Math Links for Week Ending Apr. 27th, 2018

Some major releases for @desmos today (well, really, last night at the Desmos Happy Hour). If you have ever wanted to edit a Desmos made activity or use some of the Desmos "magic sauce" in your own activities then this is your day. Everyone now has access to what is called Computation Layer. This is the extra bit of coding that is used to make some of those awesome activities and now you can play with that stuff. Warning, it does require a bit of programming knowledge but it allows some great things. But they have your back with new documentation.  But wait, that is still not all! You also get an updated geometry calculator. Now with polygons, transformations, measurement. So ramp up your geometry and have fun. So get Desmosing, what are you waiting for?
Curriculum Tags: All
http://blog.desmos.com/post/173363133937/three-major-new-releases

I'm at the NCTM annual conference this week so all of this week's links are coming from things I've seen. As I write this it is only Friday but if you are interested here are my Tweets. There is no way to show everything else I saw but here's a sampling

I saw @RobertKaplinsky's session on the morning of the first day and it was great to see and hear techniques on using Openmiddle.com right from the source. The main focus was on Depth of Knowledge (DOK) problems and one of my big takeaways was the idea of assigning point values to the various problems and having students pick and choose the problems they do. Check out all the resources and don't forget to look at his matrices for elementary and secondary to see progressions of DOK 1-3 for individual concepts.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://robertkaplinsky.com/nctm18/

There were a lot of sessions (like, a lot) so it was impossible to see them all. So I missed @mathletepearce and @ScottBaldridge's session on "Digging Deeper Into Ratios and Proportional Relationships" but when I saw @RobertKaplinsky's Tweet (from earlier in the week at NCSM), I saw that it was a mistake. None the less we can get the slide deck and info at the link below:
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://tapintoteenminds.com/nctm/

Holy. Mole. I'm blown away by how @MathletePearce is breaking down his stacking paper task (https://t.co/OuxkJ4xsCg) and connecting it to ratio representations. What a slick slide deck too! #NCSM18

— Robert Kaplinsky (@robertkaplinsky) April 24, 2018

I got to see how @MrHonner uses Skratch to investigate probability with his students. We walked through several coin flipping, die rolling and other simulations. It was pretty simple to do and the bonus (for kids) is that they will be learning coding skills along the way. Don't be fooled by the fact that this is Skratch (which looks juvenile), you can do some powerful stuff. He hasn't posted his slide deck yet but he has some resources on his site already that goes through some of it. Eventually it will be at this link http://mrhonner.com/NCTM2018.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://mrhonner.com/mfastatssimsscratch

It' was like a freight train, seeing @saravdwerf present. By that I mean there was so much good information she was giving and it was going so fast you left feeling like you had been hit by a train. So good. The whole session circled around this slide here and ways that you could do it. The link below gets you to her blog post which (at the time I am typing this) is incomplete but she will have it all up soon. And while you are there, check out all of the other great resources on her site.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://saravanderwerf.com/2018/04/27/nctm-2018-presentation-resources-engaging-students-in-seeing-structure/

I'm not a Microsoft guy (anymore) but after going to @sig225's session on Three Technologies that will Change Math, I might start moving back. Among other things, he showed us how he uses Digital Ink with his students as a way for them to keep notes where he can monitor them remotely. Some cool tools here (especially when using touch screen tech). Check out his notes at the link below and the live doc he used here https://tinyurl.com/nctm18onenote
Curriculum Tags: All
https://continuousformation.blogspot.com/2018/04/nctm-2018-annual-conference-and-onenote.html

I saw @MFAnnie's talk on Sense Making with students. I have seen some of this before but I don't think I can get enough. I am constantly blown away on how easy it is to tweak what you are already doing in class so that it allows students to think and make sense more. Below is a partial video of some of the ideas in another talk (to give you a sense) and the link below will get you to the entire slide deck of the talk I saw.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://mathematicalthinking.org/annie/2018/04/26/my-nctm-2018-session/

I tweeted a lot and had lot's of images of slides, you can see them here but below are just a few of them.

When @MJFenton called an audible and changed the focus of his session away from the topic of The Five Practices, I was disappointed. However, he still scored a touchdown with his deep dive into visual patterns. My favourite take away was the technique he used of only showing one term at a time and continually asking "draw the next term in the pattern" rather than show all three terms immediately. There is so much more space for students to dive in this way. Try it out.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P, MFM2P, MPM2D
https://twitter.com/davidpetro314/status/989866052787036160

“Can you draw the next diagram in this #visualpattern?” asks @mjfenton here at #nctm18 #nctmAnnual #patternchat #mathchat #mtbos #iteachmath pic.twitter.com/1Cj4YcFYG2

— David Petro (@davidpetro314) April 27, 2018

At the convention centre there were some great circular art pieces
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/davidpetro314/status/989268164184854528
https://twitter.com/davidpetro314/status/989256786204086272

There are over 9000 attendees here at the #NCTMannual and if there are less than 100 separate tweets with the image of these #bicycles , I will be dissapointed #mathchat #lteachmath #mtbos pic.twitter.com/ePFckNKoUp

— David Petro (@davidpetro314) April 25, 2018

What do you notice? What do you wonder? #NCTMAnnual #mathchat #mtbos #ITeachMath pic.twitter.com/3hapLiez7k

— David Petro (@davidpetro314) April 25, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending April 20th, 2018

About a month ago, I recorded a session on the podcast 10 Minute Teacher with @coolcatteacher. It was fun. The resulting episode just got released this week. I talked about how I mainly use Twitter by focussing on hashtags vs following people. Specifically #mathchat, #MTBoS and #ITeachMath. I'm sure many teachers who read this blog are already aware of these but if you want a few more tips then maybe give a listen. And then listen to some of their other episodes. They put one out per weekday every week with a different theme every day. 

Curriculum Tags: All

http://www.coolcatteacher.com/e294/

We've had this new continuum kicking around for a while and we finally formalized the blogpost. We really like these as a way to have kids practice math skills. On this one, students practice their factoring of quadratic skills. They start at a card that matches their skill level and move from card to card (increasing in difficulty) as the continue to practice. Students really love this mode of practice and continually tell us so, yet, give them a worksheet and they run.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P, MCR3U, MCF3M, MBF3C, MAP4C
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/2018/04/polynomial-factoring-continuum.html

We also released an experimental mashup of Desmos and Web Sketchpad. In this case, for proving congruent triangles. In it students record all of their thinking in Desmos and investigate the nature of congruency with the dynamic Web Sketch and going back and forth between the two.
Curriculum Tags; Gr7G
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/p/desmos-activities_10.html


If you like Estimation180.com then you will probably like this new set of slideshows from @SteveWybourney. It's a neat little way to have students practice their estimation skills in a very controlled way. Check out all of the slideshows (40 sets)  at the link below and when you get there, watch the video to get a better sense of how to use this.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.stevewyborney.com/?p=1483


In this new activity from Desmos, students investigate the nature of steepness and along the way give reasons why the coordinate grid is useful as well as possibly being a good starting point to talk about the concept of slope.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P, MFM2P
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/56b8d8ec6fb01b1648653477

Do you want to teach your kids about using formulas and do it with some neat contexts? Then take a look at this article about being able to predict how fast you could run a marathon by only using two pieces of information and an equation.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/tell-us-two-things-and-well-tell-you-how-fast-youd-run-a-marathon/

"It’s the things you do everyday that matter. Those are the things that will build the culture you are looking for. Routine and Consistency are what will drive change in your classroom and student learning." - That's the main message in the advice that @MrOrr_Geek is giving this week as he touts the benefits of consistency in the math classroom. Read on in the link below
Curriculum Tags: All
https://mrorr-isageek.com/why-consistency-is-more-important-than-intensity-culture-in-the-math-classroom/

In this writeup, @MathGarden compares what we should be doing in math class to Willie Wonka. But really, the thing that connected with me was the quote from Sir Ken Robinson - "Teaching is a creative profession, not a delivery mechanism"
Curriculum Tags: All
https://medium.com/@sunilsingh_42118/math-education-needs-willy-wonka-a89e77f2dc83

Though it used to be a staple of many classrooms (not just math), much of the research seems to suggest that memorization doesn't have a huge amount of effect on students. Check this article out to find out why?
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/guest-essay-when-will-we-stop-teaching-kids-to-memorize-math/

Seriously, how can you not love this activity for connecting quadratics with movement. Even if you don't have a full right up of the activity, you totally get the gist.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P
https://twitter.com/aliceaspinall/status/985931839310352384

Marble paint paths in #2Pmath is my favourite activity in grade 10. Art mixed into math... #mtbos #iteachmath pic.twitter.com/2rNo73P8z2

— Alice Aspinall (@aliceaspinall) April 16, 2018

I happened to be watching Jeopardy the other night and what should appear but this question. Now you can tell kids why they have to do some of the crazy math stuff we make them do - just in case of Jeopardy.
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U

https://twitter.com/davidpetro314/status/986758404558307329

Last week I posted about some amazing @Desmos art. Here's some more. Check out his feed for all the Desmos goodness
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/GHSMaths/status/984540628951490561

I'm Martin, from the UK, and I make mathematical art.

(mostly animations, almost always using @Desmos, and frequently inspired by the wonderful mathematical community on Twitter)#artvsartist pic.twitter.com/sONvQ75alf

— Martin Holtham (@GHSMaths) April 12, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Apr. 13th, 2018

We've all see Desmos art before. They share loads of it on their website. But today I saw the craziest Desmos drawing today. Over 7000 lines of formulas by @SumDumThum needed to create this picture. When you open the link up, be patient. It takes the Internet a few minutes to catch up to all the code on this but it is pretty cool once it comes up.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.desmos.com/calculator/vn9imd74ne

I love when teachers use the long game. In this case @saravdwerf does it by hanging three balls from her ceiling at the beginning of the year that she wouldn't use until now. Some kids don't notice them others ask what they are for. She just says "you'll see". Then she uses them to connect to 3-D graphing and solving three variable systems of equations. That short description doesn't do it justice so look at the full post to get the 411.
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
https://saravanderwerf.com/2018/04/08/why-i-hang-orange-plastic-golf-balls-from-the-ceiling-of-my-classroom-a-favorite-teaching-moment/




We put out a few Desmos activities this week. This one is a short intro to calculus topics like the connection of the slope of the secant to the slope of the tangent as well as the idea that if you zoom into a curve enough, you can approximate that curve with a straight line. It was based on some work originally done by @MathGeek76
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/p/desmos-activities_10.html


The other ones are some EQAO practice activities for geometry I am trying out. The idea is that students can practice old EQAO geometry questions using the sketch feature and then measure their angles directly using the Desmos geometry.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/p/desmos-activities_10.html








We also put together a new dynamic web sketch this week on the beginnings of rotations. Here students can investigate rotation of a hexagon and irregular shape about their centres and off centre (in multiples of 90 degrees). Then they have two pages of challenges where there are randomly generated shapes where students get to try to work out the correct rotation. It was really meant for grade 6 students but could be used as review for grade 7 students.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7G
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/p/web-sketches.html

Doing tiling of the plane with your students? Then this cool Desmos sketch from @Von_oy is something you might want to try.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7G
https://twitter.com/von_Oy/status/983048095217930240

new and improved hexagon tiling on @Desmos (with rotating tiles!)https://t.co/afDr2bfheC#mtbos #iteachmath @madewithDesmos pic.twitter.com/LYWHF9LzGw

— Suzanne von Oy (@von_Oy) April 8, 2018

We've been using a lot of the Mathies.ca apps lately and they are continually improving them and adding features. This week the Colour Tiles app got the Save/Load feature. So now you can create some initial states that you can share with your students so that they don't have to start from scratch.

Curriculum Tags: All
http://mathclips.wikispaces.com/Colour+Tiles

It's conference season and @MrOrr_Geek has you covered with four tips to get the most out of your conference experience. My favourite is #4 - One New Thing. That is, take one thing that you learned at the conference and implement it when you get back. Don't sit on all that new knowledge, make it work for you. Read the rest of his tips at the link below.

Curriculum Tags: All

https://mrorr-isageek.com/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-the-conferences-you-attend/

We have added to our collection of videos on conceptually looking at operations with fractions. This long(ish) video goes through a progression that would help students develop the fraction division algorithm. This video is intended for teachers to see how that progression could go.
Curriculum Tags: Gr8NS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxZx54nfrWg

We also added to our activity on visual patterns by creating this video that shows how you might use the cards to develop a progression where students can get the equation of the algebraic expression for a linear pattern.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7PA, Gr8PA
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/2017/12/visual-pattern-cards.html

When you first look at this "math trick" posted by @DonFraser9, you might just dismiss it (especially if you don't care for math tricks). But there is a lot of good number sense and problem solving that you can have your kids go through to figure out why it works. My favourite way to use it would be to come up with the algebraic expression that models why it works.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7PA, Gr8PA, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://twitter.com/DonFraser9/status/984450688867446785

Worthwhile?? #MTBoS @Bedford_Mrs @MatthewOldridge @AllenMath @FSlimati @cherandpete @Mathgarden @MathletePearce @mraspinall @paul_math @fawnpnguyen @kspry @CathyMarksKrpan @CathyMarksKrpan @MathCoachCorner @davidpetro314 @MrOrr_geek @MrSoclassroom pic.twitter.com/REiVc2xlJh

— Don Fraser (@DonFraser9) April 12, 2018

When I first looked at this image from @MSBJacobs asking if these were similar, I thought, yes, but I was quickly reminded in the comments that only triangles are similar if all their angles are equal. It's a great exercise for student when exploring the concept of similarity.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7G
https://twitter.com/msbjacobs/status/984445127191035906

Are these trapezoids/trapesiums similar? #iteachmath pic.twitter.com/vKMxmbsqUy

— Michael Jacobs (@msbjacobs) April 12, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Apr. 6th, 2018

In grade 7 in Ontario, students are required to physically construct parallel lines, perpendicular lines, perpendicular bisectors and angle bisectors. To do this, they would ideally only have a ruler and compass. In these four activities, students are walked through the steps to create these using Desmos and then given the same instructions to use via physical constructing. Note that, even though Desmos geometry has tools to create perpendicular and parallel lines we won't be using them in order to mimic what would be done in the real construction.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/p/desmos-activities_10.html

This is a neat little progression to show students conceptually how to divide one by a unit fraction.  Whether you use this BrainingCamp app or the Mathies fraction app, this is a great for showing that dividing fractions doesn't have to be a mystery.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7
https://twitter.com/brainingcamp/status/978804950837923841

Our brains are wired to find patterns and rules. Provide opportunities for students to discover math themselves. pic.twitter.com/fdMUUdoPyM

— Brainingcamp (@brainingcamp) March 28, 2018

I like this post from @MissCalcul8 where she polls Twitter for ideas about special right triangles, she gets suggestions then creates an activity that summarizes the ideas she likes. Nicely done
Curriculum Tags: MCR3U, MCF3M
http://misscalculate.blogspot.ca/2018/04/special-right-triangles-investigation.html

In his latest post, @MrOrr_Geek reaches back to a book from 10 years ago from economist Richard Thayler called Nudge on how to have little changes have a great effect. He talks about connecting it to math class (or class in general). Take a look and listen to the podcast he mentions or this one from Freakonomics Radio

Curriculum Tags: All
https://mrorr-isageek.com/how-small-nudges-could-have-a-big-impact-on-math-education/

Some keen advice on how to incorporate calculator use in math classes. 

Curriculum Tags: All

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/eef-blog-what-maths-teachers-need-to-know-about-pupils-using-calculators/

I thought this Tweet from @MarkChubb3 was a nice little tasty nugget of info that just about any teacher could learn from. 

Curriculum Tags: All

https://twitter.com/MarkChubb3/status/980985649384837121

If kids think math is about getting THE right answer, spend more time doing #WODB

If kids are quick to jump to rules & definitions, spend more time doing Always/Sometimes/Never

If you typically talk too much, start with a Notice Wonder first

......
#MathConceptions

— Mark Chubb (@MarkChubb3) April 3, 2018

So much math at many grade levels here. Get to it

Curriculum Tags:  All

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HViA6N3VeHw