Writing and Working with Math Symbols, for Math Teachers

It can be incredibly frustrating trying to create your own materials for math classes if you’re relatively new to it. Maybe you’ve tried “insert equation” and you’ve tried EquatIO but the formatting just isn’t doing it for you. There’s another way.

Here is the best method I’ve found so far for writing equations quickly and easily, with beautiful formatting.

1.) Enter your equation in Desmos. Writing equations in Desmos is quick and easy, and looks great. However, when you try to copy and paste equations from Desmos…

you get code.

f\left(x\right)=.0001\left(x^{4}-16x^{3}-755x^{2}+8550x+45000\right)

Latex code. You’ll need to translate that.

2.) Copy and paste your Latex code into this website. It’ll turn your code into a beautifully formatted equation:

https://www.codecogs.com/latex/eqneditor.php

3.) Copy and paste the beautifully formatted equation into your document.

Alternatively, you can learn LaTeX. However, if that’s more than you’re looking for at the moment, try this technique. You might like it.

Stanford Teaching Commons: Activities to Boost Student Engagement

Group Of People At Their Graduation Rites

Today, while reading Sarah Rose Cavanagh’s article “How to Make Your Teaching More Engaging” — because hey, that’s something I need to do! — I followed one of the links which led me to these learning activities, posted in the Stanford Teaching Commons. Maybe you’ve used some, like Think-Pair-Share, maybe others you’ve never heard of. In my opinion, they are all worth checking out!

I believe that a large part of teaching is to inspire students. After all, we became teachers in part because we were inspired by other teachers. Also, we chose to teach our particular subject because there was something about it that made it stand out. Thus, it is our responsibility as teachers to make our classes engaging for our students.

See below for Activities to Boost Student Engagement, from the Stanford Teaching Commons:

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Case Method Teaching

Coached Problem Solving

Collaborative Learning

G+ Hangout sessions

Guided Discovery Problems

Just-in-Time Teaching

Online Forum Discussion

Problem-Based Learning

Project-Based Learning

Remote Labs

Retrieval Practice

Role-Playing

Send-a-problem

Team-Based Problem Solving

Think-Pair-Share

Desmos Art Contest!

I’m excited about this contest, and plan to give my students an opportunity to submit. Desmos has helped me visualize equations better than I ever could before. It’s an excellent teaching tool and can also be used to make amazing art. And even animations, using sliders, and sounds, using the accessibility features. Maybe you could even make music with it. I look forward to seeing what students create. Deadline is April 10th, 2020!

Prizes listed on the website:

  • $500, $250, and $100 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
  • Desmos T-shirts for the winning student and their teacher
  • A Desmos-sponsored pizza party (or equivalent) for the entire class

Open to students ages 13-18 years old. Click here for more details:

https://blog.desmos.com/articles/art-contest-launch/