Learner Activities

Learning is so complex and it is important to think about differentiating your instruction when teaching.  When differentiating there are so many things to consider:  how will I group my students?  How can I keep them engaged?  What activities should I focus on?

When thinking of learner activities for my curriculum web, there are a variety of goals I want to accomplish.

1. Keep the students interested and engaged.

2. Relate to my students.

3. Use real world scenarios.

The internet has such an extensive list of engaging activities for teaching my students probability.  On my curriculum web I want to include small, basic tasks as well as some project-based learning.  Students need to realize the importance that math has in the world and how it relates to them.  

Some links that I have found that might be helpful are:

The spinner game (to relate to my carnival activity I will be doing): Spinners

Making decisions:Stick or Switch

Looking at weather: The Weather Channel

Some of these sites will help my learners understand the concept of probability through real-life situations.  By seeing the information in context, it will allow them to grasp a deeper understanding.

Curriculum Web

Decisions, decisions.....coming up with a topic for my curriculum web has been tough.  What will my students like?  How will I hook them?

Who ever thought it would be so hard.  I know the topics inside and out and still, coming up with how to make the students want to go to the website and participate the activities is challenging.  There is so much to consider.....

Uhhhh, brainstorm and think!!

Curriculum webs are great tools for teachers, if students become engaged in the activities.  They are so underutilized and can be very effective.  Students believe that technology in the classroom is very productive and aids them in the learning process.  However, teachers feel it is a lot of work and many times useLESS in the classroom.

Hopefully, my curriculum web will be one that students not only find helpful in learning the topic, but one that is fun, engaging, and interactive.

We'll see......

Website Evaluation

The internet is such a useful source of information and there are so many resources out there for students to research. Many teachers have students 'surf the web' to find useful sites and information on specific topics. In middle school it is especially important to make sure you review with your students how to search the web and how to determine whether or not a site is a useful source.


A good way to determine if a website is a reliable source is to follow the Five W's: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. If these questions are ask, most likely, the website is legitimate.

I have found that students will google and click without really recognizing what site they are going to. To my students, EVERY site is a reliable source, mainly because it is convenient to them. It might be helpful to have students take an elective class that focuses on how to research on the internet and where to find websites they can use for projects and resources.