Richard Morris

Hello, my name is Richard Morris and I was born and raised in the mountains of Southeastern Kentucky. I had the honor of attending Pikeville College and graduated in 1977. To say my college years were turbulent would be an understatement. Had it not been for the help, guidance and understanding of two great instructors and mentors, I probably wouldn’t have made it. To Rediford Damron and Roger Warren, I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. After college I was hired to teach Math and Science at Lynch High School, as well as being the Head Basketball and Baseball coach. I was also an Assistant Coach in Football. It was the ideal place to teach. Lynch was an Independent School System and we had about 85 students in the upper four grades. Had the school not closed in 1981, I would have stayed for as long as they would have had me. When the school closed in 1981 I left teaching due to the politics of the county system and joined Commonwealth Insurance/Capital Holding Corporation. Basically, I exchanged one type of politics for another. During my 17 years with Capital Holding, I held many positions. The majority of that time was spent as the Director of Management Development and Senior Human Resource Consultant. In that capacity I was teaching again. However, this time it was adults and adults who were a bit resistant to my ideas of diversity in the workplace and doing the right thing. It took awhile but we were a better company in the long run as a result of the effort. Capital Holding was sold in 1998. After turning down a move to Baltimore, MD from the new owner, I found myself unemployed for the first time since I was 14 years old. It was wonderful! However, all good things must come to an end at some point. My wife strongly encouraged me to do something and I did. I began substitute teaching last year and found that I missed the classroom and the young people tremendously. As a result, I am here working on my Masters in order to be re-certified as well as pick up on some things I missed during the past 20 years. I have gained a wealth of information from the instructors here and a large part of the learning has come from the activities and my classmates. I applaud the educational staff for having the confidence in themselves to allow this type of learning to take place.

1. Origami* (50/50)

(Mathematical, Naturalist, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Verbal, Body

Kinesthetic)

I have used Origami in the past to teach mathematical concepts to students. It is a non-traditional way of teaching the subject matter. It allows students an opportunity to learn in a fun environment. It is also a great way of introducing another culture to students. The following link describes the educational benefits of Origami.

http://www.sadako.com/fold/edbens.html

This is an outstanding link to lesson plans, resources, folding instructions and just about anything else you can think of related to using Origami in the classroom.

http://math.serenevy.net/?page=Origami-TeachingLinks

This link provides access to resources for teaching Origami in more advanced mathematics classes from upper division high school classes to college courses.

http://www.paperfolding.com/math/

2. Ethnomathematics Bringing the World into the Math Classroom* (30/30)

(Mathematical, Naturalist, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Verbal)

This link provides valuable information regarding the incorporation of other cultures into the math curriculum. It gives an excellent argument for the importance of making math a multicultural activity.

http://www.enc.org/focus/multi/document.shtm?input=foc-002356-index

This was one of the best links I have ever found on the Internet. On this site you will find more information about mathematics than you probably will anywhere else. The varying degree of information could have you teaching multicultural mathematics for the better part of a year. There is information regarding the origin of math, math games, and math as it relates to other cultures, just to name a few of the topics. If you teach math at any level, you must visit this site. I did find some of the links had not been updated but that should not discourage your visit.

http://www.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/depts/edu/projects/ethnomath.html

3. Kalah Mancala* (30/30)

(Mathematical, Naturalist, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Verbal, Body

Kinesthetic)

Mancala or Kalah might possibly be the oldest game in existence. It has been traced back hundreds of years and has its origins in either Africa or the Orient. It is a great game that teaches students math while playing. Its other benefits are covered in the link below. It is also an excellent tool for learning about other cultures in a fun environment.

http://www.mathcrazy.homestead.com/kalah.html

4. Juggling (30/30)

(Mathematical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Verbal, Body Kinesthetic)

This was an eye opening experience for me when I found and read this article. There is evidence from the teacher statements in this article that juggling increases academic achievement, reduces problems, and especially improves reading skills for the students. It is a great article and can be found at the link below. Read it, I am sure you will be amazed at the results these teachers experienced. Hopefully, like myself, you will consider incorporating it into your fun time activities.

http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr393.shtml

5. Tessellations (25/30)

(Mathematical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Verbal, Body Kinesthetic)

This link introduces the use of tessellations in the classroom. Included in this link is an entire lesson plan for their use in a mathematics classroom. Additionally, I believe if you introduce varying mosaics from around the world, you could turn this into a multicultural experience for the students as well.

http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/rr/database/rr.09.96/archamb1.html

6. Story Telling (25/30)

(Mathematical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Verbal, Body Kinesthetic)

The first link introduces you to Storysmith which is a program developed in England for students to tell stories or act out roles in the classroom. It involves a lot of interaction and can be a fun learning activity. It can be a bit difficult to understand, however it is free.

http://www.arcadiacasting.co.uk/story.html

I found this link by accident after I had finished the story telling section. It is an excellent link full of ideas for using story telling in the classroom as well as containing links to lesson plans and other resources.

http://www.storyarts.org/classroom/

7. Aviation for Little Folks (30/30)

(Mathematical, Naturalist, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Verbal, Body Kinesthetic)

This is part of the NASA Educational Program. It is an excellent lesson to teach students about airplanes. It covers the parts of an airplane, what keeps them aloft and answers many questions the students might have about flight. It is a great exercise complete with standards that are covered and an excellent lesson plan for presentation. Actually, it is an interactive site where the students will need to use the computer to complete some or all of the activities.

http://spacelink.nasa.gov/Instructional.Materials/On-line.Educational.Activities/Aviation/index.html

There is a tremendous amount of educational information on the NASA site. There were enough lessons that I could have created a few more activities for this page. However, I didn’t think it would be fair to utilize one website for 3-4 activities. I am including the main address below for your use. It is a great site and quite frankly I had a wonderful time visiting it. I learned a lot myself. I think you will find it quite educational and beneficial to you and your students.

http://spacelink.nasa.gov/

8. Chebache (20/30)

(Mathematical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Body Kinesthetic)

This is a board game that seems to incorporate elements of chess, checkers and backgammon into one game. I had an opportunity to play an online version of the game and found it to be quite challenging. Since it is relatively new and not produced by Hasbro, it has not enjoyed the success and notoriety of other games. However, I feel it does have a place in the mathematics classroom. The link below talks about the educational benefits of Chebache and gives a basic overview of how to play the game.

http://www.chebache.com/educ.html

* Denotes items that can be easily used to teach students to have a better understanding of the diverse cultures and people of the world.