WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 19 - 25 | NEWSLETTER 2

MATHEMATICAL KINGSMEN
TECHNOLOGY UPDATES IN MS. TAROG'S CLASSROOM

HELLO KINGSMEN FAMILIES!

The year is beginning to pick up as
students are getting their bearings back
together after more than a year of virtual
school. In this newsletter, I wanted to
introduce Mathigon and Desmos, 2
computer programs that will be used in
our classes to help our students grow in
math!

MATHIGON: A VIRTUAL TEXTBOOK

Going into our first unit of the year which concerns
Transformations, we will be using Mathigon (click here to visit
the website), a virtual textbook that allows students to
interact with the material. This textbook is very helpful
because it will read the material out loud and demonstrate
how some of these transformations work. As an online
textbook, when you hover your mouse cursor over underlined
words, a pop-up screen will pop up to give you the definition
of the word as demonstrated on the right. When reading
through the material, students will have the opportunity to
attempt problems in which they will be given immediate
feedback. Mathigon is the perfect textbook that students will
be able to access anywhere they are, whether if they're doing
work on home, at the library, or their friend's. This textbook
will help students practice the skills they've learned so far in
math, helping them to develop into stronger mathematicians
anywhere they are!
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DESMOS: A NEW FORM OF CLASS

NOTES AND WORK
In class, students will also be using Desmos, which is a program that
allows them to use math curriculum that aligns to Common Core
Standards. Students are given the opportunity to learn the material by
working on paced slides that relate to the lessons being taught. They
do this through a series of means: they can draw out the transformed
shapes as shown in a student example on the left. Desmos gives
teachers like myself the opportunity to program it to give student
feedback on problems that ask for number answers and to
demonstrate what the student inputs into the program (i.e., student
puts in a reflection across the x-axis and translation of 5 units right
and Desmos will show them what that looks like). I know that students
can be shy to share out their answers to the class, so Desmos has the
opportunity to anonymize students, giving them names of historical
mathematicians, as I show some students' answers on the board. This
gives some students who used to not be heard to be heard, which is a
great way to get more perspectives and students' voices in the
classroom. Beyond this, Desmos gives students the opportunity to
work on more challenging materials, challenge each other by creating
their own problems, and play amongst each other to demonstrate
their knowledge. Desmos is a great in-class tool that we will use
throughout the year to help develop our mathematicians' confidence!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THESE PROGRAMS

Mathigon Desmos
Virtual textbook that can be Immediate feedback on number
accessed anywhere! answers and teachers can leave
Immediate feedback on practice feedback as well
problems More student voices heard,
Text can be read out-loud anonymous or not
Video demonstrations and easy Ability to draw and work out
access to definitions problems and challenges

Questions about these problems? National City Middle School

Please ask Ms. Tarog at 1701 D Ave, National City, CA 91950
tarog@bc.edu (619) 336-2600