Day 59: Decimal & Fraction Conversion

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.RP.3c c. Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100 (e.g., 30% of a quantity means 30/100 times the quantity); solve problems involving finding the whole, given a part and the percent.

Objective: Convert from fractions to decimals

Agenda:

1. Self-Assessment
2. QSSQ 
3. Review Test
4. My Favorite No. Convert 5/6 to a decimal. Find your grade.
5. Notes on conversion from decimal to fraction and then fraction to decimal
6. Exit Tickets. 

Assessment: The my favorite no was telling. In one class nobody could convert five-sixths to a decimal. One student said 0.83, but without the repitin bar. All year myself and the social studies teacher have been putting the grades in fraction form. It turns out the students would have practically no clue to know what they actually got for a grade (see picture). They did much better with the grade after the feedback of five-sixths was given.



There was also the exit ticket.

Glass Half-Full: We had a curriculum day earlier in the week. The focus for the whole year has been on writing. The cry from the math department is that we did not need writing as much. Now I'm typically of an open mind, so I went into today's meeting willing to learn, think, and be persuaded.

Ultimately the conclusion I reached was (as the common core sort of states) that I am a writing teacher. With that thought in mind, I really tried to focus on the exit ticket from a writing perspective. I wanted students to nail the math by telling a fifth grade student how to convert (see objective), but also to use solid transition words in describing the process. What I got was a mixed bag. That was not the important part. The important part was incorporating professional development into my lesson immediately after receiving professional development.

Regrets: The writing prompt should state that the directions on conversions are for a fifth grader and that I'm focused on the transition words, but I explained this orally. Like I said, focusing beyond the math in their writing is a new thing for me.