Summer Math Work

HI!  My name is Julianne and I am a math teacher in Idaho.  I am also an ambassador for Khan Academy.  I have been expecting summer Khan work of my students for the past 4 summer and I agree- it makes a huge difference when they return to school.  I am happy to share how I do it to see if it helps as you try to create your program and expectations.

Basically I send out an email to all parents as we leave for the summer.  I outline my expectations which include 10+ skill practice minutes per summer weekday.  I explain that I want students to work on the mission of the grade they have just completed.  Once that Mission is mastered, they should move on to the next grade level mission.  I have a number of students who are hoping to earn entry into an accelerated class.  For these students I lay out much more detailed Mission activity expectations.

Then about every 3 weeks I send out what I call my "Khan Kudos" emails.  I give electronic shout-outs for students who have practiced 10+ minutes per weekday, students who have earned a certain number of badges or more, students who have earned a certain number of points or more, etc. I also recognize the students who have made the most progress on their Mission.  These emails are pretty motivating.  Students love to make the Khan Kudos and, sometimes, they step it up if they don't see their name on the list.  In a number of cases, I have seen parents lay out their own expectations for their children when the parent does not see their child's name!  (I have found parents are also a pretty critical piece of keeping kids engaged during the summer months!)

Finally I give a Khangratulations! certificate at the end of the summer to students who have met certain Summer expectations.  Here is what the certificate looks like:

This year, I printed out coupons for my top performers and they were able to use those coupons during the school year to take 10, 20 or 30- minutes off one of their weekly Khan assignments.  (It seemed a fair trade-off to me for the amount of work that a number of these kiddos did during the summer!)  

I have found that the recognition and reward are a critical component of keeping students engaged during the summer- but there are lots of ways you could do it if email wasn't the right approach for your school! I hope this is helpful.  Let me know if there are questions I haven't answered!

I love that Khangratulations certificate!

Please feel free to use the certificate if you like!

Julianne

I am a 56 year old former lawyer. Due to 3 kidney transplants my career path had taken a few twists and turns. When I got better I went into teaching I self taught my way thru passing 6 MTEL's and becoming a certified teacher in Massachusetts over the last ten years my focus has narrowed to mathematics. I decided this year to take the high school and middle school MTELs. I have faithfully studied at least 4 or more hours a day on Khan Academy and it has been great. I can't wait to see the changes you make. Currently your program is comparable to any college course. Thank you for providing this service.

Hello Mr. Martin-

I am so thrilled to read your details of your positive experience with Khan Academy.  Your future students will be lucky because they will have such a positive and enthusiastic voice to introduce them to Khan Academy.  Not only that- you will be speaking from the position of an experienced user.  Thank you so much for sharing your comments with us!  Sincerely- Julianne Russell

I believe missions are gone now. Can you comment specifically on how you would set up summer math work so the teacher can see the student's progress? In my case, I'm the Administrator of a small school.  Can I set up the students and the teacher accounts (We use Google Classroom)?

Thanks,
John Spriggs

JSpriggs@CapeChristtianAcademy.com

Hi Julianne,

Love the certificate. Could I get a copy?

Rgds

HI Desiree-

I am happy to share a copy.  Where should I send it?  

Julianne

Hi Julianne, Perhaps you could leave a link to the editable copy here. I can’t post my email address. Not sure how else to get it? Thanks

HI Desiree-

Every time I try to upload my word doc to Google Docs it messes up the formatting- but here is a link and you can make a copy and play with the formatting till it looks the way you want!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hHcgei6vB2Afwups8ITZvC2X-JFu9yX5/view?usp=sharing

Good luck!

Thanks a million!