Woops! Didn’t post this… (That blog post got a hit this week — I’m still getting the most hits for my MathiaX review and haven’t heard from them about providing evidence that they’re not just math practice… maybe they’re so popular that all their reps are busy, or maybe… they recognize that prattling with me isn’t going to help their bottom line…)
I discovered that I have, in fact, completed the minimalist version of “supplemental lessons” for chapter 1 (13 lessons), minimalist meaning at least a “practice quiz” that has some visuals for support. I only barely started the Chapter Two… fractions… but I had forgotten the minimalist idea — I’m thinking maybe I can get chapter two done by next Thursdays’ “professional development day.”
The first question on the first quiz is a bit of a language doozy, though. “If “two-and-a-quarter” is written as a fraction with a denominator of 4, what is the numerator?”
Hello? Hello?
Isn’t 2 and a quarter a fraction?
Doesn’t it already have a denominator of 4?
Now, big part of the reason for this mess is that the venue doesn’t have a way for students to enter fractions, so they couldn’t say “rewrite 2 and a quarter s an improper fraction.” I think I’m going to at least modify to “improper” fraction… and I believe I have the skills to display it better… so…
Short-term for the “supplemental practice” quiz — do what Connect does and provide a worked example (only it will be there to see; they don’t have to click to see it), w/ a token visual in case somebody actually looks at it. Yes, I hate when I note students whose strategy is to click there and mimic and get the “job” done, sans comprehension. So,
Next step: Create a better question. For now, one question, in D2L.
Grand goal: something interactive (geogebra has the potential) so students connect visual to symbols.
Happy note: Student from yesterday nailed those fractions on number line questions.
Resource Room Dot Net Blog 
Posted on February 16, 2018
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