Math Presentations Part 1: Grade 7 or 8

Hi everyone! It's been a long time since my last blog post, but I am back for the new semester! Last week in my Math Teaching course, we were given the opportunity to present on a lesson activity that we would do in a grade 7 or 8 classroom. One of the presentations that really stood out to me was geared towards a Grade 8 level class learning about plotting coordinates (x, y) on a coordinate grid.

In order to spice up a traditionally dry mathematics concept, Ms. J decided to try something different. She took a kinesthetic approach to her activity by having students move around the classroom from station to station. She had eight stations set up around the classroom, so she divided the class into 8 groups and directed each group to a different station. At the first station, students would be given the coordinates for a stick figure's head and bottom. They would plot their stick figure on their coordinate grid, and they would fill in the accompanying chart to decide whether the stick figure was standing upright (head to bottom) or upside down (bottom to head). Once each group had figured out their man's initial position, they would be given a clue to help them find their next coordinate. Ms. F was helping them figure out transformations such as reflections and shifts, so each clue would focus on transforming Mr. Stick Figure's position in some way. When the students had completed their transformation and had the new coordinate position, they would need to look around the classroom to find the station that had their matching coordinate. At the next station, students would find their next transformation clue, complete the transformation, obtain the new coordinate, and move onto the station that had a matching coordinate. Students would proceed around the classroom like this until they had completed each of the eight stations.

As a reflection/consolidation of what they had learned, Ms. F would ask her students to take Mr. Stick Figure's current position, and help move him back home, so that he could go to sleep. In order to complete this task, students would need to know his last coordinate position, whether he was upright or upside down, and the coordinates of his house. They would need to find a transformation that would help get into a sleeping position (sideways) in his house!

I thought that this was a great activity because it got students moving and thinking, two things that are essential parts of learning. As teachers, we know that students cannot sit down for long periods of time because it's hard for them to sit still and concentrate; therefore, having them move around the classroom, while still doing math was a great way to promote student engagement, and give them an opportunity to stretch their limbs. I also loved the way that Ms. F helped students understand the transformations that were happening to Mr. Stick Figure because they could clearly see when he was shifting, reflecting, or moving from an upright position to an upside down position. If I ever get the opportunity to teach grade 8, I would love to try this in my classroom! However, I think that Ms. F also taught me that this lesson or concept of a scavenger hunt through the stations, can be applied in different grade levels and subjects across the curriculum. I am looking forward to incorporating movement and fun scavenger hunt activities in my math classroom!