Mathsational

I modified this activity from one done by Matt Vaudrey and John Stevens .  I believe that they used the activity to study Pythagorean Theorem and the distance formula.  Here is a write-up of John’s lesson.  I used it to have students practice solving simple trigonometric triangles involving angle of elevation. I started the lesson with the same video that John did.  I asked the kids if they had ever been on a zipline and if so where.  A few kids had stories to share.  I asked them about what would make a zipline ‘good.’  This led them to the safe and fun metric.  They knew that the zipline needed to be both safe and fun if people were going to enjoy the ride. I set up a mini zipline in my classroom.  The starting height was fixed at some random value because I already had a command hook stuck to one of my cabinets.  It was at about 147 cm.  The zipline was just fishing line.  I used a carabiner and velco me...

I came across this activity in the #MTBoS community through twitter.  The activity seemed very outside the box for me and my students and I was nervous to try it.  Many teachers have written about their experiences with implementing this lesson, but Jenn's is the most detailed and helpful that I found.  The basic idea is this:  Students make a set of parallel lines and a tranversal with masking tape on the floor.  You review the angle pairs alternate interior, alternate exterior, same side interior, same side exterior, corresponding, vertical).  Have students place their feet on the appropriate angles in their tape diagram. In the post mentioned above, Jenn shares some awesome videos with fun music and angle pairs.  It works just like Dance Dance Revolution from there.  I tried it with my 11th graders as a review before we started parallel line proofs.  They had a grand time and really got into it.  I recorded one of the dances ...

Recently, my honors algebra 2 class studied radicals.  Among other things, we needed to build fluency in using operations and using radicals to solve equations.  Here are a few of the resources that students used during class to practice. Simplifying radicals board game:   I can not remember where I got this board game template.  At one time, I googled something  like “free printable board games” and downloaded a bunch of them to use once each unit.  In general, I print some practice problems using Kuta Software and cut up the worksheet to make problem cards.  I print and laminate the board game to use year after year.  I use dice and bingo counters that I purchased online.  This is a simple alternative to a worksheet that the kids always seem to enjoy.  The board games work best when the problems are quick.  The game part is not fun if the kids can only complete 2-3 problems and don’t actually get to move their gam...

This lesson may not make sense to some of you, especially if you do not know me or what a hybrid classroom looks like.  You can read more about my hybrid classroom on the Hybrid Learning and MTSD Training – Hybrid Learning tabs of my blog. The short version of this information is that my students learn by traveling through 4 stations over a period of 2 days.  The first day consists of a 5 minute warm-up, two 20 minute stations and a 5 minute closure activity (usually an exit ticket).  The second day consists of a 5 minute warm-up, one 20 minute station, one 20 minute whole group activity and a 5 minute closure activity.  Sometimes the whole group activity is a lecture, sometimes it is a quiz, and other times it is a group work assignment or project.  The warm-ups and exit tickets might be review of a specific skill or a fun MTBoS warm-up.  Check out the MTBoS Resources tab above for more information. The first of the 3 stations is the indepen...

I’m not sure that this is activity really falls into the category of questioning, but it is one of my favorite activities to foster amazing conversations.  I got the idea from Nora Oswald ( @ NoraOswald ).  She calls the activity bucket o’lies .  I don’t have buckets, so I call it box o’lies.   Here is one sample set of questions .  Basically, students read through a collection of worked out problems.  Some have been done correctly, others have common mistakes.  Students determine which ones are correct and which ones are not.  Then they correct the incorrect problems. As students work through problems, they see the mistakes that they make themselves and think that an incorrect problem is actually correct.  Then, a group-mate points out the mistake (hopefully) and they have a good conversation about what makes each step right or wrong.  Even if a group-mate does not point out the mistake, they will figure it...

  My favorite classroom tool is Doceri.  It does cost $30, but I use this iPad app every day, so it was well worth the cost.  You need a computer (laptop/desktop), wireless network, and projector to use Doceri.  It basically turns your computer into a whiteboard.  You can control your computer and any files remotely from the iPad.  I use this feature for PowerPoints during class.  You can eccentrically take a screen shot of whatever is on your screen (or use a number of included backgrounds such as graph paper) and then write on that image.  I use this feature most often.  I will make a PowerPoint presentation of my notes each day and then use Doceri to annotate each slide.  You have a ton of pen style/color choices so you can color code and highlight important parts of your class notes.  Doceri can save each annotated image and you can email it to yourself in PDF form.  This can become a document to post on your cla...

A number of teachers are blogging about a typical day in their lives.  Here is mine.  This was a day near the end of the marking period, so it was heavier on extra tutoring for procrastinating students.  Honestly, I wish I had more students coming in for extra help all throughout the marking period. 4:30-4:45am:  wake-up, brush my teeth, put in contacts, get dressed to work-out, take dogs outside to go potty 4:45-5:25am:  work-out in the basement, usually a Jillian Michaels DVD 5:25-5:40am:  shower 5:40-6:00am:  skin care, make-up 6:00-6:15am: breakfast, check personal email, watch the news, feed the pups. 6:15-6:30am:  blow dry hair, get dressed, pack lunch, let pups out one more time, leave for work. 6:30-7:00am:  drive to work 7:00-7:10am:  check school mail box, go to my classroom 7:10-7:25am:  unpack my personal/professional belongings, make last minute copies, open computer documents th...