How does GI look in Math?

In the last post, I told you all about the beginning stages, learning about Guided Inquiry, pushing our minds to grasp how it could work in the math classroom, and finally coming up with an idea. When my team of 3 (Algebra 2 teachers) left the conference in the summer, we left with an idea about a Sequences and Series GI Unit but knew that we had a lot of planning and prep in order for this Unit to be successful. Section 11-1 Sequences As Functions 2017 Guided Inquiry-1pcblr9

School starts, fall semester goes by, and then there we were in second semester creeping up on the Sequence and Series chapter. {Side note: the thing I love most about my school and mostly my team, is that we look out for each other, support each other, and hold each other to the same high standards that we hold ourselves. This is true for the GI unit. We were going to do this, but we made sure that we did it together. No one gets left on an island by themselves.} A few weeks out, we met after school to talk through the idea again. Remind ourselves, and the other two members of the team who could not attend the conference, about all the details that went into GI. We came up with a plan:

First, the math brained people that we are had to map out the unit and create an assignment sheet that reflected the GI stages. This gave us a better idea what each day would be like. Chapter 11 Assignment Sheet 2017-2mvemvs We knew that the students would be coming up with their own questions but were unsure of what they would be. We had a few thoughts in our back pocket but wanted to be as open minded as possible so that the ideas came from the students.

Second, we decided that we would meet after school on the day that the students created their questions to help each other out with the following days’ plan. When we met the second time and we searched through the questions, there were some common themes coming out of the post it notes. We each decided to group up the common themes that were specific to our classes. In my class, it worked best to create 5 groups, as you will see on the attachment, which also worked best physically in my classroom. Guided Inquiry Explore Results-2bujvwc  When the students came in the next day, I talked through the 5 common themes and then let the students choose which one of the 5 groups interested them the most. As a group, the began to explore deeper about that specific theme.

Third, we let the students take the led. They gathered more information about their topics. Each class created their own rubrics on how they wanted to present their findings. Example from 1st hour: Sequences and Series Presentation Rubric 1st hour 2017-1b4xeb8 They created amazing presentations and shared them with the class just wonderfully. I was more than impressed with the results both of the quality of the presentations, but also with how well students worked together. (I will share some reflections from both myself and students in the next post) At the end of that day, I left school feeling GREAT!

Enjoy some pictures of their wonderful presentations.

Jamie Rentzel, Norman High School, Norman, Oklahoma

3 Comments

  1. Your students all look like they really engaged with the unit of work. I am yet to try out using GID with mathematics – but this gives me hope that it can be done.

  2. That’s wonderful Erin! Thanks for letting us know! That’s what this blog is for, to inspire, connect and share!
    Best wishes!
    Leslie Maniotes

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