The Line of Best Fit

I remember when I first started teaching 4 years ago, there were several topics that I just didn't feel like I was adequately prepared to teach.  Statistics was one of those topics, but especially Line of Best Fit.

Fast forward 4 years--- I LOVE STATS!! Seriously--we have the best time in my class during the time that we are learning about Statistics because I quickly figured out how much fun it could be.  I spent some time with our AP Statistics teacher and learned so much about Statistics!

In my Algebra 1B Class, we are about to start working on Linear Regression. As I was planning this unit with my intern, I ran across an activity that I have done before with TI-Nspires, but we don't have TI-Nspires in my classroom.

The basic idea in the activity is to look at a scatter plot, try to guess a "Line of Best Fit" using a movable line and its residuals to try and approximate the line of best fit.  Once you feel like you have a solid guess--compare it to the actual Regression Line, interpret, and make predictions.  So, in trying to figure out a way to modify this awesome activity, I remembered something I stumbled across in Grad School at Auburn--> Desmos Activity Builder!

If you've never looked at teacher.demos.com you definitely should!! It is SO awesome! You can search by topic to see if another teacher or Desmos has already created an activity OR you can create your own and share it with other teachers! Such a great technology resource.

I spent several days working on this between the rough draft, sending it to another teacher for feedback and the revised activity, but I think it will be well worth my time!

Here is the teacher link to my activity: https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/563a42fb60dded490a7f410d

I made a handout for my students so that they would have a reference sheet to remember what we discovered after the activity is complete.  


I welcome any and all feedback you may have on this! I am always looking to improve activities for my students!

Teaching in a Technological World

I am a child of the '90s.  I was grew up a time when we had bag phones --and we thought that was super cool! I remember when Promethean & SMART boards first came out, and it was a HUGE deal! When I got my first cell phone at the age of 15, I remember feeling really cool, but I had to be conscious of my minutes and texting was a definite NO because that cost more money.  And do NOT hit the internet button on your phone or you were going to get charged a lot for the data that you used.

This is a bag phone! 

Fast Forward 10 years since I first got a cell phone-- I don't leave the house without it! I am permanently attached to my iPhone or iPad at all times. I would prefer to text a question to a friend than to call them, and who keeps up with how many minutes they use? We use data like it's going out of style because social media has EXPLODED! My students are on Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Google Plus.. and probably something else that I have forgotten or haven't realized exists yet.

My point is that the world around us has changed so much in just the last 15 years. Our students LIVE technology every single day! The world around them is constantly changing... but our classroom's aren't. 

We need to bring the world where our students live INTO our classrooms!

"Technology is an inescapable fact of life of the world in which we live and should be embraced as a powerful tool for doing mathematics" (NCTM, 2014, pg. 82).

Technology has completely transformed our everyday lives, and it should transform our classrooms too! 

But HOW do we do that? 

In NCTM's Principles to Actions (2014), there is a comparison of productive & unproductive beliefs about the use of tools and technology in the classroom. 

1-Use technology to help students investigate mathematical ideas (NCTM, 2014).

Instead of graphing multiple lines by hand, let students use a graphing calculator or a graphing app to push past the tediousness of graphing and focus on the reasoning and sense making of the task (Dick and Hollebrands, 2011). By using technology to investigate ideas in our classrooms, we model for our students productive ways to use technology for future careers and pursuits.  Technology can also help students explore ideas that might not be possible without it. "Teachers need to recognize that mathematical action technology influences not only how they teach, but also what they are able to teach" (NCTM, 2014, pg. 84). 

2-Teachers need to be willing to learn new technologies.  

I think as teachers, we often get stuck in the rut of "this is how I was taught" and are afraid or unwilling to step out of the box.  We are also guilty of the "I learned this without technology" mentality, but the reality is that this technology wasn't around when we were in school--or if it was, it was too expensive! Maybe we would have a better understanding of some topics (like Geometry for me!) if we had the technology available to us! Explore options for Professional Development that focus on technology.  "Without well-designed professional development, teachers may feel uncomfortable about using tools and technology in their classrooms. However, once they understand the role of tools and technology as a support for student reasoning and sense making, teachers come to see that they allow opportunities to pose more challenging questions that focus on exploration and understanding" (NCTM, 2014, pg. 84-85).


These ideas are not new, but they are the first steps toward bringing your classroom into the 21st century, engaging your students in new ways, and transforming the way that you teach and help your students learn mathematics! :)

Resources: 
Dick, T. P. & Hollebrands, K. F. (Eds.). (2011). Focus in high school mathematics: Technology to support reasoning and sense making. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2014). Principles to Actions: Ensuring mathematical success for all. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.