Factoring with Algebra Tiles
This is a lesson/activity that I am most proud of creating this semester. It was a hit, especially fun for the kids because they were able to be hands on and play with the different pieces and physically build polynomials. The students were able to physically see the multiplication of two binomials and factor simple trinomials. Below are the reference sheets used, an outline/lesson plan of how I wanted the class period to go and a reflection.
|
|
Reflection
For the first period I taught this lesson, I found the need for there to be many changes made before the next period began. Thank goodness I had a couple of class periods to figure it out! I am not saying that it was a horrible execution the first time, but there were a few kinks that needed to be straitened out. The biggest kink was displaying student work and how they built their rectangles compared to mine. When I built my rectangles, I noticed I was building them in the most basic of ways. My students were building their rectangles in forms that I never thought about. It was amazing. But as I was drawing examples of rectangles on the board I was only showing my interpretation and not pulling from the student's interpretations. For the next class period, my CT and I came up with the plan to use my phone and display it through the airplay. So during building time, I walked around and took pictures of the student's examples and was able to display them on the board. I loved this idea and the kids loved it too! All of them wanted me to take pictures of their creations, but we had to take turns. Everyone was a lot more engaged during this period. The tiles engaged them in the previous period, but not like this. I had more meaningful discussion that I did before. I wish I had saved the pictures of the student's creations. It was fascinating.