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!