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  • - I Tim Vandenberg and I've been teaching for 25 years,

  • 17 years in Hesperia, California,

  • sixth grade at Carmel Elementary School.

  • And Hesperia is a lower socioeconomic status area,

  • on average, especially among our student population.

  • 100% of our students at this school

  • are on free reduced lunch.

  • The traditional model among most schools

  • is just moving kids along by age,

  • whether they've mastered the skills or not.

  • So by the time they come to me in sixth grade,

  • they've got so many gaps in their learning

  • because they haven't mastered the skills K through five.

  • It's extremely difficult for most teachers,

  • probably all teachers to really meet each kid

  • at their individual mastery level.

  • You're gonna have a third of the class tracking with you,

  • a third of the class wishing you'd move faster,

  • and a third of the class wishing you'd reteach

  • that a few more times.

  • My goals as a teacher using Khan Academy

  • is for my students to master as much

  • of the grade level specific skills as they can,

  • truly master the skills.

  • What I do is I assign to each student,

  • the whole class, an entire unit.

  • For example, expressions and variables.

  • And then that next day in class,

  • we'll have a class lecture.

  • Students take notes in their math portfolios,

  • and we teach the skill of expressions and variables.

  • Then they dive right into Khan Academy,

  • start the skills in that unit and work at their own pace.

  • And those who need extra help,

  • they have the Khan Academy videos and hints.

  • And I also monitor the class.

  • I rove around and help kids

  • whenever they need help.

  • (students chattering)

  • When students master skills on Khan Academy,

  • they're so excited.

  • Their self-pride and self-confidence

  • just overflows and they start to believe they can learn.

  • It's so important in the learning model

  • that students find out immediately

  • if they are properly grasping a skill.

  • Through Khan Academy they get

  • that instant feedback after every single problem.

  • Is a correct or not correct?

  • And if they didn't get a correct,

  • they get to find out immediately

  • from the hints exactly where they might have misunderstood.

  • It's so important for students

  • in this day and age of technology,

  • to learn to communicate and interact

  • interpersonally with others.

  • By using Khan Academy to teach students

  • to support one another, instead of just being locked

  • into a computer screen, they're actually interacting

  • with their neighbors, their friends in class.

  • They learn to interact with others in all of life.

  • So as many good teachers love to do,

  • they take their top successful students

  • and spread them out in the class

  • and give them two elbow buddies,

  • one on each side of them.

  • I'm monitoring, I'm encouraging first,

  • students to help each other.

  • It's so much better when students help each other first,

  • because then they become so much more self-sufficient,

  • self-motivated, self-rewarded.

  • Plus, those peer helpers feel so special

  • as they reward their friends

  • with the help that they give.

  • That really makes it possible

  • to promote and increase teacher to student interaction,

  • because now the teacher is spending their time

  • where students really truly need the help,

  • on 32 or more different levels

  • in a class of that many students.

  • I don't have one math class.

  • I have 32 math classes.

  • Every single student is working at their own pace.

  • Now I can meet students where they're at,

  • instead of where the middle of the class is at.

  • Because the Khan Academy grade level skills

  • are so well aligned with the Common Core standards for math,

  • I can trust that if my students master those skills

  • before the state test, they will do amazingly well.

  • And they have for years now.

  • After class, I always make sure

  • to look at the data progress reports

  • on the teacher dashboard.

  • That really helps me know who is succeeding

  • and who is really struggling and needs extra help.

  • And then I set my pace and remediation

  • and instructional support accordingly.

  • There is no way I could have known to that great detail,

  • who is really getting it

  • and who's not without the help of Khan Academy.

  • - [Students] Yes!

  • - I love being a teacher because I love it

  • when kids learn to love learning,

  • and when they love learning,

  • they don't need me for the rest of their life.

  • So as they grow up and become adults

  • pursuing their own interests,

  • they've learned how to learn on their own

  • and they have a passion and desire to.

- I Tim Vandenberg and I've been teaching for 25 years,

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