I knew it was just a matter of time before we started to tackle geometry. This was my Achilles' heal in high school. I was never sure why until I went through the geometry section of our book. The vocabulary is what gets me the most mixed up. Polygon, perpendicular, transversal, the list goes on. I posted in my other blog how important vocabulary was and I really think if the vocabulary around geometry would have been emphasized as much as the measurement of angles and types of triangles my experience would have been much different. The good news is that I have the opportunity to take what I've learned from my own mistakes and emphasize those more in a classroom.
Something I've always found interesting is that when I ask people what they did well in math class the answer is almost always algebra or geometry. Very rarely do I hear anyone say they were really good at both or that they really liked both. I liked algebra, that made sense to me and I picked it up very easily. I've now come to make the connection that geometry is really an extension of algebra. Algebra is used as a means to an end in geometry as a way to calculate unknown angles and dimensions. I think weaving the different types of math's together can get people who like geometry to like algebra and vice versa.
The above video is a great example of algebraic formulas for geometry. I think video is such a powerful tool for math. It can be difficult to get one on one attention from teachers because of growing class sizes in all grade levels. Videos allow students to experience one on one lessons regardless of the time of day or how busy a teacher may be. The videos we are using in 1510 and 1512 have been a huge help in understanding how different algorithms work in a simple, graphically reach way.
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