Survivor Algebra

  While researching games, I came across this series on something called Survivor Algebra on cool math.  It is several pages long and is more of a teaching method rather than an actual game.  It is gamification of the algebra class based on the Survivor game complete with tribe names and directions on running it.  Although this is for college, the author includes information on working with middle school and high school students.

This article includes the rules, the set-up of the class and how to teach based on research, types of exams, and ways to decrease anxiety.  It is cool because there is information on putting students in tribes, explains the best materials to help students pre-learn the material (flipped classroom), how to cut down on socialization time when they should be doing math, motivating students, gaining and keeping their trust,

Cool Math is a really awesome website to integrate into the classroom.  It has some very student friendly explanations which can be used inside and outside of class for a variety of math levels.  I use this website in class so students can be exposed to the material from sources other than myself and the textbook.    While writing this, I found a nice explanation of Pythagorean Identities for my Pre-Calculus class on Monday.  It also has a nice section on fractions for the pre-algebra class.  So guess where most of my kids will be on Monday?

Reading Polynomial Graphs

Since the change from what I had to the new Common Core standards, I'm having to teach certain topics to younger students who might not have the background my older students had.  Yes, I know, Common Core has been coming for a while but we didn't start using them really till this year.  So I am getting ready to introduce my Algebra I class to polynomials and identifying the increasing and decreasing parts of the graph, max and min, and relative max and min.

While surfing the internet for appropriate materials, I ran across the site Cool Math.  They have a lovely section on graphing polynomials. They use plain English with lots of diagrams and make it easy for my ELL students to follow and understand. 

I'll be using this website next week for my students to study absolute max and min, increasing and decreasing, and relative max and mins.  I do know this website works on iPads.

What is nice is they have material for Pre-Algebra, Algebra, and Pre-Calculus.  I love that the Pre-Calculus section has a couple things on trig, including the unit circle.  Yeah.  This will dovetail nicely with an app I have on the ipads.

It appears there are two math game sites associated with this website.  Some of the games I've seen look really good and I know would work on a computer but will they work on an iPad?  I don't know.  But back to the cool math website.

The Pre-Algebra section matches up quite well with the topics I am due to teach this year so that is awesome.  The Algebra section will provide support for both my Algebra I and Algebra II sections while the Pre-Calculus has topics to match Algebra II and my Pre-Calculus classes. 

I love websites that provide support on more than one math class.  I can assign the topic I need students to read and learn more about.  Cool!