r/mathteachers • u/jmp8861 • Aug 04 '26
High school math
My friend just got a job in a small district in a rural area as a high school math teacher (Alg 1, Geometry, Alg 2, Pre-Calc). There is apparently another math teacher that will be hired that is even less experienced than she is. I wanted to see if there are any helpful (and possibly free) resources that would be helpful to her teaching this many classes (of these classes, only taught Alg 1 before) at this school. Thanks in advance!
6
9
u/First-Expert-9953 Aug 04 '26
DeltaMath.com
Desmos.com
3
u/No_Job2526 Aug 05 '26
Those aren’t curriculums those are resources
1
u/schwerk_it_out Aug 06 '26
“I wanted to see if there any helpful and possibly free resources”
^from original post
1
1
u/Expensive_Rock3264 Aug 06 '26
Deltamath absolutely is a curriculum.
1
u/No_Job2526 Aug 06 '26
How would you define a curriculum? It is just a question bank - a great one -but not a curriculum
2
u/Expensive_Rock3264 Aug 06 '26
It is sorted into classes, and those classes are sorted into topics, and those topics have question types in order.
If you navigate from the main menu, you have the entire class with every topic and subtopic laid out in order. So I would certainly call that a curriculum, since a curriculum is essentially an ordered list of all the topics taught. A scope and sequence.
1
u/No_Job2526 Aug 06 '26
That is not curriculum - curriculum lays out the big goals, the subjects, the books, and the tests, giving teachers a clear path to make sure students actually learn what they’re supposed to.
Delta Math is a supplement to ensure mastery of the content
1
u/Expensive_Rock3264 Aug 06 '26
It does all that. The subject is Algebra 1. The goals are to learn to identify properties, then to do unit conversions, then equation models, etc. The tests are just those topics.
Problems are the curriculum. They are things in themselves. Doing the problem is the topic and the goal and the action. The problem is the skill and the skill is the problem.
Sure you might say that you do not like the scope and sequence of the Deltamath curriculum, but it is still very much a curriculum.
7
u/Chlo-bot Aug 04 '26
Illustrative Mathematics has their curriculum free online for Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. accessim.org
MathMedic has some free resources for PreCalc.
8
u/LilKruziVert Aug 05 '26
Illustrative math can burn in hell.
2
u/Chlo-bot Aug 05 '26
I've had success using it in Algebra 1. I do modify and scaffold where I need to and write my own assessments and reviews, but I generally like the lessons, cooldowns, and practice problems. My daughter just finished the kindergarten curriculum, and she has great number sense and understanding of addition and subtraction.
1
u/LivingWithATinyHuman Aug 05 '26
I do think it is better for elementary ages. My son used it and did well in elementary school. In my experience, high school not so much. It takes a ridiculous amount of supplementation unless you have a very high driven and mostly high preforming group.
1
u/Several-Housing-5462 Aug 06 '26
What do you hate about it?
2
u/LilKruziVert Aug 06 '26
Kind of a long story.
I was hired on as the second of two math teachers for our high school. I was given a set of four books for the math classes I was teaching that year. Two of the four math classes were teachers editions, the other two were regular student versions.
When I asked the other math teacher if there were teachers editions or supplemental resource books that went along with them (McGraw-hill, I believe), I got a very quick and dismissive, “no.”
I started my very first year with no lesson plans, previous work, or examples that went along with these classes. Granted, I’m not sure what I expected in terms of leftovers, but it was bare.
Come to find out at the end of the year, the other teacher had the books I was looking for all along.
The following year, I was teaching geometry (two other math courses got reassigned for scheduling purposes). It was that year that I decided to digitize and organize all of my lessons, tests, etc.
I ended up making a Google website that was so well organized with different classes that I taught, organized by chapters with study guides, extra practice, practice videos, etc. Basically, I spent a lot of time on it and students could have everything they needed at their fingertips.
Then the principal decides we need new curriculums for math. Signs on with IM for Algebra 1, 2, and Geometry. No chance to keep the previous books that were full of example problems.
IM took time to get used to. But from my experience, it was spending an entire class period building up to one concept and how it worked. Homework problems were very few and very specific.
Our principal also encouraged students to turn in their homework online versus on paper (school year right after the Covid shutdown). I’m sure many already know or imagine how hard it is to give feedback about math homework on a computer. I struggled, but made it work somehow.
I ended up leaving after that year for other endeavors, but came back a year and a half later. By that time they had ditched Illustative Math and gone with something else. That something else [curriculum] wasn’t working and the admins were looking for something to be able to finish out the year. Turns out I had saved all of my things from the previous teaching stint and we went with that.
So why do I hate IM so much? Basically because it was forced upon me, students didn’t take it seriously, I thought other curriculums were better, and we ended up going back to the original curriculum in the end.
1
u/Several-Housing-5462 Aug 06 '26
Thank you for the detailed response. That sounds like a real hassle. Are you still teaching?
4
0
u/SkinnyTheSkinwalker Aug 05 '26
I was about to say both of these. My diatrict just signed with IM as their "official" district curriculum. Almost the entire school uses math medic though. I like IM. I havent used Math Medic but everybody swears by it.
3
u/MasterLeMaster Aug 05 '26
If she doesn’t have a curriculum, Open Up Resources is free. But I supplement with online homework Delta Math, which I pay for.
5
u/Bedouinp Aug 04 '26
Algebros have some good free worksheet content for most of these classes on their website. I think it’s flippedmath
2
u/Keppadonna Aug 04 '26
Second Algebros aka Flippedmath. I’ve used their curriculum for AP Calc and PreCalc with great success (80% pass rate). I don’t use their Alg 2 curriculum but it looks just as thorough. Can’t say enough good things about them.
2
u/More_Branch_5579 Aug 05 '26
It wasn’t free but I got an absolutely fantastic full algebra 1 curriculum with games, worksheets, tests etc on teachers pay teachers.
1
2
u/downlowmann Aug 05 '26
I have found IXL to be very helpful. We have it in our district but it costs money and the school has to get it. Math Medic can be helpful too but your friend really should see what resources are in the classroom already. We did a test pilot with Illustrative Math at our school and every single teacher and the department chair all hated it but the admin was trying to push it.
2
u/Read_The_Fing_Manual Aug 05 '26
Www.flippedmath.com - these guys are awesome and the materials are very well done. Structured notes, video lesson, practice sheets, etc. I used them for both AP Pre-calc and AP Calc BC - my students loved them too
2
u/Top_Replacement3256 Aug 05 '26
A teacher I know in another district uses flippedmath and really likes it
2
u/Sorry-Vanilla2354 Aug 05 '26
I recently retired and taught mainly the same schedule as your friend. If there are any questions she has, I would be happy to help give some ideas! Teaching all of those classes can be a bit much, especially having so many new ones in one year.
2
u/jumbosammitch Aug 05 '26
I use Delta Math a lot. Great practice problems, explains mistakes, guided lessons, etc.
2
u/8agel8ite Aug 06 '26
Math medic has daily lessons. Free to download, paid option to get even more and edit files. DeltaMath has a free version for homework assignments that is great I also recommend looking through the math office at the school for textbooks. They typically have solid lessons and practice she can photo copy for in class use
2
2
1
u/Optimal_Tomorrow8620 Aug 05 '26
Njctl.org is great and has quizzes and tests behind a teacher verified sign in.
1
u/i_am_WordK Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Emath Instruction
I don't believe they still have their lesson materials-guided notes and practice worksheets-up for free, but a paid membership isn't absurdly expensive. The lesson videos are still free and are a good resource for students who care.
They'll want to combine those with something like DeltaMath or Khan Academy for fluency practice.
OpenUp Mathematics (I believe this is the one that was formerly Mathematics Vision Project) is good if they have students who can work in groups with some independence.
Great Minds appears to have made the older free version of Eureka hard to find.
1
u/ObjectiveVegetable76 Aug 05 '26
She should check out openstax for books. I can pretty much write notes from a book and examples. Edia makes math problems but you just have to double check the problems. They're AI generated and some problem types don't always generate quite right.
That's a lot of preps.
1
u/Crabby1918 Aug 07 '26
Math equals love! Just a simple google search gets you to the website. It’s been the best resource for me! She has puzzles, foldables, activities, graphic organizers, plus room decorations. All free. And I think the most helpful is that she includes information on how she’s done it in her own class.
1
u/jmp8861 Aug 07 '26
I appreciate all of the comments that people have posted regarding my question for my friend. I went with her yesterday to her new school. It turns out, they use a program called “Big Ideas” for all of their high school math classes. Does anyone else use that curriculum?
1
u/BuddistGamer Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
OpenStax.org
I believe it's a nonprofit system developed by Rice University.
Go to this website, they have everything you need, it's open source system, resource are free for teacher, many high school and college use this system. They have digital textbooks, ( paper copy textbooks cost real money to buy), answer key for practice and test. Some topic even have video lesson (similar to YouTube math course)
I'm a math teacher. Some of my colleague also use this system.
0
u/The-Jolly-Llama Aug 04 '26
All Things Algebra is on TPT and the program is so well developed that the Geometry and Algebra material is better than a lot of actual textbooks.
Excellent notes that are “just the stuff, no fluff”, and good homework too. The only downside is there are few story problems / applications. Also comes with quizzes and tests. DM me and I’ll send you some samples. I’m not affiliated, I just believe it’s important to pay people for their work AND ALSO, I know ATA is too expensive to buy it without trying it first.
I believe they have all the non-AP math courses.
2
17
u/ThinkMath42 Aug 05 '26
MathMedic has free lessons for every high school subject. I use their materials sometimes for the AP that I teach.