A number of middle school math teachers in the Different Lens group have been meeting this year to discuss and develop ideas. In one meeting we met and went over some ideas for an Algebra unit and how to make it more interesting. We found several youtube songs online and thought of ways to incorporate them into the unit. We also have some smartboard "who wants to be a millionaire" and jeopardy style games. Here are a couple of quick activities we also covered that I filmed. Great to work with Pam, Shona, Travis and Nick! (Unfortunately Jessa was unable to be there on this particular day)
The videos include:
1. A hook activity involving a poem about monsters. In the end kids have to draw out monsters with one eye or three eyes to help them visualize how many of each monster was at dinner. Literacy and Math in action together... like some sort of academic superhero.
2. Some word problems to make algebra more "real life" because some people comment that you won't often use algebra in real life situations. We thought you could start each algebra unit day with some sort of collaborative problem. Kids could come in and act like math-investigators.
3. The last one is a problem involving cubes/manipulatives where students have to use their curiosity and some good ole' fashioned arithmetic and problem solving skills to find answers. They also build on prior knowledge. Helps hook them into algebra.
We also looked at some cool websites for virtual manipulatives. Lots of fun and good ideas.
Post courtesy of Jeff Fitton
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