We cheerfully arranged to meet later that day. “…that you could help me with my Desmos art project? It’s due soon and it’s really hard.” “Do you think…” she paused, and then started again with lowered voice. She had an impressively high growth score on last year’s state test. She now advocates for support when she’s feeling confused. I’ve known her for years, and I’m enormously proud of her mathematical journey. “Aww, I miss working with you, too!” I gushed. Laib!!! I miss working with you!” Last year, she was in a section of 7th grade that I co-taught, and I saw her in a small group for part of the school year. Nora had been wrestling with her feelings around the transition from our little K-8 school to the town’s only high school, and so she was working on a nostalgic rendition of the PBS Kids logo, a fixture of her youth. Sebastian had designed a Puerto Rican flag to honor his heritage. Within a few days, graphs were shaping into true artwork. (Outline a set of points, and the Desmos graphing calculator will shade the interior!) Then, after students had mucked about with inequalities for a few days, she introduced the polygon tool as an inefficient way to color in areas. The next day, she taught them how to create a custom color. She gave them formulas to help create unfamiliar figures, like circles and ellipses. and then breadcrumbed different techniques over the course of the week. The classroom teacher had given some loose constraints - use at least 8 linear equations, use at least 4 inequalities, use at least 4 horizontal lines, etc. It is a glorious capstone to their K-8 math experience at our school. In the last week of two of school, the 8th graders worked on Desmos art projects.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |