Using Math to Justify your Reasoning

"In my Math classroom, my students are not taught to do math, they are taught to think mathematically"

That is my motto!

My main goal is to help my students become confident, mathematical thinkers. How do I do that? Make math REAL! If teenagers can't see the connections between what they are learning and real life you are easily going to lose some of them.

I am a huge advocate of journaling in math class. You can check out a guest post I wrote for Minds in Bloom here.

Each week I work journaling into our routine. Thursday is known at "Thinking Math Thoughts" and I usually provide my students with a journal starter to get them thinking. However, I am thinking of switching it up from week to week, with the help of a website I found - Would you Rather?

I am so excited that I found this website! It is all about using math to justify your reasoning in real life examples. I LOVE it and can't wait to work it into my regular routine.

Here are some examples.

...and just in time for Halloween...

I LOVE these and cannot wait to see the different strategies my students come up with to justify their choices.

I would even take the time to have students partner up and share their responses with each other. Just to prove how differently we all think...and the different processes behind the thinking.

I might even encourage them to pose a "would you rather..." to their parents and see how they choose and the reasoning behind it.

So much math involved in this...can you tell I'm excited to give these a try?!?!?