Resources


 * Useful Resources **

My AT had put together a package of brain teasers for his students of about 30 brainteasers. If the students finished their work early, they would be given a brainteaser as something to do so that they would not get loud and disturb others. This use of 'sponge' activities was invaluable when presenting my lessons as I found it that was difficult to get the timing right for my lessons
 * Brainteasers or sponges (Amy K.)**

The Life and Death of a Pumpkin - [] A short film about a pumpkin. If you start the movie just after he says “I am a pumpkin”, have the students listen to the sound track of what is happening and see if they can figure out what is happening in the video based on the sound effects. Then as an activity, have students write a story where they describe a day in the life of an object, giving it personification, without naming the object outright.
 * Language Arts - Creative Writing (Halloween Theme)** - Chris Nelan

In a meeting today with my AT, and an advisor from the Board, I learned about an online tutoring service for students from grade 7 through 10. Students in a registered board can create an account and receive assistance from Ontario Certified Teachers from 5:30pm to 9:30pm on Sunday through Thursday nights. As a teacher, parent, or non-student, we can also sign on through a Guest account to observe tutoring sessions, or search through commonly asked questions. Tutoring is 1 on 1, confidential and interactive as students and tutors can write on a shared digital whiteboard, and can use microphones and speakers where available. The website is www.homeworkhelp.ilc.org, and students can register and sign-up using their DOB and OEN. I also saw this (I have my own copy of the information sheet). It sounds great in practice, but does it work? In my AT's class, marks didn't change after signing up. In fact, he doubted any students actually tried this beyond their first try. Because of the structure of this website, a specific question can take about 45 minutes to answer. Of course, this is all based on last year's observations. I personally think the spirit of the idea is great - but the execution could use some work (e.g. they need more teachers to ask questions, students should be able to answer questions that they are comfortable (and qualified) to answer, etc.) (Steve H) My AT said that a lot of the students in his class benefited from the online tutoring. My AT said that the wait time was closer to 10 minutes for questions to be answered. He gave the students class time to help them sign up for accounts and most of the students seemed interested and talked about going home to try it out. There are also a few other benefits from the site (Videos, sample past questions and answers and some online lectures about math problems). This other content may help students answer questions even without actually speaking to the tutor. Although some of the students weren't happy with the days and times the site is available (For example, they can't ask questions on Friday or Saturday night - they need to wait until Sunday night to get questions answered) (Lisa)
 * Free Tutoring for Students Grade 7 through 10 (Greg L)**

Check out this site. The idea is that students log in and get to compete with other students in "flash card" type games (basic mental math skills and patterning and other things - I only saw it used for about 15 minutes). The cool thing? They're competing in real time with students in many other countries. I heard kids yelling across the room saying, "I just beat this kid from the Ukraine!" or "This stupid American kid just rocked me". Maybe not the most positive thing but at least they were excited about it. Kids with really high scores get entered into a draw and can win real prizes (I think things like trophies that are mailed to their school). Please note the cost of this site per student. To Robin: Yeah, this is totally competition driven and kids aren't trying to learn math so much as trying to just beat each other //with// math - something we're trying to move away from but it seemed like I should at least put it out there.
 * Mathletics.ca (Steve H)**

Hey!! Brian, I was at this meeting at the board too!! I did not see you! I thought it was a very helpful meeting! They handed out a binder full of examples of EQAO, assessment, expectations, etc. to help bridge the gap between grade 8 and grade 9 in terms of math! The binder came in digital copy and I have it saved to my computer, please let me know if you would like me to email you any of this! I can't seem to upload the files on here! The books Brian listed below are very good resources for sure!! Also, there is a website of resources for the Ontario Educational Resource Bank (OERB) http://resources.elearningontario.ca Apparently it is really good to find resources!!
 * Ontario Educational Resource Bank (Jess)**

Attended the 'Family of Schools Math session' at the Durham District Schhol Board, part of a PD for my AT. Lots of talk about numbers and EQAO, but a resouce handed out was a book called: **More Good Questions //by Marian Small and Amy Lin//**. Looks like an excellent recource for Math teachers. Another title: **Good Questions: Great Ways to Differentiate Mathematics Instruction //by Marian Small//**. That sounds great! My AT personally chose not to go to it because he finds them to be a general waste of time. I'd love to see that book when we get back from practicum! (Steve)
 * More Good Questions (Brian)**

BrainPOP (Liz) This is a fantastic site for quick Minds On videos about Curriculum Based Mathematics! Subject matter goes from K-12 and also touches upon other curriculum materials! Students loved the geeky robot, and enjoyed trying out the quizzes during computer lab time! Also, there is a special page for educators, where you can search for topics based on your Curriculum! [|BrainPOP Website]

**Short worksheets used throughout a lesson are excellent (Christe M.)** Solving linear equations at a grade-8 level is like doing the hardest calculus question in grade-12. Usually these questions require several steps to complete - a concept that is different than what the students are normally accustomed to (i.e. basic arithmetic). In fact, I had a student interrupt the class just to tell me that algebra isn't really math - an allegation that cost me five minutes of my teaching time explaining to him why it is. Anyways, I find that giving simple algebra worksheets during the lesson is an amazing way of practicing each step piecewise. For instance, if they are to solve 2(x) + 1 = 3, this question requires two steps, namely, subracting 1 from each side, and then dividing the number beside the variable by itself on both sides:

2(x) + 1 = 3
 * Step 1:** 2(x) + 1 - 1 = 3 - 1

At this point, you should give them a worksheet with roughly 10 questions to work on this single step. This is an excellent way of assessing them and knowing whether they got the concept right or not. //If they have trouble with this concept, how is it logical to go on and show them step 2?// The best place to get these worksheets is from this website I found and used several times - it worked like a charm. Go to: [] and then click [] for addition and substraction. This will offer an amazing worksheet in .docx format - just print and photocopy for the whole class.

x = 1 ... A worksheet for this step can also be found on the same website. Enjoy!
 * Step 2:** 2(x) / 2 = 2 / 2

Textbook resources are wonderful. They are certainly not ideal lesson plans, but they have great ideas that can be incorporated into a lesson plan that I can make my own. It even had opportunities to show me how I can tailor my lesson to identified students such as ESL, or extensions for those who finished early.
 * Starting with the Textbook (Amy)**