2014 Champion Spotlight: Coláiste Bhaile Chláir
Coláiste Bhaile Chláir, MATHletes Challenge 2014 points per eligible student category winners in the Secondary Division from Co. Galway accepting their championship cup at the National finals in May.
Coláiste Bhaile Chláir was a new school for the 2013-14 year, with only 1st year students. All 160 CBC students participated in the Challenge – making it one of the few schools to have 100% participation, and helping catapult them up the leaderboards in the points per eligible student competition. CBC volunteered to host the MATHletes Connaught finals, and 11 of their student progressed to the National Championship in Dublin. Jake Larkin came in 3rd in Ireland for 1st years.
CBC teacher Gareth Callan and 2nd year student Jake Larkin talk about using Khan Academy at CBC and competing in the MATHletes Challenge.
listen to ‘Champion spotlight: Coláiste Bhaile Chláir’ on audioBoom(function() { var po = document.createElement(“script”); po.type = “text/javascript”; po.async = true; po.src = “https://d15mj6e6qmt1na.cloudfront.net/cdn/embed.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();A teacher perspective: Gareth Callan
What was one of your most memorable moments of the MATHletes Challenge?
‘We were proud to host the Connaught finals (at CBC). Students and parents were willing to give up their Saturday morning and travel great distances in some cases to compete.’How do you use Khan Academy in your class?
‘Khan Academy provided instant feedback to both me as a teacher and to my students’. It was great for students who wanted an extra bit of practice at a topic and students who wanted to fine-tune their skills. It allowed students to move at their own pace, and access it from anywhere as long as they had a device.’What advice do you have to teachers who are new to Khan Academy?
‘Khan Academy & MATHletes don’t have to be a stand alone lesson – you can give it so students who are struggling, …Read More
Spotlight on: Galway Khan Clubs
Thinking about starting a Khan Academy Club for the MATHletes Challenge?
Here is a ‘recipe’ from the Galway Education Centre for a Primary level Khan Academy Club, brought to us by Nuala Dalton, Galway EC Khan Academy Tutor.
We all know that the best meals are usually those that don’t follow the recipe exactly, making a few additions and substitutions depending what is in the house. So learn, tweak, and consider starting your own club for the next school year!
Recipe for Saturday Khan Academy Clubs (Primary level)
Serves: 150 primary students each week
Time:1.5 hours per club
Ingredients:
2 Khan Academy Champions: Education Centre tutors, teaching assistants, or volunteers (good substituions include retired teachers, newly qualified teachers, parents, second or third level maths students, or excited community volunteers!)
1 space to hold the camps: Space should have reliable Wifi access (allow for 1Mbps per student for watching videos). It can have its own computer lab, or students can bring their own devices. Khan Academy has additional information on technology setup, device considerations, and using KA with limited resources.
20 students (+ or -): A large number of the children who attended the initial Galway camp in Oct 2013 continued to sign up for each subsequent camp right up to June 2014. Demand for places every week was far greater than could be offered.
A dash of hard work, a sprinkle of organisation, and heaps of passion for learning maths
And the not-so-secret ingredient: Khan Academy!
Preparation:
Find your Champions
Advertise opportunity to local schools, through email, flyers, or word of mouth. Make the invitation open, or ask teachers to nominate 2-3 students who they think would be interested in, or benefit from the club.
Create a Khan Academy coach account, and student learner accounts. Create a class and add students to the class. Parents should sign permission slips allowing accounts to be created for their students …Read More