Add Comment Whether you agree or disagree with the “teaching to the test” philosophy, it is a reality for most schools. A survey of US teachers found that - 84% believed the NCLB Act was encouraging teachers to “teach to the test” - 85% admitted to spending a lot of time teaching “content that I know will be on the state/district test” - 78% admitted spending “a lot of time teaching my students test-taking skills” http://www.herinst.org/BusinessManagedDemocracy/education/curricula/teachtest.html Is this how you feel?  Is this how your students feel?  “Teaching to the test” doesn’t have to be mind-numbing repetition or “drill and kill”. There are several interactive strategies you can incorporate into your classroom to engage the students and help prepare them for SUCCESS on the TEST. Drill and practice definitely has its place. That’s how we learned to walk, talk, handwrite, type, drive, etc. Obviously practice makes proficient. However, doing problem after problem, worksheet after worksheet – gets old. Our students need INTERACTION! Interactive Strategies • Show Me • Step-by-Step • Turn it Over • Flip Flop • Classroom games • Musical Math/4 Corners • Who Wants to be a Mathematician • Basketball Math •Tic-Tac-Know • Interactive Games/PPTs These strategies were designed with a math course in mind. However, they can be modified for any course. In addition, they can be used for most anything and not just preparing students for high-stakes tests. See the attached PPT for descriptions and explanations for each strategy. 
Japan's Tragedy: By the Numbers 03/15/2011
In the wake of the tragedy in Japan, this is a perfect "teaching moment" to help students gain an awareness of the total disaster. I gave my students two assignments. The first one was "Japan's Tragedy: By the Numbers" a worksheet which is attached at the bottom of this post. Then I let them choose one of the following assignments to complete: **An "evidence of learning" can be defined as a report/essay, a PPT, a booklet, a poster, a virtual poster, a flip chart, a 3D model, etc. You can create it by hand or on the computer. The point is to demonstrate that you have learned the concept(s).*** *As with all of these assignments, you need to do research in addition to the links I have provided.* · Complete this assignment: http://www.usatoday.com/educate/mathtoday/reg_activities/earthquake.pdf · Create a collage of pictures (or videos) (at least 20) on “Japan’s Tragedy by the Numbers”. For each picture, you must include a statistic. The statistic can accompany the picture or can be located on a separate page. · http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8383218/Japan-earthquake-disaster-by-numbers.html · http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110312/us_ac/8041978_japans_tsunami_by_the_numbers · Create an evidence of learning about one of the following headlines: § U.S. stocks decline amid concern about Japanese economy after earthquake · http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-13/u-s-stock-futures-fall-on-concern-about-quake-s-damage-to-japan-economy.html · Create an evidence of learning about one of the following general topics: o The math of earthquakes · http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/beyond/articles/earthquakes/earthquakes.html · http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_sc/hst/HSTMW431.PDF · http://pballew.blogspot.com/2010/02/math-and-predicting-earthquakes.html · http://www.colorado.edu/math/earthmath/1s.pdf · http://www.besd61.k12.il.us/webquests/7th%20Grade/Earthquakes/studentpage.htm · http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/beyond/articles/earthquakes/richter.html o The math of tsunamis · http://mathworld.wolfram.com/news/2005-01-14/tsunamis/ · http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/MathematicsOfTsunamis/ · http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/060220232641.htm · http://www.terradaily.com/reports/New_math_formula_might_predict_tsunamis_999.html · http://www.brainpop.com/science/theearthsystem/tsunami/preview.weml · http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/04/01/New_math_formula_might_predict_tsunamis/UPI-54311238623305/ 
Interactive Math Websites 07/09/2010
These are sites for educators
Interactive Math Websites 07/09/2010
This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar. Join us Saturday Aug 7, 2010 from 2 - 3:30 pm EST for an inspiring and interactive webinar about PopLearning. http://www.learncentral.org/vroom/enter/58367 The Mathematics of Graffiti 06/15/2010
My second year of teaching, I was having difficulty getting my students engaged. I was teaching an Algebra 2 Remedial/Repeater course and students just weren't interested. One day while I was trying to find engaging activties, I ran across: http://www.ccd.rpi.edu/Eglash/csdt/subcult/grafitti/index.html I was soooooooooo excited, but knew my students wouldn't be able to understand how to do the computer program so I created my own version. The students really enjoyed the project (or least they faked really well) and I have been using pop culture in my classroom ever sense! Many people know about Graffiti as part of hip-hop culture, but few realize that graffiti is also a part of mathematics. Graffiti artists often make use of geometric concepts when they create their work. Graffiti has a long and proud history. The subculture surrounding graffiti has existed for several decades, and it's still going strong. The graffiti artists (or "writers" as they prefer to call themselves) are passionate, skilled, community-oriented, and socially conscious in ways that profoundly contradict the way they've been portrayed as common criminals and vandals. Graffiti existed (and still exists) as a major part of the urban environment. Young rappers growing up and wandering the city streets still see graffiti all around them. For some, graffiti represents decay, but for hip hop culture, graffiti provided the visual inspiration that encouraged other forms of creativity and expression, such as emceeing. Maybe you don't have to know about every element of hip hop in order to be part of the culture, but you do have to know about it if you want to know what inspired some of the best the hip hop artists of today--who grew up surrounded by graffiti, learning the moves of the best b-boys, and rocking to the beats of the freshest DJs. Graffiti artists often work on a piece in sketchbooks before they actually begin painting it. The sketchbooks sometimes use a grid to help plan out the design. Sometimes they go beyond planning, and create visual effects that look as if they were stretching or folding the grid. In the picture, you can see someone who actually shows the folded grid, although this is rare. More commonly, you might see graffiti writers use the actual brickwork as a grid itself. Whether it's a grid in a sketchbook, or a grid of bricks on a wall, these grids are much like the Cartesian coordinate system in mathematics. Additional Teacher Resources: http://www.hiphop-network.com/articles/graffitiarticles/streetmathwildstyle.asp
Making Mathematics POP! 06/15/2010
If you've ever had a dream, if you've ever known in your heart what your purpose in life was, if you've ever had a passion, then please help me continue to fulfill mine. By voting for my entry ("Kelly C") once/day until June 18 and you will become apart of a revolution in mathematics education. Ewwww - MATH!?!?! Do you think math is boring and a form of torture? Do you want your children to feel the same way when they are in math class? Then help me revolutionize mathematics education by voting at http://www.waldenu.edu/contest/ As a side note, I have found the BEST WEBSITE/NETWORK EVER! Seriously - EVER! Check out: http://mcpopmb.ning.com/ MATH IS FUNdamental to.... 06/15/2010
As a math teacher (really, as any kind of teacher) the most common questions you here are, "When will I need this?", "When am I ever going to use this?", "Why do we have to learn this?" etc. So, I started having my students complete a "Math is Fundamental to...." Project where they had to choose a hobby, a career/occupation, an activity, etc that they were interested in and find out the role that mathematics played. Because I knew my high schools would discover that the fundamentals of mathematics (Algebra 1 and below) were essential to their hobby, career/occupation, interest, etc, I also had them research and reflect on the idea that learning advanced mathematics has three purposes: 1. Mathematics teaches logical thinking - as needed in all aspects of life from how to take apart a car and put it back together to making decisions. 2. Mathematics is a "game" with symbols and arbitary rules - just like English and other languages, Video games, and sports. 3 Mathematics is merely the explanation of naturally occuring phenomena with Science as the process for investigaing such phenomena - like the Golden Ratio in natural, the role of polygons in architecture, . (By "naturally" I do not mean just physical nature (trees, animals, plants, etc) around us, but everything in life: physical natural, our society, our surroundings, our world etc). Consider the Golden Ratio in nature, polygons in architecture, functions in physics and chemistry Resources: "Math is Fundamental to...." Project (below) http://dialecticonline.wordpress.com/issue-3-autumn-2008/mathematics-and-intersubjectivity/
Celebrity Endorsements - Math Rocks! 06/15/2010
I'm not exactly sure what inspired me or where I got the idea from. It was one of those things that just "POPS" in your head and you run with it. Two years ago, I used www.fanmail.biz to get the addresses of celebrities and I sent them a letter asking for their autograph and an endorsement for mathematics. I recieved 24 back! | Kelly ClarkFounder of PopMatics ArchivesMarch 2011 CategoriesAll | ||||||||
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