The Great Big Bag of Feelings.

I love the beginning of a new school year - new faces, new challenges, and a chance to start fresh.

One of my favorite beginning of year activities allows students to express how they feel about math using objects. It gives me a chance to get to know their feelings towards math, and also gives some insight into their ability to create figurative language.  I also get a chance to share a bit about myself.

Here is how I introduce this activity.

I have the class in a circle and explain that my daughter used to play with lots of different items. I then pull out this ratty lunchbag.  It is, I explain, her lunchbox from when she started pre-school when she turned three.  In this bag I have some items she also used to play with when she was about three years old.  I shake the bag and ask, "What are some things you think might be in here?"

legit - it is her lunch bag from preschool!

I get guesses from dolls and ponies to legos to crayons... It's a nice variety.  I then dump the contents in the center of the circle.

Students always are amazed at the variety of things in the bag. They also then ask about how old she is now, if I have other children, and suddenly we are connecting on a personal level.  They bring up connections with the objects (I had a Mr. Potato Head! Does that Silly Putty thing really have putty in it? (it does) awww, that's a cute Littlest Pet Shop!)

The great bag of everything

After I give them time to observe, I bring it back to math.  I tell them people have lots of different feelings about math.  Some people love math and some don't enjoy it.  All of those feelings are ok - you don't have to love math, and in fact it could be your least favorite thing.

I then ask them to look at the objects and find one that you think of when you think of math - how you feel about math, what you think of math, what math means to you...

Students get some think time, get a thumbs up ready, and choose a student to start.  That student then picks the direction the circle will travel.  I explain that everyone will share, but I also give students the opportunity to pass if they aren't ready on their turn.  When a student goes, they take the object from the center, return to their chair and explain why they chose it.  Here are some quotes from my 6th grade class this week:

• "For me math is like a weight - when I get a math problem it feels like a weight is being put on me." 

• "Math is like the Rubic's cube piece.  I always get jumbled up and think there is no way to solve the problem."

• "Math is like the multi-colored pen.  There are lots of ways to solve it like there are lots of colors."

• "For me it is like the battery because I need lots of energy and when I get something right it recharges me, but if I get it wrong I feel like a dead battery."

I have found the key to this lesson, like so many others, is not in the activity itself but the culture setting and story telling before hand.  This is a great 2nd day of school activity after students have gotten to know each other and me a bit.  Just as important is the lead up.  Building that curiosity about the bag, having students talk about the objects, and making those personal connections makes it easier for them to share later in the activity. It isn't enough just to get the students in a circle and dump a bag in front of them - they need the whole experience!

I've also accepted this challenge put forth by @Aaron_Hogan.  So far I've learned I have students that

• Play soccer, swim, and dive.
• Make their own mermaid tails that are usable in the water.
• Enjoy farming and made a model tractor using donuts.
• Do not like candy or cake! 
• Have 11 pets including 3 dogs and 3 cats.

Go learn something amazing about your students!

It's March MATH MADNESS!

Welcome to March Madness...

The MATH behind the MADNESS!

Students came in talking about the NCAA brackets and how that would be the focus for the week before spring break.  First things, first: What is a tournament and how are they set up?

I set up a mini-tournament in the classroom.  8 students were put head-to-head in a critical game of coin flipping.  I had students complete a bracket and discuss how many different ways this bracket could be filled out

There can be only one!

Students came up with many different theories: 2*8, 2*7, 8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1, 2^8, 8^2... It was a good check in for me since we already had covered calculating outcomes of independent events.

Finally students realized this is the same as flipping a coin 7 times and settled on 2^7, or 128 possible outcomes.

"So, Mr. Taylor, the probability of two of us filling it out the same is 1 in 128?"
That was a good eye-opening realization for many of them: in this small bracket of just 8 teams there were 128 different possible ways to complete this.

From there I introduce a region of the tournament. We review what the rankings mean as well as how the tournament runs.  Students were randomly assigned one of four regions.  Students were told there were 16 teams in each region and were asked to make predictions as to how many ways those could be arranged. Many, understandably, made the jump that if there are twice as many teams, there should be twice as many outcomes.  They quickly checked the math and realized how far off they were.

Instead of 256 outcomes, it actually explodes to 32,768 possible outcomes!

Their homework night one is to complete a regional bracket and think about why companies will put up $1 million as a prize for a perfect bracket.

Students come in the next day and discuss their picks - they meet in their region and discuss similarities and differences.  They notice while many picks are the same (everyone took my advice and picked the one over the 16 seed), nobody matches exactly.

On day two we talk about the whole tournament.  Students pick up the pattern that there is one fewer game than number of teams (an 8 team bracket had 7 games, a 16 team region had 15 games.)  They use Wolfram Alpha to calculate this value.

They discover that the number is big.  Like really big.  Good thing we have reviewed scientific notation.... because the answer is 9.22 x 10^18, or 9,220,000,000,000,000,000... over 9 quintillion.

The question the becomes how to QUANTIFY a number that big?  Many students talk about having that much money, but is that even possible?

How big is big?

First, let's look at space.  Space is really big.  That should be a good place to find 9 quintillion.  The distance from the Sun to Neptune is 2.8 billion miles.  Billion is too small, so lets figure out how many INCHES it is from the Sun to Neptune.  Will that reach 9 quintillion?

Not quite:

Tournament: 9,220,000,000,000,000,000

 Distance in inches: 176,400,000,000,000

(I make sure to line up the place values to emphasize the SIZE difference. In this case the tournament value is over 51,000 times bigger.)

In other words: if you picked a random inch between the sun and Neptune, and I picked a random inch between the sun and Neptune, we are 51,000 times more likely to pick the same inch as someone picking every game in the NCAA tournament correctly.

Let that sink in a moment or three..

Not big enough, Solar System!

OK. Let's try this.  The accepted scientific age of the universe is about 14 billion years.  How many SECONDS has the universe been in existence?  TO WOLFRAM ALPHA!

 Tournament: 9,220,000,000,000,000,000

Seconds of the universe: 441,500,000,000,000,000

Wait. So not even that is a big enough number?  Well how close are we talking? Let's figure out the part of the whole:

441,500,000,000,000,000 ÷ 9,220,000,000,000,000,000 = .047

.047? That is LESS THAN 5%?  DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS? 

The students sure did...  

"So wait. That means if Jeremiah filled out one tournament since the universe started, he'd only be 5% done?"

Yes.  5%  This number, 5 quintillion, is so ASTRONOMICALLY HUGE, that if you had a large supply of pencils, blank tournaments sheets, came into existence the same moment as the universe, and filled one out tournament per second, every second, since the universe started... you would be 5% finished. 

I love the madness. And Math.

There is Nothing Worse Than Being John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt'ed

Finding the greatest common factor of two monomials... can you think of a more thrilling, exciting, topic in any subject?  I mean having a teacher give you 14x³ and 20x²y and finding 2x².  THRILLING, right?

About as thrilling as teaching commas in grammar I'd imagine.

This year I have taken Michael Matera's writings from Explore Like a Pirate to Gamify my classroom.  I have used games in my classroom before, but this is the first time I'm fully integrating gaming into the classroom.

During the week we have been working on factoring monomials. Students did this in small groups, individually, and in whole group games.  They included playing Clue, higher/lower, and hot seat.

It culminated with a game of Magic Card.  Here is how we played:

All 52 cards of one deck were laid out on a table:

Didn't take pictures, sorry...

From there I explained the rules:

I would post a problem and give 30 seconds to work it.  After 30 seconds I will use the random name generator (found here)  to pick a name. A new name would be picked every 10 seconds until a correct answer is given.

If you have a correct answer, you can go to the table and pick any playing card.

The more questions you get correct, the more playing cards your team will have at the end of the game.

Once the game is over, I will draw a card from a second deck.  That is the magic card.

Here is the scoring for this game:

Really should have taken some pictures. Sorry.

So that means if the winning card is the 3 of clubs, you get 2 points for each black card in your deck, 4 points for each club, 10 points for each '3', and 25 points if you have the 3 of clubs.  I gave them a moment to calculate how many points the winning card is worth.  At first they said 25 points, then a few realized the winning card would match the color, suit and value as well, so the winning card is actually worth 41 points.

As part of my gamification, students also have game cards available.  These are kept in their binder in a plastic card holder.  If you are curious, I made these cards on the Magic: The Gathering Cardsmith Website. It is an easy site to navigate and saves up to 1000 cards! Here are a few that were used during this game:

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmit: This card allows you to take a turn when it is someone else's turn.  Know the right answer, but were not selected?  Play this card! It's your turn now and not theirs!










Twinning: When someone is chosen, you may play this card and get full benefits of being called upon. Have the right answer? You get a playing card! Have the wrong answer? No card and you've used this card's power for the day.

Shield: Use this card when you are targeted.  You are protected and are not targeted anymore.  Great for countering Twinning and John Jacob.








It was so wonderful watching students collaborate in their teams, hope their name got called, and then strategize when to use cards.  One group realized that if a teammate got selected, they should twin their teammate so that they can get double (or triple) cards that round.

I gave multiple bonuses out for good team work, showing good processes, and good sportsmanship.  When it was said and done over 2 dozen of the 52 cards had been selected.  Later in the year I plan on expanding this part to have them write some probability examples from the game data.

When it was all done, Team Emmy Noether had 9 cards, Johann Kepler had 7 cards, Leonhard Euler had 6 cards, and Brahmagupta had 5 cards (my students are on teams named after mathematicians.)  Each team had their own strategies; Emmy went for a good variety of cards while Brahmagupta went for only cards with hearts on them.

Tension built as I was getting ready to reveal the winning card.  Of course it didn't happen right away - we had to get our homework copied,  get our work in our notebook, and close up a bit...

Then I went to the deck and pulled the 9 of clubs.  The girls immediately cheer as they realized they had the winning card and at least 41 points.  Brahmagupta's members groaned as they saw they had no clubs and no 9.  Zero game points.

Overall this was a crazy loud, fun, and fully engaging way of teaching what is otherwise a rather dull topic. Students were authentically excited to solve for the greatest common factor of monomials.  Emmy Noether was also excited because they had fallen to 2nd overall in the team points, but knew today's domination would put them back on top.

Best of all?  Students were leaving the classroom saying "Factoring monomials is fun!" Seriously.

If The Piece Doesn't Fit, You MUST Acquit!

In math class we have started investigating triangles.  My good friend, running coach, and teaching partner, Erika, suggested to give them a bunch of straws, some vocabulary, and let them go off and running.

Who am I to say no to such a wonderful structure?

We reviewed some geometric terms: Acute, right, obtuse, scalene, isosceles, and equilateral.  Then we gave them a challenge: create a triangle with each of the vocabulary terms: one for sides and one for angles.  They realized that they had to create nine total triangles.

Students got started by building an equilateral acute triangle.  It was a solid beginning with students easily conquering that task:

Many thought they'd finish all of them inside of 10 minutes... then they tried the next one.

Feeling confident, they went on to another triangle on their list: equilateral right.  Students used the straws and tried to build it, but no matter how they arranged the straws they just couldn't manage:

If the piece doesn't fit, you must acquit!

Students became frustrated and annoyed. There was some fantastic and frank mathematical discussion amongst themselves. They discussed lots of options.  Some said it was impossible, others argued that can't be the case, but then had second thoughts... Is it possible?  After conferring and discussion, they decided such a shape was not possible to build because "there will always be a little piece of triangle missing on one side, and that side will always be longer."

Why do these teachers constantly try to trick us?

Students continued on to build the other triangles, obtuse scalene, isosceles right, but then  got stumped with 'obtuse equilateral'.  The students went back to their previous thoughts and ideas that were built from 'right equilateral' and concluded that such a triangle could not be built.  Students also made amazing observations:

"...when I built an isosceles triangle, it looks like there are two angles that are always the same too.... So maybe when sides are the same length the angle is the same degrees?"

Those two acute angles look eerily similar

We followed this lesson up with one that used protractors.  Students have begun to confirm similar thoughts and hypotheses, as well as showed that the angles of triangles "always seem to add up to about 180 degrees."

I loved all of the discussion and discovery this lesson gave the students.  Erika and I facilitated discussion, but we never clued them into the 'impossibility' of building a right equilateral triangle.  They came to this conclusion on their own and were successfully able to argue (in a middle school way) why it wasn't possible to build such a shape.

I'm excited to see how they apply this knowledge to the rest of our geometry unit!

Collaboration for the win!

#tweet your learning

Processing is one of the most important aspects of learning, and yet is often one of the most overlooked areas of education.  Students need time to reflect on what they have learned, have time to digest new information, and connect it to previously learned material.  Reflection ensures students are fully engaged and making meaning of the material - producers and not just consumers.

Over the next few blogs, I am going to talk about some of my favorite processing tools in the classroom.  These activities allow students to actively internalize information, have them use different cognitive skills during the activity, and have an element of fun or interaction which I also enjoy.

The first activity is "tweet" your learning.  I am not yet at a point where students have active twitter accounts (though I'm working on this!)  However, using a subpage on classtools.net called Twister, students create a tweet to tell me one important fact they learned from the day.

I love this exercise for many reasons.  Students can only give one 'tweet',  and so they only get 140 characters.  They have to be precise with their vocabulary and word choice. They start reflecting on 'what did I learn' and 'how can I summarize this so succinctly.'  Students are actively forced to use different types and levels of metacognition.

When students get to the site they have four fields to complete: name, nickname, tweet, and date.

On the surface, students can write their name their 'nickname' and give a tweet  and a date.  So, in theory a final product could look like this:

This tweet would definitely meet the expectations.  It told me one fact and even had some of the vocabulary we discussed.  While this is all great, one of my favorite aspects of this site is that it comes pre-populated with different images.  If you type a popular name into the real name field, it will use that person's (or creature's) picture in the tweet.  I showed this example to the students:

This tweet also shows comprehension of new concepts, but does so from a different perspective.  The tweet itself shows a dino misinterpreting those darn kids with the actual object in the sky.  The date, 65 million BC, matches the researched date of when the extinction level event occurred.

They then download the tweet as a .pdf and then upload the file into our digital dropbox.

The students really enjoyed this and don't realize how much thinking they are doing.  I got so many wonderful responses.  Here are a couple of student examples:

What would you tweet about what you learned today?  Who would you use as your avatar?

Team Building Part 2: Keeping It Authentic

"I showed them how to do it! The student's just aren't getting it - it isn't my fault!"

 What are you picturing?  A teacher explaining a math lesson?  Foreign language?

If you have been in education long enough, you've certainly heard (or maybe even said) something like that at some point.  As educators we know that you can't just 'present' material to have students understand it.  You can't give a lesson and expect them to master it.

This is my next point with 'ice breakers'.  So many times I have seen groups do ice breakers that go something like this:

"OK, the point of this activity is for this team to (insert random task)"

A couple of things might happen from here.

One person in the group quickly sees a basic solution, does it, and the facilitator gives some quick non-authentic feedback.

Alternatively the opposite could happen.  The team could be stuck, unsure of how to complete the activity.

So the facilitator does what any good teacher would do - he gives gives "a clue" and the group quickly sees the answer, and the facilitator gives some quick non-authentic feedback.

And then he surprised when they didn't get the relationship building they were promised.  He decides that 'team-building is just a waste of time.'

So often, teachers, leaders, and facilitators want to do the team building and ice breaking "stuff" as quickly as possible so they can get to the "important" parts of the day.  They want activities that can be done in ten minutes or less so that they have more time for people to be 'productive.'  They can't waste a single minute, let alone a whole class period on such useless activities.

But when have you ever seen an effective lesson hit the short and long term goals in just ten minutes?  Much like teaching a lesson, you have to ask what is the result you want?  Do you want students to memorize and be able to recall information on the short term?  If so, then an activity like the one above is a great lesson.  You won't gain any long term community, but you will have a short term celebration.  However, if you are looking to build long term relationships, as well as student success you have to put the same effort, planning, and processing that you would for a lesson.

Teachers have a difficult time letting students fail.  It isn't in our general nature.

As promised, here is the second activity that I use to help build positive relationships in my classroom.  This is a great activity for students as well as great practice to let you, as a teacher, to practice allowing students to fail.

Protocol: Helium Hoop

Size Limit: This activity works best for groups of 8-12.  You can break the group up into two and have them take turns.

Materials: a hula-hoop

Procedure:

1) Get students into a circle
2) Explain the task is to get the hoop to the ground with the following guidelines
3) Have the students make two fists with their pinky parallel to the ground
4) Stick out your index finger so it it pointing across the circle
5) Tuck your thumbs into your fist
6) Put your fists at hip level

Explain that in a few moments you are going to put the hula hoop so that it is touching everyone's fingers.  The goal is to get the hoop to the ground with the following rules:

1) Everyone must be in contact with the hoop at all times.  If anyone loses contact I'll grab the hoop and we'll restart.
2) Only your index finger may be in contact with the hoop.
3) The hoop must rest on everyone's index finger - no grabbing or curling around the hoop.
4) The hoop must be lowered onto the ground without it dropping.

The first time you do this activity the hoop will rise almost instantly.  This is an excellent game to play to help process blaming others and how your actions impact the group.

It is also a VERY difficult activity to facilitate - as the teacher your job is to let the group figure out the problem without giving major hints.  You have to let them struggle without getting completely frustrated.  Balancing the guidelines with how strictly you are enforcing them to maintain engagement without allowing them to 'check-out' from frustration.

Does this sound like what we, as teachers, need to do for students every day?

It is important to let them struggle - remember the goal isn't necessarily for them to succeed in two or three tries.  You are preparing them for a school year where they will have academic struggles.  There will be times that they will have group projects in which everyone is committed, but progress is still slow.  Let them reflect back on this activity on their struggles and think about how they eventually succeeded.

The Power of an Authentic Audience

My students are currently working on their discovery night project - this is an assignment where they present a real life problem to a community of adults - family, other teachers, friends - the forum is open to anyone that wants to come.

Our class is tackling the issue of electronic waste.

Much more on their learning and presentation will be coming up - the big night is Thursday - but I wanted to share one specific experience we had this week.

Our students have learned about the problems about recycling e-waste: It's expensive, difficult, and toxic.  We also learned that many of the would-be recyclers actually ship their electronics to places that have much lower standards for worker safety and environmental protection.  These places, such as Agbogbloshie, Ghana and Guiyu, China, pay workers less than a dollar per day and in the process destroy their own health and environment.   Electronics are burned so that precious metals can be salvaged, and no protection is given to the workers.  Students also learned many of these places use children younger than them to do this work.

One student was particularly bothered by this and decided to see what the recycling places he researched were doing about this.

He had a list of recycling locations and decided to start making calls.

Now if you know anything about teenage boys, you know talking on the phone to strangers ranks just below shoe shopping in 'high level interest activities.'



However, here was this 8th grade boy calling various companies and asking about how they handle the electronic items they 'recycle.'  Here was a typical conversation:

Student: Hi, I'm a student calling about electronic waste. What do you do with the items you recycle?

Rep: We reuse the items we can and recycle the ones we can't.

Student: but how do you recycle it?

Rep: What do you mean?

Student: Like do you ship it to Ghana or China or do you recycle it there?

Rep: That is proprietary information, I can't discuss that.

This, of course, led to a nice discussion on what this meant.  It also led to a very angry student.

But this anger also led to a discovery that there are responsible e-cycling standards.  From there all the students in the class began to look for two different standards: R-2 and e-stewards recycling standards.  They'd call companies and ask if their organization was certified by either of those standards.  Most of the time the company had no idea what that meant.

Students started telling the representative that their organization should seriously look into getting certified.  Suddenly the students felt they knew more than the adults.  They were sharing information with adults.  And nothing makes a student feel more powerful than that.

Welcome to the Math Art Gallery!

So we are closing in on that spring break, which of course means that because of this and the fact we just finished PARCC testing,  our students are all but checked out.  Perfect time to introduce geometry concepts, right?

Right.

Looking at the CCSS, I go through some of the key terms and words that my students will have to know to continue their mastery of learning targets.  A few are ones they have mastery of, some are ones that are familiar, but most are ones that will need some review.

On Wednesday, I start the lesson.  The students walk in and see a stack of white paper, compasses, and rulers.  They also notice bins of colored pencils and markers up front.

I begin the lesson explaining how hard they have been working and I really felt we needed a day to just relax.  No major lesson today - they will have the period to just draw.

An aura of suspicion goes up, but I continue:

Seriously, all I have planned today is for you to draw.

One brave soul speaks up - "Mr. Taylor, you have something up your sleeve."

OK, there are two conditions.  First, whatever you draw has to be school appropriate.  Second, you have to use these tools as intended for their regular use to draw.  You can not draw freehand at all.  I mean I need to add SOME element of challenge, right?

I then introduce the compass and explain how to use it.  I tell them there is some learning curve (hah) to it, and they will need some practice to build the muscle memory.

There is still some doubt in the room to the 'leniency' of the assignment, so again I emphasize the main points:

You can draw whatever you want as long as it is school appropriate and you must draw using the tools as designed (rulers for straight lines, compass for curves and circles.)   No freehand.

I then pass out the paper and tools.  I explain that each student gets exactly one sheet of paper - if they "mess up" they can use the back, but after that they have to incorporate errors into their art.

I give them the period, making sure students are using the tools correctly and helping them use the compass - in fact I end up setting up a mini-lesson station for this tool.  They are excited and work the period.  They ask about color, and I tell them there is no expectation of color, but if they choose to color that can be done by freehand so long as the original lines are visible.  They are also allowed to black outline by freehand (instead of re-using the tool to trace over an established line.)

Here are a few samples of what my students created:

 They ask about homework, and I tell them they can finish their products, remembering the rules.  Some students borrow compasses, others choose to hand in what they have.

The next day students come in and see their works of art hanging around the room.  I welcome them to the math art gallery and ask them to take their seats.

The girl that spoke up yesterday mentions, "I knew there would be more to this..."

I start by asking who has been to an art museum before.  Many students raise their hands.  We go over norms of art museums:

• quiet voices
• you aren't allowed to touch the art work (or even come close to it)
• walk slowly
• You shouldn't lean on the walls or use them to write on
• Don't clog up any areas

I actually had this video prepared in case students were unfamiliar with the norms, but didn't have to use it:  How to behave in a gallery.

From there I welcome them again to the Math Art Gallery.  Their assignment is to find different forms of geometry in the various works of art in the room.  They should take notes as to who's artwork it is in and where in the artwork they see it.

I also tell them there is a definition sheet in two different spots of the room - if they are unsure about a term, they should reference that sheet for help.

They then take the next thirty minutes in the art gallery looking for the terms, but also admiring each other's work.  I wander the gallery with the same worksheet, finding the same properties.  They complement each other as they pass, and I share some of my favorite observations. We all comment on properties that are easier or harder to find.  Some, we note, are quite rare!  Students also remind each other of the norms as they walk.

I really enjoyed that part of the community building - an unexpected and happy outcome :)

After thirty minutes, we all return back to our spaces and review our work.  Students share where they found the terms - scalene triangles, trapezoids, arcs, chords, and so on.  As we review, students become shocked at how many geometric terms are in their drawing - they are amazed that there is so much to their work.  Specifically, the student that did the 3d cube was amazed at what was found.  He said he just wanted to do a simple shape, but it turns out that he and other students found the following elements in his drawing:

• acute angles 
• cube
• obtuse angles 
• parallelogram 
• parallel lines 
• perpendicular lines 
• rectangle
• right angles 
• right triangle 
• rotational symmetry 
• scalene triangle 
• squares
• trapezoids

Over a dozen terms in that one 'simple' design.  They began to build awareness of geometric terms and properties in everyday objects around them, looking at them through a new lens.  From there students began attaching meaning to the vocabulary.  They gained practice using the tools to create more specific designs.  Their natural curiosity kept the momentum going, and all of this coming the week before spring break.

So for those of you closing in on a week off - keep the lessons real, make the time count, stay away from the worksheets, and keep the students enchanted.

This was my contribution to the gallery.

Today I will read your future minds...

A few weeks ago my math class started algebra concepts.   I have a fantastic lesson that I spiced up thanks from some advice from Dave Burgess and his excellent seminar on how to Teach Like a Pirate.    Students sit down, get out their notebook, look up and read the board.  However, instead of the usual warm up or friendly message, they see :  "Today I will read your future mind!"

They giggle as usual, and taunt my talents.  I play along - "Oh, doubters... just wait.  You don't even know what you are thinking yet... but I do...."

With that I take out an index card and turn my back to the class.  I look over my shoulder a few times, making sure to have direct eye contact with a few of them.   As I'm turned I write a message on the index card.  I put this index card into an envelope, seal it, walk up to one student very deliberately, and put it into the student's binder, folder, or book, warning all of them not to even touch the envelope.  I then explain how soon they will all write what I have just written on this card.

Hook?  Check.

I then lead them through the typical pick-a-number scheme where you add, multiply, and do all this magic to the number.   I encourage them to choose a lower number as there is some arithmetic to do to this number, but really any number will work.  No calculators are allowed and students must show their work for each step.

Here is the algorithm I lead them through.  I haven't tried reading minds over the realm of the internet, but I'm willing to have a go.  All of you readers, math geeks and non, should play along.  I'm curious if I can use my psychic powers through wifi.  Here are the steps I give my students:

• No talking from here out - it disrupts the psychic energy.
  
• pick a number 
• double that number
• add 4 to the result
• triple that result 
• subtract 6 
• divide by 6 
• add 4 
• subtract the original number from this result (this step usually takes some clarifying)
• circle this final answer

Now I want you to look at this chart.  Find the letter that corresponds to the final answer circled on your paper and write that letter on your paper.

For instance, if you got a 8, you'd choose 'h'

I always make sure to walk around the room to see what number is circled and to clarify this step.  I also help students that may have made a mistake in arithmetic.

Once everyone has their letter I stop and build the drama a bit more.  I close my eyes - pretend to meditate... whatever. Get a good psychic vibe in that room!

When I continue I ask them to think of an animal that starts with the letter they have written down and have them write this animal in their notebook (telling them specifically that spelling doesn't count.)  For example, a student that gets an 8 could write 'hyena'.

I then ask them to think of a color that animal can be, and to write that as well.  For instance, if they got an 8 they might choose a brown hyena, but can't pick a pink hyena.

At this point I walk back to the student that has the envelope.  I look at the answer in their notebook and smile.  I ask them if they think I have the same thing written on the card in the envelope.  They always hesitate.  The anticipation is thrilling.  I ask that student to open the envelope and to read out loud what is written.

Most of the time they don't even read it out loud.  Most of the time they shout out "NO WAY!"  Generally what happens from there is the rest of the class reacts with shock and awe with a hint of fear.  Eventually the card gets read.  Students are in disbelief.  How is this possible?  Will you teach me?  PLEASE? TELL ME YOUR SECRET (seriously - students begging to be taught?)  Nobody can believe that I have done the impossible.  Same color. Same animal... well, 95% of the time.

If you are playing along you might wonder what is on in that envelope and if I've read your mind through the world of cyberspace.

You may wonder, if in fact, I will end this post with the words grey elephant.  

I think I will.

Next time I'm using one of these as a prop.

Another Review Game, 80s game show style!

I hope everyone had an amazing winter break.  Things have been crazy here in Columbus - with Ohio State winning the first National Football College Championship and all.   That story actually has been a great anchor for teaching about growth vs fixed mindsets due to all the injuries that OSU had to endure, the changes the staff and team had to make, and the success they still earned.

This week I'm presenting a highly engaging review game that my students love playing.  It is 100% based on the 1980s game show "Card Sharks" featuring Bob Eubanks.

If you never experienced the 80s, this video will answer lots of questions...

... if you did experience the 80s, this video will give you bad flashbacks.

skip to 4:50 if you just want to see how the game is played :)

In this game students work as a team to review concepts taught.  This protocol is 100% adaptable for any age group or subject, and needs minimal preparation.

I have two versions of this game: one for smaller groups of sixteen or less that uses a standard deck of cards, and one for groups of more than twelve that uses a 20 sided die (twelve to sixteen students can effectively use either version.)  I'll be outlining the card version today and the dice version next week.

Title: Higher / Lower (or card sharks)

Quick Summary: Students will review various skills and practice probability

Materials needed: A deck of cards

Prep: Review questions for the class

Procedure:
1) Divide the students into small groups

2) Students take out their notebook.

3) Teacher puts a review problem on the board.

4) Students solve the problem as a team, completing work in their own notebook.  They may, of course, help their teammates.  During this time I'm usually walking the room monitoring behavior, tone (keying in on competitive students that may not be patient with others), and giving subtle hints.  I'm also usually reminding students they can only write in their own notebook.

5) Teacher chooses a random person from each group and checks that person's work, noting which groups got a correct or incorrect answer.

6) Review the answer as a class - any group that got a correct answer gets to play the board (see below.)  All students that got an incorrect answer should copy the correct procedure, making note of their errors, even if the group got a correct answer.

It is important during the review time that all students understand that even if most of the group gets a correct answer, you are only checking on one random person per group.  This builds concurrent engagement and accountability.  I'll roll a die to 'decide' the student I'm looking at.  Naturally I'm looking at everyone's work and making notes on my clipboard, but the illusion of picking a random student is there :)

How to "Play the board"

For smaller classes I set up a row of cards for each team.  I'll put six to eight cards in a row depending on how long I want the game to last.

The game is afoot!

Groups that have correct answers get to decide if the next card is higher or lower.  It is important to establish the order of the cards.  I write the card values from low to high on the front board so students have a visual of this number line.  If they are correct they can continue and risk their gains, or 'freeze' and guarantee their safety.  An incorrect answer knocks them back to the previous freeze point or the start if there was no freeze point.

I turn the card sideways to signify 'freeze'

The other groups then gets an opportunity to play (assuming that they had the correct answer to the review problem.)  In this version I play classic "card shark game show" style in the sense that players can choose to keep the frozen card or change it for the top card in the deck.  

I find this game provides lots of excitement, is a great review of probability (there was so much discussion on whether you should 'go for it' with a nine showing), and gets students imbedded into the review lesson.  

And of course it leads to situations that you couldn't really predict...

The 9 changes ... to a QUEEN!

"LOWER!"

Lower than a queen - A FOUR!

"HIGHER!" 

Higher than a four... another four... 

"Is ... that.. wait... NOOOOO!!!!!!"

Next week I will include how I've use this game with classes as big as forty-plus students!  I'll also be back later this week with a bonus blog (to make up for the one that I missed!)

It's not break yet, but this protocol will get you one day closer!

I hope everyone is doing well!  I have about a week until winter break and am guessing many of you are trying to stay focused on lessons and gradi... oh squirrel!

This week I'm presenting a definition review game.  For those familar with it, this is a kinestetic activity based on a Frayer model. This protocol get students moving about and has them critically thinking about vocabulary while interacting with each other.

Title: Definition Match Up

Quick Summary: Students will get in groups as they review vocabulary concepts.

Materials needed: Index cards (with pre-made sets)

Prep: Before you do this protocol, you will need to create sets of vocabulary cards. The cards will be grouped into sets of three as noted below:

• One card will have the word or key phrase (for example, "primary color")
• One card will have the definition (for example, "A color that can't be made from other colors")
• One card will have an example (for example, "Red") 

Make a separate set of three cards for each term you would like to review.

Procedure:

1) Give one card to each student.  In typical #tlap form, I rarely just 'hand them' a card.  There is something a bit more to it.  "I have a secret message on this card. DON'T LOOK!"

2) On the go signal, have students look at the card.

3) Students have to then find their missing group members.  Eventually they will form groups of three and read each card ensuring they have one word or phrase, one definition, and one example.

4) While groups are moving I put a question up on the board such as, "What big plans do you have this weekend? Don't be shy - I need something to do!"  When groups find each other and are sure they are in their group of three, they discuss this question while other people settle in.  This allows there to be a minimal amount of behavioral issues and helps continue to build community!

I'm blogging between grading... and it is almost tomorrow...

Here is part of a set that I used for a biome unit:

biotic - a living part of a biome - trees
producers - species that creates its own food - flowers
carnivore - a species that eats other animals - tiger
resource - a substance required by all living creatures - water
interdependent - living things that rely on each other for survival - bees and flowers

Initially groups will make mistakes - that's good! Sit back, review the requirements (word-definition-example), but don't 'help' students out.  My group originally got into "flowers, bees and flowers, water," but when they asked "Which one of us is the word", they had trouble getting the other two into definition and example, and realized they needed new partners.

Processing:

After groups are satisfied, and I know where the big party is on Saturday night,  we circle up while still staying in our groups of three.  Students read their cards in order: word - definition - example.  I might have students give a thumbs up or down (agree / disagree) or a scale to see how familiar they were with that term (1 finger for I didn't know it, 2 for I remember hearing it, and 3 for I remembered that term and definition.)  We also discuss if there are definitions or examples that could have been in different places.  For instance, in my example above students discussed how 'trees' and 'flowers' could have changed groups, but tigers could not have since there were no other carnivores.

Carnivore is such a misnomer!

I have used many variations of this activity.  You can reduce the difficulty by color coding the index cards (definitions on red, words on green, examples on blue) to allow students to visually see each part.  I've increased the difficulty by removing a few cards so that some people are only in a group of two.  Depending on how hard I want to make it, I may or may not tell students which terms have groups of 2 or 3.

I'd love to hear other variations that you come up with as you try out this protocol!  Have an amazing holiday break!

Food drive - Hunger Games Style.

If you are a fan of authentic student engagement, you'll really enjoy this blog.  If you happen to know anyone that doubts as to how authentic student engagement leads to better participation and results, please encourage that person to read this blog.

As most schools do this time of the year, our school held a three day food drive to benefit a local food charity.  Typically this drive raises between 50 and 100 items per classroom.  Students are encouraged to bring in two items, and get a dress down day if they do that (our students wear school uniforms daily.)  This incentive is the usual buy in for the students.

This year, my amazing teaching partner found an activity which turned the food drive into "The Hunger Games."  (Hunger Games, get it? Food dri... oh nevermind, read on.)

Here were the rules:

Our three classroom middle division was split into six districts.  Students supported their district by bringing in food items.  Items were counted and at the end of each day we had an elimination ceremony.  The district with the fewest items was eliminated from the competition.  Then, the item count for each district would reset to zero for the next day.

At first we were worried about eliminated districts no longer bringing in food (after all the end game was to support the local food bank, and this action could be detrimental towards that.)  To work around this, all districts that were eliminated could become sponsors and support districts that were still in the competition.  Basically, you didn't win, but you can keep your friend safe from elimination.

It's good to be the king.

On Wednesday our food drive began. Students came in and piled food into their self-decorated district boxes.   The initial results were encouraging as each classroom brought in an average of 65 items.  Remember, this food drive typically brought in a total of 50-100 items per classroom over the three days, so we were really excited to see that we'd already come close to our expected total.

At the end of the day we all went to a common room for the elimination ceremony.  As students walked in they saw the Panem flag projected and listened to the Panem Anthem playing.

We reviewed the rules - and how the district with the fewest items would be eliminated from the competition.  However, they can help their friend's survive by sponsoring them the rest of the week.

Then the students heard cannons go off... a total of eight cannons were shot and the losing district was displayed on the screen.  Eight students faces were shown to the middle division.

The cheering was enormous.  Students were genuinely excited to still be in the competition.  At first students started taunting the losing district, but quickly realized that those students were now their allies.  The buttering up and praise starting flying.

One district down, five to go.

Thursday came along... Our school starts with morning gathering - lower, intermediate, and middle school all gather in the gym for morning announcements.  That Thursday, there was an electrical buzz in the middle division section. Students were saying how many items they brought in,  showing swagger towards other districts, trying to get District One to sponsor them - they were fully engaged in the activity, and it wasn't even 8:00 am yet.

Little did they know that the Capitol had a special announcement that day.

Students brought in their items to their district leaders.  Students kept trying to find out how many items their district brought in and what place they were.  Teachers didn't budge - all results would not be made public until the elimination ceremony.  When we met as a division, we were shocked and thrilled with our day two results.  On Thursday alone each classroom brought in an average of 110 items.  Each. Classroom.  Again, this is a food drive that never brought more than 300 items over three days, yet here we were at 526 items after just two days.

District Four's Day Two Offering

The Hunger Game fever was so engaging that our middle division head of school as well as the school counselor decided to participate as well.  They announced that they would sponsor students that they observed following the rights and responsibilities (code of conduct) of the school.

Our Intermediate division was the group running the school food drive.  They were getting the typical 20-30 items per classroom.  Then they came to the middle division rooms.  It was wonderful watching the intermediate students' jaws drop when they entered our classroom.  They were not prepared to carry all of those items.

At the end of the day, students were again called together for the ceremony.  They heard the anthem, saw the flag... and students started saluting.

This was totally spontaneous. And a bit exciting.

(I do have authentic photos of this, but school policy prohibits me from posting student images.)  

It made the Capitol's announcement all the better.  Students heard the cannons go off, and started counting... but got confused.  Despite the largest district being eight students, 14 cannons went off.

District Five and District Six were shocked to see both of their teams on the screen... eliminated.

The shock on students' faces was replaced by smirks as their friends quickly started negotiations for their sponsorship.

Day three literally began with students bringing in bags full of items. The teachers were staggered as to the amount of food that we saw at morning gathering.  Again, district leaders took counts and recorded them on the google sheet.  Students petitioned adults to sponsor them throughout the day.

I also learned a valuable lesson.  Never try to petition a Manchester United Fan when you represent Chelsea.  Good student relationship moment, though :)

The final elimination ceremony came with another announcement from the Capitol.. and this one was much more kind.

You see - throughout this whole activity - throughout the announcement of the districts, the challenge, the eliminations, not once did we mention a winning prize for the final surviving district.  When we were occasionally asked about a prize, we just told them 'bragging rights' or 'a feast beyond your wildest dreams.'  Behind the scenes we had talked about buying cupcakes or other small treat for the winning district.  However, after seeing the amount of food and the positive engagement,  our division head had another idea.  She asked the middle division staff if a pizza party would be an appropriate reward for all the districts, even the eliminated ones.  We unanimously said yes.

Still, there had to be a winner of the games.

Fifteen cannons were fired and District Three and Four saw their faces on the board.  District Two was the winners of the Hunger Games.

However, the real winner was Homeless Families Foundation of Columbus.  In a typical food drive our classrooms raised a total of about 300 items over the three days. This year our three classrooms raised 1056 items in three days - three times the typical amount.

The amount of student engagement in this activity blew me away.  I have never seen so much excitement about a food drive (or any other charitible event such as penny drives or clothing drives.) The students excitement spread to other grades as well as other adults in the building.   So again I contend anyone that says authentic student engagement does not increase participation to  please contact me.  I have a special seat in the Capitol waiting just for them.