Making Math Problems

This morning I was trying to come up with some good problems for students to use to find local maxima and minima. It's an awesome feeling to be able to combine everything I know about graphs and polynomials and end behavior to create polynomials within the window that I want that do what I want. It's cool to think that I don't have to just guess random things. So the graph is too long and skinny? I can do a vertical compression or a horizontal stretch. I want two local maxes and one local minimum, so I know I need to give it a negative leading coefficient and an even degree. It might be neat to come up with some sort of guidelines and have the students come up with their own polynomials. I wouldn't want them to just guess and check though. I might have them write something that says what they would have to do to a graph to get the desired results. It really forces you to use everything you know about polynomials and graph behavior and actually apply it.

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Second Chances

I've been thinking about second chances constantly lately. As an adult, think about all the times you've been given a second chance. I am not a perfect wife, but my husband gives me second chances all the time. I tried to make cookies once with baking soda that was 2 years expired. They didn't turn out so great, but I have had other chances to bake things and I learned a value lesson about baking soda : ) I tried out for my church praise team and didn't make it. It was embarrassing and for a while I didn't feel like singing or playing the piano, but I can try out again and if I don't get so nervous next time, maybe I'll make it. I'm not banned forever because of one audition. I took the ACT twice when I was in high school, and my highest score was the only one colleges cared about. My first year of teaching, I struggled quite a bit with classroom management. I needed more time and unfortunately first-hand experience to just begin lea...

If I were a function...

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Thought about mapping activity

I was reading a few teachers talking about teaching their students to use maps and analyse the changes as well as using GPS and geocashing to use latitude and longitude. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys are science teachers? Based on that assumption, I was thinking it would be neat to incorporate a corresponding math project involving graphing. Maybe the students first learn about it with the science teachers. They do the project based lesson with maps and GPS. Then they could come to my math class and create their own map including cordinates. They could use slope and find distances between locations on their map. They could even hide their own treasures around the school campus and then trade their maps with other students to find each others' "treasures." They could use the concept of slope to tell students how to find the treasure. Maybe they have to start at a certain latitude or longitude and then go a certain direction with a certain slope, and they woul...

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