Friday, 11 November 2016

Plenty of Polygons: Making Sense of Shapes

As each teacher candidate walked into math this week we received a small Halloween foam sticker. The sticker I received was a small purple cat with a terribly straight tale and an extremely arched back; it was the scaredy cat. Although the way they were handed out was completely random and the stickers were just meant to be a part of our geometry lesson I couldn’t help but giggle at the irony. As each week passes I become more confident in my journey to becoming a math teacher, as though I’m leaving that ‘scaredy cat’ part of me behind me.



The Real Story of the Scaredy Cat
The shapes we were each given were used to split us into groups and review the geometric definitions explained in found in the textbook; such as similar and congruent. As silly as it is (and maybe it’s just me) but I seemed to forget that really, everything is a shape. I never thought of explaining mathematical terms using such fun and silly little items. It was a real ‘ah ha! moment for me! Providing us with the shapes not only made the lesson more engaging and fun but it was another way to put us into groups and force us to work with a new group of people, which is always an important thing to do with young students.


Story Time: The Greedy Triangle
Once again we explored a story as a successful teaching resource for young students, this time talking about geometry. The story follows a shape shifting triangle through his journey exploring polygons with increasing numbers of sides and demonstrates the many places each shape can be found in the real world.


I believe this book would be great for introducing students to thinking about shapes in our world and is a great way to encourage them to start looking for them on their own. If it was my classroom and I was teaching a young junior grade I would preface this story by having students look for shapes in the real world before we read the book and then again after it was read. I also think it is a good introduction to critical thinking. For example, the students could be asked questions about why each shape has particular uses; and this could preface a conversation about how strong triangles are.

Another important aspect of this story is its social implications. Not only is it a helpful resource for teaching geometry but it demonstrates significant ‘life lessons’ that we should constantly be promoting with our students. It endorses respect for our peers and confidence in ourselves all the while teaching geometry.

My Future Classroom:

This week we spent a lot of time learning about classifying different polygons both in the textbook and in class. Once again, it surprised me how much I had forgotten about the different classifications. One of the things I have learned over the last few weeks that I feel to be of the most importance is understanding and remembering mathematical definitions. In order to truly grasp the concepts I feel we need to be able to properly classify all the aspects and use the correct terminology. When I have a classroom I will make sure to take some time near the beginning of each unit to collaboratively create a word/definition wall/chart with my students so they have visuals and definitions to reference throughout the unit.

3 comments:

  1. Hello Kate,
    First off, great job on your blog! It is fun and colourful, everything math should be. I am so happy to read how this journey is developing your confidence, and I agree we all need to let go of our inner “scaredy cat”.

    I am glad you mentioned that you forgot that everything is a shape because the same happened to me. Interestingly, I never made a connection between real life shapes and math because I was not taught to think this way. I think it is great that Pat is teaching us to always keep math fun, relatable and relevant. I also enjoyed reading your great idea on creating a word/definition wall chart, which I think would be a useful tool for students. As you mentioned it will reinforce the idea of using proper math terminology.

    Once again, great job!

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  2. Hi Kate - thanks for your blog post this week! I love the way you have everything laid out and broken down, it makes it so easy to read. I especially appreciate the fact that you've made the connections, in multiple different ways, between Math and literacy, and Math and social issues. I think you're ability to continually draw these conclusions will make your math lessons so interesting in the classroom!

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  3. Hello Kate,
    Great blog post about the value of books in math class. It's important to introduce various resources into math class as a form of differentiated learning. Also, great layout of your blog post with photos and sub-headings in between about what is being discussed to avoid the wall of texts!

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