Made 4 Math #15 Foldables

I wanted to share two foldables I've used so far.

One is ripped off of Sarah Rubin's Words into Math foldable that I modified to fit on a regular piece of paper rather than into a composition notebook.

I displayed this slide with key words in it and we wrote them in the correct places.

I like the idea of keeping this all year and adding more words to it as we come across them. Here's the download:


In Algebra II we made a foldable for Operations with Functions. On the outside flaps we wrote how to do each operation and things to remember (i.e. don't add exponents when combine like terms).

We made this after I taught those concepts so I had students go back to their notes and pick out two examples of each to write  on the inside. Just one small way to show that our notes have a purpose. Here's the download:

If you notice, function composition is on here as well. I haven't taught it yet but I noticed when I folded the foldable, the back was split up nicely into four squares as well. I threw the title on there and now we can add to that this week.

Yay.

#myfavfriday Questions vs. Comments

I was asked to share a "My Favorite" at this week's #globalmath department. I wanted to share something new that I hadn't blogged about yet but now I also get to blog about something new!

This idea kind of came out of nowhere but is really a mix of the mistake game and error analysis.

In Algebra I we were working on translating word problems into an inequality to solve and graph. A student had volunteered to work the problem on the board and had set it up correctly but was solving it all kinds of wrong.

The other students began glancing around and whispering back and forth because they could see her errors too. I thought to myself, how can I correct her without making her feel stupid in front of the class?

I told the students that if they saw any mistakes in her work that they must ask her a question rather than make a comment. I told them that saying "You're wrong or you messed up" is not helpful.

I felt like I could literally see the wheels turning in their brain as they thought about how to phrase their observations into a question. I guided them by telling them they could start their question with "Why did you ________?" or "Couldn't you __________?"

As they started to ask questions, the student realized her own mistake, corrected it and explained "Oh, I should have ___________".  The students picked this up easily and it has become a powerful tool. I'm trying to structure every piece of feedback I give as a question.

I feel pretty good about the questions I ask during a lesson but now as students are working and asking for help, I avoid telling them right or wrong, yes or no, but phrase every comment as a question.

For example:

• Did you find what the question is asking for?
• What do you think?
• If I tell you that you are wrong, what would you change?
• Is x alone?
• Is that your final answer?
• Does it make sense to do it that way?
• What is another way you could do it?
• Do you notice a pattern?
• Do your partners agree?

At the end, I debriefed by asking students why I made them ask questions rather than comments. Their response was that telling someone they are wrong doesn't tell them where they went wrong or how to fix it. Bazinga!

I find that the more often I ask students why I do something, the more I learn about my teaching style and my instructional choices. Sometimes what appears natural to a teacher needs some concrete student reasoning behind it. They always give me better answers than I think of on my own.
 
It never hurts to let students give purpose to what happens in the classroom.

That's everyone's favorite.

Be Less Talkative: Boosting Student Engagement

PowerPoint Presentation






Presentation Handout



Presentation Resources, Credits, and Links

Concept Attainment
Slope-Intercept Form
Parallelogram Properties
Exponent Rules

Foldables

Solving Equations (me)
PEMDAS (Angie Eakland)
GEMS (Julie Reulbach)
Place Value (Julie Reulbach)
Scatter Plot and Correlation (Sarah Rubin)
Scientific Notation (Julie Reulbach)


Practice
Math Poker (me)
Row Games/Partner Problems (Kate Nowak)
Speed Dating (Kate Nowak)
ZAP! (me)
Hole Punch Game (me)
Ships in the Ocean (me)
Balloon Pop (me)
Pong (me)
Whiteboarding (Bowman Dickson)

Learning Structures (Bowman Dickson)


Common Core Testing (me)

Made 4 Math #14 Ships in the Ocean

I stole Pam Wilson's Hole Punch Game idea and used it to review the difference between functions and relations. I'm excited to use my new star hole punch!
  
Here's the directions per her blog post:

1. Students work in teams.
2. Each student will complete his/her own work.
3. When everyone has completed 1 problem – they compare answers – to determine which is correct and will be used for the group answer.
4. All team members run over to teacher. Teacher checks solution:
   • If correct, hole punch the outer edge of the problem, students return to work space and continue to next problem.
   • If incorrect, they return to workspace and rework.
5. She also suggested staggering which # each team begins working on.

The teacher who shared said this accomplishes 3 things:

1. Students must talk / agree on a solution.
2. Students are physically up and moving.
3. Sure you could put a check mark, stamp it, etc. but the sound / click of the hole – punch (or stapler) does something crazy and the students - especially for those who are struggling are motivated to keep on working.  Weird, huh?

There are two pages and a total of 16 problems.




In Pam's same post, she mentions Mrs. H's Ghosts in the Graveyard review game. So I kinda stole that for the next concept review of writing domain and range in set and interval notation. But, I decided to modify it since Halloween is still far off. Fortunately for me, Columbus day is right around the corner of the weekend which means I created....

Ships in the Ocean! Here is the direction per her blog post:

1. Divide class into groups of 3-4 students
2. Give each group a problem card
3. Every member of the group works the problem and raises their hand when they are done. You go over and check their work and answers. If EVERYONE has done the problem correctly, they get a "little ghost" which they put their group number on and hang in any one of the graveyards.
4. As they finish a "Problem Card", they go get another one. The goal is get as many "little ghosts" as possible to hang in the graveyards.
5. About 10 minutes before the end of the period, I draw for how many points each graveyard will be worth. I use 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100. So if graveyard 2 is worth 50 points and a group had 2 ghosts in that graveyard, they will get 100 points.
6. Tally all the points for the groups and give prizes to 1st and 2nd.

Since I made ships in the ocean, I will be naming all 5 oceans rather than graveyards....how perfect!



The above document has mini sailboats at the bottom but I later decided I wanted ships in color that I could laminate and reuse so this is my second sheet of ships (say that 5 times fast) that I like even better. Everybody needs a little pirate...or a big one.



I'm thinking that I will probably blog these two games again separately so I can add in pictures and notes about how the game went during class.

Check back later this week....or maybe next week. ;)

#myfavfriday Kuta Software Presentation View

I discovered this week that my Kuta software has a presentation view. You can show anywhere from 1-4 problems, with or without lines, and with or without answers. You can even zoom in!

This is so perfect. Now anytime a lesson runs short, I can just throw up some problems and use my ZAP! review game or math poker for extra practice. I don't need to make fancy powerpoints (although I'm sure I still will) because this works just as well with no help from me. Excitation!

Also, I found some cute folders at Wal-Mart, 3 for $1.00. I labeled them Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry. I'm keeping my originals and answer keys for the day in order to train myself to put them into my binder at the end of the day. Kinda sad that I need a folder to remind me to put it in a binder, but hey, whatever works. I had papers flying around like crazy and clutter makes me crazy.

I also used two folders for retakes; one for the forms the students fill out and one for the actual retake, which I grade, show to the student, and keep in my own files.

I'm happy to report that I've had 6 students do retakes which is about 10% of my total student population. One student's grade went down, one stayed the same, and the other four went up.

Interesting...