Solving Equations Pinch Cards

First of all, thanks to @druinok who blogs at statteacher.blogspot.com for motivating me to write this post (and being such a good encouragement on Twitter as well).  Follow me if you like; there's a button to the right now. -->

There was some discussion on Twitter tonight about response cards.  I can't stand fumbling and missing pieces, so individual cards are not for me!  I prefer a pinch card.  If you're not familiar with them, they are long thin strips of paper (like cutting an 8.5x11" into three vertical strips).  Answers are located along the strip.  These are general usually, such as A-D for multiple choice, True and False, etc. 

Last school year, one of my favorite uses for pinch cards was solving equations.  My kids were Struggling (yes, with a capital "s") with understanding which operation to do when.  I made simple pinch cards with the four basic operations, combining like terms (now "collecting" like terms for CCSS), and distributive property.  We would look at equations and decide which step to do first.  One or more students would explain their answers and we would reach a consensus.  Then we would work together to solve that step and use the pinch cards again for subsequent steps.  I kept it to the four basic operations at first and it worked well.  Then we added in the CLT and distributive property.  We had 100% engagement (and even if at first they were copying their response from a friend, at least they were putting effort into getting the right answer)!

Here's the file.  I recommend printing it double sided so you and the kids can both see what was selected.  Laminated cardstock would be your best choice for durability. I kept them in table bins but you could also punch holes and keep them in students' binders if you'll be using them frequently.




How have you used pinch cards or response cards in your lessons?

Mathematically yours,
Miss B
 

My kids wrote a page about one math problem...

...just because I said "prove it" instead of "tell me why."  My directions were that simple, and they took 10 minutes to really dig in and do a great job. 

Yesterday, I used a matching activity from Flamingo Math to have students match piecewise functions and their graphs.  I left off the domain and range aspect because I haven't taught interval notation and I wasn't ready to focus on that aspect quite yet.  The kids worked in partners to sort out the cards.  I didn't make them record anything.  When time was up, we discusses particular graphs or equations that gave them trouble.  (One note: if you go download the activity, which you should, card E1 has the incorrect inequality symbols in the domain constraints of the function, so change them prior to making your copies.) 

Today, their first independent activity was to go back to the pile of cards and select one match.  They were to glue the cards to their notebook paper and I asked them to, "prove to me that you are correct."

I was so impressed by my kids' hard work on this assignment.  Most of them ended up filling all of the blank space on the front and many of them continued onto the back.  Some of them wrote paragraphs.  Others used lots of labels and arrows to make their point.  I'm counting it as a quiz grade; they did so well after struggling with the concept a day or two earlier.

This student wrote so much...

That she used about 1/3 of the back, too.

Clearly a different approach in doing proof from the text-heavy examples above.

One thing I need to clarify: since we've been learning about parabolas and absolute value functions most recently, they're interchanging the terms "slope" and "a-value."  Sometimes, the terms do serve the same purpose, however they've never before used "a-value" for linear functions.  We use y=mx+b.  The connection they're making is great; their terminology needs some refining. 

Have you ever had a lesson or assignment that had kids doing awesome work beyond your wildest dreams?

Mathematically yours,
Miss B

"Everybody In"

Engagement was a hot topic at my school last year.  Our test scores are great (10th middle school in the state overall, 6th in the state for 8th grade math, and the best in our region of the state) and we're really working on reaching that last 5-10% or so of kids. 

I certainly don't think I invented this idea, but I don't remember taking it from anyone else, either.  So, while I can't give credit, I'll bet there's someone who thinks I should.  I call this, "Everybody In."  While everyone in the class should be focused in at all times, we know that's not reality.  We all teach kids with attention problems or those that are simply disinterested in the topic at hand and are having a hard time getting into the lesson.  "Everybody In" is my way of getting 100% participation and a quick check for understanding. 

This poster (crude as it is) reminds kids of our signals. 

 

During Everybody In, all students must raise their hand(s) when a question is asked or a statement is made.   The left hand raised represents an answer of "no," a disagreement with the statement, or a negative number (since we do a lot of integer work).  The right hand raised represents "yes," agreement, or a positive number.  My kids know that they are supposed to "ride the roller coaster" when they are unable to decide.  This tells me they've considered the statement or question and are in need of some support. 

Just to be totally goofy once in a while, we'll add left and right feet if we're working on a topic that naturally lends itself to three or four categories (for example, types of angles).  It gets the wiggles out even while they're in their seats! 

Now, this isn't going to get at your higher-order questioning.  However, it will let you test your class on simple facts to make sure they've got them straight before you delve deeper.  It's great for vocabulary, think alouds, and class discussions.  Follow up by asking someone from each side to defend their selection. 

Oh, and if your principal just happens to walk by when you're doing this, you're going to look awesome.  After all, it will look like 100% of your kids are ready to answer your question.  Which they are!  

How could you use Everybody In as a part of your lessons?  What words or phrases would you use for the left and right hands? 

Miss B