Sunday, March 26, 2017

#Teach180: Days 121-130

This year I've taken on the #teach180 challenge.  The challenge is to post one tweet per day showing a glimpse inside your classroom.  I'm also putting the tweets together in a biweekly blog so that I can share the resources that I'm tweeting about.

Day 121: Today we had our weekly cumulative quiz.  The end of the marking period is just about 2 and a half weeks away.  Crunch time in showing mastery of this marking period's objectives.

Day 122:  Today in geometry we practiced finding the area of regular polygons using this color by number assignment.


Day 123:  Today in algebra 2 we practiced solving word problems using systems of quadratic systems by using this worksheet.  Nothing fancy, just basic practice if you'd like to use it.

Day 124:  Today in geometry we used Khan Academy to practice finding the missing side of a parallelogram given its area and another side.

Day 125:  Today in algebra 2 we practiced evaluating rational exponents using these task cards.  It's been too long since I used a good set of task cards.  They really make the practice set more accessible to students and less intimidating as a bid worksheet.  I got the template for the task cards from Teaching with Love in Texas on TpT if you'd like to make your own cards.

Day 126:  Today was another weekly cumulative assessment. Only 2 more quizzes this marking period.
Day 127:  Today in geometry we used EDpuzzle to learn about finding the surface areas of prims and cylinders.

Day 128:  Today in algebra 2 we practiced solving equations with rational exponents using this error analysis assignment.  I did not create it, and at the moment, I don't remember where I downloaded it from.  I'll be sure to update this once I know who to give credit to.  I love error analysis assignments.  Especially ones where some questions are solved correctly and some are not :)
Day 129:  Today in geometry we learned about finding the surface area of pyramids and cones.  I don't really like the way that I taught finding area of regular polygons this year (A=1/2ap) or the way that the use of this formula turned out.  I think that if I end up teaching this class again next year, I won't give specific formulas, but use decomposition instead.  I showed the students decomposition as well this year, but showing the specific formulas ruined their understanding of what surface area really means.  That's the life of a teacher I suppose; always changing and improving.


Day 130:  Today in algebra 2, we practiced verifying that functions are inverses using function composition.  Weirdly, once students got the hang of composition, they thought this procedure was very satisfying.  They liked how everything simplified to just 'x.'
That's it for this round of #teach180.  It's never too late to join in the fun!

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Practice Structures: Memory

Another game that my students have really enjoyed is memory.  Memory works best for problems where students can solve mentally and quickly.  I like to use memory with 1 step equations and inequalities in pre-algebra as well as with transforming parent functions in algebra 2.  I have also used memory for practicing factoring difference of squares.

Here are the directions that I give to students explaining how to play memory.  It's a little sad, but many of them have never played this game as kids.


Here is the full game that I create for my algebra 2 students to review factoring difference of squares.  Originally, I had about twice as many cards, but my students struggled with solving the problems.  They were too bogged down with the number of cards that they did not get to enjoy the game.

Another option is to do an internet search for matching activities on your topic of study.  I'm not sure who to give credit for this assignment, but I could easily use the first two pages of this document to make a parabola transformations memory game.

Have you played memory in math class?  Do you have other ideas for how to use this activity in your class?  Please share!


Sunday, March 12, 2017

#Teach180 Post: Days 111-120

This year I've taken on the #teach180 challenge.  The challenge is to post one tweet per day showing a glimpse inside your classroom.  I'm also putting the tweets together in a biweekly blog so that I can share the resources that I'm tweeting about.

Day 111:  Today was another one of our weekly quizzes.
Day 112:  Today my geometry students finished up their transformations project using +OZOBOTs.  The kids cheered as the bots successfully completed their courses :)



Day 113:  Today my algebra 2 classes used ExploreLearning's Gizmo to practice graphing and writing equations of circles.

Day 114:  Today in geometry, we started Barbie Zipline to practice using angles of elevation.  I added in terminal velocity this year to make it a little more STEMy.  Here is the link to last years write-up if you want the student documents.
Day 115:  Today in algebra 2 we wrapped up our Ozobot graphing project.  Most kids get really excited to see their Ozobot successfully navigate their course.


Day 116:  Today we had  our weekly cumulative quizzes.  Decided to come home at 4pm even though I only had half of the quizzes graded.  I'm happy to be home now, but I'll regret not staying later when tomorrow rolls around :)

Day 117:  Today in algebra 2 we practiced writing and graphing equations for hyperbolas using ExploreLearning's Gizmo.

Day 118:  Today we continued with barbie bungee in the geometry classes.  We completed our trial runs and prepared to predict the perfect angle of elevation for our final runs.  Tomorrow we go either to the atrium or the stadium to do our final runs.  The students already made their calculations for both cases.  The choice depends on the weather.  Usually the high tempt is about 50 degrees here this time of year, but we've had some very warm weather lately.  Time will tell.


Day 119:  Today we did our final for barbie zipline in geometry.

Day 120:  Today in algebra 2 we practiced identifying the type of conic from its equation using @desmos.

That's it for this round of #teach180.  It's never too late to join in the fun!