From the first day of class, whether in person or online, we can take steps to foster community. The benefits of building community are numerous. Students can hold each other accountable for attending class and engaging in class activities. They can engage in group learning more effectively by knowing each others’ strengths and weaknesses. They can also engage in respectful classroom discussions involving multiple perspectives that could otherwise lead to controversy.

With the anticipated learning loss due to the pandemic, forced remote learning, and the ubiquitous use of technology for the classroom, there has been considerable talk about personalized learning. What exactly is personalized learning? What are the advantages and disadvantages of other strategies? And, most importantly, how do you implement personalized learning in the college math classroom?

Since I think everyone has passed the finish line (cue the song “School's Out”), I hope you have already had some time for rest and relaxation, or you, at least, have something planned. While our students are making the most out of their summer, we're wired a little bit differently. Yes, we need a break and a chance to exhale, but we also know what we should do to make our lives easier in the fall.

While you deserve this much-needed break, it’s also an excellent time to catch up on items you missed during the year-end chaos. In case you missed my May series, “Redesign Doesn’t Happen in a Vacuum” (videos below), I give practical information on buy-ins, funding, and impacted areas that will help you navigate your redesign.

I know that you’re giving everything you can to your schools right now, leaving very little time to read through emails and blogs. For Almy Education’s last April blog post, I’ve recapped all of our April communications (newsletters, blogs, emails, etc.), all in one centralized location.

Talking in the mathematics classroom is an essential skill for students. But HOW do we get students to talk math with one another? What steps can we take to support discussion in the mathematics classroom?

The concept of the exit ticket is that students must turn in a ticket before exiting the class. They are quick to administer, only requiring the last two to three minutes of class and they can provide good information on where students are in terms of next steps. In this blog, we talk about these four main purposes and how these exit tickets benefit you or your students.

Written online discussion forums are a great learning strategy for engaging students, for gathering assessment evidence, and to promote learning. Grounded in social learning theory, online discussion forums have such great potential. But too often they fall flat. Structuring them well from the start can set the stage for productive student discussions online.