How one 4th grade teacher uses MobyMax to find and fix missing skills

Posted by MobyMax on September 22, 2016

When learning gaps go unrecognized and unaddressed, students fall farther and farther behind. Learning gaps create problems for teachers, too, because they can be so time consuming to identify, address, and fix.

Unless, of course, you’re using MobyMax. That’s what Jen Lindquist, a Moby Champion an outstanding 4th grade teacher from Kane Area Elementary in Kane, PA, discovered. Here’s her inspiring story.

Fourth grade teacher Jen Lindquist started using MobyMax a few years ago while she was still teaching sixth grade. Even though she had to pay for it herself, she thought it would be a valuable tool to help teach her students English/ Language Arts. And it was, for a few key reasons.

One, it allowed students to work at their own pace while enabling her to closely monitor their progress. Along with monitoring, Jen was able to interact with her students remotely. That meant she could both praise and motivate her class, even when she was at home.

Through Moby’s adaptive diagnostics, her students were placed at the appropriate learning level. “MobyMax allows me to have continuous progress monitoring for my class with ‘built-in student motivation’. The students are rewarded with badges, and with every 50 problems the students get correct, they receive a badge. The badges have various topics on them, with interesting facts about the topic on the badge printed on the reverse. Sometimes students even trade them like Pokemon cards!”

Jen found using MobyMax so valuable to her sixth grade class that she didn’t think twice about using it with her fourth grade students.

“The progress students make in math is AMAZING! My students must complete 30 minutes of fact fluency and 30 minutes of Moby math outside of class each week. I open my classroom door 20 minutes early every morning for students wishing to work on Moby. Instead of hanging with friends in the hall, many eagerly come in early just to work on math.

“I also rotate students through using laptops and tablets during our home room period. Every Friday is Moby Day. All students start with 10 minutes of facts and then complete grade-level student response questions to match what we are doing in class. I quickly get feedback on what the class has mastered and what we still need to practice during the upcoming week.

“For fact fluency, I adjust the fact times accordingly so everybody is working at their own pace. Students get anywhere from 6-20 seconds to complete each fact. Students then move into Moby Math. I "conference" with students to show them what they are doing well and what they need to work on. We review their progress charts and any recently missed problems.

“On Fridays, I tutor students individually on skills they are not passing. It is like every student has an IEP.

“As students move through Moby, it is easy to see the gaps closing. I send progress reports home quarterly so parents can see the progress, too. Students love our fact fluency incentive charts as well as our monthly class contest that focuses on math.

“What I notice most is the confidence my struggling students gain using Moby. Students don't get as frustrated, and they appreciate working at their own pace at their own level. EVERYBODY makes progress and has success to celebrate!”

If you’d like to enjoy the same kind of success in your classroom, sign up for a free trial at MobyMax.com!

 

About MobyMax

MobyMax helps struggling learners quickly catch up to grade level and closes learning gaps for all students. 
Register free at mobymax.com. 

MobyMax Facebook

MobyMax Twitter

MobyMax_Teachers_Register_FreeButton-1.png