![]() ![]() They typically do this without complaint and we try to make sure that they have time for themselves but building a culture at home of regular practice and the need to improve seems quite important.Īs this translates to my teaching practice, I’m doing a bit more on the compliance side of home learning. I feel my internal pendulum shifting and as my own daughters end their elementary school career, I find myself setting times for them to sit down and work. Fragile understanding need to be nurtured and ideas wrestled with. In most instances, this means that they can go two days without thinking about math or even more if there is a special schedule, long weekend, etc. I also see students leaving math work for math class. It would be great if dinner time is always with family and that students can relax as the day comes to an end. Let’s also think of the need to be outside and socializing. Kids are busy after school through clubs, sports, extra classes and more. I’ve recently had a lot of conversations around math work outside of the classroom and I’m truly conflicted on the topic. According to the Exploratorium page, in 2019 pi was calculated out to 31.4 trillion decimal places. (You can always head over to the pi-search page and see if your favorite string of numbers is in the first 200 million digits). We dance around the elusive 3.1415… but I’m hoping the idea of pi being a ratio of the circumference to diameter starts to take a bit more brain space over the endless stream of digits. Some groups average their values out to 3.19. We measure circumferences and diameters – a bit more challenging for many than reciting values – and build on our understanding of ratio to find how close we can get to pi. Silence…Wait, there is meaning behind all those digits? Simply reciting 10, 20, even 100 digits isn’t the goal? Out comes the measuring tapes and we begin looking for pi. The clamor dies down and I refine the question to ask what do the digits stand for. Some puff up and ask if I am ready to hear how many digits they can recite. ![]() I ask my students what is pi and immediate shouts of “3.14” ring out. Take that ‘e’ off and move over to mathematics. But, 3.14 is not about this type of pie so let’s not continue down the path of how good an onion pie can be. Don’t think of eye watering, strong tasting onions but the yumminess of caramelized onions. Other than my fickle daughters, I’m not sure if I’ve come across someone who has tasted an onion pie and continued a tale of dislike. Exclamations of ‘ Oh no! I wouldn’t eat that!” follow and I’m left defending this delicacy. First impressions often include odd faces and even grimaces. Seeing this student’s response was that reminder that I should regularly send out these short messages. Taking a few moments to send a message calling out what happened can go a long way. I’m not sure if we do enough of acknowledging the challenges, frustrations and successes that students (or teachers) go through on a daily basis. The response was amazing as the student saw it as a learning experience. This is not the place where I want students to end the day.Īs the class left, I quickly sat down to write the student a message. The motivated student was visibly frustrated to the point of a few tears eeked out. ![]() Another adult in the class tried working with them for a bit and in the end, I needed to provide extra assistance. In this case, the partnership was comprised of a student who was highly motivated though not too confident and one who was not so keen on working. Some times there is a bit of conflict and yesterday was one of those moments. For the most part, groups work out and students stay engaged with positive discussions. The goal is that within the first few minutes of starting, students are standing at whiteboards being mathematicians and doing mathematics. Many like the variation of partners and location though I know some don’t care for it. These colorful tiles list groups of three that change daily. Students come into class and find a different place to sit with different people. Flippidity rolls the dice on seating most days. ![]()
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