What suggestion can you offer for enhancing a specific lesson of a Glencoe mathematics text? Ideas may include using concrete objects to illustrate concepts, working with cooperative groups, incorporating ongoing assessment, or any other strategy that you have used successfully in your classroom.

Example: This activity was written by a teacher using the 2001 edition of Glencoe Mathematics: Applications and Connections, Course 2, Lesson 6-1, page 228. The lesson is entitled "Solving Addition and Subtraction Equations."

"To reinforce the Addition and Subtraction Properties of Equality, I use the example of a teeter-totter. You and a friend are perfectly balanced on a teeter-tooter. What happens if your friend jumps off? Or what happens if someone else jumps on with your friend?"

Lesson 1-4: Robert S.,
Farmington Hills, Michigan
"I teach all of the constructions as a unit. I end the unit with a final extra credit construction project in which the students make a creative construction design. These projects can make an attractive classroom display."

Lesson 2-4: Rick K.,
South Milwaukee, Wisconsin
"I allow students to work in groups as they learn about writing proofs. I give groups a completed proof with steps and reasons written in no particular order. The group must discuss the correct order of the proof and the appropriateness of the reasons given."

Lesson 4-1: Barbara O.,
Cumming, Georgia
"One of our favorite class activities is to have students construct equilateral triangles from dowel rods to make tetrahedron kites. The activity takes two 50-minute class periods and students really enjoy it."

Lesson 5-1: Nancy K.,
Martinsville, Indiana
"I have students construct the points of concurrency of the special segments in acute, equilateral, obtuse, and right triangles. We name the points and examine the properties. This activity allows us to discover new concepts and review constructions."

Lesson 5-4: Cheryl W.,
Milford, Delaware
"I begin this Lesson by giving each student a strip of paper about 12 inches long which they cut into three pieces of any size. Then I ask them to make a triangle using the three strips for sides. Because some of the combinations form triangles and others don't, this leads into the discussion of the Triangle Inequality Theorem."

Lesson 6-4: Julianne W.,
Milford, New Hampshire
"I like to discuss area and perimeter as we study each type of figure. For example, I have students make a table of possible lengths and widths if the perimeter of a rectangle is 24 centimeters. Then they find the area of each possible rectangle and graph the area as a function of the width. From the graph, they can determine that a square has the greatest possible area for a rectangle with a given perimeter."

Lesson 6-5: Karen J.,
Middletown, Connecticut
"As an enrichment for this chapter, I discuss tessellations. Students then create their own tessellation drawings, which we display in the classroom."

Lesson 7-1: Lucas F.,
Waterford, Wisconsin
"I given each student a secret ballot to vote for his or her favorite musical group. Then I collect the ballots and display the ratio for each group."

Lesson 7-2: Karen G.,
Taunton, Massachusetts
"As a long-term project, I have students create a geoboard. They use a square board at least 8 inches wide and paint it or cover it with cloth. Then they hammer nails or small brads into the board and create a symmetric design using yarn, string, or elastic bands. When the projects are completed, I allow the classes to vote for their three favorites. The winners will receive prizes."

Lesson 7-5: Diane D.,
Madison Heights, Michigan
"I have students use The Geometric Supposer to discover that corresponding altitudes and median in similar triangles have the same ratio as the sides. Measures of angles, segments, perimeters, and areas of polygons can be computed by the program. To encourage student involvement and collaboration, students worked in groups to complete a worksheet. Students can use the software to test their conjectures."

Lesson 7-6: Mrs. Janet L.,
Manassas, Virginia
"I give each student a piece of isometric dot paper with the starting points for Sierpinski's Triangle highlighted. Students then draw the triangle and color attractively. The compelted triangles make a nice bulletin board display. Sierpinski's Carpet and the Koch Snowflake are also nice projects for tying the material in the chapter to self-similarity."

Lesson 8-1: Mrs. Jean H.,
Flint, Michigan
"At the beginning of this Lesson, I have students draw three large right triangles in their notebooks. As we discuss the relationships, they highlight the sides of the triangles in two different colors to show which length is the geometric mean between the other two. The triangles can serve as a quick reference as students study or complete their homework."

Lesson 8-4: Michael B.,
Eddyville, Iowa
"Have students be Egyptian rope stretchers. Give groups of students a length of rope and ask them to use it to form a perfect square. You may wish to suggest that they begin by using the Pythagorean Theorem to choose dimensions for a right triangle. Then after a right angle is formed, it can be drawn at each vertex to form the square."

Lesson 9-1: Stacey P.,
Merrimack, New Hampshire
"At the beginning of the chapter, I give students what I call "Circle Theorem Sheets" for recording the circle theorems we learn. The students record each theorem on the sheets and draw a picture to illustrate it. At the beginning of the chapter, I provide the theorem and assist with the picture. Later in the chapter, I provide the theorem and have a student lead the class in drawing the picture."

Lesson 10-1: Ingrid H.,
Storrs, Connecticut
"I have students build models of polyhedra using spaghetti joined with marshmallows or plastic straws joined together with paper clips. This project works well with cooperative groups."

Lesson 10-2: Stan W.,
Rockmart, Georgia
"I bring examples of different polyhedra such as tetrahedrons, cubes, and octahedrons for students to observe. Then students use rulers, protractors, paper, and scissors, along with what they have learned about the measure of interior angles of polygons to construct the sides of a polyhedron and assemble a model."

Lesson 10-6: George M.,
Salem, Virginia
"In order to integrate trigonometry with area and make use of calculators, I develop the formula for the area of a regular polygon in terms of sine and cosine.

A figure like the one below can be used to help prove the theorem."

Lesson 11-1: Patricia M.,
Largo, Florida
"I photocopy the top portions of the Study Guide Masters at a reduced size and arrange them so that the entire chapter fits on two pages. Then I give them to my students as review tool. Often students will cut them out and put them on index cards for studying purposes."

Lesson 11-3: Roberta C.,
Waterford, Wisconsin
"I have students work at the chalkboard breaking down surface area problems into steps with each step of the problem being completed by a different student. For example, to find the surface area of a prism, the first student draws the prism, the second finds the perimeter of the base, the third finds the lateral area, a fourth finds the area of the base, and the last student finds the total surface area."

Lesson 11 Study Guide: Kathy F.,
Farmington Hills, Michigan
"As a final review for this chapter, I give students a surface area measurement and have them design a prism that has the surface area and the greatest possible volume."

Lesson 12-3: Rose P.,
Marshfield, Wisconsin
"I provide a piece of cardboard of a given size to each student. The students cut a square from each corner and fold up the sides to form an open box. We predict which square will produce the box with the greatest volume. After the students calculate and graph some volume, we write an equation and graph on a TI-82. The trace function allows us to find the maximum volume."

Lesson 13-7: Loraine D.,
Fairfield, Connecticut
"I enhance this Lesson by having students use software such as Geometer's Sketchpad to create regular polygons by rotating a given segment. Then to extend the Lesson, they can rotate the polygon to create tessellations."

Lesson 13-8: Karyn C.,
Indianapolis, Indiana
"I have students draw an enlargement of a figure by using a grid. Students have a lot of fun with this activity. They lay an acetate grid over their favorite cartoon character. Then they copy the markings in each grid square onto a poster that has been marked with larger grid squares."