MP3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
MP7 Look for and make use of structure.
The Learning Objective: Multiply factors to find a product.
Quote of the Day: "Give me 100 percent. You can't make up for a poor effort today by giving 110 percent tomorrow. You don't have 110 percent. You only have 100 percent and that's what I want from you right now." - John Wooden
Agenda:
I never did Estimation 180 Part II because I wanted to be sure we had plenty of time to work in the factor game.
The Assessment: The first assessment took place during Estimation 180. As the students were doing this, I went around and checked their subtraction work from the third day of school. I was focusing specifically on checking their word problems to see if they wrote complete sentences. Why? I think the sentences give meaning to the problems in a way that can actually serve to help the students check their work. It's also important that students know how to write sentences and restate questions across the curriculum in ELA.
The next assessment took place as we were going over the jumpstart. I did days For each too low estimate I called on three students to see what they said was too low. I called on three different students for the too high problem and three more for the actual estimate. I asked why whenever I was getting an answer for the second time or if there was an answer that to me seemed radically different. I really enjoy Estimation 180 because it enables us to critique the reasoning of others in a stress free environment where anyone can be correct because nobody is certain of the answer for many of them. We did three different pictures from this site today each one building on the previous one (all three were about tissues). The last picture is where many students demonstrated MP7. In going around the room looking at different responses, the work for this problem caught my eye as an excellent reason for students to write too high and too low estimates prior to calculating.
Our third assessment came during the multiplication notes. I gave one problem for students to try on their own. After they were done, the students stood up and I went around to check. Eventually I outsourced my help and had students check in on another students. I really enjoy this technique as it gets students out of their seats and also enables them to contribute positively to the classroom culture of helping others.
A fourth assessment came in the form of a game called Pepper. I learned about this game a few years ago at a professional development activity from a very enthusiastic teacher. It is similar to the game Pepper that is played in baseball where fielders throw a ball to a person with a bat in close proximity to them and he/she gives a check swing back to the fielders peppering the ball to different people. What I do is have anywhere from five to seven students stand up and ask them vocabulary questions. If a student does not get the vocabulary correct, it is not a problem I simply call on a student until someone does and then call again on everyone who did not initially have it. The students enjoy the fast pace nature and I enjoy hearing correct definitions.
Assessment number five came as they got started on their homework and I went around the room to see how they were doing.
Homework: Multiplication practice
My Glass Half-Full Take: I always talk to the students about the value of getting sleep, but I need to get better at practicing what I preach. To this point in the year I have gotten 8 hours of sleep each night and it is allowing me to have more energy at the end of the day than I typically do. In all that is done to prepare a lesson and for that matter to prepare a teacher (graduate school, evaluations, professional development, etc.) I think sleep is as valuable as anything.
One Thing to Do Differently: I did much better explaining the Product Game (I kept calling it Factor Game during the day which didn't help either) to the second class I had than I did the first. I left out the details that they should use one board per partnership and that they should use the nine digits given at the bottom of the page for factors instead of numbers like 81 as factors. Next time I play this game or a game of any kind for that matter I will try to play it myself first rather than just go off the directions that I "feel confident" in.
Website of the Day: Wow. Addicting. Kids that play video games will be totally hooked. It's called 2048.
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