TeachteKBeck : My #geniushour, Making Math/Science Connections

I have a confession, my #geniushour project is looking for resources that connect mathematics and science to real life situations. Here is my most recent find:

I found this picture in HGTV Magazine's October/November issue. It is exactly the type of thing I am always on the lookout for, you see I am obsessed with finding pictures, videos, and articles that connect math to any type of real life situation that my students might relate to. Often, the connection is not necessarily something that is of great interest to the students personally. However, they are used to me bringing something of this sort into class, telling a personal story, and then asking them what math they see and/or can explore. This picture provides a great proportional reasoning experience for students. I prompt them to come up with mathematical explorations and record as they share ideas. We use the Standards of Mathematical Practice (SMP) in the Common Core state standards as our guide. For this activity, I might pick SMP 1 - Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

As a curriculum coordinator, I will take this picture, the SMP of focus and then search the grade level standards to make this accessible to all grade levels K-8. Then, I will share with the teachers and hope that a few will experiment with their classes and explore. I am working to find a balance in providing Common Core experiences with the right amount of scaffolding for the teachers. Building capacity is something I was skilled at doing with students in the classroom. I find it more difficult to do with teachers, but I am loving the challenge of being one of the instructional leaders of a school district, not just the instructional leader of a classroom.

I am in the process of collecting close reading resources for the teachers in my school district. It is in the beginning or infancy stages so be patient as I work to organize and tweak what I find.

The resources shared on this page will be periodically edited and revised and updated, they are the beginning of my effort to collect and compile.

Beck’s Close Read Process:

I keep my eyes and ears open at all times for current articles, news stories, student discussions and likes or dislikes
I search resources like:

NPR
Newspapers
Local Television
ESPN - other sports
Anything that will relate to the students
I will do a search on a topic I know is of interest for the students

As I am picking items for Close Reads, I search for information that can be used in a mathematical or scientific nature
As we read and work to find the main idea, details, meanings of technical words and other vocabulary, we also formulate mathematical/scientific questions using the data in the article.
We work with the text for the entire week, in class and as homework in both a mathematical/scientific way and in a Common Core ELA way.
I am particularly interested in looking for proportional reasoning items since it is an area of struggle and foundational for connecting mathematics and science to real life experiences.