I remember when I was in school and my teacher would say, “you have 15 minutes to complete your quiz and then we are moving onto the next activity”. It would make me panic and then I wasn’t able to focus to do my best work.
 
Therefore, one of the things I never want to do to my students is put pressure on them to finish an assessment in a certain amount of time, so the class could move onto the next task. It’s WAY too much pressure!
 
Of course, I can’t give them all day to complete it, BUT I can give them an ample amount of time to finish and check their work. But, by doing so, I may run into a few problems:

1 – Students that finish early will have nothing to do.
2 – We'd lose learning time, by allowing so much time for an assessment.
 
I didn’t want these things to happen either, so I created some quick, review activities for students to complete when they finished their assessments or work early. I call these iMath activities, which are based on everyone’s favorite apps. Below is a summary of each activity. Click on the image to link to the blog post with more detail about each activity. I specifically created them for an Algebra 1 course, but several of them can be used in 7th and 8th grade math as well.

​*Click on each image to go to the activity.

​Calling all NEW Middle School and High School Math Teachers!!! I have very important advice for you…the best advice I’m ever going to share…ready for it?!
 
YOU CANNOT DO ALL THE THINGS!!!
 
Yes, it’s in caps because I am shouting it!

I remember when I was a first-year teacher and I thought I was going to be the best teacher by creating amazing activities, make every lesson “fun”, get to know each student’s strengths and weaknesses to differentiate for each one, integrate real world projects in every unit of study, follow all the new education trends, etc. I learned pretty quickly that there are only so many hours in a day, and even though I’m a high energy person…I am just one person, and I definitely set my expectations way too high. Quite frankly, even veteran teachers can’t do all the things.

I’m not saying throw in the towel for trying to do all the things. What I’m saying is, YOU can’t do all the things yourself, nor all at one time.

NOT ALL THE THINGS:

• YOU don’t have to re-teach lessons to students who were absent or didn’t get it the first time. There’s YouTube for that.
• YOU don’t have to begin your first year knowing what works and doesn’t work. There are blog posts made by experienced teachers for that.
• YOU don’t have to create every fun activity yourself. There are activities all over the internet you can use….literally thousands and thousands of activities to choose from.
• YOU don’t have to do a real-world project for every single concept. Mini-lessons are great too! There is Desmos for that.
• YOU don’t have to follow every new education trend. Find ONE that will work best for your teaching style and your students. Then, implement that.

These are just a few suggestions of how to work smarter, not harder...because (here it is again), you can't do all the things. 

NOT ALL AT ONE TIME:
​If you are one of those teachers, like myself, that teaches several different grade levels, pick one grade level each year you REALLY want to focus on and improve it. Then, the next year, pick a different grade level. I set up a review cycle of content and implementation goals each year by grade level. It looks something like this:

MORAL OF THIS STORY:
I’m basically saying this…YOU don’t have to know or do everything yourself, and  you absolutely cannot implement it all at one time. Learn from those of us that have been around awhile, and definitely don’t re-invent the wheel. So many amazing ideas and activities are at your finger tips, thanks to the internet. And don't forget to come up with a system for improvements year after year, like my review cycle idea. A little at a time, done well, goes a long way!

FUN ACTIVITIES – get started by using activities from my FREE resource library and my TpT store by clicking on the images below. You can also use our best friends, Google Search and Pinterest to find activities based on each math concept.

LEARN FROM OTHERS
You can find several tips on my BLOG. I’ve also asked some of my math friends to share their best tips…so here they are:

​Have you had a few school days when you wake up to find out you are teaching virtual today instead of in-person learning? And then think…NOOOOOO, I had the BEST activity planned today! This is becoming more and more common. It causes teachers stress, disruption to learning, and overall, is very frustrating.
 
Well, guess what?! I have some MATHTASTIC resources to share with you that you can either use in-person OR virtual because they are printable and digital. That’s right, with ONE resource you have access to both versions, which means you can switch from in-person teaching to virtual (and vice versa) and continue with your original lesson plans.
 
Start using these resources today to save yourself the frustration of having to change your lesson last minute!

REAL WORLD PROJECTS – Are you out for a few days and need students to do independent work? These projects are perfect! Students learn how to connect what they learned in class with real world scenarios.

​BATTLE MY MATH SHIP – Students love this spin on the classic game of Battleship! Students try to sink their opponents' ships by solving math problems. Perfect partner activity to review any math topic. Set them up in a breakout room and away they go! Over 70 battleships to choose from!

​NAME THAT FUNCTION – Working with functions? Great! These activities help students critically think about graphs and their attributes. These were the best for when I had half my class in person and half virtual because students could discuss and learn together no matter their location.

ALGEBRA LESSONS WITH VIDEOS – Teaching a new topic today? No problem. These lessons can be shared with your students via a password protected site. They include a video warm-up, guided notes, and homework. You can demonstrate the learning in Zoom or use some of the FREE pre-recorded videos you will find here: INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS

MATH CHOOSE YOUR OWN JOURNEY BOOKS from Math Giraffe – Within the story are situations in which the reader must solve problems that are integrated into the storyline. Students make choices on how to proceed as well as how they’d like to solve the problems and head to the pages that they are directed to. When a student chooses a method that is not the most efficient way to solve a particular problem, the book explains why their choice was not the best and directs them how to continue. When they choose an incorrect equation, they are corrected. Since the book is partially self-correcting, the teacher correcting and grading is very minimal.

In this post I will be using the term learning targets, also known as objectives, benchmarks, indicators, and standards. Each school uses different verbiage, so I wanted to clarify before reading further.

​
I need to preface this post by letting everyone know I did not come up with the idea of clip charts. I have to give the credit to a colleague of mine named Joey. When I was a Curriculum Director, I was observing Joey giving a lesson. That’s when I saw the clip charts hanging in the front of his classroom. I LOVED everything about them! Find out why…

What are clip charts?
Clip charts are a way for teachers to display content they want students to refer to during a lesson and/or unit. In my classroom, I use them to show all the learning targets for a unit of study. They are great to hang up at the beginning of a unit, mark off as you work through each learning target, and highlight the learning target of the day with an arrow. Simple and easy way to show what students learned, are learning, and are going to learn.

​Why are clip charts helpful for teachers?
I don’t know about you, but I constantly was forgetting to post the learning target each day. I was getting mad at myself, not only because it is an expectation set by our school and I was dropping the ball, BUT because I knew my students wanted to understand what their learning goals were each day.

I was having a hard time planning, organizing, and consistently posting the standard on the board for various reasons. When I saw the clip charts hanging in Joey’s room, I knew in that instant that they were going to solve my problems…​

• Ever have to change a lesson last minute? No problem! All you have to do is move the arrow to the different learning target.
• Have a substitute? No worries, the learning target is already posted.
• Forget to post the learning target on the board? No you didn’t…it’s already posted for the entire unit of study.
• Can’t remember which learning targets you used last year? Problem solved. You can reuse these year after year, so you don’t have to remember.
• Ever have a student want to know what they are going to learn every single day? Great! All the learning targets are posted for the entire unit.

 
These will help you stay organized, save you time, and benefit your students…basically make your life easier, with simple preparation that lasts years.

Why are clip charts helpful for students?
One of my former students came up to me one day and said that she missed me as her teacher. One of the reasons was because she always knew what we were learning each day, as I had made it so clear with the clip charts. With her current teacher, it wasn’t posted anywhere, not even by topic on the handouts. She felt this was negatively affecting how she was able to prepare and study for assessments.

Maybe this teacher was having the same issues I had before I started using clip charts? Either way, students NEED to know thee learning targets in order to be successful. Clip charts are an easy way to solve this because students are able to view the learning targets throughout the unit. 

Ready to solve your learning target problems?!
​Awesome! I have a free clip chart set on linear equations waiting for you in my resource library. Subscribe her to get instant access!

​Do you already know you want full sets that are EDITABLE?!
​I have that too! Click below on the classroom set you need.

Want to see other ways you can use clip charts in math class?
You can use them for formulas and step-by-step instructions to simplify expressions and solve equations. Many uses to help support students during the learning process! Check out Mr Jones Online for these types of clip charts.

My math catchphrase is “connecting knowledge with understanding”, which you can read more about HERE. Every time I create an activity, this phrase is what I think about. It helps me stay focused on the true goal and outcome of what I want for each activity.

There is one activity in particular that really embodies this statement. It’s an activity that I’ve used over and over with my students for different types of functions. At first, students tend to have productive struggle with this activity. BUT once they get the hang of it, they realize how making these connections helps them fully understand functions and their graphs. I call this activity Name That Function.

​​​Linear Functions
​slope, y-intercept, x-intercept, points on the line, slope-intercept form, point-slope form,  standard form, and parallel and perpendicular lines (optional).

Characteristics of Functions
domain, range, intercepts, local min, local max, intervals of increase and decrease, end behavior, parent functions, continuity, and evaluating a function from a graph

Rational Functions
factor and simplify, vertical asymptotes, holes, horizontal asymptotes, x-intercepts, y-intercepts, and domain

Parent Functions
domain, range, symmetry, intervals of increase and decrease, end behavior, and the parent function equation

Why is this activity helpful?
I cannot tell you how many times students treat equations and graphs as separate entities that have no connection. When, in fact, everything about them is 100% connected! I think this happens because we, as teachers, scaffold the content, and in doing so separate each aspect of a function into separate lessons. Which makes them appear disconnected.

Great news! This activity brings an entire function unit together, so students can understand functions based on the equation, attributes, and graph as a whole.

Do students enjoy this activity?
Yes, my students enjoy making these connections and feel more prepared for assessments because of it! But you don’t have to take my word for it. Here are some reviews from other math teachers that have used these activities in their classroom as well:

Great activity! Worked out perfectly in my stations and my students were very engaged! Thank you for sharing your creativity with me! – TexasMath4Success
 
Excellent resource! Really helped my students make the connections I wanted them to make. Thank you! – Passion 4 Mathin
 
This was a great activity after our introductory lesson. Students were able to compare and contrast different types of quadratics and it reinforced the concepts of min/max and vertex form. – Anna K.
 
I used this as a group test in my class. Students loved the activity and we’re challenged to really understand all aspects of quadratic functions. – The Square Root of Teaching
 
Great activity - my kids were able to apply their understanding and had great math conversations while they were working together. – Heather K.
 
Such rich discussions took place with this activity. It worked great as a chapter review.
– Michelle E.
 
Was very helpful for my students of different levels, engaging – Shan H B.
 
Perfect activity to test students knowledge and application of properties of quadratics and how they affect both graph and equations. – Grove Math
 
This resource had just the rigor I was looking for! Thank you! I had my students use it in groups. I used part A for my on-level class and part B for my honors class. Great resource!
​– Theresa Simmons
 
This activity engages students to understanding characteristics of function families. Great discourse and enrichment activity. – Tony R.
 
Used for an in-class activity. Engaging and fun for students. Activity was thorough with great examples included.  – Kristina R.
 
Students had to think to get the whole picture. Thanks! – Lynn S.
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