SPIRALING THROUGH
THE CURRICULUM
EMAIL:
ALEXANDER.OVERWIJK@OCDSB.CA
@ALEXOVERWIJK
SLAMDUNKMATH.BLOGSPOT.COM
MARY.BOURASSA@OCDSB.CA
@MARYBOURASSA
MARYBOURASSA.BLOGSPOT.CA
Twitter
Math
Camp
2014
AL’S STORY – ACTIVIT Y BASED TEACHING
 Frustrated by the lack of engagement of
our at-risk learners
 Something had to change!
 Opportunity to
collaborate to rethink
our approach and make
significant changes
SPIRALING DEEPER WITH
ACTIVITY-BASED TEACHING
 Curriculum is spiraled within the course
 Focus on teaching through engaging
activities
 Activities on a daily basis. No more units!
 Activities that cover more than one
overall expectation are better (but not
necessary)
 Skills developed in the “context” of the
activities
SPIRALING ACTIVITIES /TASKS
Start
C
O
M
P
L
E
X
I
T
Y
End
Teacher-directed, scaffolded activities
Connections built on prior knowledge
Investigations with greater complexity
Co-created criteria for quality questions,
communication and thinking.
Open-ended, student-directed,
rich learning tasks
GRADE 10 APPLIED MATHEMATICS
GRADE 10 APPLIED MATHEMATICS
 I blogged the whole course here:
http://marybourassa.blogspot.ca
Graphing Technology
Algebra Tiles
Manipulatives
Pennies
…anything that helps!
Every day & on all
evaluations
BENEFITS
 Repeated opportunities as the
students do activities (for assessment,
for gap filling, for retention of
curriculum)
 Multiple entry points for all students
 Natural opportunities for
differentiated instruction
 Collaborative learning environment
BENEFITS
 Increase in accountable talk
 Improved long-term retention of course
material “Students know what they know”
 Fewer discipline problems
 Increased student engagement
 Math concepts are explored through the
context of the activity
BENEFITS
 Activities are high interest, hands-on
and contextual
 Increased opportunity for critical
thinking
 Connections to the curriculum and
within the curriculum are made
naturally
 Lots of time to get through the course
BENEFITS
26 SQUARES
26 SQUARES
26 SQUARES
BARBIE BUNGEE
EVER INCREASING DOMINOES
Cube-aLinks for
Expanding
and
Factoring
EQUAL CUP STACKS
ROPES
PAPER CLIP CHALLENGE
GROWING DINOSAURS
OPEN STRATEGY CUP STACKING
OPEN STRATEGY CUP STACKING
What Questions come
to mind?
‘How many cups does it take to
make Mr. O’s height?’
The most frequently
‘In cups,
what is the width of Mr.
asked
question……
Overwijk?’
‘Is there a reason you are standing
next to a cup?’
‘How many cups does
Mr. O was chopped up ,how
it take‘Ifmany
to
make Mr.
cups would he fill?’
O’s height?’
OPEN STRATEGY CUP STACKING
OPEN STRATEGY CUP STACKING
The Anchor Chart
 Title
 Group members names
 Diagram of stacking plan
 Different representations
(table, graph, equation)
 Calculation of number of
cups needed (multiple
ways if possible)
OPEN STRATEGY CUP STACKING
OPEN STRATEGY CUP STACKING
Describe what you learned today
After Today’s Activity what are you still
unsure about or wondering about?
‘That the result can change depending on
how you stack them’
‘I am still kinda confused about equations’
‘I learned how to create proper graphs for
this’
‘If the result will change if different cups
were used (bigger width)’
‘I learned proper graphing skills and when
to use linear regression’
‘I’m wondering how you would begin to go
about the same activity if you do not know
the height of the person’
‘Stacking cups, teamwork , sharing’
‘What was the point of this, will this save
my life one day stacking cups’
‘I’ve learned that there are many ways to
find the same answer’
‘That why can one point change the whole
equation’
‘I learned that with every sample of data,
an equation and graph are required. ‘
‘I am wondering how many cups would it
take to reach my height’
‘I learned that Mr. Overwijk’s height in cups ‘Is it possible to switch x and y?’
is 16.2 cups’
OPEN STRATEGY CUP STACKING
OPEN STRATEGY CUP STACKING
OPEN STRATEGY CUP STACKING
OPEN STRATEGY CUP STACKING
Testimonials:
“I really liked the activity approach
because it put math into realistic,
understandable situations.”
“ I took this course last year, but this
year it was so much easier to
understand. The ideas stuck in my head
longer.”
“ Pretty sick. I understood it way more
than last year. I like reviewing
everything over and over again. Not just
doing it once and it being on the exam
Testimonials:
“The different things we learned were
constantly brought up instead of being put
into several units. I liked the activities
because it was easier to work on my own
with the worksheets after the activity.”
“ The lessons were very simplistic and the fact
that we rotated through the different lessons
was very practical and we didn’t forget the
lessons we learned at the start of the course
before the exam.”
“ We did a lot of activities with props, which
helped me understand the lessons better.
The fact that we did the paper clip challenge
that no other class was able to do was
exciting. The more activities we did the more
it helped me to understand. We should play
more games than work on worksheets.”