Writing Equations of Lines Stations Maze - From Mrs. E. Teaches Math

Teaching Algebra is not always in my comfort zone.  After so many years of teaching Geometry, where my students have completed two years of Algebra before getting to me, I am used to reviewing and/or just applying the topics - not actually teaching them from scratch.  Over the past few years I have gotten better, but I still don't feel as creative as I would like.  In particular, my students are really struggle with writing the equations of lines from different sources.  I am struggle to make it more interesting and engaging.  Enter TpT and all of the wonderful resources on there!  Mrs. E gave me a copy of her Writing Equations of Lines Station Maze to try with them and it went fantastically!

 

This activity was a great way to not only get the students up and moving, but also was great for getting the students to talk to each other!  I am very big on math talk in the classroom and cooperative learning.  I started by posting the nine stations around the room in random order.  I paired off the students as they came in instead of letting them chose their own partners.  I liked that I was able to give each pair of students a different starting point since the cards do not have to be done in order.  This helped with congestion and also allowed me to keep students apart that are a little too talkative.

I also loved the fact that when the students found an answer it sent them to a different station but if they got sent backwards to someplace they had already been, they knew they need to go back and check their previous work to see where they got off track.  In this way, it really was a maze!  I also liked the fact that there were four possible answers and if they got something was not on the card, then they knew they needed to recheck their work.  In multiple ways this activity was really self-checking.

I encourage you to visit Mrs. E Teaches Math and pick up a copy for yourself.  Not only will your students be engaged, but you will be able to identify common misconceptions quickly!

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