LASD and Khan Academy Pilot

One of my favorite things about being an educator is having the opportunity to start fresh each year.  Along with a fresh start, I make a few resolutions regarding my professional practice, giving myself permission to think outside of the box and try new things in order to more effectively reach my students, to stretch my abilities, and to keep things interesting.

From your posts and emails, I gather that I am not alone in this beginning of school endeavor.  Your practical questions regarding Khan Academy implementation have been received and my objective in this blog post is to share a few things that my colleagues and I have tried that seem to work well.  Here goes…

I use the Khan Academy as a tool to meet the needs of my students.  My curriculum is aligned to the California State Content Standards, and I use Khan Academy modules and videos, wherever there is an overlap, in addition to our adopted textbook and other print and online resources when designing my lessons.  Each day my classroom works differently depending on our objectives.  Here are some examples of things my colleagues and I have tried:

• Khan Academy Contract - At the very beginning of the year, set up some kind of Khan Academy Contract that covers acceptable usage in addition to goals and objectives.  I like to have my students brainstorm ideas and work their thoughts into some type of class-generated document.  When students play a role in creating policy, they are more invested in sticking to the rules.

• Parent Letter – Send home a letter to parents at the beginning of the year explaining how you envision using the Khan Academy in classroom.  Help them understand that they can use Google or Facebook to set up a free account and have their child add them as a coach so they can view their student’s progress.  This is a great way to start up some meaningful math-related conversations around the dinner table.

• Khan Academy Journal – You MUST begin the year with some kind of Khan Academy journal (spiral, binder, notebook, something).  I use this for goal setting, for video related notes, and for scratch work.  I require my students to show work, when appropriate, for each module.  It’s also helpful when a module turns up orange in color and you have to go back and review to flip back to the relevant page and remind yourself of what you learned by reviewing notes and sample problems.

• Personal Goal Setting – My colleagues and I have our students set a personal goal each week with regards to the Khan Academy.  Their goals usually involve becoming proficient on a particular module but for struggling students getting at least 10 (not in a row) right may be enough.  Students are to work on their personal goals during class time (once they’ve finished the required work), during study hall, and/or at home.

• KA Rocket Runs – Many of my below grade level 7th grade students struggled with their math facts so, once a week, we would do a 2 minute “Rocket Run” where I put the “Energy Points Per Minute” graph on my LCD projector and everyone did the same module (Multiplication 0.5 or 1, Division 0.5 or 1, Multiplying & Dividing Negative Numbers, Adding & Subtracting Negative Numbers) moving as fast as they could for 2 minutes.  We noted the highest point of the graph and then had a little competition between classes to see who won (the 5^th grade classes had different sides of the room compete).  This practice motivated several of my students to finally begin learning their multiplication tables and everyone enjoyed a little friendly competition.

• Stations or Centers – Sometimes I’ll set up stations (or centers) in my classroom and have my students rotate through the stations.  One station might engage students in an in-depth problem solving activity, another will be at a table where I can work with a small group of students on a particular concept, and a third is usually a Khan Academy module or video.  This practice really changes things up, keeps the kids engaged, and makes time fly by.

• KA Videos for Direct Instruction – I’ve assigned videos for homework, I’ve had students watch them in class privately using earbuds or headphones, and we’ve viewed videos as an entire class.  I recommend watching the first several videos as a class so you can model active listening.  Regarding videos for homework, realize that some of your students may not have computer or internet access at home, so plan accordingly.

• KA & Homework – Regarding homework, I tried assigning a certain number of minutes per week for homework, assigning specific modules for homework, and videos (as mentioned above) for homework.  I liked assigning the minutes per week because that allowed students to work on their individual goals at their own pace.  The drawback was tracking the minutes spent outside of class time for each student.  I love assigning curriculum-related modules for homework because the software gives students instant feedback and the hints and videos provide extra support at home.  I also like assigning a particular video, on occasion, for students to view outside of class.  This is helpful when I want students to review something they have learned in previous years before moving on to a more complex concept or to give them a preview of what we will be studying in class.  The difficulty with assigning KA modules or videos for homework, as I have already mentioned, is access at home for all students.

• Project-Based Learning – KA has really freed me up to introduce more PBL opportunities to my low level students.  As students become proficient on a set of modules, I often allow them to begin working on a project requiring them to apply what they’ve learned and practiced using the Khan Academy.  Khan Academy is great for practicing the skills, but the concepts really begin to stick when they are able to see the math in context and understand how it applies to the real world.

• Self-Paced Units – In an attempt to give my students more choices and ownership of their learning, I plan to implement a couple of self-paced units this year.  My idea is to begin each self-paced unit with learning contract where students set some goals with regard to their pacing (these can be adjusted as needed) and select projects and/or activities to guide their learning.  Students will move through Khan Academy videos and modules as I oversee their progress, reteaching or intervening when necessary.  Each of these units will culminate in some type of major project or investigation that utilizes most of the skills learned during the unit.

• Miscellaneous
  • I highly recommend that you switch gears and take breaks (several days or even a couple of weeks) from the Khan Academy.  I find that my students need a break from time to time to re-energize.
  • Mix it up — use the Khan Academy in a variety of ways so it doesn’t become stagnant.
  • When students hit a wall or a hurdle that they’re having difficulty overcoming, encourage brain breaks.  They can work on some review or an easier module or look at their data for a little while before tackling the hard stuff.
  • Deemphasize energy points and the importance of streaks.  Some students get too competitive and others become paralyzed with a fear of losing their streak and won’t work alone.
  • Help your students understand how to look at and evaluate their personal data.  I like to have them pull up their focus graphs at the end of the week to make sure that they’ve used their KA time wisely that week.
  • I added all of my students as my coaches so they can view my data and see me as a learner as well.

I hope these ideas are helpful for you.  Khan Academy implementation is a work in progress in my classroom, shifting and changing depending on my students’ needs, our curricular goals and objectives, and our access to computers.

I am excited about the new possibilities that the 2011-2012 school year brings and hope that some of the ideas mentioned above become useful to you as you begin a new year.  Good luck!

I was thinking about what we’ll do with all of are energy points when we get to a million or something. I had an idea and thought the Khan people should give it a try:

Most people would like second chances in the modules if they are on a streak of 9 right? Well what if you could “purchase” second chances with your energy points that you earn. This would motivate people to try different modules since usually the harder ones are worth more points. Also this would motivate people to watch more videos, because they’re worth 700 points. This would lead to more knowledge, and more understanding in the modules.

I was thinking that since we have so many energy points already, the second chances should be a couple hundred points. I mean we don’t always want to have seconds chances every time we mess up, because that would lead to not challenging ourselves. I think this would be a great add-on to Khan Academy!!!

Here is the link to the story that aired during Anderson Cooper 360 on Thursday, June 2nd…

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/perrys.principles/

Very exciting for my students, our school, and our community.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_22/b4230072816925.htm

Here is a blog post from one of our recent visitors who came to see Khan Academy in action.

http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/node/1119

As a 5th grade student I enjoy doing Khan Academy. Each week in our class we set weekly goals. One of my goals was to finish the Arithmetic Challenge. I never really was looking forward to complete it! I started doing it and my first problem was dividing decimals. I have to say I’m not the best at that! I finished the problem then entered it in the box, and I got it wrong. It made me feel very discouraged, and from there on I didn’t want to answer any more problems (even though once you get ten right your streak doesn’t erase). I believe a second chance would motivate all of us and get us “pumped up” to finish the challenge!

Last week we had some visitors come through our classroom to observe students using Khan Academy. To the outside observer, the students were animated, sharing with each other,  and looking pretty excited about math.  In my teacher eyes, they were out of their seats more than usual, distracted and unfocused, and generally a bit loud. While most were busy working on KA, many were just horsing around and looking for silly ways to keep each other busy. This was not the usual feel for this time in our classroom. So, I asked them what was up. They responded with: “I’m kind of bored,” “I’ve done everything that I can,” “I don’t know what to do next.” I think we’ve hit the wall. Most of my students have completed a major chunk of the modules and the few they have yet to complete are extremely complicated and a bit over their fifth grade heads and require some major work and a lot of help. Now what? That was my question for them.

It never fails to amaze me how kids respond to this question. They came up with incredible ideas of ways to keep KA fresh and keep us all moving in the right direction. Here are some of their ideas:

1. Grouping – They thought it might work to group students who were stuck on certain modules together as a team so they could watch the videos and work through problems together. We decided we could put an “I’m stuck on” list on the whiteboard and students could find each other, or, if they felt they were an “expert” on that topic, could offer to help.

2. Create our own videos – They said that some of the videos were not as helpful as others or failed to mention certain steps. They thought they might be able to explain things differently and in a way that made sense to them. We discussed making some of our own videos and perhaps starting a wiki where we could post these additional videos for others to see. I can see this moving to an entire school wiki that is available to all of our students as we expand KA into other grade levels. They wanted to call it “Kid’s Khan Academy at SR.”

3. Create our own modules – While this is a great idea, it gets a bit tricky from the technical aspect, however, as soon as I posed the how question, I had 4 or 5 students jump in with ideas of using Scratch or suggesting other resources for help in this area. We thought these additional modules might be a great addition to a wiki site. To start, students are going to design modules on paper as we explore the tech issue.

4. Watch other videos – One of my students asked, “Can we watch the US history video?” Another said, “I watched the video on finance and it was pretty good.”  Sometimes we need a math break and so it was decided that it was OK to watch some of the “other” videos on KA when you were at that point.

5. Create “How to” videos – We thought about what might be needed next year by students who were new to KA. What would they need to know? What questions might they have? Could we create some short how to videos that could be made available to them (perhaps on our wiki site)? Some titles might be, “How to Mentor,” “How to Set Goals,” or “How to Navigate the KA site.”

Our list was growing and I asked them if they thought they had enough to keep them busy through the last few weeks of school. They said yes, but they thought they could come up with a few more ideas if I just gave them a few more minutes.

I know that KA is growing as we speak and they are continually building and adding on to the site, however, as we grow KA within our district, students are going to hit these walls now and then. You need to be creative and flexible to allow for these growing pains. Blending and incorporating KA into our math curriculum is a challenge, but a good one. For students to accomplish much of what they thought was possible, they will need some skills. These tasks require higher order thinking and some excellent communication as well as a solid understanding of the math concepts. I don’t know what we’ll get at the end of this road, but we’re all pretty darn excited to find out!

We will keep you updated.

Setting goals is not new to a fifth grader. Setting well informed, data-driven goals however, is a new experience. Because of the incredible data that the students have access to, they are able to look at their learning styles and analyze how they spent their time when using Khan Academy. As they set new goals each week, they must first look through all of their data and reflect back on the time they spent over the last week as well as analyze how successful they were in achieving their previous goals. Students are required to look at their focus graphs and progress reports, as well as their progress over time data on their dashboards. If I look at a student’s focus graph, I should be able to see what their goals were for that week. If they don’t match, then the student needs to look at why they don’t match and explain what may have happened. Perhaps they didn’t set a good goal, perhaps something got in their way, or perhaps they just didn’t put in the required time needed to make it work.

An example of a student's reflection.

Students turn in a new card once a week with their thoughts and reflections on their learning. They have had to really look at themselves as learners and think about their actions as they analyze their progress. The data is always available and continually updated as they work.

We have also discussed what makes a good goal. My students know they need to make goals that are reasonable and we’ve discussed that their goals need to have real value. It makes no sense to have all of your goals be way above your understanding without a clear plan for achieving those goals. It’s wonderful for students to challenge themselves, but they also need to find value in the challenges while not just wasting time or feeling totally frustrated.

Students are still working at setting better goals and really trying to get a clear understanding of how they learn. It’s difficult to step back and see yourself clearly and then be honest in your evaluation. I’m hoping students start to feel more comfortable with seeing themselves in this mirror and find value in the incredible information that they see reflected there.

Khan Academy is not always just about the math.

Khan Academy is a very interesting and helpful tool for us students. It builds a foundation for your math skills and also is fun at the same time. A few months ago, Khan Academy added badges to motivate younger students to learn. However, the students now have ignored the exercises and videos, only to focus on badges. There are six types of badges, the Meteorite Badge, the Moon Badge, the Earth Badge, the Sun Badge, the Black Hole Badges, and the challenge patches. The Meteorite Badges are common and pretty easy to get. The Moon badges are slightly harder to get, but still are pretty easy. Earth Badges are much harder to get. The Sun Badges are increasingly hard to get, and the Black Hole Badges are pretty much impossible to get. In our class, most of the people already have Meteorite, Moon, and Earth Badges, but only 6 have Sun Badges. Many students corrupt their learning in attempt to gain a badge.

Although it is pretty cool, earning a Sun Badge isn’t everything. It is not as important as understanding the exercise you’re doing. It isn’t the end of the road either. The problem here is that sometimes people rush through the exercise without learning it just to get a badge. The creators of Khan Academy added badges to make it more interesting and motivating, not to make you ignore everything else and just aim for the badges.

Even when you have a Sun Badge, there’s still a lot to do. There are many exercises and videos being created, and we haven’t even done every exercise yet.  Khan Academy will always be challenging.  We look forward to doing Khan Academy next year, even if it isn’t part of our math curriculum.

Here is the the slide show from our district presentation regarding our experiences so far in implementing Khan Academy. We provided a brief presentation to our staff about how we are using a blended model of instruction, bringing Khan Academy and our current curriculum together.

LASD & Khan Academy – 324