Teaching approximating irrational numbers is probably my favorite topic that I teach all year. It’s the second thing that we teach in the fall, and I get pretty stoked for it. I’m not quite sure why I like it so much. It’s probably the cool pattern that it makes. Also, the idea that numbers are irrational and that they actually don’t have a place on a number line makes me giddy (and yes, I know how math nerdy that sounds!). To help you find engaging ways to practice approximating irrational numbers, I’ve compiled a list of some of the activities and resources that I like to use. They get students just as excited about approximating irrational numbers as I am! [Read more…] about 8 Activities to Make Approximating Square Roots Magical
Math Teaching Tips
Teaching Square Roots Through Discovery
Discovery Learning with Square Roots
A few years ago I learned about the idea of discovery learning. It was revolutionary to me at the time. Math was taught to me in the most traditional ways for most of my life and I taught it that same way. You know- the teacher gives notes and the students take notes. Then, after seeing a few examples, the students do work and we go over the work together. This framework has been so ingrained in my that it was and still is to some degree hard to let students do the work of discovering. [Read more…] about Teaching Square Roots Through Discovery
12 Square Roots and Cube Roots Activities with Big Impact
At the beginning of the school year each year, I teach square roots and cube roots. It’s a topic that’s both simple and fun. I like that we do this at the beginning of the year because it’s a win for students. They can “get it” and they start off with some confidence. This lays the groundwork for approximating irrationals numbers and lets us ease into the school year. [Read more…] about 12 Square Roots and Cube Roots Activities with Big Impact
3 Hacks to Manage Interactive Notebooks in the Math Classroom
One of the things I like to do during the summer break is spend some time flipping through old interactive notebooks and looking at what worked well this year, and what I want to try for next year. While thinking about how things went this year with interactive notebooks (INBs as we call them in my class), I thought about three organizational strategies, or hacks, that really helped this year run more smoothly. So in this post I want to share those with you. [Read more…] about 3 Hacks to Manage Interactive Notebooks in the Math Classroom
Activities to Make Practicing Multi-Step Equations Awesome
My history with teaching multi-step equations hasn’t been a pretty one, but spoiler alert, there’s a happy ending. A few years ago I was co-teaching with a relatively new teacher and I felt a lot of pressure to show him the ropes. I was new to the 8th grade math standards. Everything was going well for the first month of school until we got to solving multi-step equations. We worked for two full weeks and taught students just how multi-step equations had been taught to us. The kids bombed the unit test. It was devastating. Then, we had a chance to reteach the majority of the kids and we tried something else. It also failed. It was a humbling experience to say the least. [Read more…] about Activities to Make Practicing Multi-Step Equations Awesome
