Musings from Mrs. Galvan

Every year I reassure my geometry students that once we get to congruent triangles, that they will feel more confident about the course. They tend wax nostalgic over predictability of solving equations in algebra and lament the feelings of confusion they experience when learning how to use upwards of 30 theorems and definitions. Learning how to use all these rules in 6 weeks is hard. Students start to feel better we we begin triangle congruency proofs because the goal of each proof is more predictable. Compiled with the fact that those 30 rules are more rehearsed and deductive structure no longer feels like foreign language, their comfort and confidence increase. As eager as I was to get to this part of the course (despite preaching daily on effort and learning from mistakes), I didn't want to just hand them the triangle congruency theorems. I have done just that though in years past, using my excuse of only having 135 forty minute classes each year to relieve my guilt of not doi...

I think my favorite outcome of the 1:1 program at our school is the ability for our students to make videos. I assign each of them a different proof, they recreate the diagram and explain it using jing. This assignment gets them to master a proof enough to teach it. I would assign this even if my students didn't create individual blogs, however, I love how these posts punctuate their portfolios as interactive, comprehensive examples of their learning.  If you are thinking about assigning something like this to your students, take a look at my Video Blog Tips .Here is one of my favorite's from this most recent round for proving triangles congruent. The prompt is below the video. You can also see it on Denise's blog here . Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required. The Prompt: Video Blog Post Requirements 1. Must be typed, including diagram, symbols and tick mark notation (I suggest using Google Drive's Drawing App) Use "re...