'Hooking' them in...

Following my NQT session on 'Structuring Lessons Effectively' and the introduction of 'Meerkat Time' (see previous post) I have attempted to 'hook' my students into their lessons this week!

Here's some of the ways I have done this this week...

Year 7 (angles lesson)

picture on board:

 

 

Year 11 (enlargements lesson)

 

this video by Dan Meyer http://www.101qs.com/69-super-bear

 

Year 10 (factorising and solving quadratics)

 

I paused my IWB on the 'Wreck's Factor' game on Manga High http://www.mangahigh.com/en_gb/games/wrecksfactor (the class had previously played this game for h/w after we went through factorising quadratic expressions)

 

Year 10 (completing the square lesson)

 



 

This caused a great amount of hilarity (mainly with the Mathematics department, my Year 10s didn't think I was being serious! Nonetheless, it worked!)

Year 8s and Year 10:
I gave them one of the www.mathsbox.org.uk 'settlers' target boards to work out

Year 10's:

I gave them Dave Gale's QR Code Puzzle task (see http://reflectivemathsteacher.posterous.com/qr-code-puzzle-worksheet)

I found that by doing this I immediately had the attention of my classes as they entered the room and got sat down in their usual place. There was a quicker start to my lessons and I was able to still do all the admin like taking the register, checking h/ws etc whilst they were off and running on the tasks they were given or videos/pics they were to write down questions about. I will definitely continue to ensure that I utilise 'Meerkat Time'!