Reflection of today's team teaching on "percentage"

In today's team teaching , I am of the opinion that everyone of us did a great work on their own part . However, we would have done a great lesson if we would  have add some activities,or maths models for percentage.  Also,  the usage of percentage in everyday life should be made clear with more visual aids. According to the evaluation, if their was a little bit loose start then at that time if we support each other then we might handle the starting of the lesson. Overall, in terms of  time-management as well organization ,we did good .
                                 Mistakes indicate that we are learning
                                                       Great work Team!

Teachers: Jessica, Mandeep, Simran

Topic	Intro to Percentages
Grade level	8
PLO	A3 demonstrate an understanding of percents greater than or equal to 0%
Objective	Students will be able to use the given percentage to find the required information. Students will be able to find percentage of two given whole numbers. Students will have the understanding of the percentage sign.
Materials	White board and marker. Lifespan cards.
Prior Knowledge	Students know division and multiplication.
Intro/Hook	4 mins	Percentage sign %, no calculations here. Discuss how many pennies make up a dollar. (nickels, dimes, quarters). Each group still represents one dollar. On the board, draw out a circle representing a dollar and then fill in 25% to represent 1 quarter.
Development	4 mins	Finding a percent of any number with respect to another number (comparative number) Here percent represent the fraction with denominator 100,While the number represent the amount. Example1 -  if i have 40  halloween  candies ,i gave  10 % of candies to my son ,then what is the number of  candies i gave to my son? Solution- Here, 40 is comparative number    10% of 40 candies = 10/100* 40 =  4 candies to my son Example 2-   If i have 40 halloween candies ,i gave 10 to my daughter,then what is the percentage of the candies i gave to my daughter? Solution-       10/40*100 =25 % of  the total number of candies to my daughter
Activity	3 mins	-Give each student a “Lifespan” card - Ask them to fill out the blanks on the card, their age etc - Explain the question on the card and tell them to do their calculations on the back of the card - let the students work in pairs of two for 2 minutes - go around and make sure everyone's clear on the activity
Closure	1 min	go over the idea of percentage and how it can be used in daily life. For ex: at the shopping mall, calculating the time you have left before you have to get ready for school or dividing your food into portions and eat a certain percentage at a time. It becomes very easy to picture what's gone and what's left if you convert things into percentage.

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BC Math 8 and 9 curriculum guide

A3 demonstrate an understanding of percents greater than or equal to 0% [CN, PS, R, V]

• provide a context where a percent may be more than 100% or between 0% and 1%
• represent a given fractional percent using grid paper represent a given percent greater than 100 using grid paper
• determine the percent represented by a given shaded region on a grid, and record it in decimal, fractional, and percent form
• express a given percent in decimal or fractional form
• express a given decimal in percent or fractional form
• express a given fraction in decimal or percent form
• solve a given problem involving percents solve a given problem involving combined percents (e.g., addition of percents, such as GST + PST)
• solve a given problem that involves finding the percent of a percent (e.g., A population increased by 10% one year and then 15% the next year. Explain why there was not a 25% increase in population over the two years.)

Problem solving :Polygon folding Activity(Individual Assignment)

                                   

Dave Hewitt's video Reflection

Dave Hewitt's video is an excellent example of students centred classroom. The various strategies he used in order to encourage students to participate in class' activities is awesome. The students are encouraged to come to the front to solve the problem . The teachers presence is just to facilitate the students thinking . It was the students who are doing the learning activities rather than teacher. I never thought of that idea of  teaching integers to my class just by tabbing the stick without writing . It was amazing.

"Arbitrary and Necessary"

• Dave Hewitt’s article related to “Arbitrary and Necessary” forces me to think that math is not about the memorization of the “arbitrary” terms and names rather than the awareness of the “necessary” mathematical knowledge.  According to Hewitt, “arbitrary” are the conventions, symbols, or the names, which we are using in math. I would say the conventions mean the mathematical language. These conventions are just the choices made at sometime in the past. These did not have any proofs or reasons behind their names or their existence.  For example, why we call tangent as a tangent? We cannot prove the name “tangent” because it is arbitrary. On the other hand, when we talk about the properties of the tangent (it is a line, which touches the given circle at one point), then these properties are the “necessary” for the students. They may have the awareness of this fact or the teacher can introduce tasks, which help students to use their awareness in coming to know what is “tangent”.
• In my lesson plan, I would try to relate the necessary and arbitrary. For example, I would relate the words tangent and touch (the line which touches the circle). Hence, from the word touch they can easily relate the tangent. Consequently, if they understand about the tangent then they would continue to explore about the properties of the tangent. My role is to encourage and scaffold the students to use their own awareness.

Snap Math Fair Feild Trip to Museum of Anthropology

Snap math fair at the museum of anthropology was really a great experience for us. Students of the” West Point Grey Academy” did a great hard work in making that fair successful. They were so confident in their projects. One of the students told us that they came in that museum a week before too in order to do the research of the various arts in that museum. Therefore, they molded their project according to the museum artwork. I think that is the main reason we saw a great relationship between the math’s project and museum’s artwork. The hard work done by the students amazed all of us. They confidently explained the problem and after that, they use the scaffolding technique in order to encourage us and in case we solve their problem, they gave us prizes. It was a really a nice experience. I learned a lot from that math fair trip.

SNAP MATH FAIR

SNAP Math fair reminds me the  family math fair which i had attended in UBC campus. It was so exciting because the problem which we took was not age specific and it was tried by everyone in the family as the name of the fair is family- fair. For instance , a small kindergarten girl tried that problem and with the help of parents she finally solved it. In the similar way, i also want to do the same kind of math fair in my practicum in which the problem  would be given to the  groups of  students  In my opinion it would gives an opportunity to everyone to explore the problem without the fear of failure as they are  going to solve the problem in groups. Also in that fair i would appreciate their efforts rather than its outcomes.