Despite being in the secondary school, pupils still enjoy playing computer games, watching YouTube videos and are interested in celebrities and sport. When aiming to personalise learning I try and target personal finance and real life situations in general. This will hopefully help pupils gain financial life skills that they will require throughout their future.

Usually i do the tipical frontal lessons, because I'm very young and i have very  little experience. 
Furthermore the italian schools don't have the tecnology to allow at teacher to do lesson with games.

 

My school has access to Internet in almost all classrooms but we have only a computer in there. There is classroom with 15 computers than also can be used. 
In the classroom I try to use some interactive resources as Geogebra and applications that our textbook provides. I also try to present to students videos and webpages that can help then in their study at home and also I provide some material by mail or Google Docs. But I feel some difficulties because we have an extensive curriculum e few time to work with classes.  The topics that students are most interested are Arithmetic, geometric constructions and obviously Data and statistics (because it´s easy, they say). Algebra is always a problem. Students like practical activities but sometimes they simply want a “quick answer” and fast way to solve the situation. What always work? What never works? It´s not easy to answer and it changes according to the group of students we have in the classroom. I guess games and computer applications (and currently smartphones applications), almost always work, but it´s not easy to make them understand the Maths they are seeing. 

However, personalized teaching can be done without the use of technology, simply by using work sheets. This way, each student works on its own pace and gets the help they want to finish the sheet. I used them last year a few times with very good results. Students that are very weak at math started to work and students that are very noisy suddenly focused and they also started to work. I simply add a few difficult exercises at the end for the best ones to deal with, if they finish the work sheet very quickly.

Last year, I had an optional course "Feels Math" at the 6th grade. We played games in the classroom and in the lab. We searched to connect math to real life. They really liked it.

My students also like the team work, but, because the large curricula, I don't always have the time to make this kind of activities.

In high school, it's a little bit different. I try to find stories to motivate my students to learn math, to understand why is math usefull. I try to connect math with another sciences.

What is working very well is the use of apps, particularly Kahoot. It’s amazing to watch their fun and engagement with that kind of activities.

In the first cycle (between seven and ten years) the students had access to computers and the internet and, last year, developed weekly activities with computer teachers.

Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is used as a virtual learning environment, to promote greater autonomy of students, respecting the pace of cognitive learning and provide a collaborative learning. This platform is mainly used as reinforcement of learning and it make available from time to time, tasks, games, quizzes, films and other activities for the enhancement of learning or use in lessons Study Support. Discussion forums are very popular and allow the sharing of resources found for all (students and teacher), clarification of doubts in the distance and the clarification of the same by a student or teacher.

In classes is usual to use films and presentations either to clarify concepts wants to encourage discussion and reflection.

In Portugal one of the TV channels invested in the production of short films he called "This is Mathematics" and sometimes they are a good starting point to stimulate learning.

All my students have to take final exam at the end of fourth grade, so I think I don't have much possibilities....

Sometimes I propose a difficult problem: I divide the class into groups and the group that solves the problem for first win. They can use Smartphones and Tablets.

My students have different skill levels. We have access to internet around our school. 

In my class, I often use our virtual textbook and its applications. When the unit allows, I use activities that requires the resource of GeoGebra and/or Excel. I also try to confront students with videos and webpages that can be useful for them to do some extra works. We use the institutional email and OneNote, OneDrive to share material we do during the class to provide them tools to develop their autonomy.

I note students prefer Statistics, Arithmetic and Geometric constructions. Algebra is always the higher issue. Students like activities associate to fast answers and not the ones that are associate to work, perseverance and dedication. Most of the times, they just want to get the result and don´t worry about the procedure. 

I’m use to work in pair with my colleague in my class and we can do an individual approach (when the class allows). In this situation, the students get more excited with their labor, dedicate, and try to do their best. This year we are doing a new strategy, the class is divided in 2 groups and each teacher gets out the class with one group and the other stays with the other part of the group. Less students, better approach, more individual explanation and self-motivation. I believe it is a step head to individual success of each student and in the end for the entire classroom. LkXnrrqk/aO��բw,

Playful aspect of mathematics is always greatly appreciated. Often I propose cooperative learning; boys are engaged in manipulative activities: card-game, dice, ice cream sticks, cubes, board games.

Last year I use Lego to explain math, this year I use Pokemon. Lego and Pokemon are the interests of my boys. Teamwork and manipulative activities allow all children to learn.

These classes have always loved by students.  They like challenge with computer and  each other.  

I am seeking for activities to better motivate and involve students in the learning process.
Frequently ask students to use the online resources of the book, solve interactive exercises and real-life problems,  use some tools like geogebra and excel. 

No. But it seems interesting. Going to explore them.

 

Would you want this information and how would you use it?

Everything that could be interesting to my students is interesting to me.

 

What kind of activities do your students like?

They love music. And they love to work and have a music select by them as a background.

They love mobile phones and tablets. Using them to learn makes their day.

 

What communities do they come from?

They come from several economic distinct communities.

 

What are topics they are interested in?

They prefer Calculus because they face it like a game. It has rules and they follow them.

 

What always works, what never works with them?

The same strategy doesn’t always works. It depends on the subject. I have to adapt according to my knowledge of them and my previous experiences with other students.

 

And how do you take all these aspects into account in your lesson planning?

Good knowledge of the person in front of you helps to prepare. When I know in advance that something won’t work, I have to chance my approach.

- Deliver instruction through multiple forms of media

- Gather and use immediate feedback on students' understanding

- All students shouldn't be required to show their learning the same way. Give students options

- Automate basic-skills practice

- Practice independent work skills

- Create a weekly "must do" and "may do" list

- Pretest students' knowledge before each unit

- Be flexible when plans go awry

- Let students drive.

This is what i do: 

First i provide the theoretical background (which in my view can not be personalized) so as to introduce the students to what is about to follow and to show the formulas i will implement. After that the diversification of my teaching begins since i try to give as much examples/sample exercises i can so as to cover the needs of all level students. Queries of all students are addressed and i try to answer in a way so as to emphasize always in what is of most importance having in mind that less capable students need to address exercises to a decent level. In that way i try to ensure a minimum level of understanding  for all the class. The next part of my diversification is that i give different homework to different level students, meaning that to the more capable students i provide exercises of higher difficulty as mandatory, whereas to the others i set the same exercises as optional. 

 The telling of stories always work, especially knowing the lives of mathematicians They want to know the life: they want to know how they lived, what they did, … see their 'photo' so I tell stories and narrative biography of the main mathematicians before start a new learning or I organize activities to be carried out in groups to engage them in hard or arduous activities

I’d like to find out something about my students’ preferred learning styles, something about their interests, etc. I’m trying to place games in my teaching, but I have not complex system of teaching and integrating such games.

In my teaching reality personalising isn’t much practised but it should be, I mean all teachers teaching math in a certain grade plan together and choose the same activities for all the class; these activities are reformulate at a lower level for the special needs students. This is the only “personalising” level usually is done; from the point of view of the learning goals rather than in terms of motivation or interests. But I’m trying to push the process further (and sometimes my collegues look at me as an alien…never mind!

With this class my “password” is flexibility: I plan something but quite often it becomes something different, even better, but different because of their requests and suggestions. So I know the topic I know the learning goal, I’ve in my mind two or three possible activities and this part is the most changeable one because they often set their own activities, maybe just a little changing but different from what I had asked for…! So my effort is to make their changes and proposal valuable for their learning process and connect them to the curriculum, it’s a sort of  upside-down planning process, not easy for me but very stimulating

Would you want this information and how would you use it?
 ​It's important to know where the students are struggling and where they are performing were well because I can know which topics need to be revised.

What kind of activities do your students like?
 ​ My students prefer the lessons in which we use technology, problem solving, watching video or when we discover together the solution of a everyday problems. My students are very fond of using games in the classroom. I use different learning methods to improve their mathematic skills like: computer games (http://www.hypatiamat.com/), web site of Maths or Geogebra software.

What communities do they come from?
 ​They are from middle class or lower. I cannot ask students to buy expensive materials like a tablet to bring it to school.

What are topics they are interested in?
​In general the are interested in sports, movies, music and drawing.

What always works, what never works with them?
 ​In my classes the students work in pairs, in groups and in projects.

And how do you take all these aspects into account in your lesson planning?​
​In my classes I try to use their interests and their knowledge.