Bridgeway & The Khan Academy

Back on December 11, we posted a long article about the Khan Academy and how the online approach they're taking to education is revolutionizing some classrooms.  As it turns out, Khan Academy videos have made it into our own Bridgeway classrooms!  Here's a posting from one of our Math teachers on how she's using it to help students with learning disabilities.

Enjoy!

Rhonda & the Bridgeway team


By Jean Cain
Teacher, Bridgeway Academy

My name is Jean Cain and I have been a teacher at Bridgeway for the past 4 years.  All of my students have learning disabilities in different areas, such as listening, writing, reading, and math, so I have to come up with creative ways to teach the skills they need.

I use Khan Academy in my math skills class with some of my students.  A fellow teacher showed me this site last summer and I thought it would be a fun and useful additional resource my students could use.

My math classes have 6- 8 students in them at a time, and each student is working on individual lessons that cover topics or skills they need to review and practice. Students complete their work at their own pace.  I teach the initial lesson with the students often using concrete materials or manipulatives. Afterwards, those students who wish to use this website are encouraged to do so.

Students enjoy this website because it offers concise lessons that are taught step-by-step.  Salman Khan will talk out his reasoning while recording this information to solve multi-step math problems.  This is very beneficial to those students that find multi- step problem-solving challenging.   My students also like how he records information or steps using different colors.

The lessons can be paused and replayed, so the students can record the work at their own pace. Students that require more time to process material benefit greatly from this.  They’re able to create their own detailed notes that are well-organized. For my older students that find textbooks challenging for various reasons, this website allows them a more independent approach to learning.  I have seen an increase in confidence as a result.  Students can use this site at home to help with their homework, or receive additional instruction regarding a topic they’re interested in learning about.  Younger students enjoy collecting the badges and choosing which lessons they want to work on.

This site is helpful for most of my students and is definitely worth checking out.