The Lines of Dueling

Recently, in my math class we shifted gears. I realized that I was following a regiment that I was not comfortable with and as a result they were not meeting goals that I had for them. I adopted a very time specific format of content lesson, personal growth and performance task attack time. The goal is to challenge them on all fronts. That said, I realized if I was going to spend less time with the direct instruction, then my lesson time was going to have to be on point, engaging and all in.

After adopting a pirate theme for the class (more on that another time), I reworked my first two geometry lessons to teach point, line, segment, ray and angle using a treasure map. This though, was the one I was waiting for. My students need to learn about intersecting, parallel and perpendicular lines. To do this we practiced our swashbuckling before hitting the seven seas.

To begin, I modeled what parallel, perpendicular and intersecting lines looked and they made their own drawings. We made observations before defining of each one under their pictures. Then I told them, “As proper pirates, we never know what we will encounter, so we have to be handy with a blade. Savvy?” They are still adjusting to my pirate talk. I then passed out a yard/meter stick to each students. At first, they were confused and then came the smiles. They realized that I was planning to allow them to do what every child assumes is the true purpose of these measurement tools; use them as a sword.

Before starting, I gave strict warning that I had many fun activities planned, but if they could not handle this, then it would impact what we can and cannot do. I asked them to stand a find a partner and I joined the extra student. We put the tips of our blades on the ground and I explained that I would count to three. With each count they needed to tap blades with their partner. Then, I would shout parallel, perpendicular or intersecting. They would use their blades to match the command. It was all smiles.

We played four rounds switching partners each time. Each round it was fun to watch different combinations of kids work together as they tried to line up their “swords” in at exactly the right angles or make sure they were straight and never crossing. There was so much laughter and excitement as they waited for the next command. After our final round, I had students return to the page where we had defined the sets of lines and add doodles of people sword fighting using the lines they had already drawn as the swords.

They loved it. They were able to describe and draw the lines. They worked in partners to physically create the lines, collaborating so that they got them just right. It was a super great little lesson; memorable and active. Now, on to measuring angles by analyzing the x that marks the spot and rotations of Olympic snowboarders. I wonder if my principal would mind me constructing a halfpipe in the classroom? So many ideas, so little time.