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Spiraling through the curriculum Email : Alexander.Overwijk@ocdsb.ca @ AlexOverwijk SlamDunkMath.blogspot.com mary.bourassa@ocdsb.ca @ marybourassa marybourassa.blogspot.ca. Twitter Math Camp 2014. Al’s story – Activity based teaching.
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Spiraling through the curriculumEmail: Alexander.Overwijk@ocdsb.ca@AlexOverwijkSlamDunkMath.blogspot.commary.bourassa@ocdsb.ca@marybourassa marybourassa.blogspot.ca Twitter Math Camp 2014
Al’s story – Activity based teaching • Frustrated by the lack of engagement of our at-risk learners • Something had to change! • Opportunity to collaborate to rethink our approach and make significant changes
Spiraling deeper with Activity-Based Teaching • Curriculum is spiraled within the course • Focus on teaching through engaging activities • Activities on a daily basis. No more units! • Activities that cover more than one overall expectation are better (but not necessary) • Skills developed in the “context” of the activities
SPIRALING ACTIVITIES /TASKS Start COMPLEXITY Teacher-directed, scaffolded activities Connections built on prior knowledge Investigations with greater complexity Co-created criteria for quality questions, communication and thinking. Open-ended, student-directed, rich learning tasks End
Grade 10 Applied mathematics • I blogged the whole course here: http://marybourassa.blogspot.ca
Graphing Technology Algebra Tiles Manipulatives Pennies …anything that helps! Every day & on all evaluations
Benefits • Repeated opportunities as the students do activities (for assessment, for gap filling, for retention of curriculum) • Multiple entry points for all students • Natural opportunities for differentiated instruction • Collaborative learning environment
Benefits • Increase in accountable talk • Improved long-term retention of course material “Students know what they know” • Fewer discipline problems • Increased student engagement • Math concepts are explored through the context of the activity
Benefits • Activities are high interest, hands-on and contextual • Increased opportunity for critical thinking • Connections to the curriculum and within the curriculum are made naturally • Lots of time to get through the course
Open Strategy Cup Stacking What Questions come to mind? The most frequently asked question…… ‘How many cups does it take to make Mr. O’s height?’ ‘How many cups does it take to make Mr. O’s height?’ ‘In cups, what is the width of Mr. Overwijk?’ ‘Is there a reason you are standing next to a cup?’ ‘If Mr. O was chopped up ,how many cups would he fill?’
Open Strategy Cup Stacking • The Anchor Chart • Title • Group members names • Diagram of stacking plan • Different representations (table, graph, equation) • Calculation of number of cups needed (multiple ways if possible)
Testimonials: “I really liked the activity approach because it put math into realistic, understandable situations.” “ I took this course last year, but this year it was so much easier to understand. The ideas stuck in my head longer.” “ Pretty sick. I understood it way more than last year. I like reviewing everything over and over again. Not just doing it once and it being on the exam
Testimonials: “The different things we learned were constantly brought up instead of being put into several units. I liked the activities because it was easier to work on my own with the worksheets after the activity.” “ The lessons were very simplistic and the fact that we rotated through the different lessons was very practical and we didn’t forget the lessons we learned at the start of the course before the exam.” “ We did a lot of activities with props, which helped me understand the lessons better. The fact that we did the paper clip challenge that no other class was able to do was exciting. The more activities we did the more it helped me to understand. We should play more games than work on worksheets.”
