Mathsational

  Are you looking for innovative ways to get your students talking, thinking, and collaborating more effectively in your math classes? Look no further! Engaging students in rich discussions is key to deepening their understanding and making learning truly stick. I've gathered some discussion strategies that can transform your classroom into a hub of mathematical exploration. These approaches are designed to encourage participation, critical thinking, and peer learning. Let's dive into some strategies you can implement right away: 1. Which One Doesn't Belong? This versatile strategy serves as a fantastic icebreaker and a critical thinking exercise. Present four images, numbers, or expressions, and ask students to identify which one doesn't belong and, more importantly, why . There are no wrong answers, only justifications! This encourages all students to participate and articulate their reasoning.  Check out this website to get you started: WODB by Talking Math with Kids...

This winter break  @druinok  is organizing a blog challenge.  I'll likely be finishing long after break, but I do love good prompts, so I'll stick with it.  You can find more info  here  if you'd like to join in the fun. The next prompt that seemed like a good fit for me was: What worked (and what didn't) in 2017? I'm fortunate to be starting a new job in the next few weeks.  I have the opportunity to start fresh with my goals for the year and I intend to take advantage of that unusual benefit.  Some of my goals going into this year was to improve the process of going over homework, to increase active student participation, in encourage a sense of community between students, and to improve my work-life balance. I was able to improve the process of going over homework .   I'll need to modify this as my new school is 1-1, but not with iPads.  I'm not sure if the student laptops have cameras, but I'm considering having ...

Engagement in Algebra 2 can be tough.  The scope and sequence is brutal, even for me as someone who really enjoys math.  I wrote about the objectives of my algebra 2 class here .  Seriously, if you have a great application project or activity for the following, please let me know: multiplying/dividing polynomials (long division), working with radical and complex numbers, rational functions, polynomial functions, conic sections, inverse functions, sequences and series & truth tables.  Ugh, I'm bored just typing that list of unbearable content. So, what I attempt to do is 1) gamify as much as I can and 2) Kagan the rest. I wrote several posts about the games that I try to incorporate: Dice Breakout Edu Chains Tarsia Board Games My Ship Sails Color by Number Old Maid TIC TAC TOE and Go Fish Rummy For more info on Kagan strategies you can start here .  Kagan strategies are methods of having students work collaboratively.  Each person ha...

My main goal for this year is to get 100% buy in from students.  I realize that 100% is unlikely, but I'm already pretty darned close.  I'd say about 5% of my kids LOVE my class and about 5% HATE it and go so far as to completely disengage.  The other 90% have variable levels of engagement ranging from compliance to true internal motivation.  I'm most worried about the 5% that are disengaged as well as a kiddos who are just going through the motions to avoid a negative consequence. One of my plans to reach this goal is to incorporate more student reflection.  I want the students to reflect after each station in my hybrid classroom.  I want them to think about the effort that they put into the assignment, their perceived success on the assignment and their actions when they were stuck.  I think this may help some kids who simply do not realize what to do when they are stuck and those that feel like 25%-75% effort is enough. The other thing that...