Amy Jones
My name is Amy Jones. I teach Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Algebra II, and Probability and Statistics at Salem High School. Four of the six classes I teach are Algebra II. I received my Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from IUS in 2002. I have been teaching at Salem High School for the past four years. Currently, I am working on my Master’s Degree at IUS.
Problem: I feel that I need to make my Algebra II classes more fun, interesting, and interactive for my students. I feel that I will see higher test scores, more class participation, and better attitudes if students become more excited about learning Algebra II.
Evidence: Some of my students have low test scores. Some students want to sleep in class. Some students refuse to pay attention. I hear questions everyday like, “When am I ever going to use this?” and “Why do we have to learn this?”
1. http://library.thinkquest.org/20991/alg2/index.html
This website has a variety of Algebra II lessons that can be done in the computer lab. Each lesson has an explanation of how a problem should be solved. There is a quiz at the end of each section to check for comprehension. This would be very good quiz or test review.
Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic
2. http://www.financefreak.com/
This website has a number of good activities that teach students about different financial situations. They include investing, compound interest, credit cards, car loans, and mortgages. This site also includes a finance calculator to help the student understand how the different interest amounts are calculated. This is a useful site that relates Algebra II standards with the real world.
Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic
This website has several different interactive components. Students can play Algebra games, work on flashcards or worksheets, and get help with homework. This site does not have a huge array of Algebra activities, but could be very useful for review at the beginning of the year.
Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic
4. http://www.greenleecds.com/mathdownloads.html
This website has various interactive Algebra II worksheets, puzzles, over-heads, and “Math Magic Tricks” that can be downloaded and printed out for free. Some of the topics featured on this site include exponential growth, regression, and logarithms.
Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic
5. http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activities.aspx?grade=4
This NCTM website has many good interactive explorations for Algebra II in the computer lab. They include exploration of rational functions, linear regression, and population growth and decay.
Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic
6. http://standards.nctm.org/document/eexamples/index.htm#9-12
This website includes interactive explorations for Algebra II. Some of the topics covered are understanding least squares and regression, and using graphs, equations, and tables. This site only provides examples of some of the NCTM’s activities. You must be a member of NCTM to gain full access to all of the resources they provide.
Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic
7. http://www.learner.org/exhibits/dailymath/
This website includes several articles that explain to students how math is a part of their everyday life. This site talks about compound interest, exponential growth, decorating, and cooking. This would be good supplemental material to use to reinforce that Algebra II is useful.
Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic
8. http://www.curiousmath.com/
This website has various interesting time-saving and mental math techniques that students will find helpful and useful. Some of the featured topics include logarithms, magic squares, prime factorization, multiplication, and division. This site would be very useful at different points in the year to review.
Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic
9. http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/index.html
This website has numerous great activities for a large variety of Algebra II topics. Each activity answers the questions: what, how and why for the student. This site also features games and quizzes to go along with the activities. (This is probably my favorite site that I have found.)
Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic
10. http://www.coolmath.com/algebra/Algebra2/index.html
This website has loads of great Algebra II lessons to do in the computer lab. Each lesson features both example and practice problems for the student. This site encourages the student to work the problems out on paper. Hints are available. After working the problem, the student can view the correct answer. Each lesson features the use of a scientific or graphing calculator.
Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic