MathsClass

Starting Algebra with Year 8, we spend a couple of lessons on various “algebraic techniques”. I’ve been trying to find some activities which provide a little more engagement. I created “The Land of Algerb“ to explain multiplying pronumerals.

Using a story and a coloured worksheet worked surprisingly well. I don’t know yet if the story has helped my class understand the technique, but they all actively completed the activity keen to ensure their own story way correct.

The activity

• tell the story, using the PowerPoint as the visual.
• hand out the template, and get the students to create their own story.

The Story

In the land of Algerb there were two kingdoms, the kingdom of 2x and the kingdom of 3y. The King of 3y and the Queen of 2x both wanted to increase their lands.

The King of 3y and the Queen of 2x took their explorers to the undiscovered land.

Whilst in this new land, the people mingled.

The numbers met the numbers and the letters met the letters.

The two kingdoms became one, the numbers multiplied, but the letters stayed the same.

A new nation had been formed, each nation’s numbers had been made bigger. But the letters of each nation were still distinctive. The xs from the 2x kingdom and the ys from the nation of 3y.

The end.

The Files

In the zip file below there are two files:

1. the-land-of-algerb.pdf includes the story with visuals, and a colour worksheet with 2 A5 versions of the storyboard.
2. the-land-of-algerb.pptx is the PowerPoint of the story.

In 2009, Year 9 got their DER netbooks and now they are in Year 10. This year’s Year 9 does not have their netbooks yet, and so this gives teachers a little time to get their heads around the inclusion of netbooks into the classroom. This year, I’m teaching a 5.2 pathway Year 10 class (and a Year 9 5.2 class).

The one thing I learnt from using netbooks with Year 9 in 2009, is that their inclusion is best done as a whole lesson activity. An additional or alternative activity at the end of a lesson is not effective due to the time for login and dealing with technical issues.

However, the problem with consuming a whole lesson for a laptop activity is that it has to be worthwhile. I think this is where many teachers will struggle. If they have an effective lesson already, why change it? For me, my lessons may be effective, but how do I make them more so with the laptops? Does having a lesson using the laptop near the start of the unit establish a better foundation for the rest of the unit?

To start planning for the inclusion of netbooks, here’s a summary of what I’ll be covering in 2010. At the moment, some topics have nothing beside them – hopefully they will be filled in later. Feel free to share in the comments how you will be tackling these topics with the laptops.

Trigonometry

Over the summer holidays, I took an online course called GeoGebra: A Dynamic Approach to Yr 9-10 Trigonometry. Whilst a little pricey for an online course, I have attended the presenter’s (Richard Andrew) courses in the past and appreciated the practical nature of them.

Basically, this course suggests a number of ways of using GeoGebra in place of something you might already do in the classroom. For example, using GeoGebra to investigate the ratio of sides in a right-angled triangle and finding the relationship by recording the results in Excel.

Other ways the course suggested using GeoGebra was for demonstration purposes, but also getting the students to create their own files which demonstrate the solution to a problem. I see using the netbooks with my class to be a benefit for problem solving, an aspect of trigonometry which they would normally struggle with. GeoGebra will make it far more visual, and maybe a little bit fun.

Consumer Arithmetic

There’s the obvious spreadsheet work that can be included.
I might try to include a research activity, for example, looking at the Award for various occupations.

Ratios

Rates

I’ll definitely include the World’s Fastest Clapper

Scale

Similarity

Congruence

I’m going to re-read Kate’s post Triangle Congruence Theorems. This is what I like about teacher’s blogging, Kate plainly states “Triangle Congruence Theorems are so boring, and there is no nice way to teach them” and then throws around some ideas and seeks input.

Reasoning in Geometry (Angles)

Data Representation and Analysis

Probability

Graphing Linear Equations

This post will hopefully be updated as I go.

For NSW DET teachers, I’m sure you know of TaLe, and hopefully have seen some of the resources for the DER that have been published there. One category of resources has been called Laptop Wraps (they are also available publicly).

New Laptop wraps from the Centre for Learning Innovation (CLI) provide online and offline tasks to support student investigation, collaboration and creation of content.

Each Laptop Wrap gives a couple of ideas for using the netbooks and their suite of software in the classroom.

At the Staff Development Day (SDD) at the start of term, I encouraged my faculty to review some of these resources. Much like any resources I come across, the ones I looked at will require some modification to use in my classroom.

So, I put together a simple structure for us to use when reviewing these resources:

• Consider some of the ideas given in the Laptop Wraps.
• What activities (even if they require modification) in the wrap would you use?
• Select an activity(s) you’d like to do with your class.
• What modifications to the wrap are required?
• What do you need to learn about in order to use this wrap with your class? (The UCreate and Tools4U resources may be helpful)
• What resources do you need to create to use this wrap?

(I’ve supplied this in a printable form below)

I’m hoping this provides a simple way to encouraging the sharing of found resources and the creation of new resources in our faculty.

I really appreciate having my own classroom for many reasons, but one is the ability to place student work (the fun stuff) around the classroom.

Here’s what my classroom currently looks like. Definitely needs a paint though…

Click through to Flickr to see a larger version, and annotations on the photo.

A couple of the activities shown:

• Personality Bar Graphs, from Dan Meyer
• Pie Charts – Movie Posters, also from Dan Meyer
• Brisbane Broncos Number Plane Design

I just posted on my personal blog about how I use the web, looking at how the various technologies (RSS) and tools (Google Reader, Delicious, Twitter) fit together.

You can read the article over there: Using the Web, but I made a diagram of how I use the web that I think is worth sharing here as well (click for a larger version).

Image caption: Using the Web by Simon Job, shared under a Creative Commons BY NC SA License

That’s how I use the web. How are you using these various tools? Do they have their own place like they do for me, or do you use them more in a mix? Have you done away with RSS or blog reading? Do you still not give a hoot about Twitter?