The Tale of 2 Fleas

I found a book at the Westfield State University library that I thought looked interesting. I was there looking for picture books for a class and came across the teacher education area and started browsing. I picked up a copy of "Understanding Middle School Math" by Arthur Hyde and others. After reading the first part of the book, I felt that author(s) had really great approaches to teaching. They focus on a technique used in ELA call KWC. When a student is approached with a problem, they answer three questions: What do you Know? What are we trying to figure out? Are there any special Conditions?

Their approach to teaching is more along the lines of a constructivist philosophy, where the student figures out new information based on what they already know. This is also involves students working in small groups, communicating, and figuring stuff out together. This makes it so the teacher has to keep kids on task, help and guide stuck groups, and be constantly moving. The teacher does not show the student how to do a task, then they practice in groups. The students actually figure out the solution as they go, reinforcing problem solving skills and perseverance.  

Dropbox link to "Tale of Two Fleas"

It actually went great. I supplied each student with the paper and a ruler. Then I had them work in small groups. The kids really had to think and had good questions. And yes, I did have to guide a lot. But it was such a relief not to push a worksheet on them and drill them to death. 

Algebra tiles

I used algebra tiles today to illustrate what is going on in the distributive property. I used the meal deal method to introduce the concept a few lessons ago but not very many kids retained the concept on the last quiz I gave. So today, I spiraled back and used the tiles. It was a nice way to ease back into school from our February break. 

The students cut out their own tiles and placed them into envolopes. I modeled what to do by drawing pictures on the board as my projector set-up was not hooked up from the break. Tonight, I am going to use some blank magnet sheets and create some alegebra tiles that will stick to the whiteboard. I gave all the students their own whiteboards to use and circulated around to all the groups to make sure everybody was okay. The common mistakes were there, like when a student does too much...when the equivalent expression should end at 3x+6 but they go on to combine unlike terms and make it 9x. Having the visual models helped recognize the mistake.