Happy Monday! We were given a chance to sit down with our departments today and discuss what’s going well, what’s not going well, things to keep for next year, things to avoid next year, etc today. It was the first time that we’ve had dedicated department meetings this school year, and it was incredibly refreshing. It was a great conversation, and I think we all needed it. It’s great to remember that we’re all in this crazy teaching in a pandemic boat together.
Since it’s Monday, it’s time for Volume 80 of Monday Must Reads, my weekly-ish attempt at capturing the amazing ideas shared by (mostly) math teachers on twitter. Thank you guys for being my virtual math department that I get to bounce ideas off of on a daily basis. Hopefully you find at least one inspiring idea in this week’s round-up.
Delta Math User Tip
I often tell my students in class how long Delta Math estimates that an assignment should take. But, Anna Vance blew my mind when she shared how she gives students this information on their digital assignment. Brilliant!
Negative and Zero Exponents with Polypad
Mark Kaercher puts the new cut feature in Mathigon’s Polypad to good use to illustrate zero and negative exponents.
Math Art Bulletin Board
Another great idea from Mark Kaercher: start a math art bulletin board! This looks so fun.
Pi Fact
Matt Parker shares a fun fact about the use of the pi symbol in math.
Polynomial Art Projects
Mary Williams shares a great looking polynomial project she did with her students.
Geometric Design Project
Check out this beautiful math art from Mrs. Murray’s class. Gorgeous!
Coordinate Plane Easter Egg Activity
Combining hunting easter eggs with the coordinate plane? Check out this idea from Lauren Aragon.
NCTM Fraction Puzzle
John Golden shares a great puzzle from a 1997 NCTM journal.
Superhero Data Activity
David Butler shares a hands-on graphing activity using superhero movie data. This looks fun!
Movie Poster Project
Check out this creative idea from Lori Reeder: have students create a movie poster for an upcoming unit.
Everyday Piecewise Functions Project
I really like this idea from Kelley Posch of having students create piecewise functions from pictures of items around their house.
Visual Patterns Around the House
Mrs. Posch also had students create visual patterns from items around their house.
Logarithm Errors
Paige Sheehan offers up an idea for assessing whether students really understand the concept of a logarithm.
Google Slides Getting to Know You Visual
Tracey Adams shares a way to get to know students when they aren’t physically in your classroom.
Virtual Human Boxplots
Harmony Richman shows that you don’t have to be face-to-face to still build a human boxplot.
Bottom of the Pan Debate
Want to spark some classroom debate? Check out this question from Nat Banting.
Solving Equations Small Steps Activity
TickTockMaths calls this a Small Steps Activity. I like it a lot.
TEKS Aligned Desmos Activities
Cathy Yenca shares a resource put together by Region 11 in Texas that features Desmos activities aligned to each of the Texas secondary math standards. The standards are written out, so it should be pretty easy to then correlate the same activities to your own standards. This is a treasure trove!
Until next week, keep sharing your awesome ideas! Want even more ideas? I suggest checking out previous volumes of Monday Must Reads!
