I have been tinkering a lot with Desmos Activity Builder using their Geometry tools, and have come up with over 20 activities that span grade 7-9 ( here in Ontario). They mostly focussing on investigating simple geometric properties but some are more elaborate. I have been trying them out in classes this week and have already found ways to change them to make them better. So new versions will be out soon. Check them out and give me some feedback on how they could be improved.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/p/desmos-activities_10.html
We have an EggHunt activity on our Engaging Math blog so perhaps that's why this stands out for me from @MathEqualsLove. Here the kids search for eggs and inside are questions about multiplying polynomials. It fits with Easter but really you could do this at any time of the year.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P https://mathequalslove.blogspot.ca/2018/05/multiplying-polynomials-egg-hunt.html
Maybe it's because it references one of my favourite stories about Van Halen or perhaps the connection to Freakonomics but really it's the idea that is good from @RobertKaplinsky. That is, the idea that by asking someone to lie, you can find out the truth about what they know (with a shout out to @MrOrr_Geek).
Curriculum Tags: All https://robertkaplinsky.com/van-halen-king-solomon-formative-assessment-common/
I love this 40s condensation of a 75 min @alexoverwijk calculus class. Forget that it's calculus and just focus on the idea that you don't need to be telling kids stuff all the time.
Curriculum Tags: All https://twitter.com/AlexOverwijk/status/999676094163947521
Focus on #thinkingclassroom from #oame2018 75 minutes in 40 secs. Calc S’s solving optimization problems. I have yet to model a solution. Basically “we need to get a formula for what it is we are optimizing in terms of one variable. Then apply calculus.” #iteachmath#mtbospic.twitter.com/VeJ7uRGKE5
What followed is Twitter to the rescue. If you look in the comments to those Tweets then you will see many new versions of the original activity (see the first tweet for the original student version). And honestly I don't know where the latest version is now but I love the fact that how the versions show all the collaborators. It's turning into a nice little activity about estimation with some nice data management themes. Way to go Internet.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8 https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5afd034967709753d5d377c4
This reminds me that you don't have to make a grand activity to help students make sense of the world. Sometimes you just ned to ask the right question(s). Here @MrOrrGeek takes a simple question and then digs deep into proportional reasoning. Take a look
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P https://mrorr-isageek.com/how-we-can-anticipate-to-fuel-sense-making-stretching-trees/
I posted some of this last week and although @MSBJacobs intended this to be for grade 6 students, I think you can use this with all students grade 6 and above to help students get more comfortable with fractions. By using Open Middle style questions, this helps students do these and be correct in many ways. And one simple thing I like about these is how he uses these number tiles to help students only choose a number once.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P http://themathguy.blogspot.ca/2018/05/open-middle-fraction-problems.html
Do you want to try to spiral your math curriculum? Last week I pointed out that @mathletepearce had started to create a video series to get you started. Then there was only one, now there are three in the series plus an entire detailed website. It truly is a comprehensive munch of info.
Curriculum Tags: All https://tapintoteenminds.com/spiralling-guide/
I also had dinner with both @MarkChubb3 and @MrBinField and one of the things we talked about was Voronoi Diagrams and was surprised to see I had missed Mark's post on them from last December. But I love the connection to perpendicular bisectors and art and the real world application of finding optimal boundaries. I like it so much that I created a Desmos Geometry sketch of a dynamic version of them here.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7 https://buildingmathematicians.wordpress.com/2017/12/12/an-example-of-doing-mathematics-creating-voronoi/
Another session from last weeks OAME 2018 was from @NatBanting on Teaching Math with Open Tasks. Some well research reasoning and some ideas on how you can take traditional ideas and open them up.
Curriculum Tags: All http://natbanting.com/presentations/
And then to take it a step further, @MaryBourassa took the info in his session and started to apply it to her Calculus and Vectors course. That is what I call an efficient use of info found when attending a conference.
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U http://marybourassa.blogspot.ca/2018/05/teach-like-nat.html
Though I don't usually dip down into Kindergarten on this blog, I think that we could learn a lot about the push towards play based learning taken up there. This session from last week's OAME 2018 from @RooSloan, @maggiefay_ and @ElishaMalyk on Planning for Purposeful Play in Early Years Math including info on coding in FDK. Check out their site (below) and their entire Google Drive.
Curriculum Tags: All http://mssloanelb.weebly.com/
In other Interweb goings on, @mathycathy released her Pet House: A Linear Project!. I'm happy to say I had a small hand in helping out with this @Desmos activity and it's a great way to have kids draw their Desmos images using only linear functions. She includes a rubric and instructions to make it easier on you when you assign it.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5aebca50b4f42c0a7ada94c0
A few weeks ago I was on the 10-Minute Teacher podcast and although this isn't a math podcast, there are math based episodes. Recently two came up, one from @mathletepearce on making things visible and one from @MathDenisNJ on optimal ways to teach math. Check out those episodes and all the rest of my math podcast links on my page of podcasts.
Want to give some challenges to your students? They typically like Desmos marble slides and if that is the case then you should challenge them with @sweenwsween's Marble Slides Challenge set. He has taken these to the next level and your kids will find themselves stuck in the struggle of trying to solve these 36 unique puzzles. I have mentioned these before but it is worth bringing them up again. Thanks to @MrOrrGeek for reminding me this out.
I was at OAME 2018 this week and as always I had a great time. This year I was part of the organizing committee so I didn't see as many sessions as I wanted to but I did get some of the presenters to share their resources with me to share out. I'm sure I missed some but I will add them next week when I see them. However, you can see what others may have shared as it starts to get uploaded into these folders
Curriculum Tags: All https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15BWm1rBXiNXzymgXKcNDu713TAQAj4gS?usp=sharing
Even though I was on the planning committee, I did manage to present in two sessions. The first was with Gisele Jobin and was about the continuum activities that we've been posing on our blog over the last year or so.
The second one was on Desmos Geometry and what I did was try to introduce some of the new tools as well as some of the activities I've created. Instead of the traditional slideshow, I created a Desmos activity that covers all the topic. Get both resources at the link below
Curriculum Tags: All http://bit.ly/oame-petro
Get ready to start a fight in your classroom. Not a real fight, a math fight, it’s better!!!. Get your students actively estimating, questioning, discussing, and defending their insights not with the teacher, but with each other. That's what @MrOrr_Geek presented on. Check out all the details here
Curriculum Tags: All https://mrorr-isageek.com/start-a-math-fight/
What makes a memorable math moment? Is it a real world task? Is it relevant to your students? Is it media-rich or delivered in 3 acts? Those are questions that @MrOrr_Geek and @mathletepearce ask in their session and you can get all the resources here
Curriculum Tags: All http://makemathmoments.com/
And you can watch the entire presentation on Facebook live here (whether you are on Facebook or not)
And @mathletepearce also had a different session. Here he talked about the idea people say kids don’t know their math facts! While this may be true for some students, what is more important than simply memorization multiplication facts is building a conceptual understanding of what multiplication means, how to visualize multiplication and how the standard algorithm for multiplication really works. Get the resources here
Curriculum Tags: All https://tapintoteenminds.com/oame2018/
Triangulating assessment means assessing student products, conversations, and observations. As secondary math teachers, we have gotten very good at assessing products, but there are many questions surrounding the assessment of observations and conversations: What do I look (or listen) for? How do I track what I see? How do I evaluate something I notice? What questions do I ask in conversation? How do I find time to reach every student? That's what @HTheijsmeijer presented on and you can get the slide deck here
Curriculum Tags: All https://goo.gl/FYBg1i
Two different sessions from @WheelerLaura. The first on G-Suite. There she asks: Is your school a G suite (Google) for Education school? Come get an overview of some of the ways you can use the Google tools (Equation editor, Slides, Forms, Sheets, Drawings, etc.) to help you as you create your lessons but also as tools the students can be using for collaboration.
Curriculum Tags: All https://t.co/hJf1mJeXJa
And also a session on Sketchnoting: New to sketchnoting for Math? Sketchnotes have been popping up all over Math blogs, Twitter and the Internet lately! Sketchnotes are visual summaries or notes that are all about ideas (not art), making use of text, icons and connectors.
Curriculum Tags: All https://t.co/2xpGhnlUqN
Today's learners are a diverse group with varying strengths and areas of need. This presentation blends discussion about 21st Century learning with practical hands-on demonstration of how to use new and innovative digital resources. That's what @AllenMath and @CRichardTeacher spoke on and here are the slides:
Curriculum Tags: All https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FZ6aOD7fjbYkXO3D_No3iy-d5r2V1RXu/view
@AllenMath also presented with James MacKinnon and Melanie O'Neill on ways to integrate culturally relevant curriculum into our mathematics learning through the sharing of best practices.
Curriculum Tags: All http://bit.do/oame2018full
Twenty first century learning requires students to create, collaborate and think critically. Progress "STEM's" directly from immediate feedback and a personalized learning platform. Coding, by its very nature, forces students to problem solve, make mistakes and overcome barriers because programs can only run if written correctly. That was the premiss of @MrAspinal's session and most of the resources can be found on his site
Curriculum Tags: All http://www.hourofcuriosity.com/
With @PaiMath and @AlexOverwijk, @NatBanting used Visual Patterns as a basis of our conversations, the group will share and discuss our structures and our thinking behind our teacher moves. Through this experience, we aim to expand all of our considerations around effective teaching in the classroom.
And on his own he had participants work with a number of open tasks, and, from the collective experience, discuss the attributes of an open task, affordances of using open tasks in math class, and ways in which the teacher can focus their action to get the most out of an open task.
Both slide decks can be found on his website
Curriculum Tags: All http://natbanting.com/presentations/
We are in a time of change in education. And @MrSurti with @MathPhan, @paul_math, @Gbullas17, @MsHLye & @wheeler_laura are continually reflecting on their practices and exploring innovative approaches and solutions to support student learning and achievement in mathematics. That's what this panel talked about and here is where the materials can be picked up. https://idi.thelearningexchange.ca/2018/05/innovating-the-secondary-math-classroom-a-panel-discussion/
And @MrSurti also talked (with teams from different schools) about the Technomath project currently happening in a few schools https://t.co/bvUmEd7daX
Planting the Seeds of Change was the session where @MaryBourassa asked these questions: What steps, big and small, can we take to improve the learning experience for our students? How can we create an environment that has our students liking math more at the end of the semester than they did at the beginning? How do you move toward a math class based on collaboration, taking risks and productive struggle? Check out the slide deck link at her site (including the marbleslides)
Curriculum Tags: All http://marybourassa.blogspot.ca/2018/05/planting-seeds-of-change-oame-2018.html
And finally from @Goslink123 how do Grade 3 to 8 students learn and understand multiplication? Is it procedural or conceptually developed? Do students understand how the multiplication algorithm has come to exist? and Let's explore the concept of division through visual strategies that allow us to use reasoning and logic. Transform students understanding of fair share, scaling up, and long division. Both slide decks can be found here
Curriculum Tags: All https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NmrakExJiKniNIJHZG9hm3GQfRJQAbWu
There were definitely some sessions on Spiralling and so it seems fitting to show the first of (eventually) three videos from @mathletepearce on spiralling to help you get started.
Curriculum Tags: All https://tapintoteenminds.com/spiralling/
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
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
I have been tinkering a lot with Desmos Activity Builder using their Geometry tools, and have come up with over 20 activities that span grade 7-9 ( here in Ontario). They mostly focussing on investigating simple geometric properties but some are more elaborate. I have been trying them out in classes this week and have already found ways to change them to make them better. So new versions will be out soon. Check them out and give me some feedback on how they could be improved.
We have an EggHunt activity on our Engaging Math blog so perhaps that's why this stands out for me from @MathEqualsLove. Here the kids search for eggs and inside are questions about multiplying polynomials. It fits with Easter but really you could do this at any time of the year.
Maybe it's because it references one of my favourite stories about Van Halen or perhaps the connection to Freakonomics but really it's the idea that is good from @RobertKaplinsky. That is, the idea that by asking someone to lie, you can find out the truth about what they know (with a shout out to @MrOrr_Geek).
