by more visual cues: “Remind students how they can level up monsters and win accessories!” she urged. Monster Motivators is just one activity of many in the Spring Forward Toolkit to motivate your own students.
Focus on Precision Teacher Guide comes from Dustin’s experience, “I want students to work to the best of their abilities the first time.” Dustin realized that “Students were amazing at ‘gaming the system’. After answering a couple questions wrong, they learned to deliberately score low on the assignment to trigger an *Amplifier and then a Do-Over just so they could earn a higher score.”
“Remember when this was hard?” Ms. Filiaga says to her students after practicing a unit, “It was hard at first, but with practice, you get better.” Like Ms. Filiaga, you can use the Math Tracker Teacher Guide in the Spring Forward Toolkit to help students make goals for themselves and track their progress towards accomplishing them. Students will be amazed by what they can achieve!
*An Amplifier is a mini-lesson that is automatically assigned to students when they score less than a 70% on an assignment.
