Groups and Movement seems to be working

Yesterday I had finished teaching a lesson on solving percent problems and today I had them practice these types of problems.  So instead of giving them the textbook assignment, I made up 9 question cards and had them taped up around the room.  I taped them on the blackboards, the windows and on tables.  I then split the class into 7 groups of 3.  I have noticed the importance of me doing the grouping to make these tasks successful.  I always try to group them with a mixed level of ability and I make sure there is one definite leader in each group.  I gave them each a station to start at and they were to solve the problem on the blackboard, or the window, or the poster paper.  They were to record their final answer on a piece of paper that they would take with them from station to station.  Once they thought they had the correct answer they were to check with me.  If it was correct they erased their work so the other groups couldn't copy the answer and they were allowed to move on to another question.  If not, they had to try again.  They were not allowed to move to the next station until they got the answer correct.  They did not have to move in any order, the task was just to complete all 9 questions.  Competition drives my class, so of course, this was a race to see who could get all 9 questions done correctly first.  This was quite a success.  This works well for those that are struggling.  Even if they themselves cannot answer the question, at least they are there listening and watching to see how to solve the problem rather than blankly staring at their textbook.

Sticky Note Success

Monday morning always seems to be a struggle for my students to get motivated, especially in math.  So I am really focusing on Monday mornings and how I can get them engaged right off the bat.  This Monday I tired a little activity with Sticky Notes.  We are working with fractions, decimals and percents.  I wanted them to be able to convert a fraction into a decimal, or a decimal into a fraction, etc.  and understand what the values actually meant.  I split the class into 6 groups of 4 and gave each group sticky notes.  I then wrote 14 different values in the board (.0067, 75%, 3/5, etc) and had them write one value on one sticky note.  I then gave each group a section of blackboard and their task was to place their values in ascending order on the board.  I made it a competition to see who could complete the task first.  Those were the only instructions I gave them.  In order for them to do this, they first had to recognize that it would be easiest to convert them all to the same type (either all fractions, all decimals, or all percents), and then order.  So it was very interesting to watch.  All the students were very engaged and discussing with their group about how to go about the task.  A few of the groups converted all to percent and a few converted all to decimals and then ordered them.  Once they thought they had it correct they would call me over and I would simply say "error" if there was one and they would all go crazy and try again.  Once they had all figured it out I had each group pick a representative to share the approach their group took to solve the problem.  Then to top it off, no group had converted to fractions, so I had another race to see which group could now convert all the values to fractions first. Overall, I would say it was very successful, and the students had a much clearer understanding than they did at the beginning of the class.

Reflecting in stations

After the long weekend, I figured my students would have forgotten anything they learned the previous week as we had just started a new unit.  I decided I would review with them using different stations.  I split the class into 8 groups and gave them each 4 questions on the same topic (percents, fractions and decimals).  I had 4 stations (back board, windows, front board and table (with poster paper and markers).  It worked really well, all the students were engaged and wanting to take their turn to write out the answer.  My at-risk student was partcipating well, however, he is embarrased about his written output so he was not involved in writing out the answer at any of the stations.  Any suggestions on how I could change that for him?  Drawing is not really an option when you need to convert 32% into a decimal and fraction.  I have a video, which I will attach if I can figure it out.

Projects vs. Tests a week later

My at-risk student changed his mind to do a project rather than a test after seeing the review he was asked to complete before writing the test, so I was happy about that.  He still needs to be constantly prompted to get to work, but he is taking more of a lead in the project than his partner, so that is good to see.  I will report back next week to see how the final project turns out.

Projects vs. Tests

I just finished teaching 6 different organ systems and now I am looking at having the students show what they know.  So we have given them 6 choices (TV show, powerpoint, poster, life-size cut out, etc.) and the last choice was to write the test.  Well interestingly enough, my at risk student chose the test.  He was planning on working with another student, who he has been sitting with and working well with this past week.  However, the other student is much more of a "test-writer" and I am pretty sure the only reason my at-risk student is choosing the test is because this other student is.  We just got started yesterday, so we will see if he changes his mind next week.  But I thought it was an interesting point.