As I prepared to teach students about working with systems of equations, I reflected on last year’s students and came to a painful realization- there were several students who just never really got what they were doing. Sure, most students got pretty good at using the substitution method or the elimination method to solve for two systems of equations. But even for those who could do well with test questions, did they really understand at a conceptual level what they were doing? It was humbling to realize that for most of them, the answer was probably no. So for the past week I took a different approach to the topic, applying the Discovery Lab approach I’ve seen work so well for other topics. It’s been awesome to see how my students have responded to this Systems of Equations Discovery Lab. [Read more…] about Teaching Systems of Equations with Discovery Labs
Helping Students Discover More Math with Discovery Labs
Have you ever been frustrated that your students just don’t seem to remember what you taught them? I think all educators have run into this challenge- you’ve taught it, students have practiced it, heck, they even did pretty well on the test you gave at the end of the unit. And then… BOOM! Their scores tank on the semester final/district benchmark/state end of the year test. And you are looking incredulously at the answers they got wrong wondering why they don’t know now what they seemed to know before. Anyone else been there?
After having this experience more than once, I spent some time reflecting and trying to figure out a different approach. One that would get the students doing more of the mathematical thinking. One that would cement conceptual understanding into students’ brains in a more permanent way. What I found was a discovery math approach that got me fired up about the learning going on in my math classroom. Here I’ll share with you the story of the very first discovery lab I used with students, why they work, and how to implement discovery labs in your own classroom.
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What Secondary Teachers Learned in 2015- Blog Hop
With the end of the year and the beginning of another, it’s a time that naturally leads to reflection on the past and hopes for the future. This year has been a doozy- some amazing highs, devastating lows, and lots of learning and new experiences along the way. Here are some of our biggest lessons of the year:
The biggest personal life lesson I learned was… how unpredictable life can be.
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3 Reasons Why You Need a Seating Chart
My number one, go to, gotta have it classroom management tool is the humble seating chart.
Why don’t some teachers use a seating chart? Sometimes, I think they are afraid of being “micromanagey”. Or, they want to make sure students feel comfortable in their classroom. Maybe they think it’s not “cool” to dictate where students sit. Or, the most likely reason of all, they simply underestimate the importance of a seating chart.
Here are three reasons I believe every teacher should have a seating chart: [Read more…] about 3 Reasons Why You Need a Seating Chart
Combining Like Terms with Distributive Property: Task Cards in Action
Task Cards helped my students rock their test on combining like terms. Let me explain- In my school we have a set aside time for reteach- giving students more time to show mastery on a concept that they don’t quite have when they take the first class formative assessment. I was working with a group of 7th grade students who were close to mastery, but not quite there yet. None of them had passed the Combining Like Terms test on the first go around. This group of students weren’t in my regular class, and this was the only time that I would work with this particular group. So, I had to make sure that the learning activities we did wouldn’t require a lot of explanation or routines needing to be set up. [Read more…] about Combining Like Terms with Distributive Property: Task Cards in Action
