Steve+Hilger

__**PRIMARY SOURCES LESSON**__  Choice 2- select one of the class lessons that interest you and present it to the class. The lesson that I chose to pick was the Eye Spy Math in American Memory lesson. It can be a cross-curricular lesson with social studies and can easily be adapted to fit many different ability levels.

[|Powerpoint-images]

Introduction:
 * Show students a couple of primary source images
 * Discuss what is shown in the pictures and when/where the pictures are taken

Review math terms with students such as:
 * octagon, triangle, pentagon
 * thousand, million, scientific notation
 * intersect, parallel, circumference, diameter

Students will be placed into groups of 3-4, where they will write down questions about some the math terms that appear in the picture and share their questions with another group in the classroom. Groups will record their answers on a sheet of paper that will be turned in at the end.

To promote higher level thinking skills, each group will come up with word problems using any of the terms from the primary source images. Word problems are to be multi-step problems and labels are to be included in the answers. (Word problem activity can be modified upon ability level). Example: If each side of the pentagon had a side length of 12ft, what would the perimeter and area be? What would the measure of all the interior angles of the pentagon add up to?

The teacher will check for understanding by closing the lesson with a classroom discussion and collection of question and answer sheets. Students will become more familiar with math terms and also realize the importance of math in many subject areas.

**__Questions__** 1. I chose the lesson that I did because it can relate math to many different grade levels. The images give the teacher the freedom to choose how to implement them and decide what each student should accomplish. There was also a lack of math activities in the library, and this activity supported my grade level which is 6-8.

2. It works because it lets me show the students how mathematics is used in every-day life. Many students don't realize that math is used in all subject areas at various degrees. They always ask questions like "Why do we need to know this" and "When am I ever going to need to know this in life" and hopefully this will have students thinking outside of the box.

3. I think I would use the primary sources website and show staff members what it has to offer. Granted I am not an expert by any means, so I would have the district hire an expert to present a workshop on one of our staff inservice days. The staff can view many different lessons plans, activities, and original images that are contianed throughout the site. There are many videos and sound clips that can be used toward an anticipatory set, or full length lessons that may cover multiple class periods.The expert would be able to give our staff the knowledge to implement the Libary of Congress as a reference of primary sources.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">4. I would like to ask the Library of Congress why there is so little math? In our school district, and state of illinois, math and reading are discussed and evaluated more than any other subject area. I would love to get more sources or materials to help develop lessons and relate them to our Illinois learning standards and the soon to be Common Core Curriculum standards.