Today I was playing around with the Siri application on my iPhone and I discovered that it can solve math problems! Not only does it solve the math problem, but it also visually represents the answer in different ways! I have a few students who have difficulty with realizing that numbers can be shown different ways. For example, the fraction 4/5 can also be written as: – 0.8 (decimal) – 80% (percent) – 8/10 (equivalent fraction) It could also be represented using a: – number line – 100-grid paper – pie chart – cubes or other manipulatives After experimenting… Read More
See You In 5 Days…
I only see my Grade 9 math class 3 days a week… Now, I will note that although this is a high-school class, it is not broken into semesters and I will see them all year long. The problem, however, is that these 3 days are back-to-back Monday to Wednesday. This means that my students do not have math for almost 5 full days with the way our class times are laid out. Furthermore, our school functions on a 5-day cycle which means that anytime there is a holiday on a Monday, I only see my students 2 days a week.… Read More
#MTBoS Mission 1: The Power of the Blog
I am participating in the wonderful #MTBoS World this fall as a way to learn more about teaching and assessing math as well as to connect with math educators and grow my PLN. As a new math teacher (teaching Grades 8, 9, & 10 math) I am interested in learning as much as I can and am so thankful to all of the wonderful educators who are willing to share their experiences online! First off, if you haven’t heard about #MTBoS (or the MathTwitterBlogosphere), it is an 8-week series of missions designed to connect dedicated math teachers who are willing and… Read More
Interactive Notebooks in Math
This summer I was introduced to the idea of Interactive Notebooks in math class through Jennifer at 4mula Fun. As a first year math teacher, I’m always looking for different assessment ideas and the setup of Interactive Notebooks seemed like an interesting instructional method that would provide an easy assessment option for me. Fast forward to the end of September and I’ve officially implemented Interactive Notebooks (INB) into all three of my math classes at the Grade 8, 9 & 10 levels. After searching through different edublogs I’ve found a lot of different ways in which teachers are using… Read More
Interactive "Connect With Us" Display
I am now spending almost every day in my classroom getting organized and prepared for the upcoming school year. As you know, I’ve created quite a strong online presence for my classroom and I want to make sure that my students utilize these resources and have easy access to them. To address this, I’ve created an interactive Connect With Us display at the entrance of my classroom! This display includes 3 laptops featuring the information for our: – Classroom Website – Classroom Blog – Classroom YouTube Channel In addition to the written URL for each site, I… Read More
Blog, Website, or Both?
Our school year begins in less than two months and I am spending this summer trying to get as organized as possible. In addition to the million-and-one things that are required of teachers, I know that I want to have my students blogging as well as have a classroom website. I have two science classes, Grade 7 & Grade 8, who I want to start blogging projects with. These are two of my smaller classes as I am nervous that I will get too overwhelmed if I tried to get ALL 7 of my different subject-area… Read More
mRLC Backwards-By-Design Planning
If you are a teacher in Manitoba who is also utilizing backwards-by-design planning then you definitely need to check out the resources available through the Manitoba Rural Learning Consortium (mRLC). My principal shared this with us this week and I am so glad she did because it is going to save me a lot of work in my planning! The backwards-by-design method of planning (sometimes called understanding-by-design, backwards planning, or planning with the end in mind) involves planning out the “big ideas” or main goals for a topic first, then selecting the best assessment options, and finally determing instructional methods… Read More
Let The Prepping Begin!
Last week I shared some of the awesome resources that I had found for one of the classes I was prepping for: Grade 7 Science. As of last week, this was the only class that I had started my prep work for as I was still waiting for my final teaching schedule to be solidified. Well the wait is now over, as I picked up my official schedule yesterday after school! Just a few of the many resources I have available to start prepping! I am happy to announce that I will be the Grade 8… Read More