Week 7 Reflection

This week we looked at Chapter 22 of the textbook, Patterns and Algebra. I was a bit worried before I started doing the readings, because algebra can be rather intimidating. I don't remember if I was particularly 'good' at algebra when I was in school, so I was a bit worried about this topic. We didn't go too into depth about algebra in our peer taught lessons, we focused more on patterns. There are lots of good tips and strategies for teaching algebra in our textbook (Marian Small provides some of the best strategies), so I am not too worried about teaching it if I have to.

Since this weekend is Halloween, the teacher candidates who taught this week decided to associate the holiday with math, to make it fun. I know I definitely enjoyed these Halloween-themed lessons, so I'm sure it would have been a big hit with kids. I will most definitely try to incorporate holiday themed lessons into my own teaching, to try to engage kids and make things more interesting. I think this is a great strategy to use to get kids excited about math. Halloween-themed math was really tasty, and if I enjoyed it, I'm sure kids would have gone ballistic over having candy to use as a manipulative. We learned about patterning and the rules that go along with it, and we got to create our own patterns using candy. I thought this was a really great idea, and I enjoyed the snack! One of the things we looked over was the core of the pattern; you should include at least 3 repetitions so that students can fully identify the core. Below is the pattern I created using M&M's and Hershey's kisses, with my 3 repetitions of the core pattern:

Woolley, E. © 2015 

I thought this was a fun and creative idea to use candy as a manipulative. Another worksheet that I thought was awesome (and Halloween-themed) was about finishing the pattern, and identifying the pattern sequence. It used pictures to to show patterns, but also found a way to use number patterns (at the bottom of the worksheet), but still managed to make it fun (numbers inside pictures of pumpkins). I think it was really well put together, and a fun way to get kids to practise using patterns. I'm going to save this resource to use in my own classroom.

Woolley, E. © 2015 

 One of the algebra resources that I thought was really cool was trying to identify the word problem with the algebraic expression. I think this was a really smart resource because it helps show students that you can apply real-world situations to algebra. It helps show that algebraic expressions are not just numbers and letters that don't make sense, but you can visualize the problem and find the missing variable to find the answer. The students match up the green pieces of paper, one with the word problem and the other with the algebraic expression. Once they match these up, they can use the blue handout to find what the missing variable is, and complete the equation.

Woolley, E. © 2015 

If students get really confused, they can download the free app on their mobile device called photo math, to take a picture of the equation, and it will solve the problem for them, showing the steps on how the problem was solved. I think this is a valuable resource because it shows students the steps they need to follow to solve the problem, and how to solve similar problems. However, if students use this app to solve all their problems without trying to solve it themselves, they won't learn. If I show this app to my students and allow them to use it, I will only let them use it for really tricky problems that they need extra help with.