Many Points

As a learner, learning in and of itself gave me joy.  I admit, I do not understand how it could not!  But, I do understand that, at least for the majority of the students that I see each year, it does not. Well, not at least the learning in the way it comes from the curriculum. SmartBoard presentations, Power Points or Slide presentations, even with bells and whistles, is just the same old same old, with noise. I know that challenge works, my students tell me.  But not the challenge of another long math problem out of context.  In some ways, my students are very savvy.  They want to know why, like we all do, and they want to SEE it, in action, in some real world application where they can work together to come up with an answer. And yes, they would LOVE for me to do the work, at the beginning. I taught a group of students how to juggle this year.  Some did not quite get it, and could only toss and catch two scarves.  Marvelous!  They did...

A STEM activity and student hands.  Ok, it may not be a TRUE STEM activity, but he is building a house that he is designing.  We get to talk about math concepts like balance, parallel and perpendicular lines, slope and intercepts.  We get to build a relationship and rapport.  He gets to ask for help and I get to give it.  It is fun and afer 15-20 minutes he is ready for Algebra 1.  A once reluctant learner, he is open to instruction and willing to try.   We may be behind the curriculum, but he is ahead of himself in new understandings! A game for brain breaks.  I pull a category card and give each student 2 cards.  They pick their best fit and present it and someone else has to explain WHY it is a good fit.  We think outside of the box.  We put ourselves in someone else's place.  Eventually, we may laugh.  We come back ready to work on a challenging topic again.  This time with more energy. This week I ex...