Do-Now Revamp!

Last year, I had a system for warm-ups/do-nows that I only utilized until around December.

I would project a problem (logic, review, etc.) and have students think about it. I became frustrated after a few months when pretty much nobody tried anymore. I needed a way to hold them accountable, even if it only took 5 minutes.

Introducing.... my do-now templates for this year.

My plan is to post this in Google Classroom Monday and have students turn it in on Friday (or whatever days there are in a shortened week). I will ask students NOT to move ahead, but I know some will. I think I am okay with that. I thought it would be too much of a hassle to post a new doc every single day just for a do-now.

I am going to use ideas from:
* my brain (such as my birthday do-now)
* SolveMe Mobiles!!! (I really love these)
* Would you rather?
* Estimation 180
* Which one doesn't belong?
* Visual Patterns
* review problems

My plan is to have at least two months' worth of these ready to go by the time school starts. Then if I need to tweak a day here or there, it is much faster than having to create a whole week in a pinch.

Students will work on this while I float around and check homework and deal with housekeeping business. Since I will only have a maximum of 12 kids in a resource level class, I do not need all that much time for housekeeping. :-)

Formative! (My new favorite tech find!)

Introducing... formative... my new favorite tech resource!

I was looking at different apps or sites I have used in the past (Exit Ticket, Socrative, etc.) and saying "man, I wish these were a tad more user-friendly and math-friendly". Well, folks, enter formative. I have only been playing around with it for a few days, but I am currently in l.o.v.e.

You have two main options: (1) create a new assessment, or (2) upload an existing file.

I'm going to start with option 2, actually. Sometimes you already have a great worksheet made up and want to use it... but want to go green. My district is 1-1. Last year I felt like I was making too many copies but I did not want to recreate EVERYTHING I used all year. Well, you can upload a worksheet and have the students answer questions there. It will look something like this while you are creating it:

You can choose between four different question types/answer options:

Multiple Choice
Text
Drawing
Take Picture

Here I used "text" and "drawing". I can foresee using "take picture" in the future to have students snap a picture of their work for complicated problems that they cannot simply type their answer or equation in. Like I said... more math-friendly than Exit Ticket or Socrative.. at least so far!

When students complete the assignment, you can see live results. Not only can you designate an answer key, but you can grade them right there and then... on a scale. So if the question is worth 10 points, you can award 10 or 7 or 3 or whatever you want! SO EASY! 

Back to the beginning... option 1 is to create a new assessment. Want to create a quick exit ticket? There you go! Want to create a new quiz or assessment from scratch? There you go! You have the same answer options as above, but you get to create the question and/or prompt.

Are you in l.o.v.e. yet with Formative? Go check it out!