Digital Math Portfolio

Sabrina GirardBrock University: Consecutive Education

EDBE 8P29 – JI MathematicsDecember 9, 2015

Jo Boaler, Brain Crossing video - Whole Number Operations (Sept 24, 2015)

The above photo is a screen shot taken from a video that was assigned in our first few weeks of the course. This video created by Jo Boaler, discussing the concept of “Brain Crossing”. The concept of brain crossing refers to the idea that students can be more effective and powerful learners when various parts of their brain are being used in combination with another. In connection with whole numbers, I inferred that when a student is presented with an operation they will learn more powerfully if they are using both the visual aspect of numbers by visualizing the problem in combination with the physical drawing of numbers, writing the problem. We used brain crossing in class when doing whole number operations and it significantly increased our ability to retain the material.

Going forward in my teaching practice, I am glad that I have acquired the knowledge of Jo’s message, however I think this video would be extremely beneficial to show intermediate students at the

beginning of a school year in order for them to view the message that Jo Boaler is sending, and for students to see first hand how their learning can be impacted using brain crossing.

Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar Fractions Book by Jerry Pallotta – Fractions & Decimals

(Oct 1, 2015)

When opening the wrapper of a Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar, what do you see? A Hershey's bar is made up of 12 little rectangles that provide the perfect opportunity to teach fractions! A bunch of funny cows, some cocoa pods, and stalks of sugar cane join the fraction fun in this engaging book for JI students. Not only is this book a great refresher for my understanding of fractions but, it was also extremely engaging, colorful and tasteful. By engaging students with food products, more importantly chocolate, students suddenly become extremely intrigued by their learning. I thought this book was a fabulous tool to use in order to introduce fractions as a new unit.

In my practice as a teacher, I can almost guarantee that I will be starting my lesson by putting a chocolate bar on my student’s desks and reading the Hershey Book as an opening activity. This introduction inspires me to use food and other items that would interest my students in order to create a manipulative for the subject. Many different kinds of foods can be used in the discovery of fractions such as pizzas, oranges and pies etc.

Math Interactive, Learn Alberta webpage – Integers (Oct 8, 2015)

The website, “Learn Alberta” under the section “Math interactive” is a great tool for applying mathematical topics such as integers to real life situations as well as in practice using the online activities. The webpage provides a short video of the skill and how it is used in real life using visuals. It also includes interactive games or quizzes, PDF information sheets as well as printable worksheets. This is an instructional resource for both teachers and students to use in order to further their understand of a mathematical concept. The website also explores other units of math such as patterns,

shapes & spaces and statistics & probability. The pages allow for further knowledge and application of integers and I would definitely recommend the website to any teacher or student.

In my practice I would have this activity as a follow up for my lesson on integers (or other topics covered). I believe this website would be beneficial for students to use after they have already learned the skills and have had a little bit of practice. Due to the web format, I would suggest this website to students to use as a tool of practice when they are at home or as a study tool for a test. Additionally I could see this website being used as time filler between activities for the students who are ahead of schedule.

Congresses – Proportional Thinking (Oct 22, 2015)

This photograph was taken in class following the teacher giving us a ration problem to solve in groups of 5. Each group was to solve the problem and illustrate it on a chart paper. Afterwards, we were in our consolidation portion of the activity where we met up with another group to share our method and hear the other group’s method of solving the same problem. I feel as though this portion of the activity really solidified my understand of the concept of ratios and my

confidence as an overall math learner. This sharing tactic called congress groups taught me that there are various ways of solving one problem using various thinking skills. It was helpful to have another group of students explain their methods to our group rather than the traditional setting of teacher-directed learning.

I really enjoy doing congresses as they are a great opportunity for students, specifically in a math class, to view another method of arriving at an answer to the same problem. Not only does this activity create a “safe place” in your classroom by accepting all answers, but also allows students to see that each individual learns and represents differently. In my math class, I will be implementing this strategy as much as I can because I really do feel that is it an amazing learning opportunity for students of all grades.

Bridging Together with Q-Tips by Adriana Ferlisi – Patterning & Algebra

(Oct 29, 2015)

The above activity sheet was created by a student in our class for patterning and algebra. In this case, Adriana looked at simple patterns and how students can create an algebraic expression to explain the pattern. For this activity students were asked to get in a group or partners. Each student was handed a bunch of Q-Tips in order to complete the problems with manipulatives. Students are required to identify the different patterns they see in the steps and to make the associating algebraic expression. I thought this activity was a great idea for students of all ages as you can alter the questions and level of difficulty in order to suit various learners.

Going forward I would be inclined to use this activity in a variety of ways to suit my various age groups. For younger students I could use pencils, crayons or markers, as they would result in bigger shapes that are more simplistic and colorful. For older grades I could use, as Adriana did, Q-Tips or toothpicks as they are smaller and more complex patterns can be created with them.

The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns – Geometry & Spatial Sense (Nov 5,

2015)

The book, titled “The Greedy Triangle” by Marilyn Burns is targeted towards younger children (ages 4-10), however I do believe that older students find a sense of amusement in looking at children’s stories. This book investigates the various surroundings in our everyday lives in which we can observe polygons. It offers an introduction to divers shapes, the accompanying characteristics and the names of each of them.

I thought this book was very useful as an activity for students to start with in order to familiarize themselves with the names and characteristics of various polygons. This book can be used as an opening activity for the geometry unit by having students explore the book followed by having them discuss or write down all the shapes they can find around currently. After being introduced to this book I thought it would be a great idea to create a project for students where they can take an image of their choice and highlight all the different polygons they can see in the image. They must then name each polygon and write how many of each shape there are in the image. Not only would this put the students’ knowledge in practice but it would

also allow for students to take ownership of their own learning by allowing them to be as creative as they wish in choosing images.

Marshmallow Madness by Sabrina Girard – Measurement (Nov 12, 2015)

In this activity students explore the measurement of volume of a cylinder by modeling it with marshmallows and colored tubes (paper cylinders). The activity questions students’ prior knowledge of measurement by comparing the size & volume of 2 tubes by filling them with marshmallows. Though the papers were the exact same size, students are challenged by the appearance of the tube in attempting to guess which of the two tubes contains the most.

This activity was created using an idea from a textbook to introduce volume or irregular prisms. I had so much fun creating this activity for the class and even more fun watching the students of my class execute the activity. Not only would I do this activity with a class

of grade 8s but I would also remodel it to fit younger grade with regular prisms such as rectangle. Again, students are extremely engaged when food is presented especially when it is full of sugar. It was yet another great way of demonstrating how fun a math activity can be and how easily it can be altered to suit all grade ranges.

Tinkerplots – Data Management & Probability (Nov 19, 2015)

Above is a method of charting and graphing data in a visually appealing way along with multi-function ability, which allows users to manipulate data in tons of different ways. This resource is called Tinkerplots, this application is an exploratory data analysis and modeling software designed for use of students from grades 4 all the way through university. The software allows user to use pre-determined data or to input their own sets of data. From there, the program allows you to manipulate data by changing the visual aspect and analyzing various combinations of data.

I thought this was an excellent tool to use in a junior/intermediate math class as it can easily be adapted to any class situation or statistics and can evaluate many sets of numbers. Teachers and students are able to collect a number of data sets to input into the system and demonstrate to others the various graphing techniques by pulling different sets of data at a time. As an example, students are able to collect data about the children of the class; height, gender, hair color, eye color etc. They can then add this data to Tinkerplots and toggle with the sets of data to collect information regarding the classroom.