As I teach these days, I am trying more and more to come up with strategies which will keep the brightest math students involved and challenged.
I am lucky this year to have a coteacher in two of my classes, so we have time to try new things.
What we are doing:
Pretesting, and finding alternate activities for those who already know the fifth grade level material
Paying the children: I have a classroom economy(simple) set up, so kids can earn extra fake money for doing extra work(at their level, but this is mostly worksheets at the moment) We are searching for our "bankers," the students whose computation is excellent, who can keep track of the savings accounts and calculate compound interest.(They get 5% a week!!)
Flexible grouping: rather than heterogeneous grouping, we are making groups based on who knows what within the topic, based on questions we ask at the end of class.
What I would like:
Ideas. I know there are some super bright students or ex-students out there who were either bored in school, or who had some teachers who challenged them. What were some of the things that you did that worked? What did you hate?
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
I had one student who was well above the level of the rest of the class, and I would design challenge problems for her to do each day. It would normally be a more complex problem that would take quite a bit of time to solve.
So, while I was teaching the class how to add and subtract fractions, she was adding fractions that had fractional numerators and denominators. While I was teaching finding the percent of a number, she was doing worksheets on binary calculation and translation.
When I was a student, my second grade teacher just gave me the 3rd grade textbook, and then the fourth grade textbook. I would work through those at my own pace - though it put extra stress on my 3rd and 4th grade teachers to find something for me to do.
I also had a pull-out G&T program that gave us grid logic problems, numerical code deciphering, challenge problems (like the locker problem and handshake problem), and other "outside the box" math concepts.
Try grabbing some sort of book of math brain teasers or logic puzzles from Borders, and see what they have. I found quite a few that I used from time to time in my classes.
Posted by TheGrimace (Member # 9178) on :
When I was in 5th grade, myself and a couple of good friends were in a similar situation and our teacher let the three of us sit over in one corner of the class self-teaching probability and some other stuff from the book that the rest of the class was never going to get to.
It worked for us because we were all pretty well-behaved, and since the three of us were into D&D at the time, the concept of rolling dice as part of class was great. I don't recall how much I actually learned during that time, but I do recall it at least being reasonably enjoyable.
I will couch that though with the fact that during class in whichever grade taught me long division I would sit and make page-long long division problems of random numbers and solve them just because I was bored (and for extra credit I didn't need).
So my basic suggestion: find some section from your current math book that you won't be covering (or from another book) set up some guidelines for what they have to get done in a certain time period and let them go with it. You can have your co-teacher help if you want to had a small side-lesson, but letting gifted kids work at their own pace can be a good experience too.
oooh, and I looooved those logic puzzles back in the day (like FC mentioned)
Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
My crabby but wonderful 15-year-old daughter was given some of those logic puzzles to do this week as a timekiller, I guess.
Her: Oh, my! It is very important to my life and my sanity to find out whether it is Biff or Buffy who wears the red nail polish and the tennis shoes! I cannot wait to find this out!
She was very irritated. Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
Lol. Well, at 15, that strategy doesn't work as well. There's too much "how does this apply to my life" involved.
Would she have been more interested if there was a jar of Hershey's Kisses in front of the room and, based on the volume of the jar and given a single Hershey's kiss, the first person (or team of two or three) to correctly estimate (and show their math) how many kisses were in the jar would get the entire contents of the jar to do with as they pleased?
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Heehee...I LOVED those puzzles!
Hmm, now I want to track some of them down online and do them again. It's like sudoku with people and things.
Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
I loved those puzzles, too. But I wasn't that good at math.
Posted by Sharpie (Member # 482) on :
Oh, yeah. Chocolate is VERY important!
It's all about the relevance .
At ten, I think the logic puzzles are still fun (and useful to an extent as a way to strengthen the overall problem-solving pathways.) Obviously we don't want stuff that is "just" fun, otherwise we could just hand them Gameboys and send them to a quiet corner.
The banking stuff sounds very cool. I think my kids did the stock prediction activities in sixth grade, which was great, too. Fantasy stock? I can't remember what it is called, but they had to follow stocks, invest with fake money, etc.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
quote:I know there are some super bright students or ex-students out there who were either bored in school, or who had some teachers who challenged them. What were some of the things that you did that worked? What did you hate?
In my sixth grade class, we had all sorts of construction toys, such as legos with motors, and other mechanical kits at the back of the classroom out of the way of the teaching area. If you finished your task early (and the teacher checked that your answers were correct), you could go back and play with those. We also had an old Apple 2E you could play games on (like Oregon trail). I think sometimes kids want to be rewarded, not with harder challenges, but with actual rewards. I rarely found assignments very fun at that age, no matter how challenging they were. If I could learn a subject really well, and can do it in a fifth the time that my fellow students could do it, then I could spend most of my day playing with toys. You can't beat that sort of motivation. Plus, the toys were highly educational, and taught us mechanical and computer skills. These skills probably helped me out long term, considering I'm a programmer these days.
Oh and in fifth grade, we had what we called "permanent passes" which our teacher gave out to the best and brightest students. They let you basically wonder the halls at will when you finished your assignments, and being the good students that we were, we'd usually use them to go down to the library and read. I'd imagine that wouldn't work out today, with the post-columbine paranoia and all.
Posted by Libbie (Member # 9529) on :
I agree with having them design the problems. That could be really cool! I was a total bomb at math, but I rocked at reading and writing, so my teacher had me read out loud to the class instead of doing it himself once a week. I read "Old Yeller." It was great!
Maybe having them come up with the problems would give them a feeling of accomplishment, even if they have to come up with somewhat less challenging problems for the class to solve. Also, writing math problems is a whole other bag from solving them. It would probably be a really good exercise!
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
You could leave me alone while I read a book in your class.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I remember doing towers. OK, its basic grunt math, but they were a challenge.
Have the students multiply a number by itself (square it). The higher the number the greater the reward. Three digit numbers are especially challenging. For example 324 x 324 = 104976. Now subtract the original number. 104976-324=104652. Have them continue to subtract the orginal number until they get to 0.
No calculators.
All work must be shown.
When they end up with a number different than 0, have them self-check their tower math until they find out where the problem is.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Have the students multiply a number by itself (square it). The higher the number the greater the reward. Three digit numbers are especially challenging. For example 324 x 324 = 104976. Now subtract the original number. 104976-324=104652. Have them continue to subtract the orginal number until they get to 0.
No calculators.
All work must be shown.
Ick. If that were the reward for doing well in math class, I'd start failing so that I didn't have to do it.
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
Why don't you let your students invest their fake money in stocks?
Posted by Chanie (Member # 9544) on :
COMAP (http://www.comap.com/) has a lot of lessons that are in parallel areas. Graph theory, set theory, computational geometry, etc. There will be problems that are clearly inappropriate for elementary school, but there are also many that are appropriate. For example, problems like giving them a map of the U.S. and asking what the fewest colors you need to color all of the states if you can't color states that share a border the same color.
Also, the National Science Foundation sponsors graduate students that go into K-12 classrooms (GK-12 program). There are about 100 universities that have these programs. A lot of them have web sites that have tons of lessons on them. I did this for two years and I have a lot of lessons that might be appropriate. Please email me if you want more information or some of the lessons.
Also, if you let me know where you are geographically located, I might be able to tell you where there are GK-12 workshops in your area). OK, looking at your profile, I see you are in Massachusetts. Take a look at this website and tell me if this is of interest to you: http://www.cs.tufts.edu/research/dmw/. You could come to the October sessions, if you wanted.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Thanks, guys. Your responses point out a bunch of things:
1. Some kids like to do work on their own, and "self teach."
2. Some kids just want to be done, and get to do something non math related(like read, or go somewhere else)
3. Some kids hate the assumption that becasue they are good at math, they will, of course, like logic puzzles(I have a book of "Quizzles")
I do have a few boxes of various activities. Some choose the Quizzles. Some like the sequential "Warm-ups." For kids who need basic facts, I have tons of puzzles and things. I need to get an estimation jar back, thanks!!
And, all of these things assume good behavior. There is not always a direct correlation between bright students and well behaved ones. Also, I feel bad that it is always a self-teaching sort of thing. I would like to work with them, too!
I like the sixth/seventh grade book idea/. I could have kids make up the problem of the Week for the following week. Or a good set of Jeopardy questions.
OK, so what if I make a menu, and post it?
They have a sort of savings account record sheet, where they write in the date, the activity. and the amount of money they receive.
I do ask that they work on math when they are done, instead of read.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tresopax: Why don't you let your students invest their fake money in stocks?
I would love to do this! However, I would have to have a clue myself! One of the teachers(or two) does the fantasy stock thing. I would definitely like to learn it.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Porter, What if I made you do the extra math work, but you could use your money to buy reading time? Would you "buy into" that, or not?
I am asking becasue there amre many of you out there! Just becasue a student is good at math does not mean they like it or want to do more of it.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Porter, What if I made you do the extra math work, but you could use your money to buy reading time? Would you "buy into" that, or not?
What do you mean "my money"? I assume you don't mean a bribe.
I was usually pretty good at math, even in college, but I have never liked it.
If I were forced to do extra math work as a "reward" for doing well, my motivation to do well would plummet.
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
I'm so glad you made this thread, because I have a daughter in fifth grade who is bored in math class. I told her to bring home her math book so I can look at it and find things online that she can do (worksheets that I can print out).
I was also thinking of doing an exercise with her that I vaguely remember doing sometime in the past: either a trip or catalog shopping.
The trip: plan a route and figure out how much money you need for gas and food and so on. I would give her the approximate mileage of our car and she would have to figure out how far we can get on a tank of gas - making sure to refill when it's at a quarter tank. She would have to figure in motels and meals and spending money.
Catalog shopping: with a set amount of money, how many gifts can you buy from a catalog?
I haven't talked to her about these yet, and I'm going to see what's in her math book first. I should also talk to her teacher and see what she has to say.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: Just becasue a student is good at math does not mean they like it or want to do more of it.
Amen to that. I always did well in math (well, aside from 9th grade, when I hated the teacher, hated math all the more because of it, and so spent the entire year sneak-reading and ignoring the teacher), but I really didn't like doing it at all. So, I wouldn't have been happy with having to do more math as a reward for doing well.
I also don't really recommend what happend to me in 2nd grade. I was always done early with my work, and so the teacher set me to helping the other kids in the class. Sure it gave me something to do, but it went over like a lead balloon, socially speaking, and I was soon persona non grata with most of the other kids because I had been singled out in that way.
Posted by Samarkand (Member # 8379) on :
Well - my biggest objection to informing my teachers that I already knew whatever they were teaching me was that their solution was to hand me MORE work. And it would be "challenging" in that it took longer, or something. What I wanted was stuff I didn't know that was applicable (yes, even very young, I was ridiculously pragmatic). So make sure the work is more difficult because of the concepts, not the number of steps. And I LOVED working with other bright kids, it was so refreshing and fun. I think you might see some behavior issues disappear if kids have the chance to do work that's interesting.
I like the idea of selecting activites, but I have to tell you, I was never that into math, because it was my weakest subject (I was still better than most people - I teach math now - but I wasn't confident). Anyway, I would have just picked the easiest and fastest thing and then read a book.
I think it would be awesome to have them work through some proofs for simpler things. You can divide into groups and require that everyone come out capable of explaining the proof/ problem clearly. That way the kids who grasp it quicker thatn the other bright kids will be engaged because they have to explain it, and keep explaining it in different ways until the "weakest link" gets it. And proofs make math make SO much more sense.
I think it's fabulous that you're putting so much work into this, Elizabeth. I had a lot of teachers who gave me a pat on the head for doing well and straight As, and it frankly killed my interest in formal education. So go you!
Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
Agreed, go Liz!
When I was done before people in 5th grade math, I would help the boy in my class who was severely disabled (mentally and physically) with his work (which was usually different and less intense than ours) *shrug*
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
My 4th grade teacher let myself and another student work ahead in the textbook - or we would help prepare for the next topic of the day - for instance we would practice folding origami so we could show the other students, or set up the supplies or whatever.
My 6th grade teacher let me work out of the 7th grade workbook - and when I was bored with that I could help other students with their math (altho I soon realized I was horrible at explaining my math thought processes).
My 5th grad teach was an idiot and I didn't learn anything that year.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
I was fortunate in grade school to be in the GATE program, which gave kids who were ahead of the class something to do. We had basically a creative area set aside, and when you were done with your work, you could go there and quietly work on a project of your choosing. We had art supplies, a computer with educational games, plastic robots to assemble and test, and so forth.
It was all educational, but it allowed us to figure out things on our own, which is what we wanted to do, and it let us develop our own way to learn and problem solve, which I think was possibly the greatest benefit.
I would suggest that any educational activities which interest and challenge the students are key. There's nothing worse for a smart kid than to be bored in class. It's very discouraging, and they start to associate learning and school work with boredom and frustration.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Porter, by "money," I mean the money in my classroom economy, which is an incentive, which is a nice way of saying "bribe." Ha. We have classroom auctions with their money, or they can buy priveleges, like extra time on the computer.
Renzulli, who has a whole model for gifted kids, which he has adapted for use in the classroom for all students, uses interest inventories.
And Samarkand, I hear you on the kids working together with other high level students, and not asking them to be teachers. However, some kids really love that.(the helping)And, they are good at it. But to assume that a child should teach another child, and that they will learn the topic at a deeper level, is not really true.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
And, sadly, it looks like this will be a great practice year for all this, since, so far, I do not think I will have too many who are significantly ahead of the others.
Last year, it was a challenge(for me).
This goes along with the other thread on teen thinking, though. I was told this group was fairly low in skills, yet I was told that last year. i did not find it to be so. I found the stumbling block to be in getting them started on thinking for themselves.
So, we shall see. But I am going to make a list of all these ideas, so I can keep editing the list. Keep them coming! The square numbers idea is great for right now, becasue we are starting an Investigations unit(this is a curriculum) on prime numbers, factors, etc.One thing I had the kids who were ahead do last year was make a huge chart of all the square numbers they could.
Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
Hmm. Offish topic random fact: I have had two teachers who used a "bribe" system. My third grade teacher would give us little tickets when we did well on work or participated well in class. We would write our names on them and they would all be put in a jar. At the end of each... day? week? I forgot, she would pick out a name and the winner would get to choose a toy or piece of candy from her treasure chest. You could have more than one in the jar by drawing time, but she was very good about making sure everyone had at least one ticket. The other teacher was my eighth grade science teacher, who would throw peppermint hard candies (those white-and-red swirly round ones) to people who got A's on tests, who did extra credit, or who answered questions correctly in class (he asked a lot of questions and really engaged us in discussions). He was also good about not leaving people out, but also made sure we earned it, too. Thing that is neat, both of them, without the "bribe" system, would still be some of the most excellent teachers I've ever known. The "bribes" just added more of a fun quirkiness to their style. Man, I miss school Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
My fourth grade teacher used a ticket for good work system too, and at the end of the year we had an auction day, where everyone could use their accumulated tickets to buy pencils, toys, snacks etc. It was a great incentive to continue to do well.
As far as math goes, one of the things that I found frustrating about math at times was how difficult it seemed to apply it to the real world. There were a lot of silly word problems, but I wanted to see how it might be really useful, both because I wanted to feel like I was learning it for a good reason, and because it was easier for me to learn if I understood it, instead of just memorizing it.
I remember in 6th grade we played several math-based computer games, which were fun and very well done. One was "Islands of Euler", which featured a puzzle about crossing bridges. Another was a sort of murder mystery and during one section you had to count in Base 5 because the lord of the manor had only one hand. We also played a text adventure game called Trinity, which involved lots of cool things like sundial angles and Klein bottles.
They were great games because they showed us how cool math can be, and they encouraged groups of us to work together to solve problems and help each other understand.
Oh, maybe a kind of treasure hunt, where solving problems will lead to clues that relate to a mystery of some kind. Get the students to work together so that they help each other learn and they have a goal to work towards.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Incentives, dagnabbit, incentives!!!
The kids actually love the whole system. My homeroom is a town. There is a store, and a Pencil Rental Company, for kids who lose their pencils. I also pay them for classroom jobs. I can only do the whole shebang with my homeroom, but I have convinced two of the other teachers to hand out cold, hard(fake) cash instead of candy. Each class ends up in its own economic system, since they have separate auctions, so it is a great way to talk about trade between countries/groups.
Hey, it has to be fun for me, too, or I would get bored! Ha!
What is hysterical is that I tell parents which of them will have their children at home forever, due to their poor financial planning. Some kids spend it all immediately. Some won;t even spend at the end of the year! I'm like, kids, this is fake money, if you don;t spend it now, you never will!
My dream of a school wide economy is constantly kiboshed by teachers who say it is too much work. The thing is, the kids do all the work, once the system is up and running.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Love those ideas, MC. I love the treasure hunt/mystery idea. Anyone wanna make one for me??? Actually, that would be a great activity for two of the kids I had last year...they were exhausting!(in a good way)
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: You could leave me alone while I read a book in your class.
Yep, that's what my third-grade teacher did the fifth time she caught me reading a book under the desk. We made an agreement that she would give me all the "paper work" at the beginning of class, that I would participate in timed multiplication drills, lab, art, and other class projects, our music docent program, and class discussions. During the rest of the time I was free to work on my classwork and/or homework. When I brought it up to her to show her I was finished (which was usually about 10 in the morning), I was free to use any time that was not any of the class activities mentioned before to read whatever I wished. Worked wonders.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
In high school, the thing that got me motivated was that, weekly, in whatever social studies class it happened to be that year, we had one class period a week for quiz bowl. Randomly selected teams or 5 kids each, and questions that were Jeopardy style and scope. Being hypercompetitive, the competition was the motivating factor. I'd do anything the rest of the week so long as I was allowed to participate in quiz bowl on Friday.
My team won 9 straight weeks, too, which suited my teammates fine (bonus points were awarded to the winner).
In grade school, I pretty much did like porter: read a book, all day, everyday. I read while the teacher was talking, raced through my worksheets, and went back to reading. Ad nauseum. Grade school was awesome.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: In high school, the thing that got me motivated was that, weekly, in whatever social studies class it happened to be that year, we had one class period a week for quiz bowl. Randomly selected teams or 5 kids each, and questions that were Jeopardy style and scope. Being hypercompetitive, the competition was the motivating factor. I'd do anything the rest of the week so long as I was allowed to participate in quiz bowl on Friday.
My team won 9 straight weeks, too, which suited my teammates fine (bonus points were awarded to the winner).
In grade school, I pretty much did like porter: read a book, all day, everyday. I read while the teacher was talking, raced through my worksheets, and went back to reading. Ad nauseum. Grade school was awesome.
My high school American Studies teacher did that and the quiz bowl went towards your grade on the next exam. I made it my business to pwn those quiz bowls, and they were tough. None of that "Who was John Adams' vice president." simplicity it was something awesome like, "George Washington warned against 2 things in his farewell address, what were they." or something insane like, "Who were the first 3 states to sign the constitution?"
I loved that teacher, it was election year that year and he quized us on candidates, their strategies, and where they needed to win. I love that teacher for greatly increasing my interest in the world.
Posted by Samarkand (Member # 8379) on :
Haha, I made my way through elementary school and middle school with a book too. My teachers tried to catch me out by going, "So, what's the answer to this problem? Lisa?" And I'd go "52." or "China." without looking up and turn the page. Eventually they just let me read while they were talking.
Posted by .Shii (Member # 9720) on :
I think that before giving the mathematically-inclined students more advanced work, you should speak with them and their parents to make sure that they want to be singled out for more challenging sheets.
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
In my fifth grade advanced math class we played "fantasy baseball." We each choose a player and calculated the percentage for all of their stats. Then we played a game. For years after I thought that was what fantasy sports were.
I don't even like sports and I thought it was really fun.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Well, .Shii, I don't ask a student's permission who needs extra help on a topic. To me, I feel remiss if I am giving them information they already know. What is the point of them being there? This is why I am trying the pretest approach more this year.
And, please, none of this is my idea. People have done classroom economies for centuries, and we are all supposed to be differentiating instruction these days. I get ideas from other teachers, from workshops, from this forum, from students, and I try to use what I can, and things which will not break my back in terms of workload. I try to add a few new things a year.
One strategy I read about that I loved was the "exit question." You give a question at the end of class, and then sort through the cards to make groups for the next day's class, based on what they know or not that very day.
Another exit question strategy involves two questions. Both correct? One homework. One correct? A second homework. All wrong? A third.
I cannot add this in this year, because I am just not ready. But I am going to try it once every two weeks to see how it works.
In the end, we teachers and students are constrained by time.
Posted by Palliard (Member # 8109) on :
Please don't take this as flippancy, because I'm being entirely serious. I'm one of those people who has taken a lot of blows to the head so... this makes sense to me.
When I was in the fifth grade, I got transferred to a new school district... in which, apparently, everyone was retarded. Everything we were being taught was shit that I had already learned, all the students were either stupid bullies or self-absorbed. It is a year of my life that I can look back on as wholly and utterly wasted.
The thing that could have changed it, that I didn't realize at the time, was music lessons.
Now you don't sound like a music teacher, but that doesn't preclude you being able to teach music. It's math, it's harmonics... multiplication, at its most basic level. The world's very oldest known musical instrument is predicated on a twelve-tone scale.
Pattern-matching was my big skill at that time. This would have been a whole big thing for me at the time. Instad I had to settle for... let's say, more basic forms of education.
My 2 cents. Good luck.
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
I agree with those saying to make sure the "challenge" is in new concepts (or applications) and not essentially repetition of old ones. When I was in elementary I craved more challenging math and would scour the classroom looking for a textbook from the next grade. At the end of the (4th grade) year, my teacher gave me a 4th grade math book and said, "Now you can do math to your heart's content." I appreciated the sentiment but thought she had totally missed the point - what would I do with THIS year's book? 4th to 6th grade were definitely a math wasteland for me - the same old thing with more digits. Then, of course, my math brain broke at about 15 and that was the end of that...
Posted by sweetbaboo (Member # 8845) on :
When I taught 6th grade, our team of teachers developed (the Elementary School's name) University. We had all sorts of requirements on many different topics to earn all of the different degrees. We tried to cover topics that could include any interest to any student (from make-up to auto mechanics as well as academics). The only clincher was that they could only work on it in their free time. Then at graduation, we announced the degrees they earned and I can't remember but it seemed like they got some immediate rewards for earning their degrees at that time. If you are interested, I can see if I've saved that information in one of my many boxes.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lissande: I agree with those saying to make sure the "challenge" is in new concepts (or applications) and not essentially repetition of old ones. When I was in elementary I craved more challenging math and would scour the classroom looking for a textbook from the next grade. At the end of the (4th grade) year, my teacher gave me a 4th grade math book and said, "Now you can do math to your heart's content." I appreciated the sentiment but thought she had totally missed the point - what would I do with THIS year's book? 4th to 6th grade were definitely a math wasteland for me - the same old thing with more digits. Then, of course, my math brain broke at about 15 and that was the end of that...
That's why I HATED the GATE program at our school. They pulled us out of class to do more classwork and more homework, mainly things I already knew. Sure, we had a couple of projects per year, but I was bored by those, too, because they were things that the GATE teacher thought 4th, 5th, and 6th graders who were bright would be interested in, not things we chose. Mostly things I'd either been interested in several years back or things I was not interested in at any time, ever. Not a good experience, and I got so much crap for not wanting to participate (not from my mom, luckily, she stood by me.) I didn't want to go to an extra class and do more work on top of the boring homework I already had, which I still had to do. I preferred to use free time to read or listen to music or almost anything self-directed.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samarkand: Haha, I made my way through elementary school and middle school with a book too. My teachers tried to catch me out by going, "So, what's the answer to this problem? Lisa?" And I'd go "52." or "China." without looking up and turn the page. Eventually they just let me read while they were talking.
Me too.
Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
Me three, even in one really informal college class I had.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
"When I taught 6th grade, our team of teachers developed (the Elementary School's name) University. We had all sorts of requirements on many different topics to earn all of the different degrees."
I LOVE this idea!
I also love hearing the experiences of students who went through what so many kids go through in school. We are so test-driven these days in public schools, that the focus is more and more on the struggling student. There should be a focus there, don't get me wrong. But principals literally look at specific children as a number, and look to the ones who, with a little tweaking, can bump up into the next tier of test scores. Because the bright students(those for whom learning is easy, not necessarily the brightest-a whole other conversation)test on the top of the scale, and most like will the next time, we don;t worry about them.
I think this is verging on criminal, I really do. But I can tell you that this really does happen, especially in districts which are underperforming according to the state tests.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Liz, I've been meaning to post on this for a while.
Can you think of some long-term projects they could work on that use math but involve other types of thinking, too?
Some possibilities:
1) Introduce basic probability and have them develop a game of chance, setting appropriate odds for break even and for a house percentage. Then have them run trials to see how close to their predictions they come. Although analyzing that would requires statistics, just doing the probabilities can be done with fractions.
2) Have them make a role-playing game - lots of math if it's dice-based. Make them chart the likelihood of outcomes and demonstrate the chances of winning a particular battle/encounter/etc.
3) If there are any who know how to program, have them write a program to do arithmetic with 80-digit numbers. It's a great way to learn the mechanics of arithmetic, especially division, because it requires automating the steps. (This might be more a 7-10 grade project, though.)
4) Have them plot a road trip and figure out an itinerary, gas costs (for different vehicles), etc. Geography plus math.
I'm trying to think of things that are word problems that they have to define themselves, then solve.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:1) Introduce basic probability and have them develop a game of chance, setting appropriate odds for break even and for a house percentage. Then have them run trials to see how close to their predictions they come. Although analyzing that would requires statistics, just doing the probabilities can be done with fractions.
I wrote a program on my calculator which did this while I was bored during calculus class.
[ September 12, 2006, 08:06 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Thanks, Dag. Like I said, I am going to make a list, but right now I need to type my plans out, it being Tuesday and all!
The problem with some of the ideas is that I have no clue myself! I really want to learn the stock market.
I love the geography idea, the trip. I also do a problem of the week based on how much Dunkin Donuts coffee I buy, and how much it costs.
I also love the music idea. I have a new teacher next to me , and we could do a combo unit where they each picked their favorite(approriate) song, discussed or wrote about the meaning of the lyrics, and did something mathematical with the music. Hmm. New music teacher, too.
Keep the ideas coming!
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
My teacher did something that worked fairly well. She pretested us in every subject for each unit. If we tested over a 95%, I think, we skipped that unit--and she gave us an independent project to work on together. We did a lot of things--organizing recycling programs, making an independent film, calculating various costs for school improvement, writing to politicians . . . and so on.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Dag: I actually did that activity but I was in 7th grade at the time. Had to do research on 2 countries and plan a week long trip for both of them, as well as calculate costs, etc. I had to work within a budget and actually fill up every day with activities.
I remember being so proud of myself when I finished it. Turns out the teacher ran out of time and couldnt grade them all so she simply made it no count towards our grade Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
When I was in elementary school back in the dark ages, the teachers approach to students who were ahead of the curve in math was to give us lots of work sheets so that we could work ahead of the class. For me the problem with this approach was that the reason I was ahead was because I didn't need to work a hundred different examples of the same kind of problem to learn the concepts. Once I'd worked the first few, it was shear bordom to work through the next hundred in the worksheets.
If I were teaching, I'd try to come up with some interesting story problem projects for students to work on. Come up with examples that relate to other things you are studying. If you are doing ancient civilizations, give them some problems relating to carbon dating. If you are doing geography, give them a project related to travel. If you are doing nutrition, have them do a project on calories and other nutrients. Science of course has lots good problems that involve 5th grade math.
The point is, give them something interesting to work on that involves the math they have learned and are learning and not just a bunch of worksheets that have them work through dozens of problems that are all nearly the same.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
"Once I'd worked the first few, it was shear bordom to work through the next hundred in the worksheets."
Rabbit, there is a strategy for teaching gifted kids called(and don;t quote me) "Hardest first."
If the students can do the hardest few problems, they can be done with that assignment, and do something else.
And I agree about the worksheets. Some students love them, however, especially if there are specific numbers of them. (like SRA, speaking of ancient times!)
Some students love this math mystery I found in some old curriculum pile(I am a well known trash picker)
I really like the "degree" idea, and what you are saying could work with that. "Map Specialist," Graph Queen," Banking Guru." It leaves endless possibilities for really corny titles, too.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
In my fifth or sixth grade gifted program, they introduced a sort of economy: they made up a currency, "Peanuts" (the bills each had different Peanuts characters on them).
Certain people got salaries dependent on work they did, awards in class, etc... Others would start businesses, such as banks (which was for the high end math folk because of all the interest calculations), selling stuff or providing services, and were even required to pay for occupational licenses and advertising space on the classroom walls. I got my occupational license as a tutor and would charge people "x" Peanuts to teach them stuff.
After a few months, they would ask all students and parents to make donations of toys or other stuff, and then they would have one big auction in which people would bid with the Peanuts they had in hand. Some of the stuff was useless, but now and then they'd roll something out like a handheld video game (this was in 1982, mind you), and the cutthroat auction would begin.
It was a great way to teach economics without the teachers actually sitting down and teaching it. The students just picked things up on their own due to exposure to the environment.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
I had a math teacher in sixth grade who taught us algebra. The last five minutes of each day were spent teaching us some algebra concept "just for fun." We were under no obligation to learn it; he just liked algebra and assumed we would too. Or at least, that's what it seemed like.
Each Friday, he'd give us a "difficult" algebra problem to try to solve over the weekend. On Monday, he'd show us the answer. It became a competition in my classroom to see who could solve it or at least come closest.
By the end of the year, I found that I could test out of a prealgebra class. It was pretty awesome. I had learned without even realizing that was what was going on. The most advanced students (I wasn't one) had their challenge because the problems he'd give us were pretty hard. The less advanced students weren't under any pressure to understand, but they were still getting introduced to concepts they'd have to learn in a year or two.
I loved that class.
That year, I moved to Colorado (from Maryland). In Colorado, sixth graders were learning to add fractions. I was ready to try algebra. My teacher tried to keep me busy, but nothing she gave me was remotely challenging. What was worse, she made a big deal out of how "smart" I was in front of the class, which meant I made no friends and a few enemies. Don't don't don't do that.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
"Don't don't don't do that." OK, I promise! Sometimes, in fifth grade, the smartest kids are still cool becasue they are smart. So they often toot their own horns.
As for the classroom economy, we did in the alternative ed. class I worked in for five years(Edsville, Alternia). When I moved "upstairs," to the mainstream, I started a town in my room(Mysticalnameton) My dream? To have all teams(states) and homerooms(towns) in the school with their own economic system, and develop a trade system between towns.
This year, I am opening Mysticalnameon to the other homerooms. I will have an auction for each separate class, so that each class is their own closed system. (some teachers give out money, some do not)
The kids absolutely love this. Love it. They love earning, saving, and buying. (and I fine them for leaving their stuff all over the place, and for not having their homework in)
Last year, we had checks, but it became too cumbersome. So it is all cash for now.
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Me too.
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