One of my favorite college courses as a math major was History of Math.  Which completely shocked me!

I was surprised that I enjoyed it, because I have never liked history. 

I realized that I loved taking a peek into all different areas of math.  It's really fun to see how each new concept was discovered and developed.

Since then, I have always wanted to incorporate just a small pinch of math history into my classes.

The problem was always the time and effort to implement it.

I've finally pulled together a super quick and easy way to introduce the students to a bunch of mathematicians and take a quick look at their contributions without taking more than 5 minutes per week.

Then, at the end of each semester, your students can do the crossword puzzle to review all the mathematicians that were covered!

The crossword puzzles that include all the mathematicians would be a perfect handout for a substitute day towards the end of the semester, or as a change of pace before or after finals or winter break.

The kit for doing a weekly mathematician in your own classroom also includes artistic bulletin board squares like the ones shown above for all 38 mathematicians. You can print these to display like posters in your classroom or hang them to decorate your door.

Get those materials to cover all 38 mathematicians here.

• Some students prefer structured tasks, while some like open-ended assignments.
• Some students work well in a cooler room, but some need the environment a little warmer.
• Some kids prefer to move around a lot while they learn, but some like to sit still.
  

• Students may come from a cultural background in which the individual is valued more than the group, but some cultures prioritize the group or community over the individual.
• People of some cultures show respect through silence, while some feel that respect is shown through contribution or expression of thoughts.
• Some cultures more commonly use praise as a motivator, while some use criticism to motivate.
  

• Female brains are more sensitive to audio input and colors.  Some girls in your classroom may benefit from verbal instruction, but may also be more affected by outside sounds.
• Male brains are programmed to prefer competition.  Boys may prefer to work competitively while many girls enjoy collaborative effort instead.
• Girls are more likely to try to affiliate with or please the teacher.  They may take feedback more seriously and be more likely to ask for help.
  

Sousa and Tomlinson outline tons of other great comparisons and examples in the book.  There are a lot of great specific situations that got me really thinking about student learning profiles.

The book had an image representing the male and female brains that showed which areas were activated during language processing.  It was fascinating to see that the male and female brains physically respond differently to the same input. 

It's really important to think about the way you differentiate your instruction based on preferences, culture, and gender. 

The authors recommend videotaping yourself to review your own teaching style.  Since most teachers teach the way they learn themselves, you may not realize you are missing certain groups. 

Are you offering help to those few boys who may never ask for it?  Are you assuming that the quiet student is slacking off by not contributing to the class discussion, when really it may be respectful behavior from his/her point of view?

To help start to identify student learning styles, I put together a quick Learning Style Profile sheet for the kids to fill out.

Download the Student Learning Profile Sheet here. 

The way I structured this is to lead smoothly into differentiating using these preferences.

If your kids do this worksheet, you will get an idea of each learning style in your classroom, but you can also use the information for grouping.

Use the students' responses to group them this way:

Each student will be an A, B, or C:

• more than one "A" response - prefers to work independently
• more than one "B" response - prefers to collaborate
• more than one "C" response - enjoys competition
  

Each will also identify themselves as either D or E:

• Students who chose "D" more than once are detail-oriented.  They need structure and routine.
• Students who chose "E" more than once prefer variety and freedom.  They may tend to look more at the big picture.

The survey will also identify each student as F, G, or H:

• more than one "F" response - prefers to read and write
• more than one "G" response - prefers to listen and talk
• more than one "H" response - prefers to perform or express creatively
  

Now, you can group your students to work with others that have similar learning styles, OR you can mix up some great groups that have a variety of learning profiles.

These are the main takeaways that I want to work on from this chapter:

1. Flexible Groupings:   Sometimes, group by learning style, but sometimes mix up your As, Bs, and Cs, etc.  Students can benefit from working with different learning styles in the same group.
2. Incorporate a mix of visual and auditory input.  Try pictures, graphic organizers, animations, web applets, games, video clips, podcasts, music, voice, and lecture.
3. Remember that your teaching style probably matches your learning style.  Record a lesson to see what you need to add more of (or what gender or cultural groups your style is favoring) - Work on it!
4. Offer choices (see options below)
   

• Be sure that the content is either familiar, or flipped.  If you are flipping, try a video that leads into future content, or an article for students to read that can be explored further when you return.   Flipping with Kirch has some great student-created videos that you can pull from.

• If you choose to use familiar content, try to avoid a boring review worksheet. Students who are engaged are less trouble for a sub. Try an extension, a critical thinking challenge, or a writing or journaling task about a math concept.  Try having your students produce something that extends or applies a concept they already know.  Use project-based tasks or choice boards that can be done independently or quietly.  Get your students up into the higher levels of Bloom's.  Make a generic choice board that can fit any topic.  This way you can just instruct students which chapter/idea to apply at the last minute.  Include the following choices on your board -

1. Create an infographic that displays the key concepts for the topic.
2. Develop a graphic organizer or flowchart that represents the topic.
3. Write a story for a younger student in which the characters explore the topic.
4. Draft a comic strip that illustrates three key vocabulary terms or properties for the topic.
5. Create a quiz that could be used to test a student thoroughly on the topic.

• Try choosing activities that are partially self-checking.  You will not want a lot of work to grade when you return.  My "Choose Your Own Journey" books are one of my favorites for this because they redirect students and include explanations.
  

Consider pre-recording directions in your own voice for your students.  This serves two purposes:  First, the class will know that the lesson directions are coming from you and they will feel accountable to you.  Second, you will be confident that every student in every class period heard the same thing.  You can hold everyone accountable. There will be no doubt if students claim that something was unclear or they did not know they had to do it.

Note: If you have not done it, recording audio is really easy.  Search your computer for a "voice recorder" app, and just hit "record."  When you are done with your message to your kids, just "save as" an audio file on your desktop, and you can insert it into your display page in word or power point similar to inserting an image.

Keep it really simple.   Make a single slide with directions in both written and recorded audio format.  Put that single file onto a flash drive.  Then lay it out with the papers and a flash drive on your desk.:

The example in the picture is one of my favorite sub plans for high school Geometry.  It starts with an "Always, Sometimes, Never" coloring challenge on triangles, which reviews triangle classifications in a deeper-thinking way.  Then students do a triangle card sort that requires them to use all the different tools, theorems, and properties they know about triangles.

Both of these are self-checking.  The coloring one ends up in a pattern, so kids can see if they slipped up at the end.  For the card sort, the sub hands out the numbered "answer cards" at the end, and the students verify that they put each card in the correct pocket.

This means that I have no grading to do when I come back!

I also like to use self-checking "GridWords" puzzles (Factoring ones for Algebra or Prime Factorization ones for middle school).

• Schedule (including daily rotations or special tweaks for certain days)
  
• Seating Chart
• Detention Slips - You can practically have them pre-written with student names! - but don't (ha ha)
• Emergency Procedures & Exit Plans for your room
• Phone Number to call the office
• Names of teachers who can help and their room numbers
• Student Medical / Allergy information
• List of students who are pulled out or have special accommodations
• Directions for operating the projector, video player or other technology
• Log-in information if your computer is locked
• Internet passcode for teachers in your school

It really works! I get notes from subs that are full of praise for the students and they often have difficulty choosing the most perfect class."  Read more of Kacie's great tips on her blog, Managing and Motivating Math Minds.

What do you have in YOUR emergency sub toolbox?  Leave a comment below to share! 

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