10 Resources for Teaching Math

The following resources are a list of 10 great tools to help teach math in today's schools. They aren't in any particular order but have been reviewed for appropriateness.

1.  Khan Academy
Bibliography:  Various. "Kahnacademy.org." Kahnacademy.org. Kahn Academy, n.d. Web.
Summary:  Kahn Academy is a non-profit educational website. Its goal is providing free education to the world through short interactive videos, tracking resources, and support structures.
Use:  Khan Academy is an excellent resource for teachers.  The videos on the site are short, concise and thorough about a specific lesson.  They are suitable to view in the classroom as well as at home.  For a student seeking tutoring, they can set up an account that keeps track of the lessons they have watched.  For classrooms a teacher can set up a "coach" relationship that compiles all the students lessons.  All of this functionality is available on the website free-of-charge.

2.  Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Bibliography:  Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1963. Print.

Summary:  Originally written as a social satire to parody the social hierarchy of Victorian Europe, it is celebrated as an excellent discussion on dimensions and the geometric shapes that live in those dimensions.  The story is told by a humble square that lives in the two-dimensional Flatland.  His desire is to travel to the one-dimensional Lineland and three-dimensional Spaceland.  Along the way he meets other geometric characters and encounters rules based on the various dimensions.

Use:  Flatland is an excellent candidate for bringing literacy into the classroom.  It is an great discussion on geometry and dimensions.  The student can read the book and answer various questions of both the literary and mathematical nature.  The student can be asked to present a themed paper to the classroom.  Adding this book to the lesson plan allows a student to practice reading, writing, speaking, listening as well as math.

3.  Making Math Accessible to English Language Learners: Practical Tips and Suggestions Grades 9-12
Bibliography:  R4 Educated Solutions. Making Math Accessible to English Language Learners: Practical Tips and Suggestions, Grades 9-12. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree, 2010. Print.

Summary:  This book provides strategies and helpful tips designed to help teach math to those learning English as a second language.  It also includes five case studies helpful to the teacher in raising awareness of some of the issues facing the students.
Use:  This resource is specifically for the teacher to enhance teaching skills when it comes to teaching math to kids who don't speak English primarily.  This book is part of a whole series covering all age groups and provides some very valuable tips and suggestions.  I can see using this book as a basis for lesson planning in a classroom.  And since most of the suggestions are applicable to all types of students, it can be applied to a classroom without ESL learners.

4.  Marvelous Math:  A Book of Poems
Bibliography:  Hopkins, Lee Bennett., and Karen Barbour. Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems. New York: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers, 1997. Print.

Summary:  A collection of poems about how math appears in our every day life.

Use:  Part of my philosophy is Math is Everywhere.  Math is significant and important because it plays so many roles in our lives.  This book proves my belief through poetry which will appeal to a younger audience.  This book would be a good one to have in an in-class library.  It is possible that I can use this book in my classroom to help motivate math learners or even help struggling readers by providing them a fun practice reading.

5.  Math Curse
Bibliography:  Scieszka, Jon, and Lane Smith. Math Curse. New York, NY: Viking, 1995. Print.

Summary:  A multi award winning activity book about dealing with numbers in every day activities.

Use:  Following through on my philosophy of Math is Everywhere, this book goes through a day where everything goes wrong (the Math Curse) and ties it in with Math.  Because of the colors, activities and pictures this book would be a great one to have in an in-class library.   It can serve as an attractive book to give struggling readers additional material to practice reading in a math context.

6. Sir Cumference series

Bibliography:   Neuschwander, Cindy, and Wayne Geehan. Sir Cumference ... Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 1997. Print.

Summary:  This book series follows a knight, Sir Cumference, through a series of mis-adventures all in a math context.
Use:  This book series serves as another excellent candidate for an in-class library.  The series consists of 6 books (at the time of this post) and has fun characters and stories to really entice new and struggling readers.  I can see where this book would give more material to help struggling readers practice reading in my classroom.

7.  Schoolhouse Rock
Bibliography:  Schoolhouse Rock. N.d. television.
Summary:  A little dated, this video series appeared on t.v. 1973-1984 as a video short.  Set to a catchy tune, various school lessons are acted out by animated characters.  It turned into such a phenomena that it is almost guaranteed there is at least one of the many shorts that you know.
Use:  These videos are so catchy, so wonderfully cute and so delightfully done that they belong in everyone's classroom.  Specifically in my classroom I can see the math lessons being shown at least once per year.  Classics such as "My Hero Zero", "Three is a magic number" and " Figure 8" teach specific lessons in a catch tune that will help students remember the lesson.  The shorts can be integrated in during your planning and shown as part of instruction.  I can see it existing in every in-classroom library.

8.  Pythagoras and the Ratios:  A Math Adventure
Bibliography:  Ellis, Julie, and Phyllis Hornung Peacock. Pythagoras and the Ratios: A Math Adventure. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2010. Print.

Summary:  As a sequel to What's Your Angle, Pythagoras:  A Math Adventure this adventure book follows young Pythagoras (the Greek Mathematician) as he explores ratio and proportions.

Use:  This book introduces students to ratios and proportions as well as the Green Mathematician Pythagoras.  Another excellent book for the in-class library, this book can be used to help struggling readers understand the theory behind ratios and proportions.   It can see me including it into the planning of a unit or lesson.

9.  RapidTables.com
Bibliography:  "Online Scientific and Engineering Resource." Online Reference & Tools. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 July 2013.

Summary:  An online reference for tables, formulas, and charts for math and science subjects.

Use:  I came across this site when I was brushing up on my factorial skills.  It is a good specialized site that provides detailed information on specific topics.  For example, look at the factorial entry.  It provides a definition, a formula list, a factorial table, and even C (a computer programming language) functions that does factorial calculations.  Information for electrical voltage is even more complete.  What I will use this site for in my math classroom is a reproduction of the graphics and presentations.  For example, in a discussion of derivatives I may have a handout that includes the graphic:

10.  Good Will Hunting
Bibliography:  Good Will Hunting. Perf. Matt Damon and Robin Williams. Miramax Films, 1997. DVD.
Summary:  "Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life." (IMDB.com)
Use:  This movie is #146 out of 250 of the most popular movies on IMDB as rated by the users.  It won  2 Oscars with 18 other awards and 37 nominations.  It holds its own as being a very good movie.  So, for entertainment, it is a recommendation.  But for a math student anticipating more advanced math in the future, this movie is a must.  There are several (albeit controversial in a math context) examples of high level math being shown in the movie.  A little taste of high college math.  I could see this movie being a good "blow off steam" movie.  Maybe the last few days of school where all the papers have been graded, all the exams taken, this movie would serve as a time filler and future math motivator.