Each new school year students enter into the classroom with gaps in their prior knowledge. The challenge of how to address those gaps, while simultaneously introducing students to new grade-level standards, is a difficult balancing act.

Many Knowre Math students start the new year off by taking Knowre’s Ready? Check. Go! (RCG) diagnostic. The RCG was created to identify incoming skills gaps by giving students a chance to show what they know on key topics from the previous year (ie. 7th graders take a Ready! Check. Go! focused on 6th grade math skills).

I spend a lot of time talking with teachers about data. Data is at the core of much of what we do at Knowre and it is also at the core of how many of our teachers make instructional decisions in their classrooms. 

In most classrooms teachers are the primary collectors and analyzers of data. In a smaller number of classrooms, however, teachers are opening up this process to their students as a way to further engage them in the learning process. 

A large number of teachers began using Knowre Math for the very first time last March. That means that for many the program has only ever been used in remote or hybrid models. As schools across the country begin to shift towards more in-person learning time, you may be wondering about how best to transition your use of the Knowre Math program back into the physical classroom. 

Read on for some tips and don’t hesitate to email support@knowre.com if you want 1:1 help making the transition. 

This year attendance levels are down and we’re hearing from many teachers that the volume of work being turned in by students who do attend is down as well. Over the past month many new schools have started using Knowre Math to help address the challenge of make up work. 

In this article we will explore some ways to use Knowre Math for make up work and specific considerations in order to set teachers and students up for success. 

What if for a day or week you chose to shift the responsibility of creating assignments to your students? 

At this point in the school year, and this point of hybrid/remote/in-person learning, students have a strong sense of the independent learning tools available to them. They very likely also have a sense of what they need as a learner even if they aren’t able to articulate it. Empower students to act on these insights by giving them the responsibility of determining the contents of an upcoming assignment. You can start out small and have students make a one day plan, or challenge students to come up with a week’s worth of assignments for a particular subject area. 

As students return to school after winter break goal setting can be a useful exercise in refocusing effort and attention during what can be a challenging transition. 

The most effective goals are co-created with students. Co-created goals foster more of a sense of buy in and agency on the part of the student. Students are often told what they need to do so allowing them instead to take part in the goal setting process can go a long way towards increasing engagement. 

After our November update there is lots of new data available on the Teacher Dashboard. This article dives into three questions that you can answer using this detailed information and also includes ways to use that data to take data-driven action in your classroom to support student learning. 

With many schools across the country pausing in-person learning due to spiking COVID-19 cases, we wanted to take some time to focus on best practices for using Knowre Math within a remote learning environment. If you've already been regularly integrating Knowre Math into your weekly practice with your students you should be able to transition quite seamlessly into using the program for remote learning. 

When using Knowre Math in a remote learning environment students should use the program during asynchronous learning time.  During times when students and teachers are together the data provided on the Teacher Dashboard can be very helpful in identifying areas of focus for work with individual students, small groups of students, or the whole class. 

Teacher feedback drives Knowre Math program development. These new updates reflect requests we’ve received from teachers regarding the need for additional insight into student performance on assignments. It is our goal to continuously improve the program to better meet the needs of you and your students so please don’t hesitate to send feedback our way. 

Student engagement is one of the most common challenges faced by teachers who are currently implementing hybrid or remote learning models. Between technology challenges, video conferencing fatigue and the regular distractions of working from home, it can be difficult for both teachers and students to concentrate and engage.