Poll Everywhere
The website Poll Everywhere is a great tool to get students to actively participate during class. On this site you can create poll questions and students can respond via text or with a laptop or other device. The example above shows my poll question asking students about their favorite sport. Once students respond, their answers will appear, as you can see with the answer of "basketball." The teacher can choose to have students respond with an open-ended answer, choose from multiple choices, or click on an image to respond. I would use Poll Everywhere in my math classroom to have students answer questions about the topic of the day. Instead of having students respond to questions orally, I think they would be more inclined to participate using Poll Everywhere because responses are anonymous.
ToDay's Meet
The website TodaysMeet is another effective way to engage students in a class discussion. The teacher can post a discussion questions and students can post their responses. The example above shows a question about how teachers can use TodaysMeet to benefit students, with several responses posted. Although TodaysMeet may be more suitable to an English or social studies classroom, it can still be used in a math classroom, as well. I could use TodaysMeet to have students discuss a challenging math problem or talk about mathematical current events.
Google Sheets
Google Sheets are a way to collect data from students in an efficient way. The teacher can easily set up the categories and students can enter their data. The example above asked students to enter data about the number of states visited, number of countries visited, etc. This tool works nicely across a variety of subject areas for collecting data. Clearly, Google Sheets work great in a math classroom, especially when conducting whole class experiments or completing activities that require data to be collected.
Google Docs
Google Docs are another way to have students collaborate ideas. Everyone who has access to the document can edit it and add their thoughts. As people add to the document, everyone involved can see the changes being made. This is a great way for students to discuss topics that are being taught in class. Similar to TodaysMeet, in a math classroom I could have students discuss challenging math problems in a Google Doc. Google Docs also work great for group projects. For example, if students were grouped together and given a famous mathematician to research, they could brainstorm and pool their ideas in a Google Doc.
Google presentation
Google Presentations can also be used for class collaborations. Students can add information to the slides and share their ideas with the presentation. Similar to Google Docs, all information added to the presentation can be seen by anyone who has access. To piggyback on the group project idea mentioned for Google Docs, students could take their information from the Google Doc and create a Google Presentation with it. This way, all students in the group can be involved in creating the presentation.
Universal design for learning (UDL)
There is a TED Talk by Todd Rose called, "The Myth of Average." This was a very eye-opening video that condemned the common practice of "teaching to the average student," when in reality, no students are completely average. Todd compared student learning styles to body types. No person is completely average in every way physically, just as no student is average in every ability they have. The two visuals above demonstrate this idea nicely. The main point of the video is the idea that we need to "ban the average" and "design to the edges." The goal is to reach all students with the way we teach. This relates to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Universal Design for Learning is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution, but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs.