Implementing the Magnificent Seven: Making Connections

Well now that the introductory period is over in my classes I am starting to blend literacy with my lessons. In my Honors Math Analysis classes I will begin functions, relations, graphs, et cetera. So for my opening lesson the students will be reading an article about the best and worst items to order from local restaurants. I am going to have my students use Marginalia to Make Connections with the text. After this they are going to draw a relation with the calories as the input (domain) and the fat grams (range). Their first relation will represent a function with one input for every output. The next relation will show an example of what a function is not (an input going to more than one output). Then the students will state the domain and range in set notation.

I have to admit that I am enjoying the process of finding different ways for my students to connect with mathematics!

Properties performance

Today as my bell ringer I had the students get into groups of three(of their choosing). Once they were in their groups they had to choose a property to act out together. It went off without a hitch! The students loved it so much they were excited when I invited the another math class in to guess the properties they had chosen. For example, the group of boys that chose the associative property acting out being on the football team in the fall, then the seasons changing so that they were on the basketball team in the winter. They adding a butt slap at the end to remind the students that they needed to look for ( )( ), hehe. They also wanted me to invite the administrators to test their knowledge.

Beyond One Right Answer

In this month’s Ed Leadership there is an article on questioning and mathematics. The author, Marian Small says that one way K-12 math teachers can effectively differentiate instruction is through the questions they ask and engagement in meaningful activities. Both of these items were explored by SURN project staff, teachers, and administrators last fall. So consider what else can be gleaned from the article. The author focuses on open questions and parallel tasks.

Open questions are purposefully broad so that multiple student responses are appropriate given the students’ level and multiple perspectives are gathered on the same concept. This encourages more math sharing than single rapid fire responses. For example, if the perimeter fence of the skate park is 160 feet, what is the area of the town’s skate park? Student A could say 1600 square feet since the sides are each 40-feet long. Student B may say 1200 square feet because the length is 60 and the width is 20 feet. Student C might say…you get the picture. Then a discussion could ensue about the relationship of the width and length making up the perimeter on the area within.

Parallel tasks have students working on the same concept at different levels of difficulty. A teacher may have common questions for all students to answer and a student choice option between simple and complex problems. The author provides examples for what good questions may be at grades 1, 4, 8, and 11 (p. 32) to support the reader in applying her research to their practice.

CITATION: Small, M. (2010). Beyond one right answer. Ed Leadership, 68(1), 28-32.

You can read the article online