Day 28: Decimal Quiz & Paperclips

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.NS.3 Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.

The Learning Objective: Compare two rates; add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals

Quote of the Day: “I have always told my teams and my three daughters that getting a D on a test, or even in a course is far from the worst thing one can do. You can recover from that. You can study harder for the next test, you can get a tutor; you can even retake the course. The only bad thing would be if you were to cheat. Cheating means you are giving up on yourself. You lose a piece of yourself each time you violate your personal sense of what is right and what is wrong.” - Coach K

Agenda:

1. Collect Weekly Quiz #3
2. Take the quiz on decimals
3. Visual Patterns problem
4. World Records discussion
5. Paperclips Activity (see link above too to explain more difficult concepts). I needed 5 boxes of paperclips to get this activity done (in case anyone out there wanted to do this same activity)

The Assessment: The decimal quiz and weekly quiz were collected and graded. In addition the paper clips activity allowed students to conceptualize what equivalent rates were in a hands-on manner. The manner in which it was assessed was not the best however (I did not go around to check students, use clickers, etc.)

Homework: No homework as given as we had the next three days off. I strongly recommended that they watch a couple videos online.

My Glass Half-Full Take: For the second time this week we had enthusiasm and struggle in the same class. Today I gave students the amount of paperclips that was needed to set the longest paperclip chain ever made (just over 22,000). Afterwards, I asked students if they thought they could break the record. About half of the class agreed that they could. I then asked them if they had any questions. Several questions came about in each of my three classes, but I really had to pull out the essential question which was how many paperclips could be chained in 10 seconds or 20 seconds by the record holder. That would answer if their 10 second rate was good enough for 24 hours. Or students could ask at our rate of 10 seconds or 20 seconds how many paperclips could be chained. In all classes, the students eventually asked for this information.

One Thing to Do Differently: I wish I had used the terms rates and ratios during the second half of class with the ratio lesson. As far as the quizzes, some students continue to struggle with decimal operation. I think for these students I will use decimal grids to help them understand the lesson from a different way than it was originally taught.

Link of the Day: Today's paperclip lesson was stolen from Dan Meyer. He's got a Ted Talk. I know didn't provide too much background on the lesson, but Dan showed this to me and some other teachers at a conference two years ago and we were all blown away by the way in which the problem came to life. The students energy and enthusiasm is unmistakable. Here is a detailed look at how he eventually beat the record that I talked about today. I could spend a week discussing what he did with my students if I chose to.