Future Budget Project

The most annoying question a student can ever ask me is, "When will we use this in real life?"

It's hard to answer because, truthfully, most won't use the majority of anything I teach them.  Therefore, I wanted to give my seniors one important skill that they will actually need in "real life."  This was their final project that was worth 1.5 test grades.  Some of the students worked very hard and came up with an excellent product; the students were excited for the opportunity to plan their future.  The instructions and rubric are attached.  Feel free to use for your class.  This can be adapted for any class, but I feel that it is most important to my seniors for me to impart my knowledge on the matter before they left me for the "real world."

Skills Included:

• Researching a career path and starting salary
• Calculating taxes
• Finding a place to live
• Purchasing/Leasing a vehicle
• Writing checks
• Filling out tax forms
• Finding car insurance
• Researching cell phone costs
• Calculating savings
• Paying off a credit card
• Paying off student loans
• Budgeting for food, gas, and entertainment
• And more...

Future Budget Project

Checks used for project -- Blank Practice Checks

To calculate the amount the student owed on a credit card, I put random amounts (with interest rates) on slips of paper and drew them at random for groups of people.  You can determine how to group them on your own.  I asked them to chose a lego on the way into the door.  The color and size of the lego determined which slip to follow.

I gave my students a full week in class (in a computer lab) to work on the project.  This was plenty of time for them to finish (and make them look good).  I also gave them benchmarks to let them know where they should be in the process.  This could be done outside of class, but I thought it was good to be there to answer questions.  The project led to many interesting and informative conversations.  Each day I had a different student asking me "financial advice."  I should've started charging....

I also set aside two days of class time for the students to present to their fellow classmates.  They liked seeing where each other would live, what career each would choose, and what car each would purchase.  I did not make the presentation necessary, but I did give some extra points for those brave enough to present.

Here are a few examples of student work.  They are not perfect, but I wanted to share...

Example #1 -- Future Budget Project

Example #2 -- Future Budget Project

Example #3 -- Future Budget Project

Happy Budgeting!!!!!!

MATH-O

MATH-O!  That saying filled my classroom the other day.  It was awesome.

In my GPS Advanced Algebra class, we have been talking about Polynomial functions.  For this lesson, they had just learned transformations of a polynomial from its parent function the day before.  This activity was used as a review

I hate worksheets, and I avoid them when I can, so I came up with MATH-O.
MATH-O is like bingo...but better...because it has math.

Because I don't feel like filling in 50 different MATH-O boards for the students to use, I let them fill in their own.  I give them a blank board and the answers to the questions I will ask.  They can arrange them any way they like.  This also gets them practicing proper notation.

The board that I used is below.  Feel free to use it yourself!

MATH-O with Polynomial Transformations

The first page is the blank MATH-O board.
The second page has the answers that the students put into their board (one per box!!).
**I put both pages side-by-side on a single sheet for ease.
The third and fourth pages are the keys for calling out the problems.  You can either cut them into strips and pull them randomly, or you can choose them randomly (keep track with a highlighter or pen).  The questions to read to the students are on the right side.  The answers (the ones on their boards) are on the left side of the page.  You can use your key to check when I student gets MATH-O.

Don't stop with boring, straight across MATH-O.  Do the "X", the "Border", or the "Blackout".  The students don't think they are doing any math in class (which they TOTALLY are), and they are eager for more problems.  What teacher doesn't want that???

**Have a small prize for the students that get MATH-O.  The extrinsic motivation is very powerful.  Extra points also work.

Happy Transforming!

End Behavior of Polynomials - "Pharaoh Dance"

So I was teaching my students about end behavior of polynomial functions, and I realized I needed something other than a pretty chart to help them remember the different options for the end behavior (they still got the chart just in case).
I decided that I would use the 7+ years of dance class experience to good use, and I came up with a (sort-of) dance of all the end behaviors.

As I'm sure you know,  the end behavior of a polynomial depends on two things: the degree and leading coefficient.  If the degree is EVEN, both arms go the same direction.  If the degree is ODD, they go the opposite direction.  This is the first thing I established with them (Remember, odd means "different", so the arms go different ways).  The direction is dependent on the the leading coefficient.  As long as they could determine the degree and leading coefficient, the students could use these four moves to remember the end behavior.

The first is an even degree with a positive leading coefficient.  I shortened this to "even and positive".
It looks like a referee after your team scores a touch down (which is a positive thing, by the way).

Even/Positive

Next, is even and negative.  For this one, flip the "touchdown" sign upside down.  I call this one "no goal" or "no touchdown" (which is negative for your team).  It could symbolize dropping the ball before scoring.

Even/Negative

Next is odd.  This is where the pharaoh description comes in.  The odd degree polynomials look like the arms of a person doing the pharaoh dance.  You can figure out a way to help them remember that a positive leading coefficient goes up on the right and negative goes up on the left.  I told them that Ms. Avery is right handed, and I think very positively about my right hand.  Using my left hand would be a negative thing.  Of course, you can use what you want.  I would love to here what you come up with in the comments.

Odd/Positive

Odd/Negative

                                                                                 

      **Remember that your arms are a mirror image for your students, so you might want to turn around when demonstrating the moves.**

The final product is four moves that they can do on command.  The dance in order sounds like...

"Touchdown (1st move), no touchdown (2nd move), pharaoh (3rd move)...dance (4th move)"

I also called out random descriptions, and they had to show me the move.  I have a video that I might post later.

Happy Dancing!

Yummy Math - V"fun"n Diagrams

In my Advanced Mathematical Decision Making class, my seniors are a challenge to keep engaged.  During a unit of probability, we discussed Venn diagrams and how they are used for probability.  I could tell that they were getting tired of drawing boring circles for each situation.  Finally, I decided enough is enough.  We are going to make V"FUN"N-diagrams.

The task was to create a situation that would use a Venn diagram to represent and come up with a creative way of symbolizing it (no boring circles on paper).  Because they are high-schoolers and because they could, most of the groups did food representations.  They also had to determine 5 probabilities using their Venn diagram situation.  The groups all presented their situations, then we enjoyed!  It turned into a pseudo "food-day", but I felt that it was needed halfway through the semester.  It increased morale, and it really got them involved in the math.  Small price to pay for creativity and awesome math.
Here are some examples of what they came up with...

People who like yellow Powerade, blue Powerade, and both.  The mix was surprisingly refreshing!

People who like sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and both.  As you can see, they did some extra decorating...



This situation was not perfect (cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, and both).  Technically, this could not happen unless the pepperoni side had ONLY pepperoni (which it didn't).  I understood what they were trying to say, and it also caused a very interesting discussion.  I'm including it because it looks awesome.  It was also very delicious.

This may look like a regular pie, but trust me, it is not.  Half of the pie was pineapple and the other half was apple.  The middle was a mix of the two.  Homemade from a student's kitchen.  (The student actually had his mom make it..I can't complain)



Brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and both.  The brownie/cookie was the hit of the day.  Very creative!

 I actually don't remember the situation for this one, but I liked how they used an every day object to represent their situation.  They also included numbers and labels on their diagram.  The visual was very powerful to those who still struggled with the idea.

These are just some snippets of what the students came up with.  There were many others that were very creative and well thought-out.  I was a proud teacher.

Happy diagramming!

MATHpardy (A better version of the Merv Griffin classic)

Let me start by saying...

I HATE reviewing for tests.  I hate having to reteach/repeat the material that we have been going over for weeks.  The classic review worksheet doesn't do it for me, so I sought out a way to make my life easier and more fun.  Mathpardy helps me accomplish this.  I found a template online and adapted it to fit my needs.  I have used it a few times since I've found it, and I've had great success.

Every class is different, and the way you decide to run the game should be based on your classroom structure and individual students.  I split my 30 person classroom into 5 to 6 groups (hopefully, you can do the math on the number per group), and had them come up with group names. For each question, each group turns in a sheet of paper with their answer to the problem and their group name.  If the team gets the answer correct, they get the points.  You can do negative points if you so choose.  I use a creative way to determine who picks the question. (First to ________ gets to pick the problem).  I also limit their time based on the difficulty of the problem.  If the paper is not in my hand before the buzzer, they foreit.  The reason I like this method is the student engagement.  Playing Jeopardy the way it's intended leaves some groups out of the running for points.  Therefore, they don't attempt the problem.  This method makes every group work on every problem.

Of course, the winning team receives generous extra points on their test!

My juniors love this game.  No joke.

The verison I have attached is from an exponential unit.  It covers rules of exponents, converting between radical and exponential form, solving radicals, and simplifying radicals. 
Jeopardy Review Game - Exponents and Radicals
Again, you can edit the game for your needs and topics.

Happy Reviewing!

Parent Communication

If you are a teacher, you know how important parent communication can be.  Sometimes, a student's motivation comes solely from their parent's influence.  Also, it's good to have documentation for your own sake.  The dreaded "I didn't know my student was failing..." happens way too often, and this could be a way to avoid the situation.  Save all emails and jot the date, student, and purpose on this simple log, and you are teacher of the year! Keep in an easily accessible place, and don't over complicate.

I kept this form simple on purpose.  Don't make your life harder than it needs to be.  That's my motto for happy teaching!!



If you would like to use my simple (yet effective) form, feel free :)

Parent Communication Log




If you have any advice for parent communication, please feel free to comment below.  I love to hear stories!!

Carnival Game for Probability

I currently teach Advanced Mathematical Decision Making (whatever the heck that is...), and it requires a lot of creativity to keep these seniors engaged.  If you teach this class, you know...

One project that a fellow teacher introduced me to is a Carnival Project.  Basically, the students come up with their own carnival game, make it, then perform analyses on it.  It started a lot of very good conversations about probability (conditional, independent, so on and so forth...).

Here is the description of the project. You can download a copy for free on this website.


Carnival Game Project


 I also made rubrics for each of the three sections.  I will have to post this later since I don't have them at the moment.  Stay tuned! 
**Update 1/15**
Here are the rubrics for the project.  Each of the three sections had a different rubric.
Proposal Rubric
Working Model Rubric
Report Rubric

Here are some of the amazing things that the students came up with.  We had two days where the teams "presented" their games and everyone played them.  If you can, invite other classes and teachers to come and enjoy the games as well.  The students love to eat, and almost all of them brought candy prizes without prompting.  Let's just say, I consumed too many calories those days!  Too fun!

Galton Board (very interesting)

Happy teaching probability!