I love these 5 student engagement activities for the secondary math classroom. Student engagement in crucial in accomplishing substantial student growth In last week’s post I talked about how to set up your classroom environment to motivate and support high student engagement (link here). This week I am giving you my go to Math activities that I sprinkle to increase student engagement in lessons, unit/concept introductions or if we have extra time. Here are the 5 Student Engagement Activities for the Secondary Math Classroom.
Student Engagement Activities #1: Estimation 180
Estimation 180 is a website created by Andrew Stadel that has students estimating many different things.I usually use this as Warm ups the first couple of weeks, to teach students how to participate in class and have discussion about concepts. It also allows me to review basic things like units that are not part of the curriculum but it would be great if the students remembered for word problems.
My favorite things about Estimation 180 are:
- There are series of estimations that build on themselves
- There are 240 days worth of estimation with holiday themes
- Students look forward to these daily
Student Engagement Activities #2: 3-Act Math
3 Act Math was created by Dan Meyer. It is a series of 3 parts that take students through a problem based concept. Part 1) It begins with a video and a question. Part 2)Then an analysis and discussion section Part 3) The video conclusion. Even though Dan Meyer came up with the original concepts many teachers have replicated and created lessons around this. There are many resources out there.
My favorite things about 3 Act Math are:
- It is very visual
- It breaks concepts into 3 parts (the first part always hooks them)
- You can find something for just about any concept
Student Engagement Activities #3: Graphing Stories
Graphing stories is another project from Dan Meyer. This also has 3 parts but the goal here is for students to graph real-world video situations. The website provides the graphs template you can print out. I uploaded it into my GoFormative for my virtual students to use.
Part 1) Shows students how to set up their graphs Part 2) Shows the situation in video format (regular speed and slow motion) Part 3) Gives them the answer
My favorite things about Graphing Stories are:
- Again very visual
- It helps students practice the concept of graphing real- world situations without all of the words.
- Students struggle with it at first but then get the hang of it. It is fun to watch.
Student Engagement Activities #4: Trashketball
I love me some Trashketball and so do my students. I have no idea who invented it but I use a modified version of it.
1) I make a slide deck (or use the textbook one, old state assessment questions) of the concepts I want to review.
2) Student work are in teams of at the most 4 or 5 but they all also have a whiteboard, expos and a letter assigned to each team mate (a, b, c, d, e)
( 3) When I show the question everyone must work out the problem on their whiteboard, students may help each other without giving each other the answer and the students must have written their own work
4) When time is up I pick a letter from the notecards I made and that is the student that represents their team
5) if the answer is correct they get a point and can shoot for 2 or 3 extra points ( I put tape on the ground as to where they can shoot from).
6) The team with the most points wins. The ball is just a balled up old paper & I make sure I have a clean trash can on game day. Recently my students have added doing trick shots or extra points!
My favorite things about Trashketball:
- The prep is super easy and fast
- It teaches students how to collaborate and help each other.
- The kids love it and want to play it all the time
Student Engagement Activities #5: Digital Mystery Puzzles.
My new obsession is Digital Mystery Puzzles. I love to use this as a “drill & kill” practice. If I just need the students to practice a concept, like Adding & Subtracting Integers, to master the process. Undoubtedly, Mystery Puzzles are very similar to Pixel art but instead of students discovering a pixel art a picture appears. This is created in Google Sheets. The ones I make are 16 questions.
You can try one for FREE here: Free Adding & Subtracting Mystery Puzzle
My favorite things about Digital Mystery Puzzle are:
- No prep
- Self-Checking
- Students love it & are engaged to uncover the picture.
These are my 5 go to Math activities that definitely increase student engagement in my Secondary Math classroom. Thus, not only do I love them, they are related to Math so if administrators come in students are doing Math, and the student love them also.
Are you are looking for more ways to increase the student engagement in you classroom?
Join me at the Grow your Impact in Secondary Math Virtual Conference. Natalia-Mendoza.com/GYI2021
We will have several presentations on increasing student engagement, as well as SEL in the Math classroom, amazing Math instructional strategies and much more, with the focus of filling those gaps caused by last year. All of this will be taught by educators just like you that have seen success in their classrooms.
Sign up today before time runs out! Natalia-Mendoza.com/GYI 2021
