Megan Mongelli

Megan Mongelli, technology integration specialist at Fort Mill School District, SC, offered a host of ideas for remote math instruction during the edWeb.net webinar, “Teaching Math Remotely at Any Grade Level,” sponsored by texthelp and edWeb.net’s “Building Understanding in Mathematics” community (www.edweb.net/ math). Mongelli, who taught elementary school, also offers a free activity for download on Teachers Pay Teachers.

When transitioning from paper to digital, take it slowly, Mongelli advised. Don’t introduce too many tech tools at once, and when you do introduce a tool, make it a digital version of something you have already done on paper, such as a worksheet.

Mongelli makes extensive use of Google Classroom, and invites teachers to view the activities she has created. To do so, first create a Google Classroom teacher account if you don’t have one. Then go to classroom.google.com with your personal Google account, click the “+” sign, click “Join class,” and enter code h773pb7. You can now use the following links to see Mongelli’s activities. You can also see this chart in the webinar archives at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SFTy7JMiTWaJWINc9W-saUokkogYSX98R7UVseBo98Y/preview.

Creating Digital Worksheets

Google Classroom

Replicate paper worksheets in Google Classroom. In this instance, students do the worksheet on paper and upload it to Google Classroom by taking a picture of it with a phone.

Google Slides

Google Slides allow you to make worksheets more interactive, such as drag and drop answers and fill in the blanks. Mongelli advised making the background as a jpg/image file so items on it will not move when selected.

Drag and drop activities (PRO TIP: Color code activities for quick grading in Google Classroom)
Fill in the blanks
Insert image of paper pencil work onto Slide

Creating Quizzes with Google Forms

Mongelli lauded the ability of Google Forms to provide instant feedback. You can also create a quiz where students cannot go to the next question until they provide the right answer.

Seesaw Activities

Seesaw allows students to use built-in annotation tools to capture what they know, allowing teachers to understand student thiinking and progress. It also provides a tool for engaging families in student progress. Check out the activities provided, then copy and edit them to customize them as you wish.

Activities (the free version of Seesaw allows 100 activities per teacher)
Copy and edit an activity to make it your own
Use the video and photo feature along with text an audio to find examples of math in real life.

Flipgrid

Flipgrid is a social learning platform that allows educators to ask a question, then the students respond in a video. Students are then able to respond to one another, creating a web of discussion.

Building a K12 Mathematics Flipgrid Community
Solving math problems with Flipgrid’s Whiteboard tool (YouTube video)
Disco Library (Topics created by the Flipgrid community to start your discussion — requires a Flipgrid teacher account which is free)
Fliphunt
Flipgrid AR blog which provides directions

Desmos

Desmos allows students to graph functions, plot data, evaluate equations, explore transformations, and more, for free.

See teacher.desmos.com video for an introduction
Polygraph exercise
Activity Builder

Pear Deck

Pear Deck is an add-on for Google Slides, which allows you to add formative assessment and interactive questions.

EdPuzzle

EdPuzzle allows you to customize videos for instruction. You can also take a video of your computer screen while doing a voiceover with Screencastify.

Article: Teaching Elementary Students to Tell Time with Edpuzzle
Take a video of your computer screen while doing a voiceover with Screencastify
Obtaining parental consent for students to use Edpuzzle

Math Manipulatives

EquatIO

EquatIO allows you to easily add complex equations, chemical formulas, graphs and more to G Suite for Education apps and Microsoft Word. It’s free for teachers.

Free tools and tips to teach math remotely at any grade level