As we started back into the year, I assigned each of my Algebra I Honors students a topic to review with the class. They chose from associative and commutative properties, inverses, identity, distributive, and the rules for conducting operations on real numbers. One of my new students presented the rules for assigning the sign when multiplying and dividing numbers.
She showed us this method for remembering the sign, and attributed it to "the best math teacher ever!" (not me, her 8th grade teacher from her district middle school. BTW, I sent the teacher an e-mail that night letting her know her praises were being sung in my room earlier in the day.) I made the graphic above based on my student's drawing and explanation.
Although I'm not a huge fan of gimmicks for remembering, nor do I use the word "hate" as a rule, I love this graphic, and this method. I have some students who struggle to retain content. I showed this graphic and now they own it. For good. "You love to hate. You're a hater. That's negative. Don't be a hater."
Interesting idea. Thoughts?
Sometimes it is difficult for me to remember that there are students who do struggle mightily with math. But some things were so ingrained in early elementary that I just never even think of it being a problematic issue for anyone. I was taught using the old "bundles of ten" method and the math grew up around it. This idea goes hand in hand with the number of places before and after decimal points as well...if you get my drift of thought...
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