Math Matters

In March I let you know that April is National Math Awareness Month. The theme this year is Math Drives Careers and the focus is helping students better understand how mathematics plays an important role in meaningful careers in our world today. One way to promote Math Awareness around this theme is to talk to students about careers that use math, and take some great ideas off the theme poster at the linked website. Have kids survey their parents and other adults they know about how math is used in their jobs, or have them conduct a research project about a math topic and its applications in various industries. They can also write a paper about the important role math plays in the economic sector of our world. Whatever you have them do, make sure to take the time to help your students be more "math aware" in the world around them.

Sponsored by Raytheon, MathMovesU is a program designed to get students from elementary through college excited about math in order to drive the next generation of engineers and technologies in the economic sector. Their site not only has great games for students, and a mathtionary (math dictionary), but also many other resources for teachers including virtual field trips and thrill rides, scholarships, sponsorships, special events, interactive experiences, and national competitions. Check out their engaging content for your students and the benefits to being a part of their math community.

What are Math Snacks? Things you munch on while working math problems? Nope - they are fun, interactive, online games, animations, and activities to promote math understanding. The "snacks" are designed primarily for students in grades 3 through 8. Take a bite, and then share it with your students in a lesson!

Last month I shared with you that Marilyn Burns has a blog You can follow her at http://marilynburnsmathblog.com/

But there are so many more out there that are great to follow just for new ways to think about teaching math. Here's one for each level - I hope you find something you love!

Elementary - The Math Coach's Corner

Middle School - Mathalicious (actually for both middle and high)

High School - Dan Meyer (of course!) and She Loves Math (again really all levels)

There is a math crisis in America. By middle school, two-thirds of our students will fall behind grade level in their math classes. By high school graduation, fewer than half will be prepared for college-level courses. And yet, success in math remains a powerful gatekeeper–the door not only to coursework but also careers in science, medicine, technology, and engineering. Equally powerful is the myth that math skills are fixed and inborn: the idea, persistent across decades, that some students are good at math, and that those who aren’t can’t be taught.

The film takes aim at this belief, asking why so little progress has been made to make even basic math accessible to all students. Drawing on the innovative ideas of experts like Stanford professor Jo Boaler and civil rights leader Dr. Robert Moses, the film examines how our traditional approach to math education favors rote performance over problem-solving and imitation over creativity–even among high-achieving students. Exposing the ways in which resistance from policymakers and parents has prevented better practices from reaching our classrooms, film interweaves the stories of struggling students with those of groundbreaking educators. And it reveals a new reality: a classroom where every student is good at math.

Analogies are not just for ELAR classes! And they can be a great way to help students connect their learning and for the teacher to see how students are reflecting on the current topics under study.

Provide a prompt in the form of an analogy such as:

The ___(concept)____________ is like _______________ because ___________________. OR

The most important thing about ___(concept)____________ is _______________ because ___________________.

This simple written reflection task will get students making mental connections of current learning to other concepts already learned, which makes the new ideas stick and make their way into working and long term memory! And you get bonus points for connecting your math lesson to a tool used in ELAR :)

If you haven't seen them yet, check out the three newest Math Cut Ups on the webpage or on my square market page. During the month of April, you can enter the promo code STAAR at checkout on the square market page and get 10% off your entire order.

http://mkt.com/integral-mathematics-inc/

Email: integralmathematics@gmail.com
Website: www.mathcutups.com
Phone: 214-471-5760
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Math-Cut-Ups
Twitter: @mathcutups