Literacy With Flipgrid or Google.

 I love the idea of having students explain their thinking but so many of them can do a selfie but won't speak in front of the class.  That is where Flipgrid or Google comes in as they allows students to share but allows them a chance to do it without being watched by everyone else.

Fortunately, there are ways to encourage literacy while allowing every student the chance to do something.

1.  One way to encourage literacy is to have students present work on the board, explaining how they solved it and answering  other student questions.  For students who have problems speaking in front of the class, they can record their explanation on Flip Grid and share it that way.

2. Give students a problem to solve.  They work their problem on a google slide and then take time to explain how they reached their solution but first you have to teach them what constitutes a good explanation.  Students should use steps, explain how the step applies to the line they just did, and why they chose to use that particular step.

3.  Have each student rework a problem they missed.  They need to explain what they did incorrectly and how they should have done the problem to get the right answer.  This can be done via Google slides or Flipgrid.

4. Ask students to produce quizzes with answers for each other using google quiz forms.  The teacher needs to set the rules for the construction of the quiz.  Once everyone has written their quiz, the teacher can share links with other students so each students takes the quiz of at least one other student.

5. Have students write a letter to their friend using Google Docs to explain how to do a certain problem or explain the lesson they missed when absent.  This requires them to provide a written explanation of the concept or lesson.

6. Set up a class discussion site where the teacher posts a question and requires students to place their answer on the site.  The teacher will be the moderator and it is up to the teacher to decide the rules for student commenting on other's entries.

7.  Use exit tickets via Google or Flip grid.  Exit tickets can be a question on how to solve something, or requires students to reflect on their understanding of something, or even a question as simple as "What do you need to work on for the upcoming test.

8.  Divide student up into pairs and assign two problems to each duo.  Then on Flipgrid, one student explains how to do their problem to the other and then they switch but before they switch, the listening student must be given a chance to ask questions.

These are just a few ways to help increase literacy in the math classroom because it gives students the opportunity to develop their ability to communicate their thinking which is essential. Let me know what you think, I'd love to know.  Have a great day.

Warm-up

The bamboo is 3 feet tall and growing at a rate of 31 inches per year.  How long will it take for the bamboo to reach 80 feet tall?

Warm-up

If bamboo spreads at a rate of 3.5 square feet per year, how long will it take to cover 128 square feet?

Active Listening

 Most of us listen but do we actively listen? Do our students actively listen?  Do they even know how?  None of us naturally practice actively listening, we have to be taught and that includes our students.

In math, it is especially important for students to listen to the ideas of others so they can make meaning of everything they hear.  Listening does not mean just being quiet, it means making a conscientious effort.

Although many think that hearing and listening is not the same, they are not.  Hearing refers to receiving sound while listening is receiving ideas and thoughts and comprehending them.  So we need to teach them to be participatory learners so they can interpret and make meaning from others verbal ideas.

There are certain steps we can take to help students learn active learning.

1.  Take time to teach students the difference between hearing and listening.  This means students stop to examine the difference between hearing and listening and helps them be more aware of which one they use during conversations and discussions.

2. Model Active learning for your students.  Ask another teacher to come in and help you demonstrate what active learning looks like.  Include "Think Alouds" so students know what your thinking is during the process.  Things to think about include "what did you actually hear?", "What might you be wondering about?" in terms of what was just said, "What new ideas pop into your head as you listen?" so students see what type of thinking goes on during active learning.

3. Schedule some time for students to practice active listening by sharing a mathematical thought with them and afterwards ask them what they heard, what they understood from listening, and did anything pop into their minds from the thought.

4. Set things up so they can actively listen better by minimizing distractions, change the seating so it is better for both speaking and listening, and go over their responsibilities as listeners before beginning the discussion.

5. Encourage students to practice active learning in all their classes.  In addition, speak with other teachers so students are offered the chance to practice active learning across the curriculum.

6.  Another way to practice active listening is to share three things with your students.  After each item, pause so students can discuss what they heard with one other person (pairs work).  At the end, have one student read a paragraph from the textbook while the other would say what they heard as they listened.  Then they switch.  Both of these activities give students a reason for actively listening.

7.  As students are learning active listening, provide a two column paper so one side is labeled thoughtful questions, while the other side is labeled thoughtful comments.  This way students can write down questions and comments that pop into their heads as they are learning.  This also helps students focus on what is being said so their minds are less likely to wander.

Basically, active learning boils down to paraphrasing what the speaker said  so you show you are listening and to show your understanding, summarize what the speaker said into one or two sentences  including key words, ask questions to clarify what is heard and to encourage the speaker to expand on certain things, make connections between what the speaker said and the listeners base of knowledge, and reflect on what is said by sharing a comment.

These are some ways to help students become active listeners and when they practice active learning, they learn more.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.

Suggested Reading For Older Students

 A few days ago, I wrote about certain reading techniques to help students accomplish deeper reading but most of the time, we tend to think about applying them to textbooks but what about fiction.  I am aware that it is easy to find picture books and books made for elementary kids but many high schoolers wouldn't want to read those.  Today, I'm providing a list of books for middle school and high school that are math oriented but real books.

1.  The Math Inspector 5 book series by Daniel Kenny and Emily Boever, and good for students aged 9 and above or 3rd grade and above.  I'm starting here because I usually have a couple of students in class who do read that low and struggle to read the textbook.  The books are between 150 and 200 pages long and every book in the series has received between 4 and 5 stars on Amazon.  The book involves several young friends who banded together to start their own detective agency where they investigate a jewelry store heist, serial vandalism, a toy store mess-up, trying to save a roller coaster, and a mine.  These detectives use their math skills to ultimately solve the crime.  The books can be found in hard back and e-book form.

2.  The 3 volume Math kids series rated for upper elementary is another one to look at for students who read well below grade level.  The stories revolve round three students who make up the advanced math group in their class and they form a math club where they solve mysteries. They solve a case on neighborhood burglaries, a kidnapping, and a theft.  This series also received between 4 and 5 stars on Amazon.

3. Do the Math Series is a two book series for older students. The first is Do the Math: Secrets, Lies, and Algebra  and the second is Do the Math: The Writing on the Wall  both by Wendy Lichtman. In the first book, an eight grader begins Algebra and faces one missing test, three cheaters, and a math whiz make Tess's live interesting as she learns about life and variables.  The second one shows Tess that life is filled with patterns including the patterns of graffiti found on the walls.  These books are recommended for middle school to high school. These books are rated between 4 and 5 stars according to Amazon.

4. The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger contains 12 dreams telling of how a math hating young man meets the number devil and learns more about math.  He learns about prime numbers, infinite numbers, Fibonacci numbers, and so many other numbers.  This book is geared for middle school but would work for high school students and has between 4 and 5 stars according to Amazon.

5. The Man Who Counted , written by Brazilian mathematician Malba Tahan.  The main character, Bermiz Sahir show the reader how math can be used to settle disputes, give advice, and in the process learn about historical mathematicians.  These short stories are considered to be similar to Arabian tales and each one shares something with the reader.  This book is rated between 4 and 5 stars on Amazon.

6. Humble Pi: A Comedy of Math Errors by Matt Parker for students who read at a higher level.  In this book, the author examines situations where the incorrectly done math cause issues.  He shows how no one notices the math until it is done incorrectly such as when a misplaced decimal caused problems with the stock market, or when someone converted measurements incorrectly so a plane crashed or someone divided by zero causing a ship to stop in the middle of the ocean.

Think about having a few of these in the classroom for those days that your period is shortened due to a last minute assembly, or you have a regularly scheduled short period you can't use for much else.  These would be good for practicing the skills they learn in English but in Math.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.

Dolores Richards Spikes

 Just the other day, I was talking with someone about mathematicians and I realized I could name more male ones than female ones modern or ancient.    I think it might have to do with more males are listed in textbooks for most of the standard theorems.  So I decided that every so often, I'd highlight a female African American mathematician who was not one who worked for NASA but had a career that changed things.

Dolores was born on August 24, 1936 to Margaret and Lawerence Richards in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  She attended both parish and public schools through elementary and high school to get her high school degree but she grew up in a household that encouraged her to attend college because neither parent graduated from high school.   In 1954, she began attending Southern University and in order to pay for it, her father worked a lot of overtime.   Three years later, she obtained her B.S. in mathematics and joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Upon graduation, she attended University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign working towards her Masters degree of mathematics.  When she graduated, she returned to Louisiana and took a job teaching at Mossville High School in Calcasien Parish in 1958, the same year she married Herman Spikes.  She improved the ratings of the school by implementing independent study courses before returning to Southern University in 1961 to teach mathematics as an assistant professor.

She applied for and received a National Science Foundation to attend LSU in 1966, to work on her Phd but she was only able to go there for one year but in 1968, she received a three year Ford Foundation Fellowship that allowed her to attend college to continue her education.  In 1971, she earned the distinction of becoming the first African American to receive a PhD from Louisiana State University and was immediately promoted to associate professor of mathematics at Southern University.  She earned a PhD in pure mathematics specifically focused on commutative ring theory with. her thesis on "Semi-Values and Groups of Divisibility". Then in 1975, Southern made her a full professor and six years later she was appointed to as a part-time assistant to the Chancellor of Southern and coordinator of the mathematics program.

One year later, she became full time assistant to the Chancellor and remained in the position for three years when she was appointed as executive vice-chancellor in 1985 and later vice-chancellor for Southern University Baton Rouge.  Later in the 1980's she became the first female chancellor of two different Southern University campuses and later on, she became the first woman president of both the Southern University system and the  A & M college system.  In 1996, she became the president of  the University of Maryland Eastern Shore for five years.

Before her death, June 1, 2015, she received numerous awards such as the Thurgood Marshall Educational Achievement Award, the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Education Fund Leadership Award,  and was named as one of the most influential black women in America by Ebony magazine.

and served as an adviser to historically black colleges.  She outlived her husband who died in 2008 and her only daughter who passed in 2010. Dolores managed to set several firsts in her career. I plan to touch on minority mathematicians every so often so we can tell our students about them.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.

Warm-up

If the White Cedar is only 4 inches tall after 155 years, what is it's average yearly rate of growth?