Mrs.

Naughton September 16, 2018

TODAY’S NEWS
Algebra 1 | Quarter 3

Understand
Cuethink provides prompts to
allow for exploration before
jumping into solving, asking
the questions: “What do I
notice?, What do I wonder?,
What can I estimate?”

Plan
Cuethink emphasizes the
importance of planning before
trying to solve a problem.
During the planning phase,
students are able to think
about the different strategies
and tools that would work
best.
Solve
Students now apply the plan
that they developed int he
previous step. Reflection
questions act as a reminder to
show all work clearly and
neatly.
Review
A checklist of questions that
challenge students to be
critical about the work they
did.
Re-think with CUETHINK
Making Math Social
Cuethink is “an innovative application to improve critical
thinking skills and math communication of students in
grades 2-12”(p.1). This program goes far beyond allowing
students to problem solve in a new and exciting way, but
rather prompts them to think more critically about the
process in which they go about it. Cuethink provides
introduces new strategies to solving problems, such as
“acting it out” which could be useful as we move into our
topic of linear equations and being able to visualize the
interaction of two variables is helpful in understanding what
the solution means. Cuethink prompts the problem solving
by applying mathematician, George Pólyas’s four phases of
Understand, Plan, Solve and Review. These four distinct
phases allow students to continuously reflect on the steps
they are taking and deepens their conceptual understanding
of the topic. Cuethink creates a digital portfolio of the

Algebra 1 1
Mrs. Naughton September 16, 2018

learners completed work, which allows for the monitoring

of growth and change. There is a space provided in the
application for students to view their classmates work,
allowing for peer-to-peer feedback and discussion of
alternative strategies to solving problems.

Remind: To give you a

peace of mind
• Message teachers in a faster,
more efficient way
Remind is a cellular phone application that allows for real
• Talk to your classmates time messaging. Benefitting teachers, students, parents
• Receive reminders from
and school administration, remind opens a new path of
Teachers and School Staff communication. This application makes the teacher more
accessible to students and allows for students to reach out
• Translate messages into for help when they need it, at any time of the day.
more than 70 languages

Remind provides classes with

the space to communicate
outside of school in a
monitored chatroom, allowing
for students to collaborate on
work and ask questions.
Homework reminders,
schedule updates and new
school event updates will
appear on the home page of
the application, providing
students with a new platform
for finding information. A very
important part of this
application is the translation
ability which allow for the
reminders and messages to
be translated for our high
number of ELL students in our
Algebra 1 class.

Algebra 1 2