Innovative math lessons you can use in your classroom today
Submitted by Jacqui Ochoa, Kurt Walker, and Randy Davis, Trabuco Hills H.S., Mission Viejo, CA. (first published in The Math Projects Journal, Nov/Dec 1997) One of the reasons students have a tough time learning to solve equations is that many do not really know what the algebraic equations represent. In particular, they do not understand Continue reading The Student-Generated Word Problem
When I was an instructional coach, the question I received most often was How do you have students work in groups without it turning into chaos? After nearly three decades of using cooperative learning groups in my own classes, I will answer that question here along with these others: Why Group? Which Group Structures? How Continue reading Making Group Work Work with Less Work
Palm Springs, CA, Nov 2018 Monterey, CA Dec 2018 I have summarized each session with some simple (•) bulleted notes, red underline to encapsulate my big take-aways, and occasionally a brief italicized commentary. (Due to many duties at the conference this year, my session attendance was limited, thus why I am combining the Continue reading Recap: CMC-South North 2018
San Bernardino, CA , Sept 2017 The Riverside San Bernardino Counties Mathematics Teachers Association, the local state affiliate of which I am a member, conducted its first Fall conference, Fall for Math, with a theme of Growing Powerful Practices Together.The conference had three main objectives: Highlighting Math Practices 3 6 (Constructing Viable Arguments and Continue reading Recap: Fall for…
San Antonio, CA , April 2017 I have summarized each session with some simple (•) bulleted notes, red underline to encapsulate my major take-aways, and occasionally a brief italicized commentary. Math Task Makeover with Desmos Activity Builder Michael Fenton (Desmos), Jed Butler (Heritage HS), Bob Lochel (Hatboro-Horsham High School) The Big Take-Away = Use Desmos activities to generate…
San Antonio, CA , April 2017 I have summarized each session with some simple (•) bulleted notes, red underline quotes to encapsulate my major take-aways, and occasionally a brief italicized commentary. Knocking Down Barriers with Technology Eli Lubroff (Desmos) The Big Take Away = Differentiation should not mean different tasks for different students, but instead should offer different depths…
This outstanding lesson on two-way tables was born out of three sources: a fantastic resource from Illustrative Math, the award-winning movie, Titanic, and an empowering presentation by Chase Orton (@mathgeek76 ). At CMC-North, 2015, Chase shared the Lived or Died two-way table, which does a fantastic job of hooking students and introducing them to the concept of determining dependence from…
Out of 615 million airline passengers last year, half a million were bumped from flights. 9 out of 10 of those were voluntary. What percentage of all booked passengers were involuntarily bumped from a flight? Yes, I had fun at the expense of United Airlines most recent viral embarrassment, but I had two serious questions Continue reading Bumping Airlines
I added two components to a lesson task on rational equations. The first was an idea called Hint Cards which I discussed in a previous post. The second one was having students use Desmos to confirm numerical answers that they found algebraically. This lesson is worth sharing, because of what I discovered that the students didn t know Continue reading Confirming Answers with Graphing Software
I added two components to a lesson task on rational equations.The first was an idea called, Hint Cards, shared by Michael Pershan at Shadow Con at NCTM 2015. The second, which I will discuss in another post, was having students use Desmos to confirm answers that they found algebraically. There were so many surprising positives Continue reading Hint Cards