Topic for week of April
9, 2012:
I hope everyone had a great Spring Break! Now back to the grind... Our topic this week will be Brace Maps–
Brace maps help to show the part of a whole. How have you utilized a
brace map in your classroom this week? What was your Whole Object?
How many "subparts" were your students able to describe? How
many breakdowns were your students able to break down the Whole Object – more
than 2? Remember to utilize The Frame of Reference to help understand how
your students are coming to their conclusions.
Going a bit further –
Give your students the subparts to see if they can figure out the Whole or Main
Object. Also, you can take a Tree Map to give specific information about
each subpart of the Main Object.
Please post your blog
response to this topic by Friday, April 13, 2012.
Happy blogging :)
Since I was starting a new unit for all my classes this week, I decided to use the Brace Map as a preview tool of the unit we were covering. I did it with my fast track Algebra students on the unit of exponents.
ReplyDeleteThe whole-part was exponents, then I broke that into 4 subparts: multiplication, zero, division, negative exponents. Multiplication had three properties that I broke down again into subparts, and division had two properties. It was a great way to show the laws of exponents, and it will be a geat way to use again when reviewing.
I found the Brace Map a little tough to do on a new unit, but my students liked it as a way to help understand the new topic. I feel to get participation from students with the Brace Map it needs to be something students may already be familiar with not something new or haven't seen before.
Great use of Brace Maps! I also found it hard to incorporate the Brace Map in class, but it seems like you did a great job and that your students really benefitted from the lesson :)
DeleteMy brace map is on completeing the square. This is sometimes difficult for the students to grasp. The objective is to show the students how to set up a perfect square trinomial in order to factor and then use square roots to solve a quadratic equation that could not be solved using the other methods that we had studied. It has two breakdowns, one to get to the factors and the other to get to the solutions.
ReplyDeleteI decided to use a brace map for solids in geometry. I did this as an introduction to surface area and volume for the different solids. We were able to break solids into cones, cylinders, spheres, prisms, and pyramids. We then even broke prisms and pyramids into different subparts from there. I think this will help them in knowing which surface area and volume formulas to use and how to use them.
ReplyDeleteI used a brace map to help my College Prep Algebra 2 class learn how to complete the square, write the equation in vertex form, and find the vertex. The students were having a difficult time remembering the steps of the process and the brace map seemed to help.
ReplyDeleteI struggled to find a use for brace maps this week, but I used it in honors calculus. Derivative rules was the whole and the different rules - power, quotient, product, exponential and logarithmic - were the different parts. Did not seem to help them very much.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear the Brace Map did not help the students very much. Maybe they will use their new knowledge of Brace Maps in to study for other subjects?
DeleteI used a brace map to help organize a review for their upcoming test. "Chapter 9" was the Whole, and each section was a subpart (Similar right triangles, pythagorean theorem, special right triangles, trig ratios). Then, I had them fill in the subparts of the subparts (ex: trig ratios broke down into sine, cosine, tangent, and their inverses). Mission complete.
ReplyDeleteGeometry has always been a difficult subject for many students- I am sure the students found using the brace map as a study tool very helpful. I like the icon!
DeleteI used a brace map to help review for their upcoming quiz on exponents. Exponents was the Whole, and each way to solve exponents was a subpart (multiplication, division, zero, and negative exponents). We then went into under multiplication and division the subparts of those topics (the different rules). I think this helped them see all the ways possible to solve exponents.
ReplyDeleteI used brace maps similar to Mallory and Emily. I used the brace map as a transition from the time I taught multiplication rules for exponents and division rules for exponents. This map was challenging for the students to complete due to implementing it between topics. It would have been more useful to have used it as a review of all of the exponent rules.
ReplyDelete