Geometry Test

For weeks I've been meaning to post this and today I'm finally going to do it.  The bad part is that I didn't take any pictures to show, but maybe later.

So we had just finished reading the back of the napkin.  I put a mind map up on the board of all of the relationship of triangles whether they are similar or congruent.  For those of you struggling to remember, Side Side Side or Angle Side Angle are some of the proofs that they needed to know.  The map worked great and the portion of the class that participated, I feel, really got something out of it.  A few days later we watched one of the videos that we saw in class with that fella doing the mind map.  Here it is.  We then followed this up with a discussion on how the mind map was set up and how it told a story.  Similar to what we did in our night class.

I then asked the students to come up with their own maps using all of the materials that we use in class along with the topics that we learned.  I put them in groups of three.  They had a lot of fun doing this project and I felt like it was a good way to assess whether or not they retained the information presented to them over the course.  I've come to a conclusion that it isn't necessary for them to remember how to solve all of the problems in every section that we cover, but to have a general idea of what they've learned.  Also, I want them to know why we use these techniques.  In class we have already gone through the processes of using the formulas and information to solve problems.  It feels better to me if they were to remember that there is a technique to solving the problem and they have an idea of where to look if ever they needed to solve a problem.  To me, this seems more practical in life although not so practical for the SOL's.

Hopefully, I'll get pictures of their maps and post them.  They are hanging outside of my room.