Day 139 Heights of 6th Graders vs. The Celtics

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.SP.2 Understand that a set of data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution which can be described by its center, spread, and overall shape.

6.SP.3. Recognize that a measure of center for a numerical data set summarizes all of its values with a single number, while a measure of variation describes how its values vary with a single number.

The Learning Objective: Compare the interquartile ranges of two data sets using a double stem and leaf plot

Quote of the Day: "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." - Albert Einstein. We touched briefly on what it meant to celebrate Boston One Day on the two year anniversary of the marathon bombings.

Agenda:

1. Jumpstart with stem and leaf plot of temperatures in London
2. Review homework
3. Heights activity in partners
4. Fix weekly quiz mistakes

The Assessment: I collected all weekly quizzes from students in the first block of class and had the opportunity to return weekly quizzes to students with verbal and written feedback today. In looking over homework, I noticed that students struggled more with appropriate measures of central tendency than they did with finding the interquartile range in correcting the homework.

Homework: Students had to finish the height activity papers and work on their weekly quiz.

Glass Half-Full: The students were not capable today of starting the jumpstart on their own because it was the first time they confronted a stem-and-leaf plot. I anticipated this and asked the class up front if they had heard of a stem and leaf plot before. About half the hands went up, but none of the students could tell me how many data values were in the data set when I asked that question as a follow up. We went through the first couple of numbers and from there, the students were able to identify all the numbers. At that point I corrected the homework and collected the weekly quizzes. Disaster averted.

From a classroom management standpoint, I sat at my desk correcting weekly quizzes as students worked. My desk happens to be in the back of the classroom, so I can see the students while the students cannot see me. This was an advantage because I wasted no time telling students that they should not be turned around or talking to anyone besides their partner. And as I corrected weekly quizzes, I called students up with their partner to first review the weekly quiz and then review the classwork. It was the kind of feedback I would like to deliver all of the time, but can't based on what we do in class. We happened to be at a point with the unit we're in right now that students can work mostly independent from the teacher, so I had the opportunity today to do what we did.

A third plus today was the number of students that could actually create a data set with an interquartile range of 15. To me that's a higher level of thinking than simply finding an interquartile range as students need to work backwards in some respects to accomplish this task.

One Regret: One thing I wish was different was the focus in going over the homework. The Lawyer's Salaries worksheet from yesterday was an excellent example in a real-world context of how an outlier can completely alter a mean. The change in the mean was more than $25,000 with and without the outlier whereas the change in the median was only $5,000. Perhaps next time I teach this I will get students to act as lawyers or even change the names of the lawyers in the graph to students in my class. The presentation can be improved to improve focus.

Link of the Day: A colleague sent this link to our staff the other day and I found it interesting. Here's why winners keep winning. Reason number one is the most underrated skill for any teacher to have - a good mood.