Nov 2012 Vol 1 JAMES TANTON & BUCK

INSTITUTE ..................... 1

DOMAIN AND RANGE/ CIR-

CLE SONG/ MATH 20-3 SPA-

TIAL TOOLS ................... 2

FIRST EVERY ALBERTA

ONLINE SYMPOSIUM FOR

MATH TEACHERS—FREE—

JANUARY 29 2012 ......... 3 PWSD Math Share SH AR IN G T H E I NFO RM AT I ON

T HAT YO U N EED T O KNO W !

The first of a monthly “newsletter” updating you on what

Math teachers are exploring in the division. If you have a

great link, article, video, joke or inspiration to share, send an

email to josienagtegaal@pwsd76.ab.ca

James Tanton in GP On October 29th the NRLC was able to

bring in James Tanton to talk to High

School teachers about various methods of

teaching Quadratic Functions to students.

The session, held in on a very snowy day in

Grande Prairie, was eye-opening and en-

gaging!

Tanton was able to share methods of solv-

ing quadratics that was meaningful and

tangible for any student that contained the

prerequisite knowledge of how to solve

x2 =9.

The NRLC is thinking of bring James

back in the future, I would highly rec-

ommend you check it out if you see it

on the schedule.

In the meantime, check out the

webpage link below to access some of

his videos. www.jamestanton.com

Great resource for Math 20-2

“Graphing Quadratics the Easy Way”

http://www.jamestanton.com/

index.php?

s=graphing+quadratics+the+easy+way

Math Projects Database I stumbled across a new database of Math Projects at the Tri-District PD Day on November 12 2012. The

Buck Institute, based out of San Francisco is host to a multitude of projects in MANY subject areas.

(www.bie.org) . The search engine is easy to use and the projects range from through ALL levels of math.

See the attached resource as a method of guiding the creation of your project by asking the essential ques-

tions in project building. (There are many others resources under the TOOLS link). http://www.bie.org/

tools/freebies/project_overview

Qu

ad

ratic F

un

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s from

Ma

th 20

-1 an

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ath

20-2

All links are accessible by clicking CTRL and the link

CIRCLE SONG: Teaching

through Music

Dave Mitchell has been shar-

ing his passion through math

for years. This is one of my

favorite (I like to play it any

time I am talking about cir-

cles, from Grade 9—12).

Enjoy!

Ctrl click to access the link

PWSD Math Coaching Josie Nagtegaal

josienagetgaal@pwsd76.ab.ca

780-513-9504

The Domain and The Domain and Range StruggleRange Struggle

Students often find the concept

of domain and range difficult to

fully understand, and yet, it is an

essential tool for all levels of

high school math.

In talking to many math teach-

ers, it is clear that we have tried

many things to get students to

fully grasp the concept. I

thought I would share some

ideas I have found.

A. Vocabulary is important,

but it may not benefit all

students to start the lesson

here. Rather, talk about a

specific context (perhaps

involving time) and tell a

story that requires them to

limit what the pictorial

representation of that story

will be. Verbally dicuss

the ideas first.

B. Attached is an activity I

often give BEFORE I have

explained anything about

Domain and Range. Stu-

dents work through the task

in pairs, and by the end of

the task, most have a deep

understanding of what

domain and range indicate.

C. Use Highlighters. Make

sure that all the students

have access to two different

colors of highlighters, one

for domain, one for range.

Using the SMART board

model the use of highlight-

ers along the x and y axis,

then covert the number line

into an inequality state-

ment.

D. Use the vocab of negative

and positive infinity inter-

changeably with “x is a

member of the real num-

bers” . Students seem to

enjoy and understand the

concept of infinity over real

numbers.

Using Technology to allow students to build a conceptual under-

standing of domain and range

APP CLICK HERE

...to Make your Math

Mind Giggle!

Ctrl Click to Access the link

Thanks to Brooke McKenzie

(PWA) for sharing this funny link!

Specific Outcome 4 (Geometry): Draw

and Describe exploded views, component

parts and scale diagrams of simply 3-D

objects

In an effort to get out of the textbook and

allow students some hands-on learning

opportunities Brooke McKenzie (PWA)

uses the following interactive apps online

to challenge the her Math 20-3 class to

see objects from a variety of views. This

task is a great way to differentiate the

pace and challenge of the learning for all

students in the class. The app allows for

the challenge of competition as well as

person best.

GUESS THE VIEW

BUILD THE VIEW

Interactive Spatial Understanding Math 20-3

DID YOU KNOW?

There are collaborative Math courses in iLEARN that are beginning to host a variety of teaching tools built by PWSD teachers in Math 30-2, 30-1, 20-1, 20-2, 10C (more to come)

Teachers are sharing resources through www.dropbox.com (email Josie for access)

Math 30-1 and

Math 30-2

Diplomas now

have 2.5 hrs with

an additional .5

hour if required.

F.Y.I.

PD you can do from your School!

NO COST—just log on!

Consider using one day of your Exam Week

to learn what is happening in the province!

EXAM WEEK PD OPPORTUNITIES

If you have something you would like to contribute to December’s

edition of PWSD Math News—Please email Josie (address on first page)

Have a project/idea that you want to try, but not sure where to start (or

need the time) — be sure and book an afternoon of Collaboration.

UPCOMING: Math 30-2 PWSD Collaboration

With the new course—it would be great if we could get together about how it went, goals for the second semester. I know we don’t all teach it 2nd Semester—but it would be good to REFLECT on the first time through the course.

Topics will include: Strengths, weaknesses, what supports need to be put in place, what is the “best” progression of units, weightings, how are we interpreting the curriculum?

Proposed dates include: Jan 23, Jan 24 or a day in February.