Transversals

Our  next unit in geometry covered angle relationships formed through transversals. This is probably one of my most favorite topics in geometry. We started out talking about the two types of lines that don't intersect, parallel and skew. I open up talking about this because a lot of times students think that parallel lines are the only types of lines that do not intersect. True in 2D, but they often forget about 3D space.

 Then we talk about transversals. This is one of my favorite foldables ever. We talk about the look of a transversal line that cuts two parallel lines. I need to start watching my wording a little more than I do when it comes to this topic because my students forget that the line that cuts the parallel lines is called the transversal line. Anyways, we look at the transversal and about how it's cut into two different parts, interior and exterior. I had my students color the parts two different colors and label it. Next year I'm actually going to have them write that the exterior is outside the parallel lines and the interior is between the parallel lines.

 On the inside, we talk about the different types of angle relationships and where they are. I've found that color coding really helps.

After we talk about all of these angle relationships, we practice. I've done this a couple of ways. One way is that I've put painters tape on the floor and made a giant transversal and had pairs of students stand in spots that show the type of angle relationship I call out. They like this a lot. It gets them out of their seats and moving. Another activity I've done is where I'll put a picture on the board and they have to write the angle relationship on a white board and hold it up. That one is ok but I'm not a huge fan because it can be kind of boring. 

If you have any transversal activities that you like to use in your classroom, leave a comment below and let me know about it. I hope to get a digital copy of this foldable uploaded soon. Happy teaching!