Guest Post: An Inequality Story

I'm super excited to hold out sharing to a greater extent than or less other invitee postal service amongst you lot today.  Today's postal service is from Susan Hewett.  Susan is a frequent commenter on my blog, as well as I ever dear reading her comments because of her unique insights.  Susan teaches middle schoolhouse math inwards Vietnam (how cool is that?!?), as well as she blogs nigh her experiences educational activity inwards Vietnam at Super Math Teacher.  Here's Susan! 

Inequalities are i of my favorite units to teach.  For my marker 8 students, this is by as well as large a review, since they guide maintain been exposed to i variable inequalities inwards pre-algebra.  They too meet how they tin shipping away exercise skills from solving equations as well as apply them to inequalities.

One of the most hard things for my students, who are all English linguistic communication language learners, is vocabulary.  They “get” the words greater than as well as less than.  Adding inwards other words that tin shipping away hold out sued to stand upward for inequalities, as well as they guide maintain no thought what the right symbol is.  This is mainly because my students are Vietnamese as well as are all learning English linguistic communication spell beingness taught inwards English.  Within my classes, in that place are varying degrees of English linguistic communication proficiency, from close native speaker to almost no English.

In lodge to guide maintain students recognize these phrases as well as write inequalities, I exercise a story.  I can’t accept credit for this story; I flora it many years ago, as well as guide maintain since modified the wording.  Each year, I brand a few changes. (Here's a link to a version I flora online.  This is non Susan's electrical flow version.  Susan's electrical flow version is shown inwards the moving painting above.)

Students run inwards pairs for this activity.  Together, they read as well as highlight the inequality phrases inside the story.  They verbalise over the ones they are unsure of.  I ever guide maintain a few tricky ones inwards the story!  For to a greater extent than or less of my students, this is a really slowly assignment.  They tin shipping away figure out many of the phrases.  For others, this is a to a greater extent than challenging activity.

The follow upward comes when students guide maintain to as well as therefore write the right inequalities.  They write the phrases equally discussion phrases, as well as and therefore guide maintain to interpret them into symbols.  The terminal purpose of the activeness has students interpret phrases that guide maintain cypher to produce amongst the story.

Thank you lot therefore much Susan for sharing this awesome activity.  I dear the thought of embedding therefore many inequalities into a floor for students to find!  I am definitely stealing this side yesteryear side twelvemonth for my inequalities unit of measurement inwards Algebra 1!  Like what you lot read?  Leave Susan to a greater extent than or less comment-love.  And, delight produce depository fiscal establishment gibe out her Super Math Teacher blog! 

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