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First Day, First Week / Old and New
I’ll be transitioning, after twelve years, from teaching middle to high school. The words of advice I have received from the MTBoS are: keep my cool, remember they are still kids, keep the same high expectations (nothing magical happens during the summer between 8th and 9th grade {usually}). Therefore I have been keen on reading posts to remind me of norms and values. You may have seen Sara VanDerWerf’s post last year about first day / week activities. I had the pleasure of meeting Sara at a #PCMIWeekend this past February and she assured me it was okay to present her ideas (even with her in the audience!). The idea that resonated with me the most is NAME TENTS.
My students were so engaged with this as their exit ticket, they continued to ask when they could do it again… I soon realized NOT to use this activity with all courses simultaneously, but to stagger them so I could keep my response rate up and then continued using them throughout the year. Essentially, students can write about mathematics or otherwise, and you *the teacher* respond to each individual student. This activity changed my classroom from an authoritarian environment to one of community.
If the above is old news, this is even older! Celebrating 30 years is the game 24! Invented in 1988, each double sided card has four single digit numbers, students are encouraged to use basic operations and all four of the numbers once to get the answer 24. Not too old to have a twitter feed, the folks at 24 helped Chris Bolognese (aka @EulersNephew) clear up how cards are classified into their three tiers of difficulty with this possible 20 minute card:
Chris used this card as an opener to an @MathTeachCircle, I use 24 cards whenever a lesson goes unexpectedly short. I ask students to think individually how to make 24 then they go to the white board to show their solutions. Before showing the next card I always ask, “Does any one have a different way?” This elicits many conversations/reviews of mathematical properties.
Enjoy your first weeks back! Remember to enjoy the journey and have mathematical “fun.”
Written by Diana McClean (@teachMcClean)
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