The Distributive Property

The Distributive Property...  I was at math cadre (a gathering of a representative of each middle school math teacher in the District where we talk  data, learn new high yield instructional strategies and collaborate to create activities) talking to my instructional coach and chatting about the my data  from the previous year related to TEK 6.7D.  My instructional coach used the word grouping and after that day I have revamped the way I teach the Distributive Property!!

Step 1 - I continue to use the Target theme to discuss distributing packages to each "person" in the parentheses.  This is time where  I really cheese out and talk about how horrible it would be if Target only distributed a package to the older gentlemen and took money from the little boy and never distributed a package to him.

Step 2 - Here is the big change that I made!  Now, I always have my students verbalize that we have 2 groups of x plus 4.  My students learn to always draw the model first and then show it algebraically.  My data has improved in the last two years and they students have a better understanding of the Distributive Property.





Another Example.

This small change has had a big impact on learning.  Years prior, I did not verbalize how many groups that we had and the students were not making the connection.







I have added a copy of the notes used in class.  The students were required to draw a model and write Two Groups of x plus 4 for example.









Here are the google slides I used in class.