Khan can help!

http://www.khanacademy.org/

         The link above is a wonderful website that my best friend showed me. He has a teacher that isn't great at explaining the math lesson. This website has math lessons from 3rd grade math in the U.S. to calculus. Not only do they have practice problems, but they have videos actually teach you how to do the problems before you even attempt them. They take you through step by step on how to produce the solution. 
           For example, with the lesson on learning multiplication, they have 12 balls in groups. In the video they then go through and explain how you can have 2 groups of 6, 4 groups of 3, 3 groups of 4,...etc. They highlight these groups so that the child can actually see the different groups you can make. It creates a visual way to learn this concept of multiplication. Which is great for students who learn visually like myself!
            The video itself goes slowly and you have that nice ability to rewind the video and see it again and again if you didn't understand the first time. Then when you are practicing, if you need a hint, you are allowed 3. If you get 5 questions in a row correct, you get to move up a level. I can understand how this can be both rewarding and frustrating for a child. They could be working really hard and just not getting the problem. In which case they may not ever get those 5 in a row! However, it may also push them to try harder and do better and improve.
         This visual gives children an easier way to look at math. It reminds me of when we cut the whole into pieces during our percent chapter. In the videos they actually write on the screen to show what they are describing. They also encourage you to pause the video and try the problem on your own. I wish they left more time for you to pause the video before he went on to explain how to do the problem once again.
          I feel as though technology has a lot of negative aspects in today's society. However, I feel like technology in this case could help students to stay caught up in class. I know that if I miss a single day in class its easy for me to fall behind in the lesson. So if I could find out the topic we were learning about, I could find the lesson plans on khan and at least know how to attempt the homework. It can also help students that need help outside of the classroom. Khan can act like a free tutor. As long as the family has internet,  khan will always be there to help you. I only wish that I had known of this website earlier!
            It also has other subjects such as: humanities, economics and finance, and physics. There are group chats where you can talk to people and get support. It also shows you how to do computer programing so you can create your own website that helps others like khan does. There are so many sources that could help you on this website that it would be crazy not to take advantage of them all! Have fun learning!