Just a little review...

In Algebra II, I tried a different kind of review as we were preparing for final.  It worked well, so I thought I'd share:

1. Type up/select some review problems and number them as you go, just like you would a review guide or practice test (all my questions were multiple choice, but free response would work, too).  I'd write a few more problems than there are students so each kid will get 1-2 total.
2. Print off the problems and cut them into strips.
3. Pass out the strips of paper (more advanced students got harder problems).  Also, as students finish before others, you can give the fast workers another problem since you made some extras (mwahahaha).
4. As students finish, have them record their answer(s).  They can use their own paper or something like this for ease in assessing on the teacher's part.  Check students' work for accuracy as they finish.  If the answer is correct, they get a piece of tape.
5. Once everyone is finished, students put their name on the strip(s) of paper they received and are told to place their problem anywhere in the room.  The only two restrictions I gave were (1) each piece of paper had to be put in a place where even a person of my height could see it and (2) don't hang anything from the Smart Board.
6. After the problems are hung, the kids work each problem.  If they have a question on a problem, they are to consult the person whose name is written on that piece of paper.

The students worked all hour and I think I answered like two questions the whole time.  I even had one girl say, "Mrs. Peterson, can you...wait!  Never mind, I'm supposed to ask...[so and so]."

Hoorah!

I printed off the problems on a colored sheet of paper, just to make things more exciting, I guess.  But that turned out to be good because the kids asked if we could do this review again the next day, so I printed off more problems on a different color for the following class period.  My classroom looked like a hot mess for a couple days, but it was definitely worth it.

Do you have any other ways you love to review that put the onus on the students?

Review Game: TRIG BRAIN POWER!

To prepare for an upcoming test last week, my Pre-Calc/Trig students and I had a great time playing TRIG BRAIN POWER! (because I can't think of a better name, and yes, it must be in all caps).

It's quite simple.  On the SMART Board, my "home page" was a unit circle with six adorable colored brains sitting on the positive x-axis:

I split students up into six teams, one team for each colored brain.  I would show a review exercise, and when every single person on the team had a written response, the team raised their hands, which signaled me to come check their answer.  The first team with the correct answer got to move three spaces on the unit circle, the second team got to move two, and the third team got to move one.  After each exercise, I had the winning team explain their strategy, and if there were no questions we moved on to the next exercise.  The team that rotated through the greatest angle at the end of the hour won (we had to add 2pi rads a couple times!).

I essentially adapted a game called BrainSavvy that I found on SMART Exchange.  If you want the Notebook file for this particular edition of TRIG BRAIN POWER!, just shoot me an email.

I liked this because it involved minimal prep, the students had to work with each other, they worked hard, and they had fun.

Week 4 :: Writing Piece-wise Functions

A prompt for the final week of the New Blogger Initiation was to write about another new blogger's post.

Maggie (@pitoinfinity8) posted an awesome activity for piece-wise functions in which students literally cut up the different pieces of a given function and then puzzle them together.  Brilliant.  In response, Bowman Dickson mentioned that it might be useful to go the other way, too; in other words, give the students the graph and have them write the equation.

I love both these ideas:  the first gets the students to read; the latter gets them to write.  I didn't read Maggie's post until after I introduced piece-wise functions this year in Pre-Calc, but I did read it in time for our first test review.

So, here's what we did...

I gave them a few minutes to answer these questions and then we used their answers along with the restrictions to write the function.

Onto another one:

They were rockin and rollin, so I asked them...

This time, I gave them the problem in the traditional manner:

Success!  Finally!  Many thanks to Maggie and Bowman.  What a great way to review both piece-wise functions and function transformations.

Speaking of function transformations, a twitter conversation in which I laughed out loud:

Math Dominos

We're down to the last three weeks of classes and then it's finals week!  At our school, all College Algebra students take the same final, and if they don't pass the final, they don't pass the class.

No pressure.

Actually, in all honesty, we have about a 97% college-wide pass rate, but it's still nerve-wracking giving a final that you, as an instructor, have never seen.  So, today we started reviewing.  With dominos.

We started with the 6/6 domino in the middle of the floor with the rest of the dominos spread out around it.  From there, each team was given a set of four problems.

Let's say Group 1's answer to their first question is 2.  Then they are to find the 6/2 domino and place it in their team's slot.  On to the next question, whose solution, let's say, is also 2.  Then they find the 2/2 domino and place it next to their first domino.  The first team to finish their row of four dominos wins.

I'm not gonna lie, this game took a bit of prep work.  I started out by creating the following domino creation (the pack I bought came with that nifty plastic octagon--perfect!).  I did this to ensure that no domino would need to be used more than once.

Each "ray" represents a team's problems.  So, from here I had to create problems that had the correct solutions.  For example, looking at the leftmost ray, I had to create four problems that had solutions of 5,1,2, and 5, in that order. (I decided to just do four problems instead of five.  So ignore the last domino in each ray.)  Obviously, having only seven numbers to work with isn't so fun.  To combat this, if a solution was 12.34 and I wanted the team to pick a domino with a 2, I wrote:  "1DOMINO.34."  Not super elegant, but it made sense to my students, which is what matters.  It also allowed me to use the same problem for more than one team.

When a team was finished, I had them add their dominos together to see if their sum matched the sum I had in my notes (kuddos to my husband for this suggestion!).

What I liked:

Five teams with four problems each

• It got students talking.
• It got students thinking about the final.
• They asked to play again...? 
• There were "checks" built-in:  Did you get an answer other than 0,1,2,3,4,5, or 6?  Has your desired domino already been played (is this an error on your part or another team's part)?

What I didn't like:

• I had one or two superstar students in each class that basically did all four problems for their team.
• It took a bit of time to come up with the right problems.

Exponential/Log Function Review Day + Napier!

I've written before about how review days are a continual source of stress for me.  To review or not to review? that is the question.  And if to review, how do you make it interesting and beneficial for the upcoming test?  I have no profound answers yet.  But, I am putting a lot more time and effort into my review days now (mostly because I've taught College Algebra enough times so that I have the extra time to do that).

That said, I've been very much looking forward to this review day for quite some time.  The unit has been on exponential and logarithmic functions.  When I talk to my husband about this unit (who patiently listens to all my teacher talk--I found a really good man, let me tell you) he always reminds me, "It would be much less scary if it weren't called a LOGARITHM."

And he's completely correct.

So, I've been hyping up this review day nearly all unit:  "We'll talk about who invented logarithms, why in the world he did so (just to make your lives miserable?), and why they're called what they're called."

Here are the slides that took us through a short history of logs.  The SMART notes didn't convert perfectly to PowerPoint, but email me if you want the SMART notes as well.

What Smarty-Pants Invented Logarithms and Why the #@&% Did He Do So?!

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I gave the students a sheet that corresponded with the notes so they could follow along.
After we went through John Napier's method of multiplying two numbers we worked the same multiplication on slide rules!  A few of my colleagues were kind enough (and...ahem...old enough) to loan me enough slide rules so that nearly every student could have his/her own for the day.
Next, as review for the test and as further proof of how quickly exponential functions grow, I had the class break into four groups and choose one of the following problems below.  I got the first problem from Ethan Siegel's blog.
Unit 4 Review Problems


We ended with a short wrap-up of the big ideas of this unit.

Polynomial and Rational Function Review Day

Review days are a continual dilemma for me.  After each unit is finished and before each test day, I schedule a Review/Catch Up Day.  I'm not sold on this format, but I'm not opposed to it either.  Due to the fact that we live in Oklahoma, I definitely have to have a few built-in catch up days since we close our schools and colleges at the slightest sign of snow/"cold" weather.

I've been using these built-in catch up days for review, which seems natural enough.  The downside is that I often have very low attendance on these days. So, today I tried something new.  I offered something that nearly every one of my students will come to class for:  extra credit. 

You would think I would have had this revelation a while ago...alas.   

Math Mama wrote about a game of "Risk Your Beginning Algebra Skills."  I really liked the idea of the students having to wager a certain amount for each given question:  they have to be honest with themselves and decide how well they think they know something before seeing the answer.  So, I adapted Math Mama's idea and made a game of "Polynomial and Rational Function Jeopardy."  Before I showed them the answer slide, I would ask which students felt confident about their answer and then I had one of these students share with the class.  They were usually right on the money.  

I chose to do this in a slideshow format as opposed to a worksheet format because I know my students well enough to know that half of them would be working ahead and hence not contributing to the overall discussion (all my students are concurrent high school juniors and seniors).  Even if the overall discussion is not always where I would like it to be, some discussion still beats no discussion.

Overall, I think this review day was a success.  Students participated and hopefully got a good sense of what they needed to study for the upcoming test.

Here's the wager sheet I gave my students in Word format and PDF format.

Polynomial and Rational Jeopardy

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