Help Students Calculate The Grades They Need To Pass

This is an end-of-year activity for any subject, although your students will need to be able to do at least a little basic algebra to complete it: calculating exactly what they need to pass the semester and for the year overall.

Perhaps this is a sad statement on my performance this year, but it looks like a little less than half of my students are either likely to fail or could go either way depending on this last grading period and their semester exam grades.  Thus it was especially important for them to know the minimum grades they would need to earn for the last six-week grading period and the semester exam to pass.

The graphic organizer below asked them to look up their grades for Semester 1 and the two grading periods we've completed so far on our online system.  Then, I gave them the two equations needed to calculate the minimum average they needed.

Your situation in terms of grading periods, exams and policies might be different, so of course you will need to make several edits.***

The Grades You Need to Pass handout [Google Docs]

Why this needs to be so complicated, I do not know.  If you have a better or different way of accomplishing the same thing, please share it in the comments.

***In our case, we have six grading periods and two semester exams that all count equally (thus 70 x 8 = 560 for the year).  Our minimum passing grade is a 70.  Students who average a 70 for the year, even if they failed one of the semesters, get the full credit for the year.  So while students who failed the first semester might need a certain grade to pass the second semester and get half credit, a higher grade is likely needed to get the full year's credit.  The 2x is used instead of x because there are two equally important grades left: the last grading period and the semester exam.

Feed Your Students a Hot Cup of Alphabet Slope

Years ago I found this short "Sloping Letters" activity which asks students to view the letters of the alphabet as line segments with positive, negative, zero or undefined slopes.  I liked the idea because it makes students focus only on visually identifying slopes, which is a skill that makes all the follow-up easier. 

As we were revisiting slope last week, I took that idea and expanded it: I had my students break down every letter of the alphabet and label the slopes of each segment.  I call it Alphabet Slope.

First, we did quick notes on the four types of slope mentioned above.  The way I explained it, depending on how you look at certain letters, you can break them down in multiple ways: for example, the letter D could be made up of an undefined slope and a non-linear piece as seen above, or you could include two small zero slope segments on the top and bottom.  I didn't go as far as have students turn the letters into blocky versions that had no non-linear parts, but you could very well do that with your kids.

The Sloping Letters activity is a great wrap-up for the Alphabet Slope activity.  It forces the students to look back at their work and think about the pieces. 

If they've studied slope before, this will take about 25-35 minutes, but for students looking at it for the first time, it might take a bit longer.

Alphabet Slope activity (PDF)
Sloping Letters follow-up activity

Do you have other ideas about helping students visually identify slopes, or to think about slope in different ways?  Share them in the comments.

Equations vs. Inequalities Mini-Poster Project

The first chapter in my first book is entitled "The Mini-Poster," so it should be no surprise that it's a favorite that I constantly adapt to new topics.  This time around, I wanted to do a "six weeks" project to wrap up the grading period in Algebra I, where we've been working on solving equations and inequalities.

In this project, students make four mini-posters (one 8.5" by 11" page each) for four (technically seven) types of problems:

1. One-step equations and inequalities
2. Two-step equations and inequalities
3. Multi-step equations and inequalities
4. Special case for inequalities (when you have to flip the inequality sign)

Except for the last one, each poster is supposed to have what is essentially the same problem worked out the same way, but one is an equation and the other an inequality (with the sign of their choosing).  The difference is that the inequality has the particular sign and needs to be graphed on the number line.

By forcing them to do the mirror-image problems, the message is explicit: you solve both problems with the same steps.  Along with reviewing all of the problems, the purpose of this project is indeed to draw the clear connection between solving the two types of problems.  I told students to keep the title and "how to solve" sections the same as what's on the directions, but to change the examples (helpfully outlined in boxes) to their own

Regular readers will probably note that this isn't all that different from the Linear Equation Formula Book project I shared last week; indeed, one student that I have in both classes made the same connection fairly quickly.  That's because it's not really all that different.  But that's okay.


Download a PDF of the project directions here:

Equations vs. Inequalities Mini-Poster Project

Here are some of my earlier mini-poster ideas for you to draw from:

• Project Idea: Independent vs. Dependent Variables - the original (I feel like this constitutes a "classic" at this point)
• 2 More Mini-Poster Ideas
• Project Idea: Linear Functions Mini-Poster

Singing About Domain and Range (Again)

Today I'm performing the Domain & Range Song for my math models students:



I'll let you know how it goes this time around with my kids, but feel free to show it (or perform it) for your own.  In the meantime, read the original post on how and why to use ideas like this in your classes.

Updated Newspaper Math Activity

One of my favorite classroom tools is the newspaper, and I'm excited to reintroduce it to my classes this year.  I updated this 2007 newspaper activity focused on rates, ratios and proportions.  In the activity, students are directed to specific sections of our local newspaper where there's data like currency exchange rates, gas prices, and our team's football statistics and use those numbers to solve problems.

It's designed specifically for my local paper, but you should easily be able to adapt it to your own.  I purchased enough papers for groups to share to keep costs (and mess) low and also picked up a stack of (free) flyers from our local supermarket chain.  The latter was used for students to find examples of rates and unit rates.

Updated Newspaper Math Activity on rates, ratios and proportions 

Here's a collection of the newspaper math activities I've used over the years:

Using the Newspaper in Algebra I
More Ways to Use Newspapers in Algebra I
Even More Ways to Use the Newspaper in Algebra I

You can find more ideas for using newspapers in the classroom in my book Ten Cheap Lessons.

Review for a Test with a Fake Test

One idea that's mentioned but not fully explored in Ten Cheap Lessons is creating a fake test as a review tool.  Essentially you take a set of problems similar to what will be on your test and work them out   incorrectly, purposely making the kinds of mistakes you've seen your students making over and over again.  Your students basically become the teacher, finding the error(s) and the correct answer.

In previous years I've went overboard trying to make this "test" seem authentic, but this year I decided to just be honest and direct.  "All of these problems were solved incorrectly.  All of the answers are wrong," I told them.  "These are the mistakes I've been seeing too many of you continue to make, and I don't want you to make them again on the test."  If you've been reviewing something for what seems like forever, or you simplify have a stale routine, this is an easy way to shake things up.

In the example below (which my students worked on yesterday), you'll see the key mistakes circled along with the correct answer in red.  The student version had no such marks (there was another side to this page as well that I chose not to include).  

Share your versions of this kind of review assignment (along with any other creative ideas you have) in the comments.

Six End of Year Lesson Ideas and Projects

As a practical follow-up to this week's episode of "Mr. D TV", here are six of my best lesson ideas and projects that should keep your kids engaged even with summer vacation this far away.

1. Math in the Real World Project
2. Lesson Ideas Using "Practical Money Skills for Life"
3. How to Turn Jenga Into An Awesome Test Prep Tool
4. 3 Ideas to Prepare Students for College Placement Exams (for HS juniors and seniors)
5. Math in the Real World: Erasing Debt Activity 
6. Using the Newspaper in Algebra I

A couple of these ideas (1 and 6) are part of my first book, Ten Cheap Lessons, which is designed to be just the kind of resource you need this time of year.  It's only $10 for the paperback or $2.50 to download.

If you have similar outside-the-box ideas for the end of the school year, please share them in the comments below!

Earth Day Lesson Ideas and Resources

Earth Day Celebrates its 40th Anniversary on April 22, 2010!

Forty years ago, on April 22, 1970, more than 20 million people converged in small towns and major cities across the United States to help launch the modern environmental movement. That first Earth Day was part teach-in, part call-to-action and part celebration. At Earth Day Network, our Education program continues a successful history of environmental education initiatives dating back to the first Earth Day in 1970.  We are continuing this tradition for the upcoming 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day on Thursday April 22, 2010. We have hundreds of resources to help go green and get involved in Earth Day.

Here’s a list of fun activities you can do with your kids to teach them about the environment:

• Pull out invasive plants and replace them with native species.
• Ride bikes, walk or take public transit.
• Volunteer at a local Earth Day event.
• Write a letter to a local policymaker.
• Start a family garden and grow healthy food. Start a compost pile and use a rain barrel.
• Switch out light bulbs for energy- efficient CFLs.
• Learn about the history of the environmental movement. Use activity ideas from Earth Day Network lesson plans.
• Paint an eco- mural. Use green art supplies.
• Make art from recycled objects.

• Play educational games Environmental Jeopardy.
• Use the interactive online Ecological Footprint quiz.
• View and discuss films on Earth Day TV.
• Clean up your playground, schoolyard, walking paths or watershed.
• Hold a recycling or waste reduction contest.
• Take your class outside.
• Compost your good scraps.

Need help? Contact education@earthday.org for resources, ideas and support!

This is a guest post from Sean Miller, Education Director of Earth Day Network, a Washington DC-based nonprofit that works on environmental issues across the globe.

Use a Dartboard to Review Geometry and Probability

This was posted on April 1st at Bluebird's Classroom as a April Fool's prank, with me taking the guise of Mrs. Bluebird herself.  Here it is in case you missed it:

Recently, I was inspired to turn Jenga into a real life math lesson after seeing what people were doing to it at one of my local haunts. So it should come as no surprise that I found another practial mathematical application using another popular game there: playing darts.

A dartboard is a beautiful and dense geometric figure, where finding the area of of each part would involve multiple steps beyond finding the area of a circle. That's great practice for standardized tests where students are challenged to do the same thing with much simpler figures. Then, of course, there's the probability aspect of actually playing the game--and you know how much I love probability games.

The activity I designed has two parts: geometry and probability. In order to find the theoretical probability of hitting different parts of the board, you need to know the area that you're aiming for out of the total area of the board. Finding the chances of hitting a certain region of a larger figure is another typical standardized test question, but again I think it's much more challenging than anything test authors might include.

So in Part I, students find the area of the entire board, the inner and outer rings, the inner and whole bullseye, and of each numbered section of the board. I had them leave their answers in terms of pi, because when they go on to probability, it will cancel out of their fractions. I also told students to put all of their answers as fractions or mixed numbers, because in this case it is better conceptually than resorting to decimals.

In Part II, things start out relatively easy, with students finding the probability of hitting particular parts of the board with any given throw. Then, the questions move into the chances of hitting one of several parts in a given throw--such as nailing 20-15 or the bullseye in the traditional game of cricket. The final few questions deal with compound probability, such as hitting the same numbered section on three consecutive throws.

This is a challenging but not impossible assignment, and I think the real life connection of this idea will help engage students in the work. It should be appropriate for a well-prepared Algebra I class, but certainly for Algebra II, Geometry and beyond. I also think math geeks would have fun playing around with this as well--I certainly did!

If you want another hook to get your students to take on the challenge, bring in an electronic or velcro dartboard as a reward for hard work afterward. Actually, now that I think about it, I'd love to have a dartboard in class at all times, and allow students to play if they could find the probability of hitting whatever they were aiming for before throwing!

Dartboard Geometry & Probability (PDF)
Key and Notes (PDF) 

You can find more ideas like this in Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition and the inspiration to create your own in my upcoming book, Teaching is Not a Four Letter Word: How to Stop Worrying and Love the Job.

Real Life Math Lesson Using the U.S. Census

Turning the U.S. Census into a relevant, real life math activity is about as easy as filling out the actual questionnaires--and that is more or less what you're going to have your students do.  Then, there's a lot that can be done with the data you collect.

First, download the 2010 Census Questionaire from the U.S. Census Bureau website.  While you can certainly collect and analyze this information without the form, having them use a copy of the real thing makes this a more authentic activity (and might remind them to tell their parents to fill it out at home).  The form really doesn't take long to fill out--even if you have a lot of people living with you--and of course students can only fill out as much as they know any way.

Start by dividing students into groups and having them fill out the forms together.  They can skip the phone number and last names for the other people in their house, but they should be able to check off and fill out everything else.  In their groups, students should tally totals of the number of people living in all homes as well as the number of people by age, sex, race, and relationship.  Then, have the groups share their totals with each other, so that everyone should have a complete set of data.

Now it's time to analyze the data.  There are a lot of options for what to do from here, but I have a few suggestions:

• Find the mean, median, mode and range for age.
• Construct a stem-and-leaf plot, box-and-whisker plot or simple histogram to represent the age data.  
• Convert the raw data for sex, race and relationship into percentages.  Ideally they would construct pie graphs to illustrate the data.
• Find and graph totals for these age groups 0-12, 13-17, 18-25, 26-34, 35-44, 45-55, 55 and up.  The data could be graphed by totals or percentages.
• Using the most current population estimate for your community, use proportions to extrapolate numbers of people by age, sex and race for your entire town or city.
• Compare your data to the 2000 Census or other recent surveys on the American FactFinder website.

If you teach multiple classes per day and do this activity with each of them, consider adding one more day to this lesson and having students analyze the combined data for all of your classes.  I think that through this entire process, students would be very interested in what they were finding and willing to do what might otherwise be looked upon as tedious work.  In addition, you can go back later and ask very specific questions about the data that your students collected.

After the activity, I would ask a series of questions to help them draw conclusions about the data--a vital skill for standardized tests (among other things).  For example:

1. According to the data, what is the largest age group in our community?  What is the smallest?
2. Is this data we collected an accurate sample of our community?  Why or why not?

I feel like we're just barely scratching the surface here.  What else could be added to this activity?  Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments.

March Madness Probability Activity & More

I've been glad to see an upswing in the number of different March Madness math lessons being shared online recently (see below for links).  Each one seems to be focusing on different parts of the tournament or looking at it through a different lens.  Designing an interesting probability activity based around the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament has been a goal for years, so I'm excited to unveil this first version.

The main focus of this activity uses the success of teams by seed (since 1979).  First, students find the probability of a given seed winning the tournament both as a fraction and percent.  Then, they use those numbers to answer a number of questions.  There's an opportunity to talk about the difference between experimental and theoretical probability, as well as compound probability (see the challenge question).

I would follow up this activity by having students fill out a bracket using the statistics they've learned or whatever method they choose.  Personally, I enjoy picking the winners based on which mascot would win a no-holds-barred steel cage match.  After each round, you can have students update their brackets, recalculate their probability of winning, and compare theoretical with experimental probability again based on the results.  After the tournament is over, have students tally points for the correctness of their bracket (1 point for each opening round game, 2 for the second round, and so on, with 6 points for predicting the correct champion).

This is the kind of obvious real life math connection that almost any student can understand and get excited about, so we should do what we can to work it into our curricula.

March Madness Probability Activity
NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament bracket [via ESPN]

Here are some other lessons, activities and ideas based on the big tournament from around the web:

1. Figure the Winner - Focuses on percentage, measures of central tendency
2. Elements of Binary in the NCAA Basketball Tournament - Focuses on binary trees, logarithms, laws of exponents, geometric series and sequences, and probability (among other advanced topics)
3. March Madness web quest - Designed for middle school math students.
4. Interdisciplinary March Madness project - For grades 4-6
5. Scoring March Madness - How to score brackets after the tournament.
6. Adding Academics to the Big Dance - The Quick and the ED discusses graduation rates of the teams in this year's tourney.

We STILL Use Math Every Day: Using "Numb3rs" in the Classroom

Last year, Texas Instruments announced they would stop updating the "We All Use Math Every Day" website, but stated that the site would remain up as an archive of all of the lesson plans that had been developed.

Recently, a reader emailed to tell me that the We All Use Math Every Day website was down. I emailed Texas Instruments and received this response:

Thank you for contacting Texas Instruments.

Texas Instruments is no longer affiliated with the television series "Numb3rs".

We have the activity exchange containing hundreds of free activities covering numerous subjects, including Numb3rs/We All Use Math Everyday activities at the link below:

http://education.ti.com/educationportal/activityexchange/activity_list.do?cid=us

If you search for Numb3rs, you'll see that all of the old activities are still available.  Unfortunately, the curriculum alignment for each episode seemingly disappeared into the abyss with the rest of the WAUMED site.

Luckily, I had saved a copy of the Numb3rs Activities Curriculum Alignment document, which I am now sharing publicly on Google Docs.  The PDF contains the episodes broken down by subject and specific topic, with direct links to the activities on TI's Activities Exchange.

Now you might be wondering, as I was, why TI would change their minds about the WAUMED website.  I realized the answer as soon as I visited the CBS Numb3rs site to find an episode guide: the show's partnership with Wolfram Research.

Wolfram Research provides the math behind the show, and although I don't know how long they've been doing so, they basically took over writing curricular connections for each episode at the beginning of Season 4 (about the time WAUMED ended).  With this year's release of Wolfram Alpha, their continuing line of Mathematica software, and their growing number of educational offerings, TI has to see Wolfram as a comptetitor.  No wonder they didn't want to have any lingering connections to the show.  (Hopefully they won't also delete all of the old activities from the Exchange--but I have a feeling I should start downloading those as well!)

So if you still want to use Numb3rs in your classroom, here's your definitive list of resources:

• Official CBS Numb3rs website
• The Math behind Numb3rs [Episode guides starting with Season 4]
• TI Activites Exchange [Search "numb3rs" for Seasons 1-3 activities]
• Numb3rs Activities Curriculum Alignment [Links to activities for Seasons 1-3 only]
  

Simple Elementary Whole-Class Grouping Game

I can't remember exactly where I picked up this idea--I'm not sure if I participated in this game as part of professional development of some kind or if I watched a colleague use it with their class.  Either way, it's a way to practice grouping with your entire class or any large group.  It would be most beneficial for grades K-2.

You could do this in the classroom (depending on how much space you have) but you might need to move to a bigger space since your students will have to move around a little.  Once you're in your space, the game is simple:

1. You will be calling out numbers.  Your students then get into groups of that number.  They can hold hands or at least hold each other by the arm (set your expectation for this ahead of time).
   
2. They must get into their groups quickly and correctly.  If their group has the wrong number, or an odd number of students are left out because of the numbers you gave, they're out.
3. Continue playing until you're down to a group of two.  These are the winners, and if you think they're up to it, they can be the ones calling the numbers for the next round.

Before the game, have students could the number of students in the class.  As you play, have students count the number of groups you've made and how many are left over.  When you repeat numbers, briefly discuss why the number of groups might have changed.  For example, if you used 3 when you had 18 students, then 3 again when there were 12 students left, this is a good opportunity to wonder aloud why there are only 4 groups of 3 left.

I realize that your very young students might not respond well to being "out" of the game, especially if they are having trouble socially.  Having multiple rounds of the game is one way to avoid this, but you also don't want only friends grouping with each other.  To add a team-building, socializing element to the game, you have to encourage students to try to make groups with everybody in the class at some point in the game.  I also remember during my time playing the game, that the groups started small and then got bigger, requiring the addition of different students to each one.

I'm not an elementary expert by any means, however, so any suggestions to this end would be greatly appreciated.

Grouping is an essential skill for both multiplication and division, but also for adding and subtracting, fractions, percents, decimals, and even combining like terms in algebra.  You can supplement this activity with anything that asks questions like "How many groups of __ can you make?"

Come back tomorrow for a follow up grouping activity using a deck of cards!

Ultimate Number Line Game: Number Sense on a Massive Scale

When I wrote about games and puzzles recently, Mister Teacher left an interesting comment about his frustration over students' lack of number sense. He teaches 3rd graders, but my high school students always had the same problems. One tool I used, even at that level, was the number line.

Number lines are used for a number of topics at the elementary level, but they pop up when least expected in higher grades. They help with counting and measurement for younger students and later become part of measures of central tendency (box-and-whisker plots) and graphing inequalities. By using it, you're modeling something that appears throughout all levels of mathematics but is still criminally underused.

So I was considering this issue and was struck with the idea of creating a giant number line that student could actually walk along. I envisioned all ages of students rushing up and down the line frantically, as I used to do when we played a version of Ship to Shore in PE in elementary school.

This game is designed for 1st grade and up, and is scalable and adaptable for higher levels of difficulty.

Ultimate Number Line Game

Creating the Number Line

You need space to make a huge number line on the floor or ground. Try to secure as large a space as possible (the bigger the better):

1. Classroom: Use brightly colored painter's or electrical tape to mark several parallel number lines on the floor. Create enough hash marks as possible (-10 to 10 at an absolute minimum). Move desks, tables and chairs out of the way (out of the room if possible).
2. Gym: If there's any lines already on the floor, use them as the hash marks of your line, but create the line students will follow as described above.
3. Outdoors [large sidewalk/playground]: Use sidewalk chalk to mark number lines.
4. Outdoors [football field]: Perhaps the best option of all, especially if the field is lined but not numbered, in which case you don't need to do anything except get out there.
   

Parents and homeschoolers: you have a distinct advantage if you try this game--there's no excuse not to use the largest space available.

Game Procedures

1. Students stand at zero to start. If you're in the classroom, use teams and have students rotate out when they're eliminated (see below).
2. Teacher calls out problems with ample pauses between numbers and operators ("8... plus... 3... next: 2... minus ...7!"), allowing students to move accordingly. If someone stops on the wrong result or is the last to get there, they're eliminated. Eliminated students stand off to the side, and are welcome to help with answers and identify cheaters or other problems.
3. Increase the speed and difficulty of problems until the round is done.
4. Start over and encourage improvement, but accelerate the game more quickly. The ultimate goal is that the class will get to the point that everybody is moving to the right spot almost as one!
   

Introducing the Game

Discuss the type of problems you're going to do. Some questions you might ask, depending on the level of questions you'll be working on: "How many of you know how to add? ...subtract? What happens when you subtract a bigger number from a smaller number? What is a negative number?"

Introduce or review the number line. We start at the first number given in any addition or subtraction problem. We move right for addition and left for subtraction (and if you're using negative numbers, that sign reverses your direction). Explain the game procedures outlined above.

Options and Considerations

1. How do you want students to move? Do they make big steps over large intervals, hop (as we draw on paper number lines often), or can they run?
2. Are you going to announce problems separately (which will require more movement) or just add or subtract to the last answer (which might be quicker)?
3. How difficult should the problems get? Will you just add and subtract positive numbers, positive and negative integers, fractions, or decimals? Will you change your intervals to 10 or 100?
4. Who do you need to talk to in order to use one of the spaces outside your classroom? The unique setting and large scale of this game is what will make it more memorable and effective with your students, so you have to do everything to get the most possible space.
   

Why This Will Work

Notice that I didn't suggest students could do this on a paper at their desk; of course they could. Yet that would miss the entire point: this is an engaging, fun, kinesthetic activity. Students will be paying attention, quite literally on their toes, and that's a big deal in and of itself.

More importantly, the number line is an easy to understand model of addition and subtraction, especially for more difficult problems like subtracting larger numbers from smaller ones, and adding and subtracting positive and negative integers.

This game avoids any written component, by you or them. You're helping them develop number sense by solving the problems quickly and mentally, with only a slight aid from the number line. By not even seeing the written problem, let alone being able to work it out on paper, they're forced to use the natural math ability we all have.

To go back to Mister Teacher's example, imagine starting at zero and giving students the problem "0 minus 8". It sounds like in his class, you'd have half of the students go to 8 and the rest to -8. Who's right? Can one of the students explain the answer? It's a great teachable moment that will stay with your students.

Moving around the line doesn't take too long, so you have the opportunity to do a lot of problems, multiple rounds, and reverse and repeat problems that students struggle with.

By the end, you should be able to call out almost any problem and have everybody moving to the right answer simultaneously! In other words, it should get to the point that they don't need the number line by the time you're done.

Homework

If you attempt this in class, please report back with your experience! I'm really excited about the possibility that this simple idea will make a difference for your students.

Have you done anything similar on this topic or others? I'd love to hear about that as well.

Stay tuned for more games for students young and old!

High or Low: From Drinking Game to Learning Opportunity

Let me start this post with a hopefully obvious disclaimer:

Do not, under any circumstances, tell your students (or your colleagues, administrators or anybody else) that this is based on a drinking game.

Let them figure that out for themselves when they're in college, where they'll have a distinct advantage over their classmates because of the probability skills you're going to teach them.

The premise of the drinking game High or Low is to guess whether the next card is higher or lower than the last one dealt. That's basically it (minus the obvious). The only element we're going to add to the game is that students will figure out the exact probability that the next card will be higher, lower or the same suit.

Introduction/Guided Practice:
Explain that you'll be using a regular deck of cards to help students understand some challenging probability problems. Show them the graphic organizer and how to fill it in by "playing" a few sample rounds. Click through for a rough example of what a filled in organizer might look like.

While you're modeling how to play and use the organizer, that's the best opportunity to review the structure of a regular deck of cards, as that's essential knowledge they'll need to play.

I wouldn't try to sell this to your students as a super fun game so much as a different way to practice problems (better than say, doing problems out of a textbook). They might get into the guessing element, but I don't think it will be as engrossing as my Deal or No Deal probability game. Students definitely don't like it when you tell them something is fun when it's not, but they do appreciate the novelty of using cards and just doing classwork differently in general.

Collaborative Practice:
Split your class into small groups, giving each one no more than 10 regular playing cards. Each group would have a different set of cards and probabilities to figure out, which eliminates the problem of students copying answers. That element plus the "game" itself should keep most students focused and invested in the activity. They'll be filling out the organizer and then considering the reflection questions as well.

Wrap-Up:
At the end of the game there's a few reflection questions you might talk about together. Students will probably think this game is pretty easy at the beginning--how hard can it be to guess correctly high or low? I think their results will probably skew towards an even number of correct and incorrect guesses.

You could also give them an exit slip like: "How could we change this game to make it easier? ...harder?" A game of Red or Black?, for example, would elicit some interesting answers.

Things to Consider:

1. Do you want students to leave probabilities as fractions, simplified fractions, or change them to percents as well? The latter would take a bit more time and might require you to give 1 or 2 less cards to each group.
2. How long do you want this activity to take? As is, it should fill a 45-55 minute period, allowing for opening and closing procedures and transitions. If you want to spend less time on this, give students only 4 or 5 cards. You can spend the rest of your class period on similar probability problems from your usual resources or whatever you'd like.
   
3. This should be taught after you've introduced the basics of probability in other ways, as it involves the idea of independent and dependent probability (replacement).
4. Every time I post something about probability, some people like to start an argument over the Monty Hall Problem. I think you could argue either way, but the point of this activity is to provide practice on finding probability in a way similar to typical standardized test questions, and that's all. Let's leave that debate for another time.
5. If you want to add an additional challenge, you can use this activity as a segue to talk about compound probability!
   

Materials to Download:

High or Low card game graphic organizer
Rough example of filled-in graphic organizer

Lesson Ideas Using “Practical Money Skills for Life”

As summer approached near the end of the last school year, I found a great new financial education website called Practical Money Skills for Life. Credit card behemoth Visa, along with consumer, educational and governmental organizations, created lesson plans and a comprehensive website to teach these skills at all grade levels. I used their site to build a four-day Algebra I unit that would review many skills we had studied while also focusing on real-life skills.

There are PowerPoint presentations you can show your students that provide answers to many of the questions in the handouts, but there's just too much content here and a lot of it just won't work with most students. I skipped some sections altogether and scavenged other parts to only the most important stuff. If you have more time, you should certainly use more of these materials. You'll see that the 14 lessons from the “Teens” section have been pared down to just a few relevant activities.

If you spend some time discussing the reasons behind the activity, asking thought-provoking questions and such, you'll really get them into it (as with any good lesson).

You can download all of the materials together, including the teacher's guides and presentation notes, but you will need to create a free account at the site. I think most of you will be able to create pretty good lessons around the activities I'm linking to directly:

Day 1: Budgeting & Rental/Lease Agreements
Do Now question: Do you have a job? If so, where do you work? If not, how do you get money to pay for things?

• Setting up a budget: Activity 3, pgs 11-12
• How to read a pay stub: Activity 2, pgs 5-7
• Understanding rental/lease agreements: Activity 4, pgs 6-9

Day 2: Bank and Credit Card Balances and Statements
Do Now question: Do you have a checking account or other bank account? If yes, how well do you keep track of your money? If not, how do you keep track of your money?

• Reading a bank statement: Activity 6, pgs 5-8
• Reading a credit card statement: Activity 8, pgs 4-5
• Balancing a checkbook: Activity 6, pgs 3-4

Day 3: Staying Out of Financial Trouble
Do Now question: Imagine you are living on your own. Make a list of all the bills you would be responsible for.

• Are they in trouble: Activity 13, pgs 4-8

Day 4: Online Project
[You'll need internet access for these activities.]
Do Now question: What are some advantages and disadvantages of using credit cards?

• Math for Life online project
• Gathering bank information: Activity 6, pg 2
• Gathering credit card information: Activity 8 pg 3
• "How much does it really cost?" scenarios: Activity 8, pgs 6-7

Back in June, I posted the homework assignment I gave students when we were doing this unit. This "Erasing Debt" activity focuses on the kind of credit loan offers you get in the mail.

Creating Skits to Teach Math and Science

During History Week, I shared examples of skits that were very effective in my U.S. history classes. You could use the same method with just about any subject or grade level. Here's how:

In general, your skits should be:

1. Brief
2. Humorous
3. Written in a conversational tone

The purpose is to replace traditional direct instruction like notes or lecturing with a more engaging version of the same content. It's easy to see this at work in humanities classes, but it can be applied just as well to math, science and other subjects as well. Take this example from an English/Language Arts class:



Couldn't you do the same sort of thing for any vocabulary? Here's an example I wrote for math:

You Gotta Know Slope

[Scene: Four characters stand in front of the room. Their nametags read POSITIVE, NEGATIVE, ZERO and UNDEFINED.]

POSITIVE: I am a line with positive slope, and I always go like this!

[POSITIVE leans their body and stretches out to point up to their left (the right for the audience)].

NEGATIVE: I am a line with negative slope. I am the opposite of the positive slope, so I always go like this!

[NEGATIVE leans their body and points up and to the right (the left for the audience) and gives POSITIVE a nasty look.]

ZERO: I am a line with zero slope, and I always go like this!

[ZERO lies down on the ground with the audience at their side.]

UNDEFINED: I am a line with undefined slope, and I always go like this!

[UNDEFINED points their hands straight up into the air and makes their body as straight and vertical as possible.]

[End scene]

Now wouldn't that be better than a lecture? It brings to mind the kind of stuff we ask young children to do in school all the time, moments of spirited silliness that we always remember but often ignore when students reach high school.

Your skit doesn't have to have dialogue either. In fact it probably becomes more easily applicable when you just need students to act something out. Your script could merely describe exactly what you want them to do.

I'm imagining a student in a biology class acting out the water cycle, starting as water, then evaporating into the air, becoming a rain cloud (condensation) and so on. I start to laugh a little when I visualize it as a kind of absurd performance art.

This is absolutely worth trying in your classroom. Even if you don't have many kids willing to come up in front of the class at first, once they see how much fun it is, I can guarantee you that number will go up. This is also a great way to engage students who like being the center of attention and end up distracting others. They'll be the first ones in line to be in your skit. All you have to do is invest the minimal time in effort in writing (or finding) the right skit.

What About Having Students Writing Skits?

Obviously the flip side of writing a skit to teach your students is having your students write skits to teach their fellow students (and help themselves). You can pull this off in the math and science classroom by employing the same strategies used by your humanities colleagues.

The key is to give them the tools and inspiration necessary to apply their knowledge in a way they probably haven't been asked to do before. Give them lots of examples of what a skit might look like, whether it's one you wrote as described above or videos you find online. This will help them with the structure of the skit.

Give them a graphic organizer to plan out characters, dialogue and action. If you're trying to teach and have them remember vocabulary, give them what they would need to create their own definition, whether it be from notes, the textbook or elsewhere. The idea is to give them the content knowledge and confidence to apply it to this particular format.

Here's an example written and performed by AP Biology students:


In the end, I think having students create their own skits is a good option to give them. Not all students will want to participate in that kind of activity, but it would be a good way to differentiate a big project to wrap up a unit

Homework!

If you have created a skit for your non-humanities classroom, please share a link in the comments or email me a copy to share.

If you haven't tried this yet, think of the next few topics you're going to cover in class. Create a short skit that could replace or supplement your direct instruction. Then share it!

I'm very excited to see what people have and will come up with!

History Week, Day 3: Using the Film 1776 to Teach the Declaration of Independence

As a history buff (and major), it shouldn't surprise you that one of my favorite films of all time is 1776, an adaptation of the award-winning Broadway musical. The film covers the initial debates, writing, and eventual signing of the Declaration of Independence. It does this with sharp writing, humor, and of course, several rousing musical numbers.

When I started teaching history, using this film in class as part of our study was a no-brainer. The challenge was figuring out how to fit it into one class period: The 1776 "Restored Director's Cut" DVD clocks in at 166 minutes! Besides the time considerations, there was also a lot of subplots and background on Jefferson and Adams that while interesting, wasn't something they needed to know.

So I watched the DVD over and over again in order to create this annotated 40 minute version of 1776:

Chapters 2-3: Sets the scene (the summer heat of Philadelphia). John Adams discusses independence, but no one will listen to him. (4.5 minutes)

Chapter 5: Ben Franklin and Adams discuss how to get Congress to agree to independence. Since no one likes Adams, they need someone else to propose. Key terms: Common Sense, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, House of Burgesses. (4 mins)

Explain: George Washington says the troops aren't ready for war. Congress isn't convinced about independence despite Adams's arguments, especially Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina and John Dickenson of Pennsylvania (who we'll see later). They agree to formally write down their Declaration before voting, and now need to decide who will write it. (2 mins)

Chapter 8-9: The Declaration committee is formed. The song "But Mr. Adams" explains that Jefferson will write it. (8 mins)

Explain: While Jefferson writes, Adams and Franklin convince the key state of Maryland that the army can win.

Chapter 18: - The Declaration is read. Key terms: preamble; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (1 min)

Explain: Not everyone is happy, and they make plenty of changes, but the issue that will make or break independence is slavery.

Chapter 21: South Carolina and southern colonies want the anti-slavery language removed, threatening to vote against independence. Adams says it must be included, but he also doesn't want to kill independence. (4 mins)

Explain: The final vote must be unanimous.

Chapter 26-28: Congress votes and makes their final arguments. Key terms: unalienable rights, July 4, 1776. (about 15 minutes)

The parts that say "Explain" are for you to take a few seconds before you skip ahead to the next scene to let them know what they might have missed. The short time allows you to set up your video equipment, complete a Do Now activity and wrap things up if you have a standard 50-55 minute period.

Here are some quick review questions you can use as an exit slip, homework or your Do Now for the next day:

1. Who drafted (wrote) the Declaration of Independence?
2. When was the Declaration adopted (signed into law)?
3. Who was the leader of the Continental Army?
4. Did the Declaration of Independence abolish slavery?
   
5. The Declaration is the document which states...

As a follow up project, I had students write their own Declaration of Independence.

History Week, Day 2: Four Skits For Students to Act Out

In Texas, the 8th grade U.S. History TAKS test contains a lot of names, dates and and other vocabulary. There really isn't any problem solving or higher-order thinking involved. If you can get your students to remember the key vocabulary of American history up to 1865, they'll be all set to pass the big test. 

One method I used to make my lessons memorable and easy to understand was having students act out short plays or skits.

In February of 2005, I presented two straight days of skits about tariffs, John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. I can vaguely remember that the first skit did not go as well as the second, because it was not written as a script. I gave my students character notecards with the most important points on them and had them improvise. Part II had a script and focused mostly on the debate over protective tariffs between Calhoun and Webster. 

Later, my department chair gave me a skit about the first two political parties. It was basically a Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists debate pitting Alexander Hamilton vs. Thomas Jefferson. I rewrote the skit to inject a little humor and write it in a conversational tone that my students would understand better. 

Finally, as a review heading into the TAKS, I basically took a list of important figures we were reviewing (George Washington, Lewis and Clark, Eli Whitney, Robert Fulton, Andrew Jackson, James Monroe and Henry David Thoreau) and created a talk show where they explained their significance. It isn't my best work, but it was certainly better than the alternative (boring notetaking). Everything is on Google Docs:

• A Short Play About Tariffs, Part I
• A Short Play About Tariffs, Part II
• Graphic organizer for notes on slavery, sectionalism, states rights, and protective tariffs
• Political Parties Debate (Hamilton vs. Jefferson)
• Political Parties graphic organizer for the student and for the teacher
• "Mr. D's Time Machine" (feat. The Texas 8th Grade U.S. History TAKS All-Stars)

Give your students the graphic organizer before you start, so they know what to be listening for. You don't need any costuming for this either, although anything you might already have is worth using. 

To identify the characters, I borrowed the idea of making a large name tag visible from anywhere in the classroom: Take a sheet protector and run twine between the top and bottom holes, long enough so that it will hang at chest level. Slip the paper with the character's name into the sheet protector. Write it with a big permanent marker or use a really big font and landscape mode in your favorite word processor.

2 New Factoring Bingo Games

Jacqui, an Algebra I teacher in New Hampshire, created two new factoring games using Steve Mashburn's BINGO template and has been gracious enough to share them with us:

Factoring BINGO - Jacqui says: "The first is for a Pre-Algebra class. Each problem is a quadratic trinomial that they have to factor. I will read out the factored form. I intend to give them 20 minutes or so with a partner to factor all the problems prior to playing BINGO."

Zero Product Property BINGO - "The second is equations that need to be solved using the zero product property. Again, I intend to give them time the first half of the block to solve, then play BINGO."

If your students are really into BINGO, you can find more ready made games here, here, and here.