Learn the visual language of maps (perspective, symbols and data) and see how mapping techniques have changed over time. Practice looking at maps as historical artifacts.
Apply the reasoning and proof standard to a problem based on the Fraction Tracks game. Observe as students use a linear model as well as hands-on materials to solve the same problem.
What are some different ways to represent the sum of consecutive powers of 1/2; that is, 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + ..., etc? Explore physical, numeric, geometric and symbolic representations and consider how you represent math in your own mind.
Identify strengths and areas for improvement in an authentic piece of student writing. Provide enough feedback to help the student become a better writer but not too much to overwhelm him or her.
Use an interactive rubric to evaluate areas of strengths and weaknesses in a student's essay on cell phone use in schools. Then compare your responses to another teacher's.
Use an interactive rubric to evaluate areas of strengths and weaknesses in a student's essay on an experience at a skating party. Then compare your responses to another teacher's.
Use an interactive rubric to evaluate areas of strengths and weaknesses in a student's poem comparing school to a watch glass. Then compare your responses to another teacher's.
Learn how to respond to artwork by describing, interpreting meaning and evaluating effectiveness of the piece. You can modify the technique for your students.
There are 20 chips in a container, some are red and some are blue. Take out a few chips and then, based on the chips selected, try to determine how many of each are in the container.
Calculate the area of a rectangle and a triangle as you change one or both of their dimensions. While looking at representations of several different rectangles and triangles, represent your findings in a table and determine if there is a pattern.
Each of three groups of students tried to figure out how five people can share eight cookies. Observe as the groups comes up with very different solutions.
Text accompanied by questions leads students through process of skimming (glancing through text for main idea), scanning (searching text for specific information) and interpretation (grasping and reacting to the deeper message).
Read a lesson description from each grade band (elementary, middle, high school) and adapt the content from that grade band to the other two. Choose the same language and/or culture as the sample descriptions or one your are more familiar with.
Join the celebration by creating paper butterflies that will migrate to their counterparts in Mexico for the winter. Children in Mexico who live beside the monarch's winter sanctuaries send them north in the spring.
Move, rotate and flip seven shapes to form a square. As you work, think about the geometry connections included in the task of making this tangram square.
Explore several representations of how you spend your time during a typical week and compare them to those of another teacher. Which representations are easier to compare?
Work with widgets and milk cartons to think about unit pricing problems and reflect on the various strategies you used to solve these problems. Then create your own unit pricing problem.
Analyze teaching strategies used in four classroom examples. Describe how the teachers incorporated themes of unity and diversity into their lessons and compare your answers to the sample answers provided.
View an engraving and two photographs from U.S. history. As you view these resources, think about what you can identify and interpret through the images, and what kinds of questions you might generate if you were using these images to teach your students.
