Categories
integers technology visual

The Bucket of Zero

Over the last year, Dr. Lisa Lunney Borden and I have been working on a model for integer operations that she introduced me to a while back. Our goal is to amplify her research for classroom mathematics teachers. Right now, the idea consists of three pieces, each at varying stages of development.

  • A paper
  • A platform
  • A set of plans
Categories
cylinder geometry surface area tasks visual

Re-Constructing Shapes

For the first time in a decade, I am not reconvening with a high school staff to begin preparations for the school year. (I’m preparing to work with pre-service teachers on a university campus). It feels weird–very weird. It is a day that I look forward to because optimism is a constant across the building. Staff feels fresh, materials are crisp, and possibilities are endless. It sadly belies what’s to come.

Bummer, right?

Categories
fractions routine visual

FractionTalks.com

I have been thinking about extending the Fraction Talk love ever since I wrote this initial post in June 2015. 

I have used them with my grade nine classes as the starter during units on rational numbers. I have taken the larger questions (such as “What possible fractions can be shaded using this diagram?”) as the prompt for entire lessons of student activity. I have used them to create great conversations with grade 7 and 8 students at our school’s annual math fair. 

Categories
equations systems of equations visual

Visualizing Linear Systems

My Grade 9 students don’t see an equation for the first two weeks of their unit of solving linear equations. That is because I think students get all bogged down in the notation, and lose their problem solving intuition. 

Instead, I play around with a key metaphor for solving linear equations–the balance scale