Friday, September 28, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Sept. 28th, 2018

Not everyone is a Keynote user. Even though I use a Mac, I have never used it either, but the more I see the more intrigued I get. So that being said, if you are at all interested in possibly seeing how Keynote might help you as a math teacher, then check out this iBook from @mathycathy where she explores some of the things you can do for math with Keynote and why making things visual is a good thing. Get more info and download the iBook at the link below and then you can start using the hashtags #KeynoteForMath and #EveryoneCanCreate.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.mathycathy.com/blog/2018/08/too-mathy-too-techy/

One of the things I like about the math community on the Internet is we are all into remixing each other's stuff. Last week I posted this @desmos activity where kids could practice graphing points and relatively quickly @SGiekAHS made some quick additions and changes and just like that, it's better.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5ba7a6f38dbdac0d0a45d5cb

Also from @SGiekAHS is this card sort on exponent rules. I like card sorts because they are a quick way for kids to practice in a non threatening way. And so when teachers share these it's great because they are time consuming to make.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jvje0qtw52w5x21/Puzzle.pdf?dl=0



It's always fun to find new hashtags, what a neat idea: #sidewalkmath. Get into it. Thanks to @_b_p for starting this.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/hashtag/sidewalkmath?f=tweets&vertical=default&src=hash

Who doesn't like a good Star Wars based pictograph.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://twitter.com/FiveThirtyEight/status/1043666255499137024



Friday, September 21, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Sept. 21st, 2018

Need some help with introductory calculus (you or your students). Then you might try out this free online course from Wolfram that gives that introductory look at this classic course. Thanks to @MathHombre for pointing this one out.
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
https://www.wolfram.com/wolfram-u/introduction-to-calculus/

I'm a big fan of sorting activities for students. They are simple ways for kids to practice in short bursts and they are often more engaging than plane old worksheets. In this post @MissCalcul8 has a card sort for solving equations ready for you to print out. You can find that and more activities centred around equations on her blog post.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM2P
http://misscalculate.blogspot.com/2018/08/solving-equations.html





I created a simple activity to help students practice plotting points. In it they are presented with a target and have to try to plot the point to get a bullseye. Once they get the bullseye, they can randomly generate another target. It starts with graphing in one quadrant, then goes to four and finally goes to four with decimal valued points.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://engaging-math.blogspot.com/p/desmos-activities_10.html



Math anxiety is a problem for many students. Learning how to help students deal with it is something we as teachers should probably learn about. This article from @Maloney_EA, @NumCog and Jonathan Fugelsang give us some strategies. Thanks to @MSBJacobs for point this one out.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://thelearningexchange.ca/math-anxiety/


Given many of the public calls in the media to go back to drill and kill, this essay from @egroetzi on why that is precisely what we shouldn't do (backed up be research). Some good points here to validate any arguments you might have in favour of a more balanced approach than just drill and kill. Thanks to @ddmeyer for pointing this one out.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://soulscrutiny.wordpress.com/2018/08/23/dear-new-york-times-do-better/

So @ddmeyer blogged about his experience teaching summer school this past summer and you can read about his adventures at the link below. But my take away was this short talk by @maxrayriek that I have somehow missed all these years. Such a good insight about how we (shouldn't) listen to students while we are teaching. Everyone should take 5 minutes and watch this. 
Curriculum Tags: All

Here is a great example of @ddmeyer's idea of giving students a "headache" so that math has to be the "aspirin".
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P
https://twitter.com/rnhung/status/1041890981937729536

A few weeks ago I posted a video from @standupmaths regarding the new geometric shape called a scutoid. Well if you like that then you'll like this jewelry based on this shape. Thanks to @mathhombre for pointing this one out.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://tinytokens.tumblr.com/post/176808119904/i-was-inspired-by-the-news-of-the-newly-discovered






Saturday, September 15, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Sept. 14th, 2018

So in Ontario we have had our premier talk about going back to basics and focussing on memorization as the new goal in math class (though his newly released math document doesn't really say that). That made this post from @ddmeyer all the more topical. In it he tries to compare procedural fluency to conceptual understanding. And much like many of these conversations, he points out that often we don't even define what these things are. He does a pretty good job of doing that but I liked all the examples that readers gave to distinguish the two (like this one below). Take a look at his site.
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2018/what-does-fluency-without-understanding-look-like/
Curriculum Tags: All

Good timing for @SweenWSweens to release his second set of Marbleslides challenges (the beginning of the year, that is). Here there are 30 challenges of varying difficulty that you could propose to your class or school throughout the year - for fun!!! And if you are interested, here is last year's set. Keep em coming.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://sweeneymath.blogspot.com/2018/09/marbleslides-challenge-set-2.html


Some new podcasts added. First a new one from @CoolCatTeacher's 10 Minute Teacher Podcast. This one from @JStevens009 talking about the Classroom Chef Model he and @MrVaudrey have developed for teaching math. And a new Podcast (to me) from @MrBartonMaths. Here he does some long form interviews and the two I have highlighted are from @DylanWiliam and @SLSingh. Check out the link (or the podcast tab above) to hear these and many more.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://ontariomath.blogspot.com/p/podcasts.html

As I mentioned we are supposed to be going back to basics in my province. One of my biggest beefs with that statement is that, rarely, does anyone actually clarify what they mean as the basics. None, the less @MathGarden talks about how the movement to go back to basics is counter to everything that helps make kids learn to love math. Check it out here:
Curriculum Tags: All
https://medium.com/@sunilsingh_42118/back-to-basics-math-weakest-form-of-literacy-51791beab4ea


I think this has been the best description of this problem that I have seen yet. That is, the issue of not completely teaching order of operations correctly from @thawom0.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://youtu.be/lLCDca6dYpA

Need to talk about symmetry, here's a great image for it
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://twitter.com/pickover/status/1038410609476468737

And surely we can find something to do with this image in a mathematical cotext
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://twitter.com/Kristiblad/status/1039706475516620802

And thanks to @Lisa_Bej for pointing this one out. Definitely some math that can be done here
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://twitter.com/lisa_bej/status/1039966680313606144


Friday, September 7, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Sept. 7th, 2018

There has been a lot of discussion about "going back to basics" (what ever that means) and focussing on memorizing algorithms by our newly elected government. There are many problems with this approach. That being said, @ddmeyer just did this blog post asking "What Does Fluency Without Understanding Look Like?". This can be a problem in math. If we only focus on algorithms, we run the risk of fooling ourselves into thinking that kids understand math. Lot's of people have given many examples of how this happens and I really like this example given by @pejorgens. But read more on Dan's post
Curriculum Tags: All
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2018/what-does-fluency-without-understanding-look-like/

I have loved @SteveWyborney's Splat slideshows from day one. We are a Google Suite school board so I had started to convert some of them to Google Slides. But now he's done it for me and now you too can have all the Splat slidedecks in a Google friendly way.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P, MFM2P
https://www.stevewyborney.com/?p=1583


I loved this story about this pizza place that makes the largest deliverable pizza. There a so many math questions you can ask about this. Just ask kids what they notice and wonder for a start. But I start to think about things like crust to non crust piece ratio and maximizing edges etc. Click the link and watch the video for more info.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-largest-pizza-delivery-2017-11

Ontario Teachers @mathletepearce and @mrorr_geek have just released a free four video series on Making Math Moments Matter. These four 10 minute(ish) videos are teasers for their upcoming webinar series on how to get kids to remember your lessons. Get the free videos and sign up for the course at the link below.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://makemathmoments.com/





With our current government talking about more rote practice, this post from @MarkChubb3 about alternate forms of practice in math class is pretty timely. Practice doesn't have to be rote to be effective and it is possible to make practice more like play. Read below for more.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://buildingmathematicians.wordpress.com/2018/09/05/the-role-of-practice-in-mathematics-class/



Some good math sentiments from @MisterWooTube
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXwStduNw14

Sign up to find out how @Desmos is tackling accessability on the latest versions of their graphing calculator
Curriculum Tags: All
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScI3TQJIxRXHRY3kZMzvOtMN4qp4uuWaZQbKmCWEqS3PEpxQA/viewform



Saturday, September 1, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Aug. 31st, 2018

I have been working on this post for about a year. Not because it is particularly long or complicated. Just because I have fallen in and out of it. But over the summer when I was at TMC18, @Approx_normal did a session on CODAP and so that fired me up to finish it. If you haven't seen CODAP but have used Fathom or just are looking for some dynamic ways to work with stats, then this is the resource for you. This video gives you a brief intro to using CODAP and if you follow the link to my blog post you will see many data sets all ready to import into CODAP.
Curriculum Tags: MBF3C, MAP4C, MDM4U
http://found-data.blogspot.com/2018/08/using-codap-online-statistics-software.html

And if intro stats stuff is what you are looking for then check out @Mrschz's Instagram Feed @MrsColbyMath. She's been posting pictures every day of all of the activities her and her kids are doing. Seems like she has a very active and fun class.
Curriculum Tags: MBF3C, MAP4C, MDM4U
https://www.instagram.com/mrscolbymath/?hl=en






This is an awesome @Desmos activity for solidifying knowledge of first and second degree derivatives. Students first have to decide which of the three lines is the original function, first and second derivative. Then they use the challenge creator to create their own example for their classmates to try out. So good.
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
http://blog.desmos.com/post/177589979647/new-activity-release-functions-and-their


A few weeks ago I posted a video of @Stoodle's Story Collider talk about his first year teaching and it finally got published on their site as well. This week it's @MrHonner's turn to talk about the beginning of his career.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSb6BhQ_5mg

I've done this experiment with kids before but not sure if this has happened
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/robertkaplinsky/status/1033563454156627969

What a great animated Gif for tessellation
Curriculum Tags: Gr7


A Would you Rather from @MFAnnie
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://twitter.com/MFAnnie/status/1033136534394990597

I've been seeing a lot of numbering like this in classrooms lately. Keep it up.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/Heather37727075/status/1033142792778928133