In an attempt to make distance-time graphs memorable for year 7, without teaching the lesson wearing a pineapple on my head, I decided to ditch the textbooks and exercise books. Instead of putting pencil to the gridded maths book we put whiteboard pen to desk and drew graphs to represent a travel scenario.
The benefits of this change in medium were instantly noticeable; increased engagement in what the question was asking, more care taken in deciding on the scale to allow students to represent all information given in the question and more risks taken as a result of knowing that they could easily erase any errors.
Knowing, given the size and location, that their work could be easily seen and assessed by their peers also encouraged some students to work at a faster pace than usual. At the end of the activity students moved to another desk and assessed the work in front of them using answers on the board while I circulated taking photos of the completed graphs which I then printed and students stuck in their books.
This ‘In Brief’ article originally appeared in the January 2016 edition of the free UKEdMagazine. Click here to view.
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@FionaMaths Maths Teacher and Middle Leader
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