Best Ways to Teach Integer Operations to High School Students

Integer Operations and Adding and Subtracting Integers for High School and Middle School Students

The most helpful strategies, activities, and games for reinforcing (or teaching!) integer operations with middle and high school students. Never more shall this be the root of all “But I’m just not a math person…!”

The Foreign Aid Debate: Linear Inequalities

“No!!  Tanzania will end you!” Bringing debate to math It’s far too rare for math teachers to see students jumping out of their seats.  Too many people assume that English and social studies classes are where the real fun can happen–full-tilt debates, discussions, socratic seminars, philosophical chairs, spoken word, etc.  Those people forget how powerful … Read moreThe Foreign Aid Debate: Linear Inequalities

The Population Project: Linear and Exponential Modeling

An article from NPR came in a touch to late to get credit.  It analyzed data from the U.S. Census and reports that babies of color are now the majority. Sadly for NPR, my students broke that story months ago. Enter the population project When we learn new models, we like to know why they matter. … Read moreThe Population Project: Linear and Exponential Modeling

Best Activities for Creating Linear Equations in Slope-Intercept Form

I love building problems for my class, but they take a long time to get right.  Fortunately, many of you have shared your own extraordinary work.  Starting with this post, I’ll try to consolidate my best finds under the tag “best of.” Here are my favorites for creating linear equations in slope-intercept form. #1: Stacking … Read moreBest Activities for Creating Linear Equations in Slope-Intercept Form

Three Favorites: Linear, Exponential, and Quadratic Applications

When I build activities, I often look for patterns in things we talk about outside of class.  Here are three of our favorites from this school year. Early P.S. Don’t skip the final section of this post.  It’s where I explain why they’re our favorites.  Spoiler:  It’s not about the content. Linear:  Buying the Win Among the strongest college … Read moreThree Favorites: Linear, Exponential, and Quadratic Applications