Make Math More - Engaging Math Activities and Lessons

How I was Able to Get My Students Interested in Math

Teachers, Homeschool Teaching Parents, and Other Concerned Parents:

My name is Matt Kitchen, M.Ed., and I have been teaching middle grades math for five years in Cleveland, Ohio. During my first year of teaching I was struggling to get my students interested or engaged in math. After discussing this with my students I quickly figured out they did not care about math because it did not seem relevant to their lives. Knowing this, I began designing engaging lessons for students in the middle grades (4-9) that would show my students where math existed in their lives.

I designed numerous engaging lessons that take real-life activities and wrap a mathematical concept around them. After my first full year of using them in 2007 my state test scores increased by 29%. The lessons did not solely increase the scores but helped to create a new mathematically engaged learning environment in my classroom that lead to my students being more involved in the learning process.

Whenever I use these lessons I notice my students caring about the lesson, participating in activities, and completing their work. Even the students who would formerly do nothing in my class were now actively participating and enjoying math. My students often asked when they would be doing another Real-Life math lesson - sometimes they would even ask to do the same lesson again. As I continue to use these lessons each year I enjoy a more attentive class with a greater interest in mathematics.

I love the subject of math and chose to get a B.S. in 4-9 Math Education and a M.Ed. in Instructional Practices to help students find a love for this subject at an earlier age than I did. I am a highly qualified teacher (HQT) and have had the great priviledge of speaking at the Battelle for Kids' Great Teachers Make Great Schools Conference on this subject of engaging students with real-life authentic math lessons. I have used these experiences and many more from my classroom to help craft these lessons.

What's Included In Real-Life Math Vol. 1 PDF Download

Real-Life Math Volume 1 is not a simple collection of lesson ideas and examples of how math is used in real life. These lessons are activities that are ready for your students to actually participate in. There is zero guess work as I include lesson plans and student worksheets with every lesson so you can start using them with your students right away.

The lessons are 100% original and have been created by myself. These lessons are unique because I began by focusing on what my students are interested in and then brought math into their world. Bringing math into their world personalizes it in a way many students have not experienced before and creates a far greater interest in the subject.

All twelve lessons include a teacher's guide that explains how to conduct the activity and a student worksheet that guides the student and poses problems (pictured below). Each lesson also contains extensions with which you can make the lesson new and take it in a slightly different way. These extensions will allow you to use these lessons several times with the same students. All of these are printable as this real-life math lessons pack is sold in PDF form. These lessons were designed using common base standards for grades six, seven, and eight and are best served being used in these grades. These lessons have also been used successfully with grades four and five with more adult help as well as grade nine with less adult help.

Lessons Included:

Students will...

Comparison shop with ratios
Analyze cell phone plans with equations
Examine the importance of a chorus in a song with unit rate
Design clothing and then price it using substitution of variables
Gain insights into data by collecting and analyzing it with measures of center
Use polygons to make new and exciting things
Examine where geometric figures are in the world around them
Design a dream bedroom using area and scale factor
Analyze LeBron James' basketball skills with fractions
Discover how to find the percent of change in chewing gum
Analyze NFL Quarterbacks using given equations to substitute into
Play Rock/Paper/Scissors and learn about it's probability

These are my student's twelve favorite lessons and they are blast to do. Your students' eyes will instantly be opened to the importance of math and you may never need to answer another "Why?" question again.

Example pages from the book:

Teacher Guide Example (Click to Enlarge)

Student Wksht Example (Click to Enlarge)

60-Day Money-Back Guarantee

I am extremely confident your students will enjoy these engaging math lessons because I use them every year, but I am still offering a money-back guarantee. If these lessons do not provide enjoyment for your students and do not enhance their mathematical learning process then we will give you a full refund of the price within 60 days. E-mail me at the address at the bottom of the page and I will then refund the money back to you within 5 business days.

I believe very strongly in these lessons not just because I created them, but because I use them time and time again with great success. I know you will enjoy this same success.

Purchase Real-Life Math Vol. 1 for Less Than $0.84 a Lesson

Contact Me Directly

I usually answer all e-mail the same day.

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