The Future of Transcripts

Rethinking the Future of Transcripts

Sal Khan once again challenges us to rethink our current system. This time the focus is on how we assess applicants for college and the workplace. He clearly makes note of the following challenges:

  1. Given there are limited resources available for extensive postgraduate training, how do we decide who is most worthy of these opportunities?
  2. As school applications arrive from around the world, how do we compare students from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds?
  3. How do we keep a fair playing field when some students benefit from the wealth and connections into which they were born?
  4. Do a GPA and standardized test score give us any insights into a student’s creativity, perseverance and unique character?

 

Khan acknowledges that certain testing can provide objective data in regard to a student’s preparedness. He clearly distinguishes the difference between a student’s preparedness and potential. So how do colleges and businesses decide whom to accept and hire? Many colleges and employers will attempt to gather more information about an applicant by inquiring about extracurricular activities and/or requesting third-party recommendations. Many students must submit written essays as part of the college application process. Do all these elements truly provide us the insights we need to make the best-informed decision about a particular applicant?

 

Khan’s vision of future transcripts involve these key  components:

  1. Do away with letter grades. Mastery of concepts is the goal and students should only progress when they can demonstrate mastery in a content area.
  2. Standardized testing would involve content that changes from year to year, incorporate an open-ended design component, and involve more meaningful tasks. Tests could be retaken as students become more skilled in an area.

 

Perhaps the most meaningful and thought provoking change to future transcripts would involve “a running, multiyear narrative not only of what a student has learned but how she learned it; and a portfolio of a student’s creative work.” (page 217) Today’s technology and that of the future will give us the ability to record a student’s academic journey. We will be able to observe problem solving skills, work habits, creativity, perseverance and other personal characteristics. Khan acknowledges the importance of each student’s “ability and willingness to help others.” (page 218) He believes software could be developed to easily track this type of data over time noting “a generous student will grow into a generous colleague. Someone who communicates well in school will likely communicate well in life.” (page 218)

 

As I reflect on this reading I am excited about the idea of a “creative portfolio” as Khan describes it in this chapter. I believe our students possess many wonderful “hidden” qualities that a typical transcript might not convey. Having the ability to gain insights into a student’s intellectual journey over a K-12 year period sounds like a game changer! Could our Seesaw adventure be the beginning of something much bigger?

 

Redefining Summer

summer-reading-photo-arden

In this chapter, Sal Khan talks about his ideals and how it would be to have schools open and in session year round. He refers back to the 18th century when most families lived on farms and families depended on the children to help feed their families. Food came before an education. He talks about bringing our education system up to the twentieth century, let alone the twenty-first.

One of the first points in the book that I spent a lot of time thinking about was the amount of time our buildings stand empty during breaks and summer vacation. I know that they are used for a few hours here and there, but they are never used to their fullest potential. I have never heard of the option of educational classes offered 6 hours a day during the summer for children and parents who want to continue to learn over the summer. I wonder if our education system is ready to handle children who advance at that rate? What a fabulous opportunity to offer classes to children who want to expand their knowledge in various areas. The district could offer multi level classes and full day learning opportunities for children in grades K-8.

Another area I have been thinking more about is reading over the summer. I do believe many children read, but lack the higher level thinking that is involved during school hours. I feel that we can enhance their reading with an option like a Blog, Skype or book discussions at Kipling. As a school if we all read 2-3 books over the summer and either have weekly discussion groups at Kipling and/or Blog or Skype about the books the families would have a reason to encourage the children to read and discuss what they are reading. This activates and engages their brains. I feel like this could be carried over to math game night for various grades as well. Again, this would activate and engage the brains of children.

We are lucky in our district to have so many families who have access to the internet and devices at home. I do believe we should be encouraging more continued use of programs like Khan Academy over the summer. I believe as a staff we should talk about how we can enhance the usage and feedback to our students over the summer to create and encourage more student growth. If children know that we are engaged in their work over the summer, many children will continue to use the programs like Khan Academy.

I believe that in the past, summer came and I encouraged students to do school work over the summer and I even gave direct links and skills for each student. Many children would complete some assignments and read a few books. After reading this chapter on Redefining Summer I have a new perspective on my role and responsibilities for students I am passing on to the next grade. I believe I should be open to offering them as much learning as they want and summer shouldn’t stop them. As an educator, I should encourage and continue to provide feedback to my students during the summer months.

As a school and district, I believe we are in the forefront of education. I feel that this should be a discussion that we should be having on who and how we should be monitoring our students year round. We may not be physically in the building year round, but I do believe after reading this chapter, I can encourage and provide feedback to my students which would make a huge difference in the following year.

Questions I Still Have:

How can I best encourage my students to truly be engaged in learning over the summer?

How can I help them continue to learn over the summer?

As a school/district what opportunities, support, programs are offered to continue to stretch their learning?

As a school/district do we want to put anything in place to push all students? Set goals for summer growth?

 

Written by Carolynn and Danna

ordered chaos is a good thing!

ordered chaos is a good thing!

dare-to-begin

Walk into any classroom and what do you see? Is the classroom that you observe the same type of classroom that you once learned in as a child? What do the desks look like? What do you notice the students doing? To you, what is the ideal classroom? Why?

These questions are ones that are often not discussed openly. Yet, why is that? How can we change the way that we “do” school? Well, for starters, there is a risk, right? I mean we haven’t made drastic changes to school well, since forever in America. Why is that? Is it because we don’t know how, or we haven’t given ourselves permission?

In Salman Khan’s chapter, “ordered chaos is a good thing!” he shares his dream of a perfect classroom/school. In this classroom of the future (well, I hope in some schools, present day!), the classroom is one that is designed to break down the physical walls to allow students the mental freedom to explore and learn.

Khan describes his ideal “ordered chaos” to have areas where students can learn content more deeply without the restriction of bells, but rather within different subgroups with only one to two hours a day to focus on foundational skills. As a leading innovator of “flipped learning” he does not focus on large groups of students learning via video, rather, he dreams of spaces where students have a focus to their learning. In these spaces the students are leading under the guidance of the teacher who has created spaces within the classroom for ordered chaos.

To many educators reading this, this can be frightening and overwhelming to think about.  How would this work? Where do you even begin? To me, as a leader, and former teacher, I read Khan’s dream and think what can I do to inspire and challenge others to “dare to begin”?

I always ask myself what does it mean to “dare to begin” as a leader. Well, it started three years ago with an office cart and my laptop. My first year as an administrator at my new school, I walked the halls meeting with students and staff using my office cart as my mobile office. This, for me was a risk. I could have spent my time in my office, rather than the halls, but I asked myself, how can I make a small change to show others that I am willing to take a risk and be available?

Then, during my second year, I heard about a walking desk from Amazon (click here to see my walking desk)! It wasn’t that I had a walking desk hold my laptop and coffee; it was that when I am at my walking desk, people know that I am available. Available to listen, share, connect, problem solve etc. People saw that I was there for them and that I was accessible. This small change in where and how I spent my time at school changed my relationships with others. It made a difference in the baby step that I took. I dared to begin.

I am not suggesting that you should get a cart from the cafeteria and walk the halls. What I am suggesting is to think about what daring to begin means to you? It doesn’t have to be big; it starts with taking the first step. What does your first step look like?

Maybe it is starting with the why?


And then the where.

And then the what.

Then, dare. to. begin.  

Teaching as a Team Sport

Teaching as a Team Sport

imgresAs I read this chapter, I understood what Sal Khan was saying about how teaching should be more of a collaborative and supportive community. Luckily, I truly believe Kipling exhibits a community of educators that are supportive and there for one another. In this chapter, Sal describes teaching as being one of the loneliest jobs in the world. He said that “there’s no peer support, no one to consult with, no one to ask for help or confirmation (197).” Boy am I happy that this is not how Kipling is. I feel like we are constantly getting support from our team members, our coaches, and other staff members. Many of us take opportunities to teach together and learn from one another.  We do an AMAZING job at asking for help and guidance, and truthfully I feel like teaching is a team sport at our school. I know that in some schools this is not the norm, but I definitely think that the staff at Kipling take opportunities to work together and collaborate, in order to grow and learn from one another.

The chapter was split up into two parts. The first part was about the benefits of multiple teachers teaching a classroom of students. Khan believes that teachers should not teach alone. He thinks that there should be a multiple teacher arrangement in all schools. I truly believe that this is a great idea. It allows teachers to work with one another, build their ideas off of each other, and teach using various strategies that can help all students. I personally love teaching with other teachers, and I think it does make a difference in the education of our students.

Positives of a Multiple Teacher Arrangement:

  1. In a one-teacher classroom, what you get is only one teacher. This means that students only get taught the specific way the single teacher teaches. The strategies that the one teacher uses, may not be best for all students in the classroom.
  2. A multiple teacher arrangement would provide each teacher the opportunity to focus on what he or she does the best. Since no two people have the same strengths and weaknesses, students would have the benefit of being taught by teachers that know the most of what they are teaching and express their thoughts differently.  
  3. Help with teacher burnout. Giving teachers the support and help everyday would make their work less stressful and allow teachers to mentor each other. This would help teachers from feeling less alone and more supported.

The second half of the chapter was about how Khan believes that students like their coaches more than their teachers. I definitely understand his point. He believes that since sports or other activities are the students’ choice, they develop a better relationship with their coach. Since school isn’t really a choice, students do not feel that same connection with their teacher.

Here are two reasons why Khan thinks that kids adore their coaches, but do not adore their teachers:

  1. Teachers represent what students have to do, and coaches represent what they’ve chosen to do. Even though we do provide choice in the classroom, students do feel like they have to be there, even on days that they do not want to be.
  2. Coaches are always on the student’s side by helping them be the best that they can be, in order to experience the thrill of winning. Khan said, “When kids win, coaches celebrate with them, and if they lose, coaches comfort them (200).”  Even though we may support the students in a similar way, being there for them through the ups and the downs, students do not look at their teachers the same.

What I thought about this part of the chapter is that I want students to chose to be in my classroom. I want them to want to learn what I am teaching them and be an active participant in their own learning. I also want them to feel like I support them and will be there for them no matter what. Even though going to school is not a choice at the elementary grade levels, picking what they want to learn and how they do it, could be a way to have students feel like their classroom learning environment is their choice. With a class of many different kinds of learners, this could be difficult, but I feel like the classroom environment is changing and becoming more student centered (which is a GREAT thing)!

Lastly, I want to leave you with this point that I thought was really meaningful in this chapter.

  1. Khan said, “The teacher, like a coach, needs to emphasize that anything less than mastery won’t do because he or she expects you to be the best thinker and creator that you can be (201).”

I think that this point emphasized what we all believe as teachers, that we do want our students to master all of the skills that we teach them in order to be a successful learner. Anything less than that, we should go back and reteach, review, use new strategies and activities, etc,. Having multiple teachers to collaborate with and teach with, could allow more students to master multiple skills and be more successful. Providing more choice in the classroom could allow students to feel more engaged and in charge of their own learning as well, in order to be a more successful thinker and creator. 

As educators, we should always expect our students to strive and master their skills, and it is our job to help them be the best learner and person that they can be.

The Spirit of the One Room Schoolhouse

I was doing a little research and I came across quite the gem – rules for teachers in 1872 and 1915. I’ll share just a few here:

  • 1872 – Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
  • 1872 – Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
  • 1915 – You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores
  • 1915 – You may not wear bright clothes. You may not under any circumstances dye your hair

Needless to say, I think most of us would be out of a job, mostly just for that last rule!

While I am not sure that what Khan sees for the One Room Schoolhouse model is truly what occurred in the original one room schoolhouse, I know my own experiences echo his. I whole-heartedly agree with Khan and the concept that something magical happens when you partner younger and older students. This year more than in the past, my class has spent time with their kindergarten buddies. My favorite interaction was one focused on writing. Both classes were writing narrative stories. I watched as students who can often skim over misspelled words in their own writing slowed down to sound out words and point to phonics charts to help their buddies figure out the spellings. Students who don’t always put their best effort in had deep conversations with kindergarteners about what makes writing challenging and the tools they use to get past those challenges. The most memorable – students sitting side by side, writing their own stories, checking in with one another only to give encouragement and support when needed. Both fully engaged in writing their own stories at their own levels, and both equally excited to share with one another what they were learning.

(In an attempt to organize my thinking, I’m borrowing from an earlier post)

My thoughts on the One Room Schoolhouse model in 5,4,3,2,1…

5 Questions I have:

  • What would it look like to transition from today’s school system, using today’s learning standards, to a one room schoolhouse-type atmosphere?
  • We wouldn’t be able to put a whole school of students in one room, so how would we group students?
  • Would teachers continue to teach all subject areas at the elementary level, or would we specialize in one so that we can have a deeper knowledge of the content area?
  • Would students stay together all day, or change groups based on what they were learning, or what they needed most?
  • What expectations would be set for the goals that students would be accomplishing so that we could hold ourselves accountable that all students are making as much growth as they need to be throughout a school year?

4 Ideas to try: As Khan discusses on p. 194, the older students become mentors and tutors and sharpen their own skills in the process. The younger students benefit from having role models and many more teachers in the classroom. In any subject area, this becomes true. So how do we try this now to see what works?

  • Math: Rather than using the Common Core standards as divided by grade levels, we could use them as stepping stones, goals, that students would move from one to the next. The entire group could be learning about fractions, working toward a goal of their own, practicing the skills they have already learned by teaching students whose goal is below theirs.
  • Reading: With a common language such as book clubs, and annotating marks all students know, we could put a variety of kids together to read the same book. They could read aloud to one another, annotating as they read, writing discussion questions and points as they go. At the end, they could reflect on what they read, answering a question at their level in a way they are best able to respond. Or students could read books with the same theme or main idea, coming together to share what they are learning as they read in discussion groups that center around understanding choices authors make and comparing how authors share information.
  • Whole school PBL: We tried this to a small degree already. Having an authentic task and outcome would be important to making sure students are reaching for standards. Service learning is something that schools already do that would easily adapt to multi-age groups. This can also tie into a Genius Hour or Passion Project.
  • STEAM: We have seen this at work already. Problem solving and perseverance does not require an age level. Giving students a problem to solve with criteria to stay within would ask all students to reach into their own understanding of the academic task at hand and use critical thinking skills to participate.

3 Social-Emotional Benefits

  • Build leaders: Students are role models for other students, and have role models and mentors to look up to. The social issues that can sometimes be labeled as “coming with this age” are changed as students are interacting with students of a variety of ages, many who are younger and give them a reason to act as strong role models. Younger students would see this model and grow into it.
  • Build responsibility: As Khan stated, “We deny them the chance to mentor or help others, and we thereby conspire in their isolation and self-involvement.” (p. 193) By asking students to work with one another and take responsibility in their own learning as well as others’ learning we are giving them authentic responsibility that will support them in their future lives.
  • Build a growth mindset! Students would have such a spectrum of where they have been and where they are going. As one student in the multi-age math class at the Marlborough School in California shared, “Before Khan, no one ever asked me for math help. I was definitely not the person they came to. But now I feel like, given my new confidence, and my new skills, people are willing to ask me for help.”

2 Leader in Me connections

  • Seek first to understand, then to be understood: In order to teach others, you have to understand what they need. Teachers work to become experts in this, learning how to listen in many different ways to figure out what students really need to know. If students learn this at a young age and see it modeled through their school career, they will be more successful at this throughout their lives.
  • Synergize: Of course, students would have to work together every day to be successful. Those that understood the importance of learning from each other would grow even more in their own learning.

1 Last thought…

  • On p. 194, Khan makes a point that is hard to ignore: “And the schoolroom, rather than being an artificial cloister shut off from the rest of life, comes to more closely resemble the world beyond its walls – and therefore to better prepare students to function and flourish in that world.”

To quote Richard Sheridan and Joy, Inc. – Anyone want to run the experiment?

Let it go!

This chapter is all about Sal’s background as a student and how his experiences shaped his journey to becoming the founder of Khan Academy. Being in my second year out of college, this chapter resonated with me in a different way. Normally, I’m reaching forward to more years of teaching but I took a step back and embraced my new-ness to the field. I thought very critically about Sal’s point in mentioning that massive lecture halls do not promote active learning. I know I spent my fair share of time sitting bored out of my mind in lectures that weren’t engaging before cramming and teaching myself the content right before the test. Yet, after all of that I didn’t retain anything. Obviously, I’m not spending 3 hours lecturing 7 and 8 year olds, as we know they can’t sit like that, but what made us think it was good for college age students? Or how about for teachers in graduate school after a long day of work?

As teachers, we learn so much about making our lessons interactive but who is to say that students can’t teach each other or teach themselves? Personally, I love finding out which of my students already have understanding of the content and letting them support each other. They become these mini-teachers that relate to their peers in a way that I never can. Watching those interactions is absolutely magical. Why not prepare the students who already have understanding and let them support one another? Why not provide them with videos they can use to help themselves, following the lead of Khan Academy? Why not empower them? I have found that I always learned more by learning from my peers and teaching them so why are we as educators so hesitant to give our students the same opportunities? Universities that are known for being forward thinking are missing out on teaching teachers to release learning to their students. I know that my wonderful university missed that point completely.

In end of this chapter, Sal writes “We can reach more ambitious goals if we are given the latitude to set goals for ourselves” (Khan 189). Upon reading this, I reflected on our work with the Leader in Me and letting our students set goals for themselves. I need to make sure that students set goals that push their academics rather than guiding them to goals that I feel they should meet. I need to let them take ownership and push my expectations for them to their highest potential. Why not let them learn about reading nonfiction books by choosing something they’re interested in and finding a book? What if you let your students learn about measurement by building and exploring real world examples? How about letting students learn about animals by researching their favorite and comparing it to their classmates favorite? What do they already know? What do they want to learn? Imagine what could happen if you took your content standards and found a way to let students learn them in a way that interests them. Let them take control of the classroom and guide them to the knowledge they need. What do you think they could accomplish? Imagine what you could learn from them by letting go of some of the responsibility…

Embracing Uncertainty

This week, Donald Trump shocked the world when he won the election to become America’s 45th president. As I began writing this post, thousands of Americans flooded the streets in cities across the country in protest against a Donald Trump presidency. I share this, not as an endorsement of such events, but rather to acknowledge the symbolism of a nation divided. Our greatest challenge as a country will be to find a way to unite, even in the face of a very uncertain future.

How aUncertaintypropos to be writing a blog post in response to Sal Khan’s chapter entitled, “Embracing Uncertainty.”

Sal writes, “Since we can’t predict exactly what today’s young people will need to know in ten or twenty years, what we teach them is less important than how they learn to teach themselves.” This could not be more true or more important as we consider the way we educate today’s learners.

As we prepare for an uncertain tomorrow, educators find themselves in unchartered territory. We are asking teachers to prepare students for a future world that is difficult to imagine. There will be new inventions, industries and problems on the horizon that will impact our lives in dramatic ways. How can we embrace this uncertainty?

The opening to Sal’s fourth and final section of his book introduces the concept of the One World Schoolhouse, which reminds us that the power of education may come from uniting learners, just as we are hoping to unite the citizens of our great nation.

Using Khan’s idea of the One World Schoolhouse, we can empower students to become curious, confident, self-directed learners who are prepared to take an active role in their own learning and ultimately in the world around them.

Below are some suggestions of ways to put this idea into practice immediately.

  • Leverage technology appropriately to tailor learning to meet individual student needs
  • Emphasize and assess skills rather than content knowledge
  • Provide students with regular opportunities to grapple with and solve actual problems
  • Get out of the way and let students (possibly of different ages) come together to learn with each other rather than independently
  • Accept that learning beyond the classroom is valuable and may not come in the form of practice problems or worksheets
  • Celebrate outside-the-box thinking and connections made between ideas

Let’s all embrace uncertainty by shifting our focus. Let’s ensure that all students know how to teach themselves to learn with the help of one another. By leveraging the power of technology and incorporating old methodologies where students learn from and with one another, we will do our part in preparing all students for an exciting future filled with opportunity, possibility, and discovery. 

Education For All The Ages (Even in dog years)

high-five

 

We all learn in different ways (and multiple at that). Visual, spatial, via dog pictures….

Welcome to my synopsis of the most complicated chapter in an otherwise easy and interesting read. Brought to you by Marnie the Bear.

Salman Kahn begins this chapter discussing how he felt during one of the biggest crises of the current times…the 2008 credit crisis. He was thinking to himself:question

So, being the creator of the Kahn Academy and overall creative thinker, he decided to make some youtube videos to help explain some of the jargon that was floating around. To him this was simply a therapeutic and, more than likely, fun process for interpreting the time that we were in. However, more and more people from all walks of life starting watching and learning from these videos. It was at this point that it really occurred to Salman:

education

This is turn led him to wondering, “Why does “education” stop at some point? Why isn’t it lifelong?” (Kahn 173). There are studies that suggest most people stop learning new ideas and concepts in their mid-thirties. He goes back and forth on the validity of this statistic (it being both hard to calculate as well as arbitrary to define what is “learning). However, the fact remains…at some point in your life learning becomes less of a priority. Of course, that being said, we don’t flatline our learning all at once. There are still “blips” (as he calls them) or travel or reading that involve a certain amount of learning new things. But, for the most part, we rely heavily on those things we learned in the past.

However, the ability to be a lifelong learner is something that we all, biologically, possess. It moves in the fashion of, “use it or lose it.” As your brain gets older it is more difficult for it to learn entirely new things (ie. a foreign language). On the other hand, it has been proven that adult brains learn easier by association (due to all the previous knowledge you have to pull from).

All this just goes to show that it doesn’t matter what age you are…you are capable of learning new things. You just need to find the right mode and motivation.  Kahn Academy is a great device for both the school-age, adult, and dogger brain (the latter is not proven)

.kahn

 

 

The Los Altos Experiment

Man gets shock of his life when he buys two toy poodles for $150 only to be told by a vet that they are actually GIANT RODENTS pumped up with steroids to look like dogs

Ok, I will admit that this is my first time blogging. So as I tend to do when I want to learn more about something I turned to my friend Google. One site suggested that it is good to start with an attention-catching headline. This Daily Mail headline from April 7, 2013 certainly caught my attention so I thought why not! But seriously, I started to think about the task in front of me, and I started to think what a great resource Khan Academy is for students of all ages to turn to when they are looking for assistance in math.  

In the chapter entitled The Los Altos Experiment, Sal Khan embraced the opportunity to work with an affluent California school district. Up until this point Khan Academy had been primarily reaching students outside of the more formal school setting. But Khan decided this was the right situation to “learn from real teachers and real students how our technology could be made better” (page 163). The pilot program in two 5th grade and two 7th grade classes proved successful.

One of the measures of success that was observed came from standardized testing. Initially Khan was concerned about the “congruence, or lack thereof, between what our kids were learning and what the tests were testing” (page 166). He was also worried that some of the very advanced students were working on skills well above grade level that would go unrecognized in the testing process. His apprehension about students doing well on the standardized grade level test proved to be unfounded. Students who had mastered the skills taught through Khan Academy were able to do well on the test without specifically being taught for the test.

Khan built upon this success by expanding the number of classrooms that were served. As the amount of districts using the program grew, Kahn was excited about what he saw, especially with minorities and remedial classes. Though it is hard to argue with the positives, I feel we need to realize the limitations of the program and the videos. I have always felt that it is up to me as the math teacher to guide students in discovering a conceptual understanding of the math that they are learning. I want students to derive the rules and equations they use whenever possible, and discover why they work. As a teacher I have been fortunate to work in a district that has provided learning opportunities with experts and excellent resources that stress the conceptual.   

I tend to find the Khan Academy’s videos to be more procedural than conceptual. For example, in his initial division with fractions video Kahn shows two number line examples with fractions that have like denominators. He uses this as an example of how he ended up multiplying by the denominator and then dividing by the numerator- otherwise know as find the reciprocal and multiply, or keep-change-flip. What his video and lessons provide here is instructional, but few students would be able to say why this is the algorithm. I favor having my students derive this algorithm through real life scenarios and modeling. Recently I had a discussion with a 4th grade student who is proud of her completion of multiple grade levels in Khan Academy. I have seen her improve in some areas, and I believe that her self confidence has grown through her experiences with Khan Academy. But recently she asked me to help her with a 6th grade geometry exercise on Kahn that built upon a 4th or 5th grade skill. She had managed to pass an earlier triangle lesson on Khan Academy by memorizing the area equation for a triangle. In this current set of problems she needed to be able to find the base of two connected triangles that had been rotated. This student was not conceptually able to see that any side of a triangle could be used as the base for that triangle. In other words, she had a gap in her conceptual understanding of triangles.

Do I think of Khan Academy as a stand-alone math course? No. But I see the worth of having something like this available. The videos are an excellent resource for students, and are beneficial as a supplement and for exploring topics of interest. The practice exercises on the site are also useful in helping students grasp the concepts.To have a free resource that anyone can turn to is the beauty of Khan. It transcends race and wealth. And there is a Khan lesson for nearly every learning objective in the math continuum. I believe it has a place in our classrooms.

Oh- and about the poodles….