Communication and Creativity in the Math Classroom: Non-Traditional Activities and Strategies that Stress Life Skills - Softcover

Rinaldi, Nicholas J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1475806922 ISBN 13: 9781475806922

Publisher: R&L Education, 2013

Synopsis

Whether you are a new or an experienced teacher, Communication and Creativity in the Math Classroom provides you with classroom-tested activities and ideas which are motivating, engaging, and meaningful to students.

Traditional textbooks commonly feature conventional, un-engaging, and somewhat boring problems and activities. Communication and Creativity in the Math Classroom provides you with activities and ideas which stress life skills such as communicating more effectively, being creative, analyzing a variety of problems, following directions, and working cooperatively with others. These skills are very valuable but are rarely addressed in the traditional math curriculum. The materials and ideas in this book allow you to interject these skills into your daily lessons while covering various mathematical topics. Many of the easily reproducible activities can be used as assessments; consequently, suggested scoring rubrics are included as well as helpful strategies and observations.

About this title

About the Author

Nicholas J. Rinaldi has more than four decades of experience teaching mathematics at the high school level. Unsatisfied with many of the standard books and resources on the market, he has written a multitude of non-traditional classroom-tested activities and exercises which, based on student feedback, are meaningful, interesting and engaging.

Review

Nick Rinaldi is a teacher that knows teachers. Ideas are great, actions are better. His book Communication and Creativity in the Math Classroom, provides teachers with resources that are ready-made for the classroom that can be of immediate use whether the teacher is in their first year or has decades under their belt. He also knows students; they are active participants in their learning with these activities and strategies, which can be easily used and adapted to courses other than mathematics. Having used many of these lesson ideas in my own classes, I can attest that they are engaging, creative and have real benefits to the classroom environment. I highly recommend this compilation for teachers of all experience levels. (Tom Webster, mathematics teacher/former math department chair, Branford High School)

Nick Rinaldi shares the many lesson ideas that he has used successfully and shared with colleagues over his tenure both as a math teacher and math department chairman. The activities that focus on communication actively involve the students in communicating with a partner, small group or entire class. Learning is enhanced by these activities which can be adapted for a wide variety of lesson topics. Rubrics are included so that the students can appreciate what is important in communicating a mathematical concept or skill. The creative activities spark the student’s interest. This approach reaches out to the varied learning styles of the students. This is a valuable resource for every math teacher. (Donna Gagliardi, former mathematics teacher, Branford High School)

The typical math classroom has students sitting at desks lined up in rows with few opportunities to interact with each other. This is unfortunate because in the 'real world,' communication and creativity take place in the context of a team of people working together to solve problems. Nick Rinaldi's latest book provides a wealth of activities, all classroom tested, to get students talking with each other in fun and creative ways and learning mathematics at the same time! (Clayton R. Hall II, Ed. D., teacher of high school mathematics, Hopkins School, New Haven, CT)

About this edition

• Publisher: R&L Education
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1475806922
• ISBN 13: 9781475806922
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96