Middle School Math Moments (now Cognitive Cardio Math)

Chapter 1: Guidelines and a Differentiated Unit This chapter includes guidelines to follow when differentiating, as well as a specific, detailed example of a differentiated unit. I tried to make this “short,” but wanted to include the necessary unit info to provide a complete picture:) The authors state that when differentiating, teachers must first decide why the differentiation is necessary – is the purpose to make the content accessible for all students, to motivate students, to make learning more efficient? Next decide what part of math needs to be differentiated – the content, the process, or the product. Third, determine how the math will be differentiated. Before designing a differentiated unit, the essential questions and unit questions must be identified. The essential questions are the key understandings the students should have as a result of the unit. The unit questions are specific elements of the essential questions.     ...

I’m always looking for new ideas and/or new ways to structure my math classroom. So, last summer I bought a couple of books to read.   I finished one, but didn’t finish the second: The Differentiated Math Classroom, A Guide for Teachers, K-8 , by Miki Murray and Jenny Jorgensen. I got to page 64, but then school started, I put it aside, and never got back to it. So, I’m restarting the book, and plan to post summaries of the chapters as I read, in case anyone else is interested in learning what these authors have to share. If you have read the book already, have implemented any of the ideas from it, or are currently reading the book, please share your thoughts and/or experiences :) In the introduction to the book, the authors share the idea that differentiation is not individualized instruction, but rather a process for adapting teaching to accommodate the needs of all learners.   They explain that this book will describe and illustrate “powerful mathematics curri...

I've been working on finally finishing my tessellation! I hope you can tell what it's supposed to be. My nephew (he's almost 5) guessed that it was a frog...not too far off:) Please link up below! Tessellation before drawing inside. Finished tessellation An InLinkz Link-up

I've missed the past couple of Wednesdays...sorry! If you have a chance, take a look at my tessellation below and let me know what you think it looks like. I wrote about it yesterday, and I am still trying to decide what I should draw inside. Different views of the tessellation - what do you see? Happy Wednesday! (This is the last Wednesday of my school year!) Link up below! An InLinkz Link-up

For the past few school days, the students have been working on creating Escher-like tessellations (good directions here), and I decided to create a new one myself. I have made a few in the past, but I think they are buried in my closet and I couldn't find them! (Cleaning needed....eventually:)  I was able to find some student work from past years, so my students had good examples to help them understand the concept. One of the challenges of this activity (for myself as well as for the students) is to determine what our tessellating shapes actually look like. Sometimes we can easily see a bird or a ghost or a face, but other times, it's hard to see anything. So, before I decide what to draw inside my tessellating shape, I thought I'd see if anyone has any ideas. What do you see in this shape? I rotated it so you can see it at different angles....I have a few thoughts, and my students gave me a few ideas, but I'd love to know what someone else sees. For our tess...