Been thinking some about last night's class. After class, Ari and Al and I paused to chat in the hallway about the utilizing strategies we'd presented. I off-handedly remarked that the problem with both of our strategies is that the lessons we'd planned spent the bulk of our time on non-math related activities. The math was almost an afterthought; seemingly incidental to how the students were spending their class time. But I'm thinking that that is OK. As math teachers we can justify using our valuable time to include these types of activities during a school year because there are some underlying aspects that make them worthwhile.
In the strategy that Ari/Joe presented our group was presented with a challenging complex topic. We reached some frustration with it and did not arrive at a group consensus. However, we DID have a brief meaningful conversation about the issue and took it as far as we could go before we got lost in trying to fill in the cube. The subtext here was that the 'teacher' expected us to have opinions and wanted to know what they were. Our thoughts and opinions were important! This is very powerful and empowering. Students are not expected to think much for themselves but are expected to listen, follow directions, and comply. Empowering them in a strategy like this, I think, could pay off in greater participation and active cognitive involvement in class down the road.
The Dream Car project that Dalila and I presented could be improved to get students to think about what really is their 'Dream'. Is their Dream Car one that looks flashy and will impress their friends, or is it one that is fuel efficient, and has a smaller carbon footprint? As we've been reading about in our book group - the understanding that one's choice of car has hidden costs that are not reflected in the sticker price of the car. There is also the possibility of introducing them to the concept of 'value'. By that I mean getting your money's worth. And so after they've completed their project we could spend a few minutes exposing students to services like Consumer Reports new car price service. Or similar pricing info offered by Edmunds.com
I've run out of time. But let me close with this link to a story about a man from Tennessee who recently learned how to read. Functional literacy and how it has impacted his life. Click on the first story about Joe Buford.
4 comments:
Dear Paul, Thank you for that oral account by Joe Buford - very moving. I scrolled down and read some others - the one by Mary Ellen Noone about fingernail polish is a must-listen also. the site gave me an idea for my grant proposal, so thank you!
Your and Dalila's presentation reminded me of a long-term project my daughter did in 8th grade (this was at a Quaker school in Philadelphia.) The kids had to find themselves a real job from a big city newspaper ad that stated the salary. Then they had to find an apartment from the same paper and budget their expenses, including transportation, cable bill, food, etc. There were different stages to the assignment and I don't remember all of them (I think kids could "move in" together to save money on rent) but it was hugely popular and very memorable. And lots of math. They kept a journal and periodic budgets, when they got "raises." Parents came in and talked about different jobs as well.
Hi Anita;
Wow. Mary's story is so sad and disturbing. The story above Mary's, by Julio Diaz is inspiring. I almost didn't include the Joe Buford link in the post, I'm glad I did.
The long-term project you described sounds great I'll have to tuck that idea away and bring out in a couple years. Thanks for sharing it
Dear Paul, Yes, you're right - that is a great story. It would make a great hook for some class - ask the kids would you have done what Julio did? Thanks again.
I just wanted to say that I agree that the Utilizing strategies are harder to implement than either initializing or constructing. The reason I think is that it depends on the diversity of your class. As Dr. Clayton pointed out, you might not get to a Utilizing strategy until the end of the year. Utilizing strategies can be used immediately. Constructing strategies will follow but unless your students show an inclination toward undependent learning, Utilizing startegies will be tough
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