Today, we would like to introduce Ms. Raina Robison and her 5th grade class from Agua Elementary School. After receiving some important advice from her son, Ms. Robison returned to what she truly loves–teaching–and has been a 5th grade teacher in Palm Springs Unified School District for the past 10 years. Her current 29 students benefit greatly from her passion for teaching, particularly the engagement she incorporates in math.

During our recent interview with Ms. Robison, she shared that one of her priorities is to meet students on their level. This allows students to easily engage in learning and wards off frustration. Wowzers has helped her accomplish this priority. As one of her students shared, “What I like about Wowzers is that if you get the question wrong, you can fix it a few times and if you don’t get it, then [Wowzers] shows you how to do it.” It’s clear that Ms. Robinson’s students are embracing the challenges of math and are engaged and excited in their learning.

The students in Ms. Robinson’s class face difficulties familiar to teachers across the country. Each student has their own individual learning style, and many of her students have fallen into the stereotypical mindset that deems “math is hard.” She shared the overarching challenge that educators across the country are facing: how to personalize instruction for all students and engage them in learning math to prevent it from being considered boring or too hard.

Although the district provided a digital math resource, Ms. Robison wanted a program that was appealing to all students—on-level, struggling, and gifted individuals—and that would provide data to track student progress toward increased achievement and ultimately toward mastery. Unfortunately, the provided program was not user-friendly and required her to spend hundreds of hours, outside of school time, to curate curriculum for each student. She also knew that in order for the curriculum to resonate with her students, it needed to be engaging.

It wasn’t until she implemented Wowzers that Ms. Robinson realized exactly how much time she was spending outside of class. She explained, “[Wowzers] pretty much runs itself. Now, I have time to meet in small groups and while students don’t need 100% to pass, students realize that they still can advance through the program without having to continually redo things over and over again.”

Math is not for the timid nor should it be intimidating. When Ms. Robison creates a lesson plan, she first provides her class with an instructional overview of the curriculum. After reviewing the material as a group, she allows her students to reinforce the concepts through Wowzers. Her students’ engagement in Wowzers is apparent when they become anxious to complete her initial instruction so that they can use Wowzers. She also appreciates that the students are able to apply math to real-world applications through the Wowzers quests.

The reports available through Wowzers alerted Ms. Robison to the struggles that her class faced with fractions. Through the pre-assessment reports, the data identified only one student who passed. After assigning the class curriculum from Wowzers specific to 5th grade fractions, the post-assessment resulted in only four students who did not pass. The results clearly showcased that students were engaged and learning, successfully mastering a difficult concept.

Most recently her students were involved in three weeks of state assessments. This typically becomes draining and can be overwhelming, but as students completed the assessments, many specifically asked to use Wowzers to practice for the next day of math assessments. Ms. Robison attributes that to “the engagement and the way the program is structured.” She believes that her students enjoy the program because the lessons and practices sessions are short and keep their attention focused on math. Based on the feedback from her students (see below), their reactions speak for themselves! Congratulations to Ms. Robison and her 5th grade class in becoming the next class of Wowzers Wizards!

• I love the quests that Wowzers gives us.
• I love how they ask questions and then they quiz us.
• I like how it teaches me about math really fast.
• I like how they let you explore.
• It helps me be a better mathematician.
• ​I like earning coins for answering questions.
• I like the games and the quests.
• What I like about Wowzers is that if you get the question wrong, you can fix it a few times and if you don’t get it, then is shows you how to do it.
• It helps me with the math problems that I don’t get.
• It helps me learn things that I did not know.
• I like Wowzers because it is very educational and it is a fun program.  It helps me more than other math programs.
• I like it because it shows me how to solve problems in a different way.
• It shows step-by-step how to do something.
• It gives us the problems that we don’t know and shows us step-by-stop how to solve them.
• I like earning coins to have a pad and decorate it.
• Gracias por todo gracias a ustedes por ayudarme en fractiones.
• Woiwzers me gusta porque me ensena matematicas.
• I like Wowzers because they have fun activities.
• I like that Wowzers has free time.
• I learn new things.
• I like math now.