Facilitating Chaos

Multiple choice questions ... What can I say... As a firm believer in allowing students to interact with content in many different ways to increase their depth of content knowledge, multiple choice questions may seem counterintuitive.  However, multiple choice questions provide a valuable assessment source and when written correctly can force students to persevere in problem-solving situations . One activity that I use to keep students engaged when answering multiple choice questions is having them work in partners to answer multiple choice questions.  The way I keep the entire class involved is by giving each set of partners cards with the answer choices from the multiple choice questions on them.  Students then have 2-3 minutes (or longer depending on the rigorousness [...this is actually a word] of the question) to determine what their answer will be and choose the corresponding card .  I then instruct students to hold up the card that correspon...

Assessing students can take many forms.  In order to collect data on whether or not our students know the content that we are teaching them it is important to collect both formative and summative data as a means to understand their thinking (this can be difficult with adolescents), deepen their understanding of content, and correct any miscommunications that they may have. One way that I do this in my classroom is to have the students justify their answer.  There are many reasons for this: It gives insight as to what students are thinking Challenges students to prove what they know Encourages higher-level thinking Provides an opportunity to practice what students might be asked to do on state-level assessment I use this worksheet to require my students to justify their answers. How could you use this justification worksheet in your class? 

Pythagorean Theorem is one of my favorite subjects to teach! It is one of those straight-forward mathematical concepts that is easy to teach (at least the 7th grade version is) and that the kids like and understand without me jumping through too many hoops. An interactive application of this concept that I started using this year is having the students build a city  which allows them the opportunity to apply the concept in real-life. (This activity is modified from a factoring activity that I have done for years with honors students.) I present the students with the project instructions, questions, and rubric on day 1 of the project.  I also specify that their city should be 90% made of recycled materials.    This is all that I tell them, I keep the directions vague on purpose.  I have found that this allows students to be more creative. Project explanation, requirements, and rubric can be found   here . A fancier (but not free) version of this pr...

This may seem like one of "those" mathematics topics that are difficult to teach content to students and keep them fully engaged.  However, here is an interactive activity that I used to teach this concept and keep the students involved and interacting with the content. I started with a blank graphic organizer of the 4 mathematical operations.  Then I had the students talk to their seat partner on some words that could be added under each operation heading.  Students were then invited to write ideas on the board or I would write in for them (depended on the time available and the class--some children can't make it to the board and back without incident). In some classes I did have to guide the students to come up with most of the words. After, this portion of the lesson we played "Four Corners" .  My version of Four Corners is played like the traditional game (students go to a corner and the person who is it guesses a corner and the students in that corne...

Teaching is hard WORK!! It is difficult to find ways for students to interact with content.  However, as teachers who want to meet our students where they are , teach them content, and engage them in learning it is important that we find interactive ways in which we do this. It is my hope that this blog will provide materials, opportunities, and ideas that you can use in your classrooms and schools to encourage students to interact with content so that they can form deep connections and understandings of content ( and allow students to have fun, too!! ).