Marbleslides Challenge Set 2!

Marbleslides Challenge Set 2

Here is the second set of Marbleslides Challenges hot off the presses!  These are optional weekly challenges that I give to my classes for fun, high scores and prizes.  If you haven't run the first challenge set, it's totally fine, (and maybe even better) to use this challenge set.  There are some differences and some definite improvements from the first activity.

What's new

There are 30 brand new, varied challenges for students to practice and improve their graphing skills.

Some of these challenges are definitely harder than the first, and fewer challenges can be reasonably completed with just linear equations. I have, however, left some helpful equations scattered through the activity so that students can explore them if they so choose (absolute values, parabolas, circles, and more).  I also loosely grouped challenges near those particular equations where they might be most helpful, but students are still encouraged to complete the challenges however they'd like.

Barriers with hidden equations cannot be deleted by students.

Update:  Jennifer updated Jessica's awesome printable posters to go along with this challenge set which you can find here. Make sure to include your own class code on each slide!

Other notes

Before doing these challenges with your classes, I'd  recommend running through at least one of the original Desmos Marbleslides activities with them (Lines, Parabolas, Exponentials, Rationals or Periodics): https://teacher.desmos.com/search?q=marbleslides

I unlock challenges periodically using the teacher pacing mode in the teacher dashboard of the activity. Last year, I found many students liked to work on more than one in a sitting, so this year I'm going to unlock them in larger chunks, and just put one challenge per week on the score board.

If your students need more of a challenge, encourage them to use fewer equations.  Some of these are incredibly difficult using only one.

If you want more info about how I implement this activity check out my post about challenge set 1.

If you want more info on how to run Desmos activities in general, check out http://learn.desmos.com/activities.

A full year set of 36 weekly Marbleslide Challenges!

Here is the full set of 36 Marbleslide Challenges I'll be using at my school this year:

Marbleslide Challenge Set

Important tip!

Before doing these challenges with your classes, I'd highly recommend running through at least one of the original Desmos Marbleslides activities with them (Lines, Parabolas, Exponentials, Rationals or Periodics): https://teacher.desmos.com/search?q=marbleslides

Poster templates!(Update) 
Jessica was awesome and made poster templates for each challenge and for the weekly scoreboard. You can make a copy here.

Difficulty

These challenges should work for students of all levels from Algebra 1 onward (and they are even fun and challenging for teachers too!)  Each challenge should be possible to complete using linear equations, but can be solved more elegantly with higher level equations. If students aren't being challenged enough, encourage them to use fewer and more sophisticated equations.  The difficulty increases as the challenges go on, so you might want to leave older challenges open all year and encourage students not to skip too many.

Unlocking Challenges each week
You can use the teacher pacing option on the teacher dashboard to restrict students to the first 3 slides to start, then each week go back into the activity to unlock the next challenge using teacher pacing again.  Not sure how to use teacher pacing? More info here.  You could also just consider giving them the entire challenge set unlocked, and if you do let me know because I'm interested to see how that goes!

Scoring/Prizes
I give these as an optional activity for students to work on if they have some extra time in class or just on their own time.  You might even consider it as a fun optional alternative to certain homework assignments. You could not score them if it's too much work, but they love having their answers highlighted and the competition and you can just score the best few.  At the end of each week I make a quick scoreboard for the top scorers and post it with a screenshot of the some of the more interesting graphs. Here's how I score them:

• 1 point for each star
• 1 extra point if they use only 2 equations
• 2 extra points if they use only 1 equation
• 1-2 points if they have a particularly creative solution. This could be creative mathematically or artistically. 
• 1 point if their solution is very consistent (If you watch a student's solution it might not work perfectly because there is some variation depending on your screen size.  If there's doesn't look like it get all the stars but your dashboard says they did, trust the dashboard)

You might want to consider giving out prizes for students who get all the stars each week.  Some teachers are giving out Desmos stickers this year, and I was giving out treats last year while school policy allowed for it.

You can hide students using the gear button in the teacher dashboard if you want to highlight or screenshot awesome answers, but make sure to not forget about those hidden students in following weeks!  If you have large classes, you might want to split them into different class codes to make things more manageable.

The Learning
What I loved about doing Marbleslides Challenges last year was that it gave some of my students the need and motivation to learn and explore all sorts of graphs and equations outside the regular scope of class. Last year I had students figuring out how to use and transform equations that they wouldn't learn about for years in regular school curriculum.  Every once in awhile I'd give them a tiny little piece of info to move them forward "Oh here's an equation that looks cool" or "Hey, it's a little easier to work with that function if it's in this form" and then let them figure out the rest.



If you have need help getting started or have any questions leave a comment here or tweet at me @SweenWSweens . Feel free to tweak things however you think will work best for you, and let me know what works and doesn't in the comments!

Special thanks to Julie who had the awesome idea of putting Marbleslide Challenges together in one activity and then managing the year with Desmos Activity Builder's teacher pacing option.  I loved the idea, and got these challenges together quickly for the start of the school year as a result!

New Marbleslide Challenges

I've been periodically adding Marbleslide Challenges to the master list, and I just added a few more. If you didn't read my original post where I explained how I implement these in my classes, check it out here. Enjoy!

Challenge #9 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/58b835a98e2aabb51caed84f

Challenge #10 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/58f9f949bd944f372ffb85d2

Challenge #11 -  https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/58fa008f773fad060efb8963

Challenge #12 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/58fa0259e0d8b633f260dd64/

Desmos Marbleslide Challenges

This year I've implemented Desmos marbleslide challenges throughout my classes that have been really exciting, fun and educational for my students.  If you aren't familiar with Marbleslides you are totally missing out!  The basic idea is that marbles will fall down from a certain point on a graph, and students need to graph equations to help them collect all of the stars on the screen.  The full, official marbleslides activites are here https://teacher.desmos.com/search?q=marbleslides and they always leave kids wanting more.  

The original activities went so well last year, that I decided to regularly give more marbleslides challenges throughout the year.  I wanted to give activities that anyone familiar with graphing lines could complete with some effort, but that could also provide further challenge for students who know more about graphing.  I started creating single page challenges and posting an advertisement for them on my door and in my classroom along with a high score board from the previous week.

I award scores(not for a grade, just for fun) based on number of stars obtained, creativity, consistency and on using fewer functions. All of the challenges can be completed with multiple linear equations, but I challenge students who know more to use fewer, more complex functions. 

I knew that this would be a fun activity for my students, and could help provide some extra challenge, but it has far exceed my expectations for what it could be.  These  challenges have gotten some of my students really excited about math, graphing and learning about equations.  It has created a need for them to learn more, completely on their own, about different types of graphs and how to manipulate them.  I have had students in my class who have only formally learned about straight lines pulling out answers like this:

Every once in awhile I'll drop a little clue for a new type of equation that might help, and they run with it or search things out on their own.  Here are a few more mind blowing examples from students who've gone way above and beyond my expectations:

(The bearded face is part of the challenge.  The student answered by making a hat!)

The challenges have also helped me to further differentiate and more easily manage my classroom.  Whenever students finish an assignment or assessment early, I point them to a challenge and off they go.  I'm really happy that I started these challenges, and if you try them at your school I hope that work out as well for you as they have for me!

If you'd like take a shot at one of the marbleslides challenges yourself, give this one a try.

If you want to try to implement these are your school, here at the first 8 challenges I used this year, and I will continue adding to this list.

#1 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/57e52bcfb2f6f32507db1a18

#2 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/57ee5bd5b3b240fe050581c8

#3 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/580e515ad08d01c809f19d13

#4 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/57f6a27d2101b9e90587bce9

#5 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/581c962ce943d4a012362f02

- by Suzanne Von Oy

#6 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/583dd636b60af2af1daf4043

#7 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/586cfdafaaaa98a305054eca

#8 - https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/589dd7da46d4f6ac0593c440

Uptown factors (Factoring song parody of Uptown Funk)

Hello and Happy New Year!  I posted this on YouTube months ago, but in case you missed it here's our factoring based parody of Uptown Funk!   Also, keep an out on my blog. I make no promises, but I may make a few blog posts this year!




Lyrics:
Gon’ factor, gon’ factor, factor
Gon’ factor, gon’ factor, factor
Gon’ factor, gon’ factor

Let’s start this lesson
Learn to factor expressions
This one for those students
The blueprints for mastery
Sittin', Gettin’ a factoring education. 
Take a sum or a difference
and make it a multiplication

When you see (x squared)
Without a number in front of it
plus bx (b x)
Standard form for a quad-rat-ic
then plus c (constant) 
that’s x squared plus b x plus c 
Standard form (aw yeah) 
factor that tri-no-mial 
break it down.

x squared plus bx plus c
x squared plus bx plus c 
x squared plus bx plus c 
Now I’m gon’ factor this expression
Now I’m gon’ factor this expression
Now I’m gon’ factor this expression
Parentheses, x’s and fill in the spots
Multiply and Add up (come on)
Multiply and Add up uh

Multiply and Add up
Multiply and Add up 
Multiply and Add up
Multiply and Add up
Hey, hey, hey, oh

Stop, wait a minute
See those spots? Put those numbers in em
Write the signs, then you check
Ms McCool, Bring it back

Write parentheses, x’s
find the pair of factors
multiply to c, and add to b
That’s a skill that you can all master 

When you see (x squared)
Without a number in front of it
plus bx (b x)
Standard form for a quad-rat-ic
then plus c (constant)
that’s x squared plus b x plus c
Standard form (aw yeah). Other video?
factor that tri-no-mial
break it down

x squared plus bx plus c
x squared plus bx plus c
x squared plus bx plus c 
Now I’m gon’ factor this expression 
Now I’m gon’ factor this expression
Now I’m gon’ factor this expression
Parentheses, x’s and fill in the spots
Multiply and Add up (come on) 
Multiply and Add up uh
Multiply and Add up uh
Multiply and Add up uh
Multiply and Add up
Multiply and Add up
Hey, hey, hey, oh

Before we leave
What if there’s a number with x squared?
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up uh
I said Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up

Take ‘a’ then slide it
to 'c’ and then multiply em
Find the factors then divide em
by a, reduce on both sides and
Bring the bottoms up beside x
When you factor let this guide ya:

Parentheses, xs and fill in the spots 
Multiply and Add up come on!
Multiply and Add up uh
Multiply and Add up uh
Multiply and Add up uh
Multiply and Add up
Multiply and Add up
Hey, hey, hey, oh
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up (say what?) 
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up (say what?)
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up (say what?)
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up (say what?)
Slide, Divide, Bottoms up

Graph Shop - A Thrift Shop Parody

Hey everybody!  I made a music video with some of my current and former students about graphing lines using slope and y-intercept.  So here it is!  Lyrics are below.



Schooltube version coming soon.
You can download the audio here.

I'm gonna graph some lines
Gotta get em in slope intercept form
Hit that y axis
Put the intercept on
Then use rise over run

Walk up to the class like, "What up, class is in session" 

I'm so pumped about today's sick math lesson
Graph on the board, skills so absurd
That people like, "Man! That is one dope math nerd."
Rollin' in, hecka deep, in my class you'll never sleep,
Getting that slope and y-intercept on the screen
Draped in my corduroy, students sit in front of me
Probably should get on with this, makin' it rain practice sheets 

Let's make... Graphing lines make sense!
You'll be solvin' it, graphin' it, and now its time to start Mathin it' 
Dashin' up on this problem when you finish you'll be trashin' it
Solve for y where's it hidin'
Add and subtract to both sides and
Multiply and divide
Move things away from the y, kids

I'ma get that y alone, I'ma get that y alone,
No for real - slope intercept - that's 
Y equals m x plus b
Claw it, combine it, get y alone too
Reverse PEMDAS tells you what to move
Now what's that next to X? The slope is next to X! 
And what's that number left? Must be the intercept! 
the b, the b, the y-intercept is b
Start on the y axis, graphs begin with the b
Now go and take the m now, the slope is next you see
Use the rise then run for every point you need

I'm gonna graph some lines
Gotta get em in slope intercept form
Hit that y axis
Put the intercept on
Then use rise over run

Let's get that y alone, 
That's slope intercept form, 
Let's get that y alone 
For that slope intercept form

Let's get that y alone, 
That's slope intercept form, 
Let's get that y alone 
For that slope intercept form

I'm gonna graph some lines

Gotta get em in slope intercept form
Hit that y axis
Put the intercept on
Then use rise over run

How I see exponent rules (and log rules)

Exponent rules can be difficult to remember, and memory has never been one of my strong suits. When I was in high school myself learning exponent rules, I would get mixed up just trying to remember them individually, and had to come up with a different way of thinking to condense it into one idea.  What I came up with deals with the levels of complexity of operations:

So, you've got your simple functions on the bottom, multiplication and division are a little more complex, and then exponents and roots are more complex. The actual chart above I created after the fact when trying to explain the idea to students later in life.  So, basically when it came to exponent rules all I had to remember was to "go down a level" of complexity.

So multiplication becomes addition, division becomes subtraction, an exponent to an exponent becomes multiplication and a root with an exponent becomes division. The chart also helps for remembering when to distribute. Operations distribute on to the tier below them. (exponents distribute over multiplication and division for example)  

My results with trying to get students to see the same thing I do has been mixed.  I usually end up doing an exploratory learning exercise with exponents , then going through the rules individually and only quickly going through this chart idea on the side.  While it doesn't really connect with every student, when a particular student gets the rules mixed up it can really help because it at least gives them a plan rather than just relying on straight memorization.

Later on, when I learned about logs it turned out that log rules (surprising to me at the time, not so much anymore) followed along the same lines, with exponents becoming multiplication, multiplication become addition, etc. 

Anyone else ever think of it this way?  Have some other strategy for helping students get exponent rules straight?  Let me know!

The Banana Rule

Another concrete rule I use to help my students is the Banana Rule.  I noticed that my students often struggle with simplifying things like this(when we aren't directly learning about it):

Sometimes they don't realize that you can add them, but often times they realize they are like terms but end up messing with the exponents.  To me, it's really just a matter of how they are looking at it.  My best attempt at getting my students to see this problem the way that I see it is by telling them that if everything in a term is the same except for the coefficient(1) is the same you can think of it as a banana. Therefore, the problem above is simply:

Now, they see the answer is 4, but don't totally get it right away, so the banana explanation is quickly followed by:

"So, when you add a banana and 3 bananas, does the fact that you're adding bananas change?"  

"No!"  

"So the answer is 4 bananas, and what did we say was a banana?", etc

During that exchange the lightbulb goes off and they get it.

Just like the rainbow rule, I'll go through this with a class the first time time it comes up naturally in some problem, and then refresh it as it comes up throughout the year.  This method seems to reinforce that it's a tool, and not just "this is how you do this kind of problem".  If I have time, I might go off on a tangent about how it works with anything even if they haven't seen it before and go through some quick examples with trig, logs, integrals or crazy fractions and roots.  Also like rainbow rule, it helps kids put a name to something they struggle with and attaches an intuitive process to it.

(1)Okay, I usually say "number in front" instead of coefficient at this juncture, but we're trying to make it simple right? Please let me keep my math teacher card.

Slope, slope, slope, slope, slope, slope, slope, slope

First, I have to say I can't take credit for this myself.  The mysterious "Andrew" left a comment on this post

and it was too awesome to ignore.  It didn't seem like he had a blog, so I figured I'd post this because it worked really well.

Second, I swear that my classes aren't all songs and dances.  I just wanted to post this now because I know teachers will have just done slope or are starting it soon, and it went really well.

Andrew's suggestion was to use the tune to Flo Rida's "Low" but with the following words:

The difference of the y and the difference of the x

Also known as rise over run

Divide the two

And then reduce

Then you got slope, slope, slope, slope

I added the following verse in between chorus' to add a little excitement:

"When I'm sittin' in math and I'm tryin' to find

How to get the the slope, the slope of a line

I think about the rise, and the run all the time

Then I think of this song, and I'm gonna be fine

1/2 slope come on

1 slope come on

2 slope come on

now that's three slopes

You think I'm a dope?

I'd gotta say nope

I am gonna find that slope!"

So, I easily found an instrumental version of the song by searching google and played it in the background.  I had a student from another class help out the first time to introduce it.  This is how it went(the 3rd time through):

I cracked myself up today

I was looking through my lesson on slope from last year, and there were a bunch of frames with this skateboarding guy to help show how to think about slope.

So I'm flipping through the frames and I come to one where I was trying to explain how the slope of a vertical line is undefined, which I completely had forgotten about...

 

I laughed pretty hard.  Chalk up a positive for having a terrible memory.

(Now with 100% less titlefail!)

Being Less Helpful

A few weeks ago, Dan Meyer (http://blog.mrmeyer.com/ like you didn't know...) gave an online talk about being less helpful and his WCYDWT. (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/e/1450) I decided to immediately try to incorporate some of those ideas in an algebra class the very next day where we were going over word problems with formulas.

What I came up with was two questions, one given explicitly and one implied in a picture.  The first one was "How fast does Mr. Sweeney drive to work?"  Granted there was no piece of media attached to this, but it was an accessible question that every kid had an opinion on, and every kid wanted to know the answer to.
"Mr. Sweeney is young, I bet he drives really fast!"
"Is there traffic?"
"He must take the highway, I bet it's like 65!"
"The highway doesn't right from his house to school, so it must be lower"  etc.

I wrote down each student's individual guess and told them there would be a piece of candy for the closest (I'm not above bribes).  My goal was to "Be less helpful" so I was determined to only tell them where I live. They figured out they needed to use D=RT and know how long it takes and how far it is.  They kept asking questions trying to get me to do work for them, and I resisted answering. Eventually, they realized I wasn't going to budge and someone suggested to go to google maps.(Which gave both time and distance) We came to the answer, and then I told them how long it actually takes me(there's *always* traffic on the expressway!) and we solved again and I was happy.

Next, I showed them these pictures:

All I told them (When they asked) was that I am exactly 6 feet tall.  The question we decided on was "How far across the wall can I paint?"  ("How many cans of paint would it take?" was the first question, but I insisted there was only one can in the picture so we saved that for afterwards) To answer the question, they:
Enlarged the picture on the smartboard so they could see how much the can holds.
Figured out they'd need the formula for area of a rectangle solved for width.
Copied and pasted the picture putting my feet on my head to figure out the height of the wall.
Went to Behr.com to find out the range of areas you can paint a gallon of interior-semi gloss paint.
Converted from gallons to quarts.
Solved for the minimum and maximum distance across the wall that the paint would cover.
Measured the back wall and found how many cans of paint they would need.

They also came up with a lot of other ideas that we could've done if we had other tools or information ("Let's measure the height of the wall" "Alright, who has measuring tape?")  It was a lot of fun, and they really got into the lesson.  The best part was that a number of kids who don't usually participate at all were brimming with excitement and ideas.  It was so successful that I decided to call an audible on my second class and do the same activity with them too.

What kind of things like this have you done in your classroom?

The Dance Steps to Solving and Equation- The Lesson

I generally do this lesson after I've taught solving equations entirely. At that point there are at least a few students that get really overwhelmed by the process, and I've found that this helps them to break it down into steps (and to actually remember what those steps are) and it's just a heck of a lot of fun for everyone.

The day before the lesson I tell students that their homework is to remember to NOT bring their bookbags to class the next day. (Otherwise we wouldn't have room).  At the beginning of the period, I race to get all the desks stacked on the sides of my room to clear a nice dance area for everyone.  Then, I give them this speech:

"Today is a math fun day.  I *absolutely* guarantee that if you don't act "too cool" for this lesson that you'll have fun.  In fact, this will most likely be the most fun you ever have in math class!"  Cutting the too cool kids off at the pass right up front has always worked for me, and was my biggest fear before ever doing this lesson. (I also tell them participation is mandatory)  I then stick my arms out and swing them back and forth and tell them that they need to be able to do that without hitting anyone so they have space.  I start the beat, and sing the intro, then put the lyrics on the board with the smart screenshade hiding the moves we haven't done yet.

From there, the lesson goes pretty much like this:

After they are able to do the dance with some proficiency, I speed it up 10% and keep speeding it up each successive time until it all ultimately falls apart.  Then, I have them grab a desk and go get their backpacks and work on a sheet of difficult equations to solve, telling them to think about the song as the go along.  When they ask questions, I pretty much just prompt them with song lyrics.

Here are some important tips:

• You should definitely try this lesson if at all reasonable.  I'm fairly certain you could throw this lesson inside 179 other days of teaching like Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day off and kids would still think your class was fun.
• The video is only 3:49, but the dance part of the lesson actually takes me 15 minutes (and an extra few moving desks out and back in).  So, if you are to use the video above to teach the lesson I would highly suggest pausing and going back a lot to give kids time to really learn it.
• I'd suggest writing the lyrics on a side board even though they are in the video so that it's easier for the kids to follow.
  
• If you use the instructional video, I would still highly suggest doing the dance along with them.  If you are too cool to dance, they probably will be too.
• Call them out as a group if some kids aren't singing along, I think sometimes they honestly get so wrapped up in the dance they think they are singing along when they aren't.
• Have some sweet moves prepared for the check portion.(I like the lawnmower or the shopping cart)

Video files (right click to download):
Dance Steps instructional video (High Quality, 110 megs)
Dance Steps instructional video (Low Quality, 30 megs)

Audio Files (right click to download):
The beat (play it in a continuous loop)
Audio of the full song
Faster full song
Even faster full song
Fastest full song

The Dance Steps to Solving an Equation - The Story

This lesson is by far my most well known lesson at my school.  I'll post how the actual lesson goes soon, but I wanted to share the story of its creation because it was integral in forming the teacher that I am today.  Feel free to skip to the bottom for video and lyrics.

A few years ago, I was looking for something to help the kids understand that even if an equation seems really long and difficult, there are solid steps that can be done to get through it.  I'd taught multistep equations, distributing, combining, how to deal with variables on both sides and printed out colored sheets explaining each step.  There were, however, a few students that got totally lost when we tried to put it all together.  I was racking my brain on the ride to work thinking of some way I could get the steps to stick, and hopefully make it a little more interesting for them after we'd been working on solving for so long.

"The steps to solving an equation... The steps to solving an equation... The... DANCE STEPS to solving an equation!!!!"

As with all of my ideas, I knew I had to act on it right away or risk never doing it.  I got through the school day and started to work.  By 10 that night I was finished and ready to do the lesson the next day.

Morning came and I nervously told the head of the upper school before assembly that he should probably check out my algebra 1 class.  After the words left my mouth, I started to panic.   I started seriously thinking that I was about to do something wrong. After all, I was going way off the normal formula that was every math class I had ever known.  Shouldn't I be lecturing? Is this a big waste of class time? Luckily, it was too late to do anything about it. I didn't have a back up plan, and I had already told my boss something interesting was going to happen.

I cleared the desks and chairs to the sides of the room.  Class started, and I ensured my students it would be the most fun math class they ever had.  Full of nerves, I started into my carefully planned dance lesson. The kids were all smiles.  They loved it, and before I knew it there was a crowd forming at the door.  Twenty minutes later the kids had mastered the dance, and knew the words by heart.  We brought the desks back in, and started on a difficult equations solving worksheet.  Students were stuck much less, and when they did ask questions they had a much stronger base to work with.  "Well, what's the first thing you should look for? And then what and then what?"

Later that day, the head of our school came up to me and said he had already heard about my lesson, that he wished he would've known about it and that he most definitely wanted to be in attendance next year. (and he was)  By the end of the week, my 10th and 11th graders were demanding that they get to do the dance ("Hey, we solve equations in algebra 2 too!"), and our 8th grade algebra teacher was asking me to guest teach it to her group.

I really grew as a teacher that day.  I didn't fear taking risks in teaching anymore. When I've had legitimate reasons to do something a little crazy or different to shake things up and get kids learning I stopped questioning it so much. I learned that my school fosters a creative learning environment for not only the students but the teachers, and because of that I am able to thrive.

Okay, enough typing.  Below you'll find the lyrics and video.  The video of me doing it alone doesn't really do the lesson justice. The kids add electricity like you wouldn't believe. More to come soon with audio files and the flow of the lesson.

The Dance Steps to Solving an Equation
 
First you simplify
put your hands up in the sky

so you distribute
then you do a little scoot

Still need to simplify
Put your hands up in the sky

So you combine like terms
and do the squirm

Add and subtract, x terms alone on one side
So take a step back and do a big slide

Multiply and divide, the answer you will learn
when you jump to the left and do a full turn

Now check check check ch-check check check

Systems of Equations Project - Sparking Interest

I started this project last year, and I was amazed at the results. I modified a project I had done in previous years to allow students some room to use math to explore something that they were interested in. (Believe it or not, analyzing the amount of homework they got didn't do much to get them excited!) The vast majority of my students got really into it, especially ones that otherwise were not very motivated.

For this project, students find data online that they are interested in comparing.  (Sales of video games v sales of movies, Wins of their favorite sports team v wins of their friend's favorite sports team, Women's race times v Men's race times, Success of movie with many sequels v another, Sales of Abercrombie v sales of American Eagle, etc)  They graph and find best fit lines for each set of data, then answer some thought provoking questions about the results.

The most time consuming part of this project was having students find good data.  Anything sports related is easy, finding movie sales is easy, but other things got pretty difficult to find.  When things got difficult, students often wanted to take the easy way out and pick something they didn't really care much about, but could find easy data for. I discouraged that heavily because the key to this project is bringing in their specific interests and showing them how math is involved.  When students worked hard, but couldn't come up with data, I did my best to point them in the right direction. (Try this search or website)

I used 3 40 minute classes for this, but that's because I only expected students to do work at home if they were getting behind. You could significantly cut the in class time down by giving most of it as homework.  If you decide to do this or a similar project  with your class, I would highly suggest making your students check their data with you before they continue onto the rest of the project.

See the project description here.

One of the coolest things about this project was that I stuck excellent projects on my back wall and a number of times saw students from other classes thumbing through and actually reading the results on their own!

Any suggestions for more conclusion questions?  What kinds of things do you do to get your students working with what they are interested in?  Let me know.

Graphing Stories Remix

As you might have heard on Dan Meyer's blog I've started making some of my own Graphing Stories videos.  Dan Greene (other Dan) on twitter suggested I make one that shows a system of equations. I filmed one of me in a no holds barred footrace versus myself. (Don't worry, I won)  Here's how it came out:

Once I'm finished I'm going to make a bigger post about all of the videos for this, and by then I will hopefully have found a way to provide them in better quality than Youtube. In the meantime, I'm looking for some input...

I'm not sure how well it translates at this angle.  What do you think?  Do you think what's going on in this one will be discernible to students?

Also, I'm looking to make some more of these (it's really easy now that I have a template).  Anyone have any more good ideas?    Let me know in the comments.

Pick up - Algebra Game

The first couple lessons I shared were from my Algebra 2 class, so I figured it was time to share something from Algebra 1.  This lesson revolves around a game that I think a student taught me years ago, but was similar to a game that we played in my college game theory class.  The kids have a lot of fun, because they get to compete and figure out strategy.  I call the game Pick up.

 I split students up into groups of twos, and give each group a few pieces of scrap paper.  I tell each group to rip up the paper to get 21 scraps of similar size.  On one of those scraps they write the words "Math Fun." Then I give them directions for the game, which goes like this:

• The 21 pieces are placed down on a desk or the floor with the "Math Fun" piece showing and visible the whole game, like above.
• Players take turns picking up at least 1, and up to 3 pieces at a time.
• Whoever must pick up the Math Fun piece loses.

Then I let the students play.  They get to practice for awhile to get a feel for some basic strategy, but soon we start a tournament. Students that don't win the first round play off for a wildcard spot or two later in the bracket.  Excitement builds, someone wins candy and then we begin discussion.

I prompt them with questions like "Well, what worked?"  The winner will definitely have figured out what to do at the end, but they won't need to step it all the way back to the start to win games, so they don't.  Then we start discussion around the question "Well, in what situation are you sure to win?"  We decide to not count the Math Fun piece because it's pretty much irrelevant and we go through each situation that occurs at the end of a player's turn assuming their opponent is playing perfectly.  It's fun for them think their way through it, and my students have been able to figure out the situations below with minimal prompting.

1- You lose, opponent takes 1.
2- You lose, opponent takes 2.
3- You lose, opponent takes 3
4- You WIN, opponent has to leave you with 1, 2 or 3.
5- You lose, opponent takes 1, leaving you with 4.
6- lose
7- lose
8- win
9- lose
10- lose
11- lose
12- win

At #8, they might see the pattern, at 12 they are sure of it.
"So, could we.... write a linear equation that would tell us the winning numbers?"
"If we counted the Math Fun piece, how would our winning situations change?  How would the equation change?"
blahblahblah Slope, blahblahblah y-intercept.  Hooray for math!

Extensions:
     Which player has the advantage if both play perfectly?
     What if you could take up to 4 pieces?  Only 2? 10?

Super Extension:
     What if you split it into 2 piles, with two special pieces, and could only take from one at a time?