Solving Word Problems with Tellagami and Aurasma

Last Wednesday, I gave my students a preview of our next project, and they were super excited to do it! We were working on two-step equation word problems, so I thought using Tellagami and Aurasma would be a perfect combination for our project. First I had the students write their own word problems. Once I had approved their idea, they typed up the problem and added a picture to go along with it, which would serve as the Aurasma trigger. Then they used Tellagami to create a Gami (movie) with their avatar reading their word problem. Next, they used Aurasma to create their aura, using their photo as the trigger and their Gami as the overlay. They thought it was so cool! On Friday, my two Pre-Algebra classes were supposed to switch problems to solve. Unfortunately, the weather did not know about my plans and kept us from completing our project until the following Wednesday. Finally, on Wednesday the students rotated through the stations, watching/listening to the Gamis read the word problem to them, then writing the two-step equation, solving it, and writing their final answer in a complete sentence. It was a very motivating way to get the students to solve word problems, which is usually one of their least favorite topics. App-smashingly fun!

Solving Equations with Explain Everything

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I love Explain Everything and the students did really well with it when we did our ice breaker activity ("All About My Partner" App-tivity) at the beginning of the year. I thought it would be the perfect way to assess their ability to solve multi-step equations because I could have them explain their thinking process as they are solving the equations. I wanted them to not only explain what they were doing, but why. This is great for the Common Core Math Practices! I gave each student the assignment shown. It looked a little overwhelming at first, but when they realized they only had to solve 7 equations, they calmed down. Each student had to pick one equation from each column to solve. I had them circle the problems they picked, and used this sheet as a place to record their grade. I graded them on how they explained it, how they showed their work, and the final answer. Overall, they did a super job!