Yesterday I led new learning, new learning for students and for me too.
I was adding on to a volume project I've done in the past by making the project more open ended.
My first reaction to the exploration was that as with much of what I do, it was a bit rushed creating some angst.
Why the rush?
As always I'm trying to teach a large number of straight forward concepts in ways that are deeper, more engaging, and more memorable. While paper/pencil or online practice helps us to meet all the standards, that method does not add meaning, depth, relevance, and a love of the study of math.
So with regard to the exploration, a lot went wrong on the initial day including the following events:
- I didn't review scissor safety--critical.
- I didn't review material care and use - important.
- I tried to add too many facts up front which lessened the time for exploration and made some students confused.
- I didn't have enough models to show in order to give students a view of what the project entailed.
So as I taught, I added the missing pieces.
I updated the study guide.
I updated the learning menu - see image at the top of the page.
I also showed a couple of related videos:
I'm hoping today's work and exploration will go a lot better. Let's see.
And if you have suggestions, I'm open to that too.
Afterword: As the pictures I added above show, today's exploration was much better.
Afterword: As the pictures I added above show, today's exploration was much better.
