Pre-Algebra Self Paced Class 2022/2023

Description

IF you prefer to spread this over a few payments head over HERE.

Do you believe a child should be taught to mastery? I do.
When I teach mathematics, I take every student’s understanding seriously. That’s why I do many of my assessments using diagnostic sessions where I watch the student solve the problems and notice HOW he/she is approaching it.  We’re made in the image of God, and His characteristics are what we use to excel at whatever He has placed on our plates. In class we foster respect, encouragement, and a can-do energy.

Curiosity is a contagious attitude.  Kids want to get under what’s the concept in each lesson because it becomes a feeling in the air – we’ve got to find the solutions and we do so with energy!

Text book is not required.  I draw all materials from a combination of my own problems sets and games  to a combination of materials available online and approved for sharing.

You can find a placement test HERE.

See the following note from Mrs. Kitty about the format of this course:

This is a SELF PACED class, so there are no live lessons. That makes it perfect for those who can’t meet during my scheduled live classes. I often have families whose students want to take my classes because they do well with my teaching style, but a specific class doesn’t fit their schedule.

Here is how it works: Each week on Tuesday morning your student will be assigned a weekly assignment that will be due on Friday. It will be in the form of a Nearpod Activity Link. Nearpod is easy to access and requires no logging in. When they hit the link, they simply put a name in – it can simply be their first name if they like. I will receive a report of their finished work. They will also receive, on Monday morning, their first of two recorded lessons in the week. That will also be a Nearpod link, and embedded in the lesson are my short video-recorded lessons along with interactive games, fun mini-projects, and polls. The results of their interactions with these are received by me, the teacher, through Nearpod. The fun mini-projects are just that – fun and mini. They won’t stress out your student, but they will get your student posting an “I have a problem to stump you with” game. To build a richer learning experience with the team of students taking this class, each lesson will have a challenge to see if students can (in the spirit of positive learning) come up with great problems to solve. Your student will share his/her problems by saying, “I have a problem for you… will it stump you?” We’ll see who is not stumpable!!! On Thursday morning they will receive the second of the two lessons for the week. It will be modeled the same way as the Monday Nearpod lessons with brief video recordings of me teaching and embedded places in the recording where your students can interact. Those interactions and the results of activities and games they do will be something that will generate a report for me, the teacher, so that I know they are participating and progressing. We will repeat that cycle for each of the four weeks and have a final assessment at the end that your student will do on Nearpod. That final will be embedded into the end of the second lesson of that week. Upon completion of the assessment, I will post a final report for each student. The activities can be polls, games, or quizzes. I will show them the results of this poll on the classroom page so that they can discuss it and get to know each other. There are match games, timed races to answer problems, fill in the blanks, and drag and drops. These interactions have worked well in my self paced classes! The material I cover along with the content of the videos is very much like the live classes I teach on the same topic. I have had many students and parents tell me they love my style of teaching and interacting with the students, but one of two obstacles get in the way of signing up for or staying in the live classes. Either there is a scheduling conflict, or the student wants to move at a more accelerated classroom pace than I can do in a live class because I believe so strongly in making sure all students are reaching mastery. With the SELF PACED format, students can go as fast or as slow as is appropriate for their learning needs. I teach each concept thoroughly and with positive energy so that students stay engaged. As I teach the content, I have the learners interact through Nearpod so that they are fully involved like they would be in a live classroom. Links to the Nearpod meetings will be posted to the SKraftyclassroom page each week on Monday and again on Thursday. The classroom page will be used for class administration discussions and any specific questions about methodology. The other discussions and communication points will be done in Nearpod.  We will also have a private Facebook group for students to ask any questions as they may come up.