Boston....get ready! #NCTM

No, not for the Boston Marathon that is coming this weekend.  Get ready for the Mighty Math Teachers coming to Boston this weekend for NCTM!  We are so excited.

I am from Hopkinton where the Marathon starts and our little town is getting ready for the big race.  However, I am getting ready to head into Boston for two action-packed days of Math!  I was a little worried about how to get into Boston over the two days but my colleague booked us a hotel room and sweetened the deal.

For two days we will get to listen to people with innovative ways about how to teach math, make it fun, make it interesting, and make it accessible to everyone.  Part of what makes is so good are the teachers behind the scenes.  One such teacher is Tina Cardone.  @crstn85 Check out her blog here: Drawing On Math  She has been crazy busy getting a booth ready for MTBoS #MTBoS.  I will be working there on Thursday and Friday to greet members of the MTBoS and to explain it to people whom have never heard of it.  To me, the MTBoS is all about sharing - finding great ideas and giving great ideas.

What is it?  It stands for Math TwitterBlogosphere.  You can check it out here:  MTBoS New Website  If you are going to NCTM, please read that website first.  It has so many great things to enhance your conference experience!

There are some amazing presentations.  I haven't decided my first 8 am time slot class yet, so many great options.  But, throughout the two days, I am looking forward to:

• 137 Suzy Koontz with Activities with the Unit Circle (timely, I am teaching it right now)

• 196Max Ray and Complex Numbers (I heard him speak years ago about Twitter.  He is a great teacher because he taught be in a very simple way how to get started with Twitter.  I teach complex numbers but honestly don't do much with them.  Maybe he can spice them up for me)
• Quadratic Activities (teaching this in Alg 1 right now)
• 357 Jen Silverman with her radians presentation.  Again, teaching unit circle and radians now.  I know Jen well from twitter and look forward to meeting her.
• 363 Dan Meyer - can't miss him - I have had the opportunity to hear him speak three times now, but he is always fresh and exciting.  
• 512 Hooked on Conics - just finished teaching it, looking for more ideas

These are just some of my picks.  But, wait, there's more!

1.) Come to the MTBoS booth for some cool giveaways and activities!
2.) Shadowcon at 5 pm on Thursday
3.)  Math Trivia at 7 pm at Central Wharf hosted by two awesome groups - Mathalicious and Desmos
4.)  Red Sox Game at 7 pm on Friday night where we math educators get to go on the field for Math Educators Day!

Post-It Relay Review Game

I played a Post-It Relay Review Game in Algebra 2 class today.  I saw it on twitter but I am not sure who it actually came from - so thank you both Jon Orr @MrOrr_geek and Brian @_b_p.  It was so easy to do and a hit!

We had a big unit with logarithms and conics.  I wanted a good review game that would be competition but not necessarily involve speed and time so I could use more in depth problems and not just the top/fastest kids were scoring.

So, I came up with 24 questions, so from logs and some from conics.  I did different levels of difficulty and names them 1, 2, or 3 point questions which will lead to 1, 2, or 3 sticky notes.

The kids worked in groups of four and got a worksheet with four problems.  The first two problems were the same and the last two problems were the same and between them, they were on a similar subject.  The kids cut the problems out and started working.  If they had the same problem, they checked their answer with each other and then with me.  If they got it correct, they got a small sticky note and picked a number 1-100 to stick it to on the 100 board projected on my white board.  I had 7 groups, so they were lettered A-G.  They wrote their team letter and the number on the sticky and put it on the board.  (I did this just in case the projector got bumped.) 

The kids can decide what worksheet to take.  Do they want to stick with the easier 1 pointers or move on to the 2 or 3 pointers.

It was so fun, went so smoothly, and the kids really liked it.  I will definitely do it again. 

Right before the bell rang, we had actually filled all 100 spots.  I didn't know it was going to do that but it was cool.  (They worked for about 30 minutes on it).  I used my computer to pick a random number and the lucky number was 36.  They won bragging rights!

I did take the questions and consolidate them onto one worksheet they could do on their own in case they didn't get to all the questions which they didn't. 

I keep seeing on facebook that we have to take chances in teaching and I have been taking quite a few this year.  Most of them have been successful!

Post It Relay Group Questions
Post It Relay Consolidated Questions

Rice Krispy Cones - conics!

I read this blog by Julie Reulbach last Friday.  Ordered my snowcones from amazon right then.  Got them on Tuesday and made the treats on Wednesday.  Then, we cut them in class on Friday.  Gotta love Twitter for finding great ideas! Thanks Julie.  I shared it with my colleague and we were texting each other back and forth as we were making the treats.  I thought right away - this is not worth it.  What a mess!  My 8th grade son was helping me.  We had a mini production line going as we made 4 batches for a total of 50 cones.  We learned we had to totally butter up our hands before we reached in.  We also let it cool for a few minutes because we were starting to burn off our finger tips.  Nothing like warm, yummy Rice Krispy treats! 

Here are my cones from Amazon.  I originally ordered the 4 oz but then they weren't available so I did these 6 oz which were perfect.  Don't do the smaller ones.

Here is my set up for baking.  We were ready!  Took us about an hour.

Here is one cone:

Here are all my cone babies:

I would recommend doing it the next day.  Ours were a little harder/crispier than I would have liked.  I also used the plastic knives from the cafeteria which were a little weak.  I would recommend quality knives.  Also, put down wax paper because it does get a little messy.  Here is the kids' set up:

Sawing away.  I directed the kids that they had 2 cones and had to cut 4 conics and make sure they thought about the order before they started slicing away.

Here is a circle:

An ellipse:

A parabola:

And, finally a hyberbola...

I think overall, it was a lot of work on my part, but the kids enjoyed it and were appreciative of my effort.  It was a great activity.  I recommend it and I will do it again.

Roll 6 for Logs

I was looking for a review game for logarithms, no calculator.  I found a game not related to math that had kids roll one die and try to roll a 6.  When they did, they started writing numbers 1-50.  Meanwhile, the next person in the group of four kids rolls the die and tries to get a 6.  When they do, they take the pencil from the other person and they start writing their numbers 1-50.  And, so on.  I thought I would try it with logs.  I can't get the word doc to upload correctly to google docs and show the equations, so I just took a picture.  It is so small, sorry.  I had the kids folded it in half and cover it with scrap paper so they weren't trying to figure out the problems when it was not their turn.  Then, they moved the paper down, one question at at time.

You could do it with any subject that is pretty quick to answer.  The kids really got into it.  I gave them each their worksheet, one die, and only one pencil is allowed.  This is KEY because only the person that rolls a 6 can start working with the pencil.  When the next student rolls a 6, they kindly take the pencil and start working.  The dice started hitting the floor, pencils were thrown, hair was pulled, but all in a fun competitive way.  They really liked it.  It was an easy thing to prepare.

Mystery Candy Bags

We are learning about systems of equations in my small HS math class.  Tomorrow, we will do mystery candy bags.  I have done this before and used a scale and had one equation be their weights, but the scale was so sensitive that the answers were always off.  So, I simplified it up and removed the scale/weights.  I used Rolos, Kisses, and Peanut Butter cups.  Each bag has at least one of each. 

Last year I gave the kids the bag to solve but they squeezed it and tried to "feel" the answer.  This year, they will see the bag - but no touching until they have done the math and have their guess.  They will get an index card with some information on it:

There are 3 unknowns, so they will have to come up with three equations.  I have a small class, so I only need 4 bags of mystery candy.  You could do this without doing the bags of candy but it makes it more mysterious and the kids are motivated to solve it.  I typed up all of the information for all the bags so when they are done, they can try to solve the other bags as well.  Mystery Candy Worksheet

How teaching math is like teaching a yoga and zumba class

I teach high school math.  I have taken yoga and zumba classes for years.  I do yoga with my cross country boys every Thursday during the season, so I have sort of taught it.

In yoga, the teacher is up front and tells you what the class will be like.  As you go through the moves, the teacher does them too but is looking out at the class and making slight corrections - make sure your hips are both facing forward, make sure your arms are under your shoulders in down dog.  She doesn't name names, but as a participant, you take the advice and tweak your body and it feels so much better.  I do this in math class after I put a problem on the board.  I walk around to monitor their progress and say things like - make sure you copy the problem correctly, watch that negative two, I'll give a hint - the answer is not an integer.  If I see a student doing something wrong, I will work with that student on the problem, then continue walking around and away from that student and then mention - make sure you are doing this or not doing that.  Working through the problem with little prompts and corrections along the way can help the student "feel" the right way to do the problem.

In zumba, you have to be able to laugh at yourself.  The teacher faces the mirror and says, "Don't worry about anyone else.  They aren't looking at you making a mistake, they are focused on me so they don't make a mistake."  And, it is true, even after having done it for years.  However, sometimes I do look away.  I like to watch the brand new students and remember what it was like.  They have big smiles on their faces as they try to figure out what step to do.  They giggle as they have to shimmy their shoulders for the first time or shake their hips.  It feels silly, but they do it.  You can tell they enjoy it when the whole class shakes and moves their way as a whole up to the front of the room and then the back of the room.  We all come together as one.  The instructor has her usual songs for us to dance to as it takes a while to learn the routines.  We get more comfortable with them each week.  Every now and then she will throw in a new one.  It is new to her teaching it and we try to stay with her as we remember what it was like to be the newbie in class and can't anticipate the next move.  In math class, having some daily routines plus some new variety keeps it interesting for both the students and the teacher. 

Zumba is just about numbers.  We count to a four step, sometimes an 8 step.  Zumba is big on the move - single, single, double.  It is tough at first but when you get it, it feels natural.  Same thing in math.  Once you figure out all the algebra steps are the same - add or subtract to undo the equation first, then divide or multiply, then maybe square root something.  It just keeps adding new steps, but the foundation is the same.  When you have done it for a while, you are comfortable with it and the confidence grows.  Just like in math class....I hope. 

Barbie Bungee - 3-Act Style

Act 1: The Video

Barbie is going to jump off the senior balcony at our school with rubber bands attached to her feet:

   

What do you wonder?

Video 1 - Jump 1

Time to Guess: 

Act 2:  What do you need to know?

Here is some information to help:

What unit did we measure in?  centimeters

Barbie Picture

Rubber Band Picture

Height of the balcony 1

Measure balcony
Table of data
Our equations from class - using 6 rubber bands

Act 3: Ready to Jump?

Spoiler Alert - Answers below before you scroll down

Barbie Jumps with 31   
Barbie Jumps with 35   
Barbie Jumps with 34  

Extra: 
For Fun - Oopsie!  A Barbie Bungee Bleep and Blunder:  Video Blooper