Comments on: Parallel Lines v2 – Activity Makeover Series

By: Parallel Lines worksheets, desmos etc – _peterprior

Parallel Lines worksheets, desmos etc – _peterprior — Tue, 12 May 2020 05:50:47 +0000

[…] Fenton was working on a parallel lines/perpendicular lines Desmos activity that looked quite good on his blog, but didn’t appear to be finished/published yet? Might be able to contact him to […]

By: Andrew Busch

Andrew Busch — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 04:16:03 +0000

Nicely done Michael! I can easily see this turning into a competition with my students.

By: Michael Fenton

Michael Fenton — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 23:06:07 +0000

Hi all! Thanks for sharing your comments. 🙂

We’re waiting for another feature or two at Desmos before we can pull this off the way I want, but I’ll be sure to share the activity once it’s ready.

By: Mark Kreie

Mark Kreie — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 04:05:38 +0000

Whitney has said it very well… Thank you, Michael, for being transparent in your thinking when designing these activities.

Part of me thinks this activity should focus solely on parallel lines, and then have a separate activity for perpendicular. But at the same time, I will also cover both concepts in the same lesson. Plus, attacking them together yields the opportunity for the card sort at the conclusion as an exit ticket. I do like how you threw that in to wrap things up. Smooth.

And I, too, would love to have a copy of Paul’s parallelogram activity. He had some very thoughtful screens.

By: Tina Palmer

Tina Palmer — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 03:26:42 +0000

OH! Wait. you haven’t completed it yet! I like how they have to tinker to find a line will never intersect. I am not clear how students will stumble on the perpendicular? We used card stock on lg grid paper so they knew they had perpendicular lines. How will they know if they are exactly 90 degrees from original? The card sort is yummy.

By: Tina Palmer

Tina Palmer — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 03:15:04 +0000

Will do this just before Thanksgiving w my Geom Ss. They “discovered” parallel and perpendicular slopes during their last cycle with me. Ten days will go by before I see them again. I think it will be a FAB activity. Will let you know how they do!

By: Colleen Werner

Colleen Werner — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 02:01:01 +0000

I love this activity. I’ll try it with my students and let you know how it goes.

By: ekraskin

ekraskin — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 17:20:05 +0000

How did I miss this new series on Monday??? First, I just wanted to say I am always in awe of your willingness to reflect so deeply on your activities…it rubs off on me and makes me do the same with my own. I appreciate that.

Second, you took the words out of my mouth about Paul’s Screen 8…I love it!

As far as the activity goes, I think you definitely improved on the principles you were trying to achieve. On screens 1-3 I can absolutely see my kids getting excited, frustrated (in a good way), and competitive over their attempts at making the lines parallel. I can actually picture them on the edge of their seats…face inches away from the computer screen…trying every trick they can think of to get those lines exactly parallel. So good! I do wonder if it is possible to make the line exactly parallel. I also wonder if they can try more than 3 times (maybe have a reset option on the same screen instead of trying once per screen). I know “failing” 3 times will be enough motivation for some kids to be ready to move on to a more precise method of creating parallel lines, but (to paraphrase Dan Meyer) I can see some wanting more of a “headache” before they “need the asprin.” I understand the need to balance that with actually getting to the meat of the lesson, though.

I may have missed it, but is there a place students get to actually write “I noticed the slopes are parallel” and see other students’ responses so they can be sure of their thinking before moving on?

I don’t know why, but the checking for screen 7&8 throws me off a bit. Could a kid could get close enough to perpendicular that it looks correct on the screen but isn’t exactly the same line if you scrolled out? I also wonder if students would understand why the line was rotating…maybe adding in some sort of right angle arc so they can see that it’s rotating 90 degrees? I’m being a little nit picky, I think. The idea behind it is great.

I assume you’re using Desmos magic on screen 6 to make it so the line doesn’t appear until they hit a submit button…that’s cool!

For the extension, I’m not sure I would choose to have different forms of equations presented without the opportunity to play around with their graphs, first…at least not in a multiple select format.

I think there’s so much good here…definitely keep it out of the recycle bin! Can’t wait to see the end result. 🙂

By: Whitney Evans (@WhitBaylor)

Whitney Evans (@WhitBaylor) — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 17:10:45 +0000

Michael, I love that you’ve been so transparent and open with us about your reflection and revision process. It really helps me think about similar work I do (or need to do)… stepping back after creating, zooming out and revising initial goals and guidelines, being willing to make needed revisions…
I did preview your first version when it came out, and I really love your revisions. The traveling down the lines to see the point of intersection of *nearly* parallel lines… SO POWERFUL.

On a side note, how can I get a copy of Paul’s Parallelograms activity from teacher.desmos?