IXL for my students and me!

IXL is what I am most familiar with as I substitute at my district. The kids love this site and so do the teachers. IXL is a math program that a Pre-K class can use and you can move on up in the grades as well. My son is in the 6^th grade and every nine weeks his math teacher has her class to master around ten skills. She divides this up every two or three weeks.

IXL assesses your student’s understanding as they practice. A teacher receives a generated detailed report on each student. This enables the teacher to gain insight of the student’s ability and problem areas that need to be addressed. This software also provides information towards the progress of the state standards. You select your state and you can gain this information. Here is a link to IXl http://www.ixl.com  I have mostly used this with 1^st, 5^th, and 6^th graders.

One particular student in 1^st grade is really hyper and has difficulty staying on task and following directions. However, the teacher said to have “Johnny” use IXL and he will be fine. I allowed him to be one of the first students to gain computer privileges and I was amazed. He was focused and doing a great job at mastering his skills. Now, Johnny can’t always do all of his work on the computer, but when he does, he stays focused and this excites him to want to succeed.

IXL is also designed that students can practice math problems, look at the reports to see what they have completed or not, and it shows them their awards. This is something that most students are excited about-mastering their math skills. There is a time clock and a smart score so that they can see their success. One bummer thing, according to my son, is when you make a mistake you have to do more problems.

Overall, I believe IXL is stimulating for students and teachers. With me not being a teacher, it is difficult to know what I would do different. I am excited about the future of me teaching so that I can look into the success stories of my students and IXL. I believe that if I am teaching a younger grade, I will still want to implement IXL. For instance, in first grade they can learn online about addition word problems with sums to 10, estimating, money, and time. Using this software will help to break up the teaching process with my students and really help students like Johnny to be engaged in math.