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Chapter 4 – Planning

Knowing the mathematical content and more, including teaching from the overflow of knowledge implies careful planning and organization. Prior to teaching, it is imperative that the topics covered be carefully contemplated, studied, and organized. This thinking and organizing need to be done well in advance to allow time for the ideas to germinate and blend into your subconscious. An effective teacher plans carefully. Advanced planning also provides the opportunity to connect topics from different lessons throughout the course.

Exercises

Exercise 4.1

  1. Create a list of advantages and disadvantages for each of the following evaluation techniques:
    • quizzes
    • tests
    • portfolios
    • group work
    • reports
    • individual projects
    • Online applications.

List any assessment techniques you feel are inappropriate for a secondary mathematics class and describe why you think they would not work for you.

Exercise 4.2 How can shared applications be effectively utilized?

  1. How can shared online applications such as Google Docs be used for planning?
  2. How can teachers of mathematics use shared folders such as Box to plan common lessons?
  3. How can school administrators use shared folders such as Google Drive to share information?

Exercise 4.3 How can online assessment tools be used for effective planning?

  1. Create a 2 problem assessment using an only assessment tool such as formative https:\\www.formative.com and get students to take the assessment outside of class.  How are the results beneficial to your planning?
  2. Name 3 online assessment tools that can be used to inform your planning.

Problem Solving Challenges

1. Largest Number   

What is the largest number you can write using three digits? You may use a digit more than once.

Hint:  What about exponents?

Answer

Answer/solution: .

Using nines for each digit, there are four choices: 999, 999, 999, and .

999  = 999

999 = 913517247483640899

999 = 29512665430652752148753480226197736314359272517043832886063884637676943433478020332709411004889

has over 356,000,000 digits.

2. Handy Man

A man walks into a hardware store. He buys 1 for a dollar, 50 for two dollars, and 200 for three dollars. What is the man buying?

Hint:  Think about Amazon Deliverables.

Answer

Answer/solution: House numbers (decals).

Typical guesses include nuts, bolts, nails, washers, etc. Actually, the 1 is made up of one digit, 50 is made up of two digits, and 200 is made up of three digits. Each digit (decal) costs $1.  Therefore, if your house number is 200, then you would need three digits, which would cost $3.

Additional Learning Activities

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