Khan Academy Incentives and Data

Khan Academy is a huge deal in my classroom.   Students practice on Khan every week to gain energy points for our Touch Down Competition.

My bulletin board that shows each class' standings.

Why do I love Khan?  

First of all, many teachers think Khan is just videos.  It's not!  Yes, there are videos to support the students when they are struggling with a skill. But even more, it's actually a free site that allows students to practice and apply what they have learned.  The questions come in different formats and different types of applications.  

I LOVE Khan because I am able to monitor student progress, use class data to modify my lesson plans, encourage students to take ownership of their learning, and challenge ALL my 7th graders.

How do I use Khan in my room?

Many teachers struggle with how to manage Khan Academy or how to actually use it in their rooms. I teach 3 different levels of mathematics, and I have over 100 students.  Every class is managed differently because the needs are different.

The most common way that I use Khan is by creating playlists with skills that are connected to units.  Students work through these playlists at their own pace.  The goal is for them to master the skills in a given time frame.  I'm currently creating these playlists as I go this year, so I don't have all of them finished.  I do have two completed that I can share here.  The first one is an introduction to negative numbers: Khan Playlist- Negative Numbers  The second playlist is operations with integers: Khan Playlist 2 Operations with Negatives . If you are just starting out with Khan, I completely understand if you are overwhelmed and don't start making playlists yet.  It has taken me four years to really get the hang of Khan and own it in my room. Have no fear! there are sample playlists other teachers have made on Khan that you can use, and Khan has already organized skills by common core grade level.  It's that easy.  Currently, I am encouraging my students to master all 7th grade skills this year on top of my playlists that pull skills from 6th-8th grades, and algebra.

Grid Format

Students tend to feel overwhelmed with too many skills on a playlist, so I break up my units into 2 or 3 playlists.  This allows me to track their progress easily too.  On Khan, there is a ton of data that helps me plan my small group instructions for the day.  If you go to the grid format on Khan, you can type in all of these skills from the playlist to see who is struggling, and who has already mastered the skills.  If there are red or struggling students, I meet with them to give support on that skill.  

What are students doing while I am working with small groups?

Khan is usually a whole group day of working, or it is done during my MATH workshop centers.  

While I'm pulling small groups, I put the real time screen on the smartboard for students to watch how well their class is doing based on the amount of points per minute they are earning as a whole.  They get really excited. They don't realize it, but it also lets me know if students are staying on task while I'm with a small group.

Real Time Report

I will sometimes hold a "rocket run." Using the Manage Students, I split my class into two teams.  I then project the Real Time report.  I give the first team 3 minutes to earn as many energy points as possible. I repeat this for the second team.  The team with the most points win in that time wins.  (Thanks to teachers in the Los Altos School District for this idea!)

What do I do to intrinsically or extrinsically motivate students?

Encouraging students to work on Khan inside and outside of school is usually really simple. I've been really lucky with the group of students I have had.  I'm very consistent with giving feedback with the data I received, and I make sure to praise students for badges and energy points. I have a few classes that are pumped and really get a thrill out of the challenge and competitiveness.  However, I do always have one or sometimes two classes that have a few students that just haven't joined the bandwagon yet.  In order to try to bring awareness to the fun in Khan, I decided to really bump up my competition and prizes.  Here is a great video from a teacher who I have stolen most my ideas from.  She is awesome, and I WANT these posters!!!

  

Instead of using these posters, I allow the students who have earned the most energy points within a week to write their names on my classroom window with Crayola window markers.  I have no idea why, but there is something special about writing on objects that they never get to write on. The kids think this is so cool!  Those students also get a lightsaber (a nifty pencil), 3 munchkins, and the use of my cozy teacher chair for the following week.  All students get stickers for receiving badges.  I stole the decorating binder idea from the video.  

Please tweet me @mstassbsd 
I am constantly adjusting how I use Khan each year, and I'm super pumped with the progress I see from using Khan with my students. My students are so much more active in their learning.  As a teacher, I feel it is helping me motivate them to take ownership of what and when they learn.  It is so exciting!  I wish I had Khan growing up!