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Although some topics can be fascinating or relevant to everyday life, mathematics lessons don’t always lend themselves to engaging and inspiring activities. Here are three ideas that I usually consider when I’m not sure how to liven up a lesson that needs some flair:
1. AWARENESS. How can I get them thinking about this topic?
Use a short video clip, a picture, a story, a song or an interesting object to capture the interest of students right at the beginning of the lesson.
2. ACTIVITY. What will students do during the lesson?
Focus on what you will do to keep the students active. Let them create a foldable booklet, complete a Tarsia puzzle, use mini-whiteboards or participate in an online quiz that you have created.
3. ACCLAIM. What will make them remember this lesson?
Find a way to make the lesson unique, memorable and eventful. Use a new classroom management technique, focus on one particular word or have a major theme that relates to each aspect of the lesson.
To illustrate the ideas above, here is my plan for a topic that I will be teaching to a Year 7 group. I have included a downloadable template to make it easier for you to try with your own lesson planning.
This website is run by a group of maths teachers who are interested in using 21st Century teaching tools to create dynamic,interactive and diagnostic learning resources. It has a table with hyperlinks to each of the dynamic and interactive resource creations organised by key stage and subject area. Check out the Christmas Tree Investigation for a simple and interesting activity on number patterns and sequences.
This is an excellent starter if you have an interactive whiteboard. Students have to drag the correct answer for each question and drop it in the right place. The activity is also timed, so students have to think quickly!
I am sure that you have also got to the point where there are so many websites out there these days, that you simply can’t remember which one was the best or which one had those fantastic worksheets you were looking for last week. Well, at last I am ready to take on the virtual mathematics playground and present it in a way that is useful to you as a teacher.
I have used computers in my classroom since 1995, and I didn’t ever expect to get to the point where there were just too many resources available. I have searched the internet for years, always finding new websites and checking for updates on old favourites. Sometimes, websites I have loved and used have shut down or changed to commercial websites, but it has never stopped me from finding more than I needed for any lesson without having to pay for the resources. I have to admit though, there are one or two (such as “mymaths” and “supermathsworld”) that are part of my toolkit because they are excellent, and come at a very reasonable price. I have spent the last 6 years finding PowerPoint presentations, worksheets, lesson plans, schemes of work, videos, flash animations, interactive whiteboard tools, Promethean flipcharts, Smart notebook files, templates, printable graph paper, posters, blogs and hundreds of other resources designed especially for mathematics teachers and learners. But it takes plenty of time and a lot of fine tuned discernment to get the best out of all the stuff available. Well that’s what I have done for you! So with the beginning of 2011, let me begin to share and show you all the excellent resources that are available to you right now with just a few clicks.
Firstly, I’d like you to vote for your favourite websites that you use for planning, teaching or learning. There are some that you may not have heard of before, and there may be some I have omitted on my first list of best websites (I have tried to narrow it down from hundreds to just 25). I have taught in South Africa, the USA and the UK, so this list is not intended to be only for UK teachers, but at first I will start with the UK in order to get things up and running. Come back and visit for the results as well as my final list of the best maths resources on the internet for 2011. Have fun and please vote or leave a short comment! MrWilliamsmaths.
cre8ate maths was a CPD project for Yorkshire and Humber teachers of mathematics. It ran from April 2007 to March 2010. The end result was these new curriculum materials for KS3 created by teachers from 18 schools. Materials are complementary to those of the Bowland Trust, and require less IT in most cases. The materials are also designed to address the functional maths agenda.
