How do I get started using Khan Academy as a teacher?

Welcome to Khan Academy! This guide contains essential information on how to get started using Khan Academy in your teaching practice.

Step 1: Identify your goals in using Khan Academy 

There are lots of ways to use Khan Academy as a teacher! Below are 3 tracks for you to choose from to help get you started. 

• Track 1: Do I see myself using Khan Academy material to aid in my instruction?
• Track 2: Do I want to use Khanmigo to help prepare lesson plans + refresh my knowledge on subjects I am teaching?
• Track 3: Do I want my students to practice on Khan Academy itself so I can track their progress and scores?
  • Did you know we've seen that with just 30+ minutes of usage per week, students were 2.5x more likely to meet their grade-level standards?
  • Here are some ideas on crafting a classroom routine using Khan Academy

Track 1: Using Khan Academy material to aid in my instruction
Khan Academy offers a variety of material in 50+ languages for you to do so! We have articles, videos, exercises, quizzes, unit tests, and more that you can present to the whole class during instructional time.

Find material on https://www.khanacademy.org/ by: 

1. Creating a free teacher account
2. Clicking the "Browse Subjects" on lefthand menu, or searching for a topic or educational standard in the search bar
   - This site also has all the Khan Academy content based on USA state standards 
3. You then can bookmark Khan Academy material in your web browser or make a list so you can have it handy to use with your students.

Track 2: Using Khanmigo as my teaching assistant to help prepare lesson plans, refresh my knowledge on subjects I am teaching, and more

Did you know we have lots of Khanmigo activities designed just for teachers? Use Khanmigo to help with lesson planning, rubrics, exit tickets, and more! 

You'll see all the Khanmigo Teacher Tools on your account's lefthand menu as well.

Once you create material with Khanmigo, you can refer back to and export it on the Documents section. 

Track 3: Get your students working on Khan Academy

We are so excited you want to get your students started using Khan Academy!

Before even getting your student's accounts set up, we recommend you develop a classroom routine based on:

1. When you and your students have access to technology

• Are there a few shared devices in your classroom, or does every student have their own? 
• Do your students have access to a computer lab?  

2. How much time you have for Khan Academy. Some ideas are:

• "Khan Day”: On a specific day during the week, students work on Khan Academy for a part of the period. 
• Homework, bell-ringer or exit ticket: Daily or a few times a week, students will be assigned a video, article, or exercise, on Khan Academy to review the concepts they learned in class.
• Khan Academy Station or Center: Incorporating Khan Academy into your existing centers routine
• Incorporate Gem Rewards in your routine as a way to celebrate progress, and maybe have a friendly competition between classes ;) 
  

3. What goals are your students working towards?

• Are they studying for the Digital SAT? Filling in skills gaps? Understanding these goals will help you craft your plan. 
• We also recommend you check out the Resources section of your account. There are lots of helpful documents on there to get you started 

Next: setting up your account, your classes, and your students' accounts

You're almost there! But first, you and your students need to get logged in. Check out these resources to do so: 

• How can I create my teacher account?
• How do I add additional classes to my Khan Academy teacher account?
• How do I get my students' accounts set up on Khan Academy?  Below are the most popular options to do this: 
  •  
    • Have students add themselves by class code. Each class has a unique class code. Students can enter the class code at https://www.khanacademy.org/join to create or log into their account and join your class.
    • Have students log in via Clever Library. You will need to install the Khan Academy Clever tile 
    • Have students log in via Google SSO. If they are under 13 and don't have an account, please have them do this from the class join code page though. 
    • Add students without email accounts. You’ll create Khan Academy accounts for them

Next: Create Assignments and Unit Missions

• We recommend setting Unit Missions so your students have a chunk of work to complete, and then using the Teacher Reports to decide when to give individual assignments as needed based on their performance. 
  
• Assignments can be used in a variety of ways, with some examples being:
  • Assigning the Course Challenge to gauge students' understanding of an entire course, reinforcing particular topics, or practicing tricky skills for upcoming state assessments. 
• Check out this help center section to get you started: Making assignments and Mastery Missions for your students

Next: Track student progress through reporting

Khan Academy offers a variety of reporting options for you to track student progress, with options based on assignment scores and Mastery progress. Check them out here! 

Next: Support student motivation and growth mindset: 

• Learning new things can be hard and vulnerable! We have this Growth mindset course and lots of motivational resources like the below Khan Koupons to help your students stay motivated

Finally: Embrace flexibility through adapting your routine to your students' needs, and turn to the below resources if you need help! 

• Khan for Educators Course 
• Teacher Resources available directly on your account 
• Teachers and Coaches Section of the Khan Academy Help Center 

As always, you can reach out to the Khan Academy support team through this link if you need to talk to a human. We are here for you! You got this.