Hey there! I'm wrapping up my third week teaching high school geometry, and I’ve already spotted some major learning gaps that are impacting students' success in this course. I wanted to share these insights with you since many of you teach middle school and have the ability to address some of these skill gaps before students reach high school. Here are the most significant gaps I’ve encountered so far, along with some actionable tips to help close them: Simplifying Expressions vs. Solving Equations There’s a BIG disconnect between combining like terms and moving terms across an equal sign. Students are struggling with recognizing when to use inverse operations and when they aren't necessary, especially when solving equations involving fractions. Actionable Tips:
Integer Facts If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard, "Since they're both negatives, -5 + -3 is positive 15, right?" I’d be enjoying a really nice dinner out tonight. Integer rules and concepts seem to have completely evaporated. Actionable Tips:
Rushing and Not Reading Many of the mistakes I’ve seen have come from students rushing through their work and not reading problems carefully. For example, simple calculations like 6 + 2 are becoming 12, and students are giving the value of x when the problem asked for the segment length. Actionable Tips:
If you don't already have an intervention program in place to help with skills like these throughout the school year, I highly recommend grabbing one or asking your school to purchase one for you! These skills have all been critical to success, just in the first unit of HS Geometry! I hope this helps as you continue to prepare your students for high school! If you can focus on reinforcing these skills in middle school, it will make a HUGE difference for them later on. Lindsay |
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Good morning! It can be HARD to know what to use and when. Whether you are provided with a curriculum or not, you still might struggle with picking appropriate supplemental resources for each lesson / unit you teach. I've compiled grade level curriculum and activities guides to help - and they are FREE. They will point to you to the perfect supplemental activity/activities not only for each unit, but for each LESSON! They are available for grades 5 - 8 and Algebra 1. I hope you'll find them...
Hey there [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], Do you have students who struggle with math in your classroom? I do. Do you wish more students would participate in your class, but it feels like pulling teeth to get any participation? Yep. Let me introduce you to my friend Juliana Tapper. Juliana was a high school math intervention teacher for many years so she totally gets it. She’s just written a book titled, Teaching 6-12 Math Intervention: A Practical Framework To Engage Students Who Struggle, and it’s...
Happy OCTOBER! Since we are entering "spooky season", I wanted to address themed resources and older students. I think there is a misconception that the older students get, the less they benefit from “seasonal” resources. But seriously, something happens when you give the kids an activity with a pumpkin on it in October and an image of a reindeer in December. For some reason, their attention is spiked – even for just a minute! I’m a big fan of taking hold of those moments of increased...