For beginning SketchMad teachers

On this page we have gathered resources and links that will be specially helpful for beginning SketchMad teachers. If you would like to learn how to become a more proficient Sketchpad user before trying activities with your students, you could follow this Introductory Sketchpad Lab or Getting started with Sketchpad. Some teachers have also found following the Workshop Guide very helpful; you can download it from the Key Curriculum press website here. You might also try some of the activities from the modules that come with the Ontario License CD-ROM: Exploring Geometry and Geometry Activities for Middle School. You should have access to them at school, and you can also download the supporting sketches and scripts from the Spectrum website here.

You might also want to begin by reading the Stories from the Classroom for ideas on how Sketchpad can be used in the classroom. These stories exemplify only one of the many possible ways of using Sketchpad to help enhance your students' learning. Many teachers prefer using Sketchpad as a demonstration tool within their own classrooms using only one computer and a projection device. Your students will learn a great deal about Sketchpad just by watching you manipulate sketches--this may help the transition to the computer lab. There are a wide range of Sample sketches available on this site that work well for demonstrations of concepts such as tangents, conic sections and trigonometric functions.

You might find these posters of Sketchpad hints for constructions, measurements, and tranformations helpful. Just print them up and post them on your classroom walls.

You might also find these Primers helpful:


Depending on the grade level you are teaching, you can select from some activities and lesson plans on this site. There are also some great activities in both the modules included in the Ontario Sketchpad CD-ROM: Exploring Geometry and Geometry Activities for Middle School. Here are a few other suggestions for activities to start with (not all on this site) for each grade:
  • Grades 6-8: Judy Dussiaume's Constellations. This activity is accompanied by teachers notes, rubrics, blackline masters and sketches.
  • Grade 9: Mystery points: This is an investigation of special triangles lines and points (medians, angle bisectors, altitudes, perpendicular bisectors, centroids, incenters, orthocentres, and circumcenters) described in narrative form.
  • Grade 10: Intro to Trig. This lesson uses the well-known ladder problems to investigate trigonometric ratios and identities.
  • Grade 11: An introduction to Loci. A great way to get started on thinking about loci