My Foldable Notebook for Teachers

Shortly after I started using Foldables in 2012, I realized that their use was transforming my planning process for the better.  Prior to using Foldables, I was teaching from a textbook.  If the textbook had three examples in a section, I was going to present them.  If the textbook ordered the sections in a particular way, that's the order I was going to teach them to my students.  I hate to entirely slam textbooks.  After all, there are lots of people working to produce textbooks from curriculum writers to teachers who pilot them in their classrooms, and I have to believe that all those people working together will produce some quality work.  However, after being mostly textbook-free for about 3 years, I can say that I don't always feel like my students saw the big picture when we were using textbooks.

Enter Foldables.  When I used the first few, I thought they were cutesy and not much else.  I didn't see why I should "waste time" cutting and folding when we had so much material to cover.  It felt like it took an eternity to get students through the assembly to the point of having something they could use.  However, I also noticed that students remembered the notes (or the fact they HAD notes) on the topics we did with Foldables.  They made an appearance on desks after the initial note-taking was over.

As I reflected on the use of Foldables more, I recognized that I was approaching content differently.  I would ask myself, "What is the main idea?" followed by, "What are the supporting ideas?"  My answers to these questions helped me select the structure of the Foldable that was most appropriate for the topic.  How the shape of the Foldable, the direction of the folds, and the number of sections would reinforce the content I was teaching was at the forefront of my mind.  This meant I was truly reflecting on the connections students needed to make in planning my lessons.  I also was deliberately chunking my lesson, something that's vital since a teen will remember only about 5 chunks of information at one time.  I absolutely had these thoughts pre-Foldables, but less frequently than with them.  I've become a better teacher through the use of Foldables.

For the last year or so, I've wanted to make a resource that would help in my planning.  I've used countless Foldable designs and I have digital templates that I've made for nearly all of them because I typically have Cloze notes on them for my students to fill in as we go. Nevertheless, I feel like I rely on certain designs too often (2-door or 4-door shutter fold is my go-to!) and when the novelty wears off, so too does the learning!  So this afternoon, I started to put together a sample composition book full of Foldable designs and some other interactive notebook resources.  The book is organized by the number of sections needed since that's my focus when I plan Foldables.  I used some tabs to mark off each section of the notebook and I left several pages at the end of each section that will allow me to add new ideas when they come to me.

Sam Shah (@samjshah) blogged about teachers having a "brand" at #TMC15 this year.  While I wasn't able to be in attendance, I agree with his observation that we (the MTBoS) are less likely to label celebrities than we were in previous years.  More of us are out there and that's helping us to develop circles of interest.  Most circles have a teacher or two leading the charge, hence their "brand."  Can we all have a brand?  Sure.  Will all of us have a brand that other teachers in other schools can identify?  Not unless we blog or tweet A LOT and have high readership.  I would pose the question this way: can your students and your close colleagues (whether in person or virtually) identify your brand?  I'm pretty sure if you asked my students, interactive notebooks with Foldables are my brand.  Sarah (@mathequalslove), Kathryn (@kathrynfreed), Julie (@jreulbach), and numerous other bloggers have way more posted about notebooks than I do, so I'm not the MTBoS guru, however notebooks are one thing that sets me apart from the other teachers in my school. 

That uniqueness in my school led me to a secondary purpose for this Foldable notebook.  I'm starting as a math teacher specialist this fall at a high school.  While I've used interactive notebooks for the last two years with my 8th grade students and classify them largely as a success, I don't think any of the teachers I'm going to be working with have used them.  My supervisor is a fan and said she would like to see the teachers use them at the high school level.  I thought that in addition to my completed notebooks from the past two years, having this resource on hand might make it easier for a teacher to use Foldables for the first time. 

Sorry this is a wonky slideshow.  I had designs on a true video but I'm short on storage on my phone, so this is the best I could do.  If you're tying to find templates of what's shown, click on the label "interactive notebook" or "foldable" under this blog post to be taken to all posts concerning those topics.  Many of the things in this notebook are just small pieces of paper cut and folded, so I don't have them as typed templates at that small size.      

One final note: I tried the Pinterest acclaimed glue sponge and I am impressed.  While I doubt it would be really mess-free for little kids, it made quick work of my gluing today, I had no blobs of glue to contend with, and everything stuck nicely to my book.  Consider me a fan! 

What have you done to get pedagogically reinvigorated for the upcoming year?

Mathematically yours,
Miss B

Foldable for 8 Standards of Mathematical Practice

Happy Friday, everyone! My parents were just here for a short visit, so I took a few days off from thinking about the next year too much. We spent yesterday at the beach and had crabs for lunch today before they went home. It's always good to see them!

Last week, I spotted a blog post about journaling on the math standards. Unfortunately, I can no longer recall where I read it, so please let me know if it was yours or if you also read it and remember because I want to link back to that post! I knew immediately that I wanted this to be an assignment for my left pages in my Interactive Notebook.  That list of assignments now numbers 22 and you can get it here. 

In order for my kids to journal about the standards, they would need to understand them. Enter Sarah's awesome posters she shared yesterday.  I've put these into a foldable that my students will have in the beginning "reference" section of their notebooks.  Here are some photos.  Please excuse the quality; I need to build a larger light box if I'm going to be taking pictures of open notebooks. 

The outside of the 8-door foldable lists the 8 Standards of Mathematical Practice as they are written.  I cannot begin to count how many inservices and team meetings have been dedicated to these 8 sentences!   

"8 Standards of Mathematical Practice AKA What Good Mathematicians do."
Foldable on the right side of the page, writing prompt on the left.  

I know the kids will appreciate having the standards translated into "kid speak."  I put Sarah's simplified sentences inside the flaps and will have the kids illustrate what the standards mean to them.  Then, on the left side of the page, they will answer two brief writing prompts that will serve as a baseline for the year: 

1. "The standard that I demonstrate most consistently is #___ because..." 

2. "Standard #___ is difficult for me because..."

If the foldable would be helpful in your classroom, you can download it here.



How do you make your students aware of and accountable for the 8 Standards of Mathematical Practice?  

Mathematically yours,
Miss B

8th grade math common core vocabulary

I'm trying to start planning for next year, when my district will fully implement the common core.  Thankfully, the transition in 8th grade won't be terribly drastic; much of what we're going to cover next year aligns to what my state has considered to be Algebra I.

One thing I want to implement next year is an interactive notebook, at least for my on-grade-level class.  If I'm truly ambitious, I'll do it for both preps.

I started today by looking into Frayer models and deciding that's how we'll record most of our vocabulary.  Mini models are created and will fit 4 to a page with room for a title on the page.  We're going to count 20 pages from the back of the composition book and paste in our glossary along with a glossary tab.    I'm leaving extra space because I expect I'll need to add in additional words either because kids have forgotten things from previous grades or because we're still going to be assessing our old curriculum, so there will be a few gaps I may need to fill in. 

Now, I have my notebook set up and I'm using Post-its to plan out which foldables will go where and what other types of information need to be in the book.  I'm hoping to have a complete model done before school lets out (but I'm also realistic enough to think that won't actually happen).  I would love to get my coworkers on board with this, but I might need to pilot it next year before they'll use it, too.

Wish me luck!  I'll be posting photos as I have progress. 

Mathematically yours,
Miss B

EDIT (5/1/13): I'm adding the glossary document I created here.  I based it off the vocabulary contained in the CCSS Framework for 8th grade and included a few of the words that I expect to be prior knowledge but I see my students struggle with frequently.  If you find any additions, please let me know.

Factoring Flow Chart

We've been factoring up a storm in Intermediate Algebra recently.  We started with my most successful use of Algebra tiles to date.  We used the Algebra tiles to learn to multiply binomials and had moderate to good success using them.  This was the first group of kids I've taught in which the group really caught on to what the tiles meant and were proficient in using them to model.  Most groups I've had before couldn't be bothered with "playing" with manipulatives; they just wanted an algorithm!  Due to our success with multiplying binomials, I started giving the kids "puzzles."  "Can you make a rectangle with area x squared plus 3x plus 2?"  They would build it and we'd talk about the side lengths.  After a few successful ventures with all positives, I added in negatives like x^2 - 5x + 6.  Then we moved into challenges that required the use of zero pairs such as x^2 + x - 6 or x^2 - 4.  From that point, we discussed how the students were building their rectangles and what connections they could make between the side lengths of the rectangles and the polynomial they were asked to create. 

Then we moved into factoring on paper.  My next post will feature a foldable flip book on which we took notes about all the steps of factoring and the special patterns. Today I'm sharing the flow chart we're using to help guide students through the process of factoring.  We're struggling a bit with the GCF but everything else is pretty smooth sailing.  I introduced this chart yesterday to remind students to start by factoring out the GCF.  Feel free to print these off for your students if you use a similar method. 

Angles Formed by Parallel Lines Cut by a Transversal Foldable for Geometry or Middle School Math

I've taught angles formed by parallel lines cut by a transversal in geometry and in my on-grade level 8th grade classes.  Students generally catch on without much trouble, but there are often a few students who have trouble matching the vocabulary to the diagram. 

Here's a foldable I'm going to use with my students in Algebra I and Intermediate Algebra this year to practice the vocabulary prior to our state testing next month.  (Eep!  Next month is March already?)  Our students need to know corresponding angles, alternate interior angles, and alternate exterior angles.  I generally include same side interior and same side exterior for means of comparison and because they're going to need them for geometry anyway, so it makes sense to introduce the vocabulary at the same time. 

Would you like to use this with your class?  Download the PDF here and enjoy.  Let me know how it works with your students. 

Mathematically yours,
Miss B

Functions, Domain, and Range Foldable

Recently, I've gotten pretty excited about foldables.  I'm not using them exclusively for notes, but I'm using them to summarize big topics here and there.  Pretty colored just makes me happy (after all, my other blog is all about paper crafting) and I love that foldables keep students from being overwhelmed by having too much information on a page.

I went crazy today and made two three foldables for use in the upcoming days.  This one summarizes functions, domain, and range.  I've dabbled briefly in these topics before, but this is the first time I'm teaching it full-out since this is my first year teaching Algebra I.   

The completed foldable will be stapled to notebook paper so students can store it in their binders.

To make your own foldable like this, you need three sheets of paper.  I chose to use different colors but you could easily use white for everything.  Hold all three sheets in the portrait orientation.  On one sheet, measure 3" from the top and fold (green paper).  On the next, measure 4" from the top and fold (white paper).  On the last, measure 5" from the top and fold (blue paper).  Nest these sheets together so you have six flaps sticking up.  Secure with staples along the fold.

Want this file?  Or a blank template perfect for any subject?  Just click the links to download them and be sure to print them two-sided with short edge binding.  If your printer can't print two sided, you want the dotted lines to match up when you copy the sheets.  The blank template includes my notes to help you fill it in right the first time; we don't need to be frustrated! 

Happy folding!  If you find this helpful or have any suggestions, please let me know!  I love to hear about what other teachers are doing.  

Mathematically yours, 

Miss B 

P.S. - Better late than never, I'm linking up to #Made4Math even though it's not Monday.  

Laws of Exponents Foldable

We've been working on radicals in Intermediate Algebra since before Christmas.  The next item on the agenda is making the connection to rational exponents (and thereby also reviewing the Laws of Exponents).  My students are fairly confident with Laws of Exponents, but I thought they might like a foldable to summarize everything in one place once we add in the rules for rational exponents and have to apply all the old rules.

If you'd like a copy of the foldable I made, click here for a pdf download.  There is a small 2x2 area on each flap where you can include extra notes or an additional example problem of your own.  The inside lists a synopsis of the rules and at least one example for each type of problem.  If you use it, I'd love to hear your comments!

I submitted this as my first entry to http://made4math.blogspot.com/.  Go over and check out the other great resources linked there if you haven't already done so. 

Mathematically yours,
Miss B