Teaching Percentages Soon? Here Are 5 Practical Tips!

1. Make it real.
   Percentages are everywhere! This is one of the math concepts that students can see where it is used in real life. Start off the lesson with the question, “How are percentages used in the real world?” Depending on the willingness of your class to share, this is a great chance to get your class on their feet or working in small groups to come up with ways percentages are used in everyday life.
2. Avoid tricks.
   Try to avoid the trick of converting a decimal to a percent (and vice versa) by moving the decimal point. Instead, teach your students that percentages and fractions are interchangeable. For instance, discuss and visually show students that 50% is 50 out of 100, and ⁵⁰⁄₁₀₀ = ¹⁄₂, so 50% is “half”—0.5 as a decimal. Make it clear that the denominator for percentages is always 100, and have your students practice converting percents to decimals in this fashion.
3. Convert English to math lingo.
   Generally, the first types of percentage problems involve questions such as:
   • What is 5% of 20?
   • 50 is what percent of 135?
   • 36% of what number is 54?
   Therefore, it is imperative to teach students how to convert the following words:
   • What → Unknown, what you are solving for, usually make it your variable (x)
   • Is → Equal sign
   • Of → Multiplication sign
4. Practice, practice, practice.
   Practicing percentage problems is a great chance to get your kids up and moving. I don’t know about you, but some of my students are much more eager to get involved if they can get up and move around. This can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. A simple idea is to post percentage problems on pieces of paper around the room and then have students go to the problems to work them out.
5. Use resources.
   Teachers Pay Teachers is a website with wonderful ideas, fun worksheets, around-the-room activities, projects, and so much more. There are many free items on Teachers Pay Teachers, but a good portion of the materials on this site come at a cost. Even if you do not want to spend money, this website can help generate an idea for you to create your own activity.

I pray this blog has helped or given you a new idea for when the percentage unit comes up in your year. Remember, make it real for the kids, and have fun with this unit by getting the students involved in a real-world project or task.