Here’s a little problem i made in response to my year 7 and 8 students attempts on their recent homework. They seem to make a lot of work of finding the perimeter of compound shapes. They also didn’t find the area of compound shapes efficiently and this led to many errors.
I was in a lesson recently where a teacher used inverse to find square roots. They had calculated 3² as 9 so they used that fact to do the square root, but when a student got stuck with a question I noticed that they had previously looked at area of squares and rectangles so I reminded the student of finding the area of the square to help him find the square number/area and that the root was like the length of the side of a square if you know the area. This isn’t new and i have used this idea before, but the worksheet i made below was a response to the questions the students were given in that class. They weren’t just given 3² or find the √9. They were given 2 x 3² or √49 + √81.
I started to think of the area model again and how it would help students to solve those types of problems. Instead of 2 x 3² = 6², They could see that it was 2 squares of length 3 and not a square of length 6. Also, the shapes wold show that 8² – 6² wasn’t equal to 2².
Here is a copy of the ppt
I have had a thought on how i could extend this to surds
The way the SOW is written can often see topics placed closely in different combinations. EG in year 8 I saw that Perimeter, Area, Volume and Surface Area are next to Factors, Multiples, LCM, HCF, PFF and Indices. So when looking at what lengths a rectangle of Area 24cm squared might have, you naturally remind students of factors. When looking at area of a square, you link square numbers and roots and the same with volume.
In year 10 we teach Area and circumference of circles, sectors and arcs. We also teach construction and Loci in the same module.
Yes, I realise it may be obvious but having that understanding of the circle; names for the parts (radius, diameter) and also how to find the area and circumference has made construction and Loci easier to tackle. It’s also helped to reinforce Area and Circumference.
so this resource looks at the two
i also wanted a resource where students could write statements based on different combinations of colours.
How would we describe the points that lie in grey or purple?
this task put the emphasis on the description of points that satisfy a rule rather than the construction
I used @_rhi_rhi PRET homework on area and circumference with my low attaining group. Many of them just gave answers and a lot of the answers were incorrect. It was frustrating that I needed to interpret the answers in order to work our what they had attempted to do.
After spending time looking at PixLs ‘thinking hard’ materials in our schools last extended, I thought I’d use an idea I had shared when giving students feedback. Instead of marking, correcting or even getting students to correct errors. You just tell them how many errors were made and ask them to find them
So the task below is the 8 questions from the PRET homework with 8 answers but only one is correct. Students are to find that answer and assign feedback to the other 7. Some feedback can be used more than once.
Wanted to look a linear sequences as revision with year 11. We looked at nth term where there wasn’t a shift of the times table and then when there was a shift on the same times table. Then i wanted to look at the pattern on the fourth image (forget where i found this now)
These tasks are supposed to look at a sequence in various ways, the sequence is the answer the individual problems.
I love this little problem that i’ve seen before but i wanted to present it in a different way.
nth-term-and-linear-graphs.pptx
Students liked the task below
They had to place each of the numbers at the top into the box so they rounded correctly but also when they totaled the numbers they got the smallest possible answer.
The smallest was 1232.16, but i don’t know if that is the smallest possible
Here are a collection of resources i have used when teaching Trigonometry.
They are quite simple but i find that i like to start with looking at questions where the unknown is the numerator, then move to finding the denominator in a different lesson, then find the missing angle in the third lesson. Students become quite good at…
Labelling the triangle
Choosing the correct ratio
substitution
but can struggle with solving the solving part.
There’s a few sheet focusing on either side or angle then a mixed match up activity
Then i have a few multiple choice activities: labelling sides or choosing the correct rule
I made these for my Foundation year 10 class, We will look at Circumference again at the start of the lesson. They used IKEA tape measures to notice that the circumference was roughly ‘3 and a bit’ times the diameter. I’m hoping the class will be able to use the circumference to find arc length.
Firstly, I’d like to point out that:
Organisation
I think organisation is very important in teaching. Not only being able to organisation yourself but also the students themselves. It’s one thing to have your lessons planned and homework printed each week but if you don’t teach/show students how to organise themselves then the homework won’t be completed or at least not on time. I’ll explain this in a bit more detail later.
Seating plan
The first thing I like to do in the new year is organise seating plans for each class. That in itself could be a whole blog but I try to seat students with other students they would be comfortable discussing their work with. I don’t think any seating plan approach is wrong or right and they all have their issues and merits but for my way of teaching I want students to be able to turn to the person next to them and say ‘look I did it this way, what did you do?’ I do look out for characters/talkers/those needing more support in the class and try to keep them closer to the front so I can redirect their attention when it wanes or address issues without disrupting the lesson. I make notes on my seating plans if needed and there are some great excel documents like ‘seated for success’ that I’ve seen (also idoceo have a good seating plan on their app) The initial seating plan is so I can learn names. I try to move students around on a half termly basis, trying out different combinations of students.
Homework
The next thing I do is plan which days I want to set and collect homework in. For me, this must be the same day each week for a class. I have found when I do this student are likely to remember and hand it in. If I set it Wednesday some weeks and Monday on others, then there always the complaints that ‘I didn’t know we had homework’ regardless of ‘Show my homework’ or their journals etc. I also like to collect homework on a day when they have lunch straight after or it’s the last lesson of the day. In the first week I explain to the students that if the homework isn’t done they can stay back and I can help them after school or at lunch. This has stopped the stress of trying to get homework in from students as they leave for another lesson. On the lessons where homework is coming in, I always set a starter that they can spend a few minutes discussing. This is so I can go round the room and check who has/hasn’t done the homework and it stops the group around my desk telling me which pet ate their homework. It also stops students trying to complete the homework in the lesson when they should be doing something else.
When I set the homework I like to just do a check that homework has been written in their planners (although SMH is cutting the need for this a little bit) I do find that these habits in the first few weeks/months mean that the class generally don’t forget to write/do/hand in homework and the remainder of the year I am not needing to chase students up or keep them behind and because everyone completes it we can use some of the lesson time to peer assess the homework.
Routines
As I mentioned before, you need to decide yourself what kind of teacher you want to be but for me I find that a pot of pencils, rulers etc on the desk are handy for those who don’t have equipment. I know we expect students to bring in their equipment. I know we even have a behaviour policy in which negative points can be awarded for forgetting equipment but in my experience the time consumption to dole out points and lecture the student could be better spent. Also, some students have very turbulent lives and my number one goal in the classroom is for learning to take place. Yes, bringing in a pen is important too, but for me it’s not as important as every students being able to have the equipment and I don’t really want to start the lesson on a negative vibe.
Also, its good to explain what you expect students to write in their books, do you want dates/titles underlined? Is homework to be done at the back? Does it need labelling? Is it important that books are neat?
Noise in the classroom
There are at times noise in the classroom and at other times there is silence, maybe at times one person is talking, other times many.
As long as you feel in control of the noise and it’s what you want then this is fine.
I find that if I explain at the start of the year what I want, students are clear on my expectations and will follow it.
For me, I like only one voice at a time when it’s a class discussion and then I will expect a noisier classroom if its paired or group work. It’s helpful to have a method to get the class back once they are noisy.
Not sure this would work in a classroom in the UK but I worked many years in summer camps in the USA with huge groups of students. They adopted a method of clapping and saying in a loud but not shouty voice… ‘clap once if you can hear me’… this was usually followed by the closest students clapping and that created a louder noise for when you said ‘clap twice if you can hear me’ I find standing still at the front of the classroom just alerting the closest that it time to be quiet, then the rest follow.
Whiteboards/Match up Activities
I was told in my first year that whiteboards and Match ups should wait a few weeks, learn names first. Knowing a name is very powerful, not: ‘hold on, let me look you up on the seating plan’ but actually knowing their names. Also, whiteboards and match ups can be chaotic so if you want to use them asap then make sure you plan how you want to hand them out and take them back in.
I like to hand out the whiteboards/rubbers at the start of the lesson but hand out pens when they actually need to use them. This prevents students doodling during explanations. I also test all my pens regularly. Nothing more irritating then setting a MWB task and hands shooting up to ask for a pen that works.
With match up activities, I like to wait before using them, because they can be time consuming to prepare. Are you going to cut the match ups for them? Will they be putting them in an envelope after or sticking then down?
At the end of the activity I like to tell the class how I want them packed away. Even classes I’ve taught several years forget. Please pass the boards forward and along to the left. Or do you want each students to walk out with a board, pen and rubber?
Phoning home
I have free minutes on my mobile so whilst marking books I do try and make a few phone calls home for positive reasons. I also try and iron out any issues that have occurred via a friendly phone call home. Parents like the contact and then it’s nice at parents evening when I have already spoken to most parents several times in the year.
MathsHKO 