Reading and Vocabulary.

I have recently started doing things differently in my Geometry classes because I'm trying to make students more self sufficient and make the class a bit more student centered. I need to teach a bit less while making the students more independent.

One of the first things I did was create a paper filled with a table of 16 squares.  In each square I wrote one of the vocabulary words for the chapter and nothing else.  I divided the students into small groups of two to three people depending on the size of the class.

Once I passed out the vocabulary sheet, I assigned three words to each group so no other group had the word.  I gave them time to work on defining the terms using their own words. One girl asked if they could draw pictures to help define the word.  I said go ahead because research shows it helps to have pictures to go with words.

After about 10 minutes, I had students get up to new groups so everyone in the group had defined different words.  They shared their vocabulary words with the others so by the end of the time, every person in the group had shared their words and had a chance to fill in all the other vocabulary words.  This is a variation on the Jigsaw activity.

What I liked was the variety of methods used to complete the assignment.  Some groups split the words up so one person defined a word before sharing it with the rest of their group so everyone had their three words defined before sharing with the other groups.  Others looked the words up together, discussed what the definition should be before agreeing on one.

The important thing with this activity is that the words are ones they've used before in their two column proofs so these words are not new but they've not had time to really look at the words in detail.  By waiting this long before doing a serious vocabulary activity, students had a chance to build prior knowledge.

The other thing I've started doing is again dividing students up into small groups and having them read the new material.  After they complete the reading, they have to decide what the three most important ideas or concepts contained in the material.  At the end, I asked each group to give me the one concept they thought was the most important and they had to explain their thinking.

I do this activity on one day and give them 24 hours before taking it to the next step because it gives their brain a chance to process the information.  One day later, I go back and ask them to prepare a more detailed explanation of that concept to share with other students.  This presentation can be done via google slides, a short video, or some sort of animation but they have to explain the concept and why it is important.

I've found that most groups came up with different choices so there is very little overlap.  If I do have two groups choosing the same topic, I often ask one group to think about why a certain other topic is important.  Most of the time, they don't mind the change of topic because it was one on their list of the top three.

Both of these activities encourage dialogue, communication, and explanations so they learn to discuss and communicate math.  I would love to hear what you all think.  Let me know, have a great day and I'll be back with something new on Friday.