TLJ Consulting Group, LLC

  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Sitemap
  • Mathematical Moments Blog
    • Mathematical Moments
      • Elementary
      • Secondary
      • Free Activity
    • Writing and Literacy
      • Elementary
      • Secondary
    • Odds & Ends
    • For Parents
  • Professional Learning
    • Courses
      • Course Catalog
    • Customized On-Site
    • Blended
    • TLJ Professional Learning & Resource Center
  • Resources
    • Q-Pyramids & Overlays: Tools for Effective Questioning
    • Resources for Questioning
    • In the News
    • Websites and Apps
    • The Mathematician’s Notebook: Chronicling a Student’s Journey
      • MNB Components
    • Gifted
    • Homeschool
    • Math Market – Resources by Grade Band
      • All Products
      • Strategy Saturdays Series, 2017-2018 Focus: Using Manipulatives in the Classroom
      • Free Resources
      • K-2 Resources
      • 3-5 Resources
      • 6-8 Resources
      • 9-12 Resources
        • Modular Mathematics – High School
      • My Account
      • Logout
  • Homeschool
    • Excursions through the SEASONS
    • Putting the A in STEAM
    • Excursions in STEAM 2017 – 2018
    • Excursions in TIME 2018 – 2019
  • Algebra I Employment Standards – 2021-2022
  • Math Market

Is a picture worth a thousand words?

July 17, 2013 by Tammy Jones

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is a saying that translates into the idea that a complex idea or thought can be conveyed with a simple picture. Take for example the picture below.

german parking lot

This picture of a German Parking Lot (so I was told) was sent to me in an email years ago so I do not know to whom to give credit for the picture. I actually used this picture in my classroom for years on my “Parking Lot” board. If you have never used a Parking Lot (a topic for another post altogether) you should try it.

So let’s look at the picture and see if it is really “worth a thousand words.” In a middle school or high school classroom one could certainly use this as a writing prompt or introduction to the applications for cylinders. What a marvel of engineering. Questions to prompt discussion might include the following. Why would this be more a more efficient parking structure? What would the average size of each parking slot have to be to fit the vehicles in the school’s parking lot? Even have the students come up with questions needed to build the structure and/or questions for which the picture might provide an answer. Proportional reasoning could be applied to determine the size of the structure based upon the measure of one of the cars shown and its true size.

What about the elementary classroom? With the CCSSM, our kindergarten students are required to draw a cylinder as well as other three-dimensional shapes. Here is a perfect example of a cylinder in real life – bigger than life! It’s not just a soft drink can, oats box, or potato chips canister. This is a cylinder at work! Can your students find other cylinders at work in their world? This would make a great problem of the month bulletin board. Children can take a month to hunt for cylinders as they travel around with their parents/caregivers.  Another nice way to get the adults in their lives involved. Beginning mathematicians can even just count the cars or sort the cars. Intermediate students could extend this to develop a strategy for finding how many cars would fit in one level, in three levels, in the entire structure.

Think about this picture, or a picture you have used. Please let me know how you use this one or others. I also collect “carpet pictures.” Carpets in hotels offer a wonderful variety of designs, shapes, curves, etc. that can be brought into the mathematics class as well. Getting our students to become thoughtful observers of their world as well as thoughtful writers about the world they see  should be a goal for teachers at any level.

 

 

 

Tweet

Filed Under: Mathematical Moments, Secondary

Mathematical Moments

The Top 5 Reasons for Using Manipulatives in the Classroom

Have you ever asked or said or heard a fellow educator ask or say… “Exactly what constitutes a manipulative?” “I have some of these manipulatives in my closet, but do not have a clue how to use them!” “How do I find the time to use manipluatives in the classroom when I have so much […]

Happy National National Chocolate Day: October 28thChocolate Day!

National Chocolate Day: October 28th My grandmother always said, “God was in a good mood the day He created chocolate!” I grew up thinking that chocolate was a basic food group! And, I admit, chocolate is one of my weaknesses. What does National Chocolate Day have to do with mathematics!   Well – where’s the math? […]

Functional Fluency

I just returned from NCTM Boston. What a great week! I got to catch up with a lot of old friends and made several new ones as well. My co-author, Leslie Texas, and I did a session on one of our strategies from our book series What’s My Move: A Kinesthetic Multisensory Approach to Graphing […]

Algebra I Employment Standards – 2022-2023

State Approved Hybrid Training Sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Education The State of Tennessee has provided various paths for qualified middle school teachers to teach Algebra I/Integrated Math I for high school credit. The various paths are described at https://www.tn.gov/education/licensing/educator-licensure/licensed-educators.html.  The purpose of the trainings offered here is to provide the pedagogical and content […]

Putting the “A” in STEAM

Are you looking for a summer workshop for your K-12 students? In July, I will be hosting an art/writing workshop for students K-12. We will be focusing on Putting the “A” in STEAM.  This 6-day enrichment workshop will focus around the arts and humanities. Students will create and begin to use a combined art journal […]

NCTM, San Francisco

My colleagues and I really enjoyed your presentation at NCTM.  We have already convinced our principal to pre-order us copies of your new book, but we would also like 4 class sets of the pyramids. 

Many presentations talked about problem solving and the benefits of giving students higher level thinking problems, but yours was the only one that really told us how to teach it and scaffold it for students, rather than just modeling what problem-solving looks likes.  Thanks.

Julie Jacewicz
Beaverton, OR

What our clients are saying…

TLJ created classroom resources on TLJ:

TLJ created classroom resources on:

TLJ created classroom resources on:

Copyright © 2023 · Outreach Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in