Field Trips

I teach math but sometimes it is nice to just do something out of the ordinary.  I was lucky enough last week to be a chaperone on a trip to NYC with my school's Spanish Club.  Now I don't speak Spanish (I only remember how to count in Spanish.  Sorry, Senor!)  But I did have a great time!  The food, the city, the culture, and the kids were just amazing! 

My group had 7 students, 4 of whom I was fortunate enough to have taught at some point.  And I was lucky enough that they wanted to explore.  As this was my first trip to the city, I was excited to see everything we could squeeze in!  The highlight of our trip though was visiting GMA.  We got up and went to stand out front at 5:30am.  Thank heavens for Starbucks!  We were invited backstage to listen to the band the Lumineers and even made it on screen, although you really have to squint to see us in the corner of the TV.  :)   After the band played, Ginger Zee came over and took pictures with us.  She is absolutely the sweetest person! 

Other highlights:  touring Times Square, Central Park, and a ballet.  We ate amazing food, and had many laughs.  What a great perk to my job! 

NCTM - Philly!

I'm so excited! I was accepted to present at NCTM in Philadephia, October 31 - November 2!  My topic is using the Frayer Model to help increase Algebra and Geometry understanding.  It is just a burst session but what a great way to start!   

I love my Frayer Model!  I use it ALOT in my Algebra 2 classes and I think I would use it daily if I taught Geometry!  This has transformed the way I introduce new topics to my classes and how I explain vocabulary.  It is such a simple graphic organizer but can be used in so many different ways! 

 Look back to my post on Introducing Quadratics for a specific example.  Click HERE.

Intro to ThisGraphing Quadratics Foldable

I have a few favorite designs for foldables.  I love a door foldable and I love a tabbed foldable.   Both of these are just great ways to organize multiple pieces of information about one topic.   For my foldable on graphing quadratics, I used a 3-door foldable, but had the doors fold down.  I left a little area at the top for a title, so that they don't fold the paper directly in half.  By this time of the school year, my students are so used to my foldables, I don't even have to tell them what to do!  :)
 

I use this foldable in conjunction with my Frayer model for quadratics.  It usually take 2 days to cover this with my regular class of Algebra 2 but I can do it in one day with my CPAlgebra 2.   This is just the overview and then I do an additional day for graphing using the intercept/vertex methods.  Next year I want to add in a lesson on teachers.desmos.com to help support the graphing portion.  I will probably do it as a review for this year though.  If I do, I'll blog it.  :)

In the picture below, I define parabola as the shape of a quadratic but when I taught it, I didn't like it and changed it to the graph of a quadratic....which do you think is preferable? 

Intro to Quadratics - frayer style

For me, my entire notebook is becoming all about the Frayer model.  I absolutely love it!   I find it is the best way to explain what things are because you can compare them to what they aren't.  I might have a slight addiction to them but that is just because they are just so darned easy to use!

So using one to explain Quadratic equations was easy for me to do.   What a great way to show examples of equations and graphs, and non-examples.  And it even helped start the students thinking about the similarities of the quadratic equation and the absolute value function!  The minute I drew it as a non-example, they started asking questions.  Don't you love when that happens?  :)

Exponent rules Grudge Game

Exponent rules.....teaching them is another necessary evil.    I LOVE solving problems with exponent rules!  They are like a puzzle to me.  But my students hate them. They don't "get" them, they say they don't know where to start.   And now I have a structured study hall, where I help the students with their classwork...and the students in there hate them too!  Every year students come to me in Algebra 2 and they don't remember the rules.  But we use them so much in Algebra 2 that they really need to learn them.  I figure it is like learning the grammar rules for writing.  Something you need to know in order to do the next thing.   So in the spirit of "if it isn't working, change it", I decided to change up my teaching. 

So this year when I taught exponent rules to my classes, I used the Grudge game to introduce them, adapted from Nathan Kraft's Blogpost.  Click HERE to see his original post.  I did this on Day 1 and I absolutely loved it!  The kids were engaged and competitive and they did great!  They even showed they remembered some exponent rules from Algebra 1.   I usually don't like games in my classroom but this one was fantastic!   All the kids participated.  I did bribe them a bit with candy, but hey, you gotta do what works right?  End of day 1 was FANTASTIC!    This is going to be great!

Here is the PowerPoint (Dropbox) I used to play the game.  Feel free to change it.  But at least it gives you a place to start.  :)    The image to the right shows the rules I used to help me remember how to play it for future use.  I love this game so much, I can't wait to try it again.  :)




So continuing with the need for a change,  I also changed the exponent foldable I usually use to a book of exponents, modeled after Sarah Hagan's from Math = Love.   I liked the way she laid it out and hoped that it would work better than then one I used last year.  Although I love the book, and the layout, I'm not entirely sure it was better than the one I used previously.   My students still struggle with the rules and the test they took showed they still have gaps of understanding. (I gave the test before Christmas so my post is a little out of date. ;)  )






So back to the drawing board for next year and for reassessing.  But I am keeping the game.  I think that was the perfect introduction to exponent rules for Algebra 2.  However,  I need to rethink the rest of it.

Feel free to share your success with exponent rules with me and others!  :)

Factoring a >1....

Factoring a > 1......is there really any easy way to teach this???   I rank it with long division....a necessary topic to teach in Algebra 2, but no real easy way to teach it.  :)

In previous years, I taught the guess and check method.  That is the same way I was taught in high school and it works.  But teaching it is so painful.  Some students get it right away....others never get it.   In the past, once I taught factor by grouping, I would go back and reteach factoring a > 1 using factor by grouping and would seem to get a few more students factoring this way.  

This year I decided to try something different and I taught my students the box method using a factor T.   I gave this graphic organizer to them to get them started.  I provided a link to dropbox below if you would like to download it for free.

In this method students multiply the "a" and "c" parts of the trinomial, find the factors, and look for the pair that makes the "b".  Then they place the terms in the box, using this design:

They then find the GCF of each row/column and voila....they have two binomials! It is easy enough to do and most of the students understood it.   I picked this method because it works every time but as I didn't teach the guess and check method first, my students did not appreciate the efficiency of this method.   It also makes finding a prime trinomial easier as well.

Here is an example I wrote out....I tried to write it out in steps but I did not write out explanations...on a student paper you would only need a box and a factor T.

My reflection:  Next time I will teach guess and check first as it is still the method I prefer first and then teach the box method as an alternate.   I'm also not sold on whether it is better than teaching to factor using the grouping method.   Which way do you prefer?



Get the file HERE for the factor box.

Hopeful Participant of the 2016 #MTBoS Blogging Initiative

I, Suzanne Milkowich, resolve to blog in 2016 in order to open my classroom up and share my thoughts with other teachers. I hope to accomplish this goal by participating in the January Blogging Initiation hosted by Explore MTBoS.

You, too, could join in on this exciting adventure. All you have to do is dust off your blog and get ready for the first prompt to arrive January 10th!

 (Copied from Her Mathness....Wendy Menard)

This said.....writing is my weakness.   So let's just hope for the best!  :)