Annie at the Math Forum

My thanks to those of you who came to my talk and played along with these activities. The links below will get you a copy of the handout and send you directly to the applets themselves.

I would love to get some comments from any of the attendees. Can you name one thing that you took away from the talk that you’re eager to try out or work on?

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Exploring (vicariously) interactive applets that let students “notice and wonder”, talk about mathematical situations, and develop conceptual understandings of triangle properties, linear equations, systems of equations, and factoring trinomials.

Session 610, Friday, April 27th, at the Marriott, Salon D

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Conference, April 2012

Session 610 Handout

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Types of Triangles – Annie Fetter

Link above includes handouts, sketch, and Sketch Explorer version

Runners – NCTM e-Examples from Principles and Standards

Session 610 Runners Prompts

Galactic Exchange – The Math Forum’s ESCOT Project

Session 610 Galactic Exchange Handout

Algebra Tiles – National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

Session 610 Algebra Tiles Handout

Thanks to everyone who came to the Key Press Ignite Session at NCSM in Philadelphia.  I am really looking forward to hearing your responses to the homework prompt:

How did you become the teacher you are today? Specifically, what motivated you to become that teacher? What experiences helped you to realize, or at least begin, that process?

Couldn’t make it? Not to worry. Watch the video! You can still do the homework.

Just to make you curious, here’s a little teaser in terms of some folks’ responses to the homework prompt:

Suzanne: Motivation? Lectured from Dolciani for three years, then raised two kids and watched them learn. Experiences? Writing about that learning for John Holt’s journal.

Arjan: Motivation? I hated being lectured to. I hated learning like that.

Max: Experiences? It helps that I went to an interesting high school where I saw all sorts of teaching in my classes. And my mom’s a Montessori teacher.

Geri: Motivation? The Saxon ½ Book. It was so boring! Experience? Woodrow Wilson Institutes, especially the collegiality and collaboration.

Erin: Motivation? The students’ bored faces when I did direct instruction, and watching other teachers lecture and realizing that it was dreadful. Experiences? Suzanne walked into my classroom and said, “Try this.”

Your response here – do your homework and leave a comment!

My friend Debbie, the enrichment teacher at a local elementary school, sent me the following pictures, along with this question: “What do you think about the attached? Fourth grade E[veryday] M[ath] ch 6 intro.”

My short answer was, “I think it’s brilliant!” I’ll expound on that more in a follow-up post, but wanted to throw this out there first in case anyone else had thoughts they wanted to share. (Yes, Unit 6 is about division.)

Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo & Conference, Hershey, PA, February 2012
Debbie Wile, Wallingford Elementary School, Wallingford, PA
Annie Fetter, The Math Forum @ Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA

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Introductions

• Who are Debbie and Annie?

The Path to This Talk

• Annie’s Online Classes, and How It Works
• Christina’s Geometry Class
• Debbie’s Students

What’s Next?

• Literacy Applications
• Peer Editing
• Big Brother is Watching
• Precursor to Open-Ended Responses – Talking is Easier Than Writing
• Other Applications?

Discussion

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Helpful Links

• Geometer’s Sketchpad from Key Curriculum Press – check out the trial version
• Screencast.com, for Jing
• Making Movies Using Jing – Instructions [pdf]
• Constructing Quadrilaterals with Sketchpad Handout [pdf]
• Transformations Handout [pdf]

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Debbie is the enrichment teacher at Wallingford Elementary. She teaches students in grades 1-5.

Annie is an Educational Programs Leader at the Math Forum. Read more on her blog profile page.

Act 48 code: DL061674

Exploring interactive applets that let students “notice and wonder”, talk about mathematical situations, and develop conceptual understandings of triangle properties, linear equations, systems of equations, and factoring trinomials.

ATMOPAV Mathematics & Technology Conference, Fall 2011

Get the session handout [pdf]

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Types of Triangles

Runners

Galactic Exchange

Algebra Tiles

Technology can help students develop concepts such as multiples, fractions, and area through pattern analysis and engaging representations. Learn implementation strategies exploring technology and math.

ATMOPAV Mathematics & Technology Conference, Fall 2011

Annie Fetter and Valerie Klein, The Math Forum @ Drexel

Frog Farming

Pool Investigations

Balloon Booths

NCTM Regional Meeting, Atlantic City, NJ, October 2012

Annie Fetter, The Math Forum @ Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Debbie Wile, Wallingford Elementary School, Wallingford, PA

This talk is part of the Technology Learn <–> Reflect Strand

Session 68 Handout [pdf]

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Introductions

How This All Started – Formative Assessment

• Constructing Quadrilaterals Activity (see handout)
• Making Movies Using Jing – Instructions [PDF]
• Kathy’s Movie
• Danielle’s Movie

Where it Went from There – Summative Assessment

• Red Shirt’s Movie
• Christina’s Rubric (see handout)

Then Debbie Got Involved

• Student Self-Evaluation
• Think Aloud
• Formative Assessment
• Summative Assessment, Group Work

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Annie is the Problem of the Week Coordinator and Professional Development Specialist at the Math Forum.  She also teaches two courses in Drexel’s Math Learning and Teaching Masters program, Teaching Mathematics with Sketchpad and Learning and Teaching Calculus with Sketchpad.

Debbie is the gifted teacher at Wallingford Elementary.  She teaches math to students in grades 1-5.

We’ve started releasing free “scenarios”, taken from our Problems of the Week library.  This week’s installment honors Veteran’s Day by featuring a member of the Math Forum’s extended family, then-Specialist Lee Alejandre, who was on leave from the Army.

Lee’s Lawn Chair Scenario

We provide scenarios with all the problems we use as Current Problems of the Week, and are adding them to more and more problems in our library.  Basically, a scenario is a situation without a question, designed to give students an opportunity to see how much math they can come up with.  For more information about this idea, you might check out How to Start Problem Solving in Your Classroom.

We often use these scenarios with our Noticing and Wondering activity.  You can read more about that as part of our Understand the Problem strategy.

What sorts of things do you think your kids would notice and wonder around this scenario?  What might you hope they would come up with?

Every once in a while, situations come up that make me think that it would be interesting to figure out what math someone else did to come up with a particular statement. I plan to share them here as they come up.  Maybe some of you would like to pass these on to your students and see what they do with them.  If you do, post a comment back here!

Today’s theme is candy corn.  On the back of the Brach’s Candy Corn bag is this “fun fact”:

Each year Americans consume enough Brach*s Candy Corn that if laid end-to-end, would circle the earth 4.25 times….WOW!

So what’s up with that?