I teach in a departmentalized middle school for kids with LD, so I teach all subjects. I’m super creative in Social Studies, Reading, and English instruction, but I need some ideas for math instruction. My class is in 7th grade, but their skills are on a 5th-6th grade level. Lots of language problems, so they don’t get the concepts and retention is poor. Some still have problems with number facts, too. We’re starting fractions and I did a great lesson with Hershey bars for chocolate fractions that seems to have helped. I’d like some ideas for teaching simple algebra (one-step equations), decimals, percents, and word problems with a little more pizzazz.
Thanks.
Fern
Re: Spicing up my math teaching
THese are PERFECT. You have to try this. Kids love it.
http://www.borenson.com/ I sure wish I had had this back in my algebra days.
Try to make lessons where kids can act out lessons. FOr example yesterday I was teaching coordinate geometry. I took umbrellas from the PE teacher and put them on the playground. Then I plotted the frisbee on the lines and had kids name the point. THen I called out a spot, ex. (3,4) and the kids walked to it.
We have a big USA map painted on the cement. We do time zone lessons out there.
MichelleAZ
Re: Spicing up my math teaching
ok, I just reread my post. Geez. I took jump ropes from the PE teachers to make lines like a graph/ jump ropes for the time zones.
Yikes. sorry.
Michelle
Re: Spicing up my math teaching
Oh, yea, I remember the “scales” — it’s really the best algebra analogy out there. (I am dying to freeze time for a month and do a mind meld with somebody who knows Flash better than I do, and work up some interactive exercises. Anybody feeling flashy out there?)
Hmmm…. I wouldn’t leave fractions yet :-)
SNeak ouit & get hold of Marilyn Burns’ books — I think “Math by All Means” is hte name of the series. There are lots of ideas to connect math to real life — and not in the bizarre & convoluted ways of some math programs, not to mention any everyday names :-)
I’ve found that lots of my students (mostly adults) still don’t get what denominators really are. When I taught sixth grade, *one* of my 23 students understood what a third was. THe rest lumped the whole concept into “a half.” It would be good to divide the class into thirds for various things just for fun…
I’d also give them lots and lots and lots of practice just knowing that 1/5 + 1/5 = 2/5. Like, every day until the end of the year :=) It’ll get easy… and they’ll have an advantage over half the adult population. (Okay, for the ones who get it right ten times in a row, let them do an exponent problem to keep ‘em busy — they’ll feel brilliant knowing that 2 to the third power is 8).