http://nixthetricks.com/
Go to the tab "Draft Sections" and choose Tricks Open to Commentary
Take some time to explore this document and comments that were added with a Notice, Think, and Wonder frame of mind.
1. Notice: What jumps out at you as important information?
2. Think: What connections can you make to previous learning?
3. Wonder: What questions do you have about what your reading/experiencing?
Comment on the folowing:
1. What did you Notice, Think, or Wonder about what you read?
2. Please respond to others as the comments come in
I liked the comment "It cuts out the reasoning and discovery. It is better to have students discover this on their own." I think of sitting in a math class copying notes into my notebook with no real understanding as to how it applies to the real world. The Trix got me through the class. Can we do more then just remove the trix ? Can we actively engage students by: group projects, math stations, videos, real world applications, building simple models that apply math skills.
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ReplyDeleteI think that it is a great idea to have teachers submit additional trick and a suggested fix for each.
A good one that pertains to 6th grade is the trick of using “is over of “for percent problems. A few years ago we changed the wording to “percent over 100 equals part over whole. “ This allowed us to be sure the students understood what was actually happening when they were working with percents. After they learned the concept, we then used the words “is” and “of”, but they words had meaning.
I don't have any additional questions at this point!
Karen,
DeleteI almost forgot about that %/100 = is/of I like the way you changed it for understanding which I will use in my class too. I am guilty of using the old adage, and using part/whole makes way more sense. Thanks!
Karen, I agree. I don't use "is/of". Instead I ask the students to understand the problem to find out what they are given and what they are finding. It is actually much easier for them than trying to remember "is/of".
DeleteI definitely think it makes more sense to them. I made this change after talking with the 7th grade teachers. We really try to keep common vocabulary.
DeleteYES Karen, that is the first one that came to my mind berfore starting this book. I never knew what is over of was other then words. It had NO meaning!!
DeleteWhen I introduce this concept to students in 6th grade, I first use tape diagrams. I have found my students have a deeper understanding this way as opposed to years back when I just gave them the proportion and had them filling in pieces.
DeleteI thought this was an interesting article because it was like a “field guide” to “nix the Tricks”. I noticed and liked how it presented concrete nixes and fixes and were presented in a Common Core format. I especially liked how they gave you the “because”. That was clearer to me than how it was presented in the book. The other thing I noticed and liked was how they gave you a link to refer to to see it in action. I found these links very useful. As I read through and checked some of the links, I realized that a lot of what they presented in this article was much like the book. Some of the explanations were the same and I could understand them because I had already read the book. Like I said, I especially like that there were links provided when available and would certainly show some of them to students. Something I did wonder was if there were more nix tricks available at the elementary level. I would think that would be where you would definitely want concepts taught, not tricks. I am thinking about doing some research myself to see if I can find anything at the elementary level.
ReplyDeleteI wondered the same thing about more elementary level tricks. Many of the tricks in the book were above my grade level.
DeleteI liked the description for why when students function that the comment was "Its construction and why it works is magic" all too often when I am teaching math my students seem to think that I am making it up as if it's magic. When I simply am using a formula and simplifying. For instance we were estimating concrete to pour a pad at my school in our pole barn and I asked the students to tell me how to measure a cubic yd. When I explained that it is approx. the same as a 10'x 10' area of the classroom floor they didn't believe me. All I did was simply the v=lxwxt formula. This was very interesting to see this on-going discussion for math teachers. I will definitely refer back to this site in the future.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how many students cannot visualize what a square foot really is....what a cubic yard really is. Students entering the building trades field need to be proficient in their knowledge of fractions and determining half of a measurement. I am guessing you have your work cut out for you with many students...
DeleteI like the idea of a work in progress where teachers can comment. The important information that jumped out to me was "Nix what you do to the top you do to the bottom." I find myself saying this. I did explain only once that it was like multiplying (or dividing) by 1, but I need to nix that from my vocabulary for next year and write in the fraction bar. 2/3 x 3/3 = 6/9 I still have questions about a better way to teach the order of operations. I know it was in the book, but I didn't think the fix was much better than the trick on that one.
ReplyDeleteI like your thought about order of operations. I think I may have to use the GEMA trick instead of PEMDAS. I still have the feeling that some tricks are ok if they serve as a mnemonic device.
DeleteI noticed a couple more tricks that I currently use (What you do to the bottom-you must do to the top, mean means to add all numbers and divide by the number of numbers). I also noticed some tricks that I hate other teachers using! I really like the idea of utilizing a google doc to have other teachers contribute to current tricks being used in daily lessons.
ReplyDeleteYes! Its one of the best tools for distance learning and having PLC's
DeleteOur district has recently started using Google applications, and I agree, it is a great way to share ideas with others! Perhaps we should create a cross district math Google Doc so teachers can more easily share information across grade levels.
DeleteI noticed that many tricks are tricks I am not familiar with using. I think there are tricks available and used at the elementary level, but are slowly being phased out of the curriculum. The implementation of the CCLS and the math modules has paved the way for conceptual understanding and less room/emphasis for tricks. I liked the Google doc and think it is a great way to share information. It allows people to share and engage in conversation.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that many of the tricks were created for upper grade level concepts. Clearly there are tricks at the elementary level, but perhaps we are doing a better job of eliminating them from the curriculum. I liked that the author provides an open forum for educators to contribute their own tricks and fixes.
ReplyDeleteKelly~ I agree about the tricks being more at the upper grade levels. Maybe that's a good thing for us elementary teachers!!
DeleteI agree the idea of a work in progress where teachers can collaborate together is awesome. When teachers get together great things happen. What stood out to me was what the one teacher that said under operations. Every time a student is introduced to a new kind of number, they think they have to learn a whole pile of new procedures. Getting them to not shut down is key when introducing new topics. I like to start class with a little review of what we've been learning and link it the new topic.
ReplyDeleteNix: Switch the numbers.
ReplyDeleteThis is a huge one that is misused. Students look confused at me when we go through the motions of multiplying then diving back through. They all say "why couldn't we just have switched the bottom number with the number on the other side of the equals sign." It is fine that they can see that trick but then they keep trying to use it for everything!
Nix: What you do to the top, you have to do to the bottom.
I am guilty of using this phrase quite often but I started to make sure to tell the students why. It is not changing the fraction it is just "chopping the whole in to smaller or more pieces." Then I proceed to show them with a picture. If I don't show them this they will forget the trick in but they will remember something about a common denominator but they will for get to multiply the numerator, I have seen this 1000 times!
Nix: Mean means add and divide by how many there are
I learned "Mean" in high school with several classes. We looked at it as average while in middle school, it became the mean once we got to high school, then it took on a whole new ball game in AP Statistics Senior year. I love central tendencies and I love talking about the comparisons between them all and which ones in certain situations better represent the "middle" number. But when you talk about mean as just an addition/division problem the students lose the full potential. They forget what you have to divide by or interchange it with median and mode forgetting the differences. Mean in my past has been one of the most important formulations that exists.
I think looking through the book and the forum I realize now just how many tricks there are that exist in the Mathematics classroom. Almost to the point where when a topic comes in the curricula we just think of a perfect trick to help the students learn it and forget why they are actually learning it. Students aren't learning to just add more tricks to their bag of knowledge they are actually supposed to learn math so they are stronger intellectually and can reason their way through life. With tricks it has just become more of a guessing game.
With common core, students in 6th grade are now expected to compare the measures of central tendency and know the best one to use in a given situation. The expectations of our children has increased so much, with some of it, are they developmentally ready for it?
DeleteThe cross cancel sticks out for me. For GCF and LCM, I don't teach using prime factorization. They show this as the fix for reducing. I will have to try this in my classroom. Maybe the cross reduce in multiplying fractions is a quick way to finish a problem. I experience a lot of frustrated parents say to me that they cannot help their child because math is not taught the way they learned it. More work in progress and as the younger students come up through the grades with common core, it should keep getting better.
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