Pictured (left to right) Denis Estimon, Doris Gonzalez (IBM), Ashleigh Cromer
Be Strong team members Denis Estimon and Ashleigh Cromer recently went to Armonk, NY to meet with Be Strong partner IBM about our upcoming project, and in turn, were pleasantly surprised to find out about the free resources IBM is providing for educators.
With the school year underway, elementary school teachers across the United States are now able to access a new, free online tool designed to provide elementary school teachers with targeted math resources to their kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms.
Faced with the pressures of limited time, higher academic standards, diverse student needs, and the responsibility to teach many subjects and multiple grade levels, elementary school teachers have expressed a critical need for easy-to-use, well-designed math resources and ongoing support. Even with the best resources, many teachers lack dedicated coaching, and struggle to target effective teaching strategies and help students improve their proficiency in path, a linchpin academic subject.
Harnessing the power of IBM’s Watson, a question answering system capable of answering questions in natural language, educators can now find relevant lessons, activities, standards information, and strategies faster than ever—all from a corpus of proven-effective materials recommended by educators.
“We are amazed that this is available for our educators, the high quality of these lessons is unparalleled,” said Cromer. “Knowing the value of their time, this free educator support portal is such a gift.”
“Time is of the essence for teachers,” said Sheena Lee, an elementary teacher at Umana Academy in Boston, MA. “With a classroom full of third through fifth graders who have had inconsistent education in their lives, I need to help my students learn math in different ways, at different levels. Teacher Advisor with Watson offers a one-stop shop for the most trusted resources, enabling me to decide how best to meet my students where they are.”
TeacherAdvisor.org uses IBM’s Watson technology to help teachers make more efficient and informed instructional decisions for all students, and has over 2,000 high-quality lesson plans, activities, proven teaching strategies, and videos, all specially chosen to meet teachers’ needs. This philanthropic initiative from the IBM Foundation, built in collaboration with teachers, education leaders, and providers of best in class content, is freely available to any teacher looking to boost their expertise and help students of all ability levels master grade-level math content. Learn more about the tool here.
If you are interested in attending a free, live webinar and demo with members of the Teacher Advisor With Watson team (date and time TBD, and webinar contingent upon sufficient interest), please let them know here.
