3 problems
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The document discusses making math class more meaningful and engaging for students. It suggests that students hire teachers to help them make progress and have fun with friends, but that current math assignments like doing evens on page 276 do not achieve this. It proposes finding real-life problems as driving questions for math lessons instead, like issues around road safety, healthcare costs, or immigration. Students would research and develop deliverables like presentations or books to answer their chosen question. The goals are for students to get important work done, define themselves, and stay connected to others.
3 problems
- 1. What we’re doing isn’t working.
- 2. We have 3 choices:
- 3. 1. Do more in the same amount of time
- 4. 2. Do less in the same amount of time
- 5. 3. Do something completely different
- 6. If you do decide to do something different, keep 3 things in mind:
- 7. 1. It needs to work
- 8. 1. It needs to work 2. It needs to be fun
- 9. 1. It needs to work 2. It needs to be fun 3. It can’t piss off the boss
- 10. You have 3 bosses: students parents principals
- 11. Those bosses want different things from you.
- 12. Your principal wants that kid to pass the “test”.
- 13. Your parent wants that kid to pass the “test” and live happily ever after.
- 14. Your kid wants two things:
- 15. Your kid wants two things: 1) make progress 2) have fun with their friends
- 16. Progress & fun w/ friends ≠ test success & college
- 18. But…
- 19. What if you could keep the principal and the parents happy?
- 20. And still…
- 21. Make progress with kids and have fun?
- 23. DIY kit for getting admin off your back
- 24. 1. Get SAT test prep questions
- 25. 1. Get SAT test prep questions 2. Put them in quiz/test form
- 26. 1. Get SAT test prep questions 2. Put them in quiz/test form 3. Get those quizzes online (for your kids)
- 27. If you can check that test-prep box, then you get to play (in a #’s way)
- 28. Math is powerful only when it describes reality
- 29. Math loses all its power when it’s disconnected from reality
- 30. Most kids are convinced the math they’re doing is NOT connected to reality.
- 31. They know (after the quiz next week) they’ll never have to remember how to complete the square again …ever.
- 32. Remember:
- 33. Remember: Kids are hiring us to help them progress & to have fun w/ their friends.
- 34. Doing 2-50 the evens on page 276 is NOT why they hired us.
- 35. So they do what all of us do when we hate something:
- 36. 1. Avoid it 2. Ignore it 3. Outsource it
- 37. 1. Avoid it (don’t turn it in) 2. Ignore it 3. Outsource it
- 38. 1. Avoid it (don’t turn it in) 2. Ignore it (copy it from Ed on the bus in the AM) 3. Outsource it
- 39. 1. Avoid it (don’t turn it in) 2. Ignore it (copy it from Ed on the bus in the AM) 3. Outsource it (see #2)
- 40. 65% of middle school boys would rather take out the trash than do their math homework
- 41. Kids aren’t lazy
- 42. They’re just like us
- 43. They hate meaningless work.
- 44. So, the question you have to ask is
- 46. What’s meaningful? To my kids.
- 47. They’re hiring us to: help them make progress & have fun with their friends.
- 48. 2-50 on pg. 276 ≠ progress
- 49. We need a new definition
- 50. But where to find one?
- 51. Two sources
- 53. Repeat after me: “What do you wish you’d learned in your math class?”
- 54. Cautionary note: A math teacher has NEVER asked them this
- 55. Cautionary note: A math teacher has NEVER asked them this… So give them a moment
- 56. When they start talking, listen, ask clarifying questions and write down what they say.
- 57. Two sources your friends your students
- 58. When your kids start talking, listen, ask clarifying questions and write down what they say.
- 59. Most kids (& friends) say something like:
- 60. “I wish math class taught me to solve real-life problems”
- 61. “I wish math class taught me to solve real-life problems”
- 62. So…
- 63. Find a problem
- 64. Ask a driving question
- 65. Like “How safe are our roads?”
- 66. Or “How do we balance the cost of health-care with quality care?”
- 67. Or “What do we do about immigration in this country?”
- 68. Here’s the beauty of a Driving Question
- 69. If a kid doesn’t like it, no problem, (s)he just has to come up with their own.
- 70. If a kid doesn’t like it, no problem, (s)he just has to come up with their own. (It is America after all.)
- 71. If a kid doesn’t like it, no problem, (s)he just has to come up with their own. (It is America after all.)
- 72. So you both have something new (and reality-based) to do now.
- 73. The kid has to answer her question.
- 74. You have (or get) to help her.
- 75. “It’s not that easy,” you say.
- 76. “Yes it is.”
- 77. You only need 3 things for kids to engage in this real-life math
- 78. Thing 1: a question they care about answering
- 79. Thing 2: a platform they can interact (passively) with you and others about their answer
- 80. Thing 3: a deliverable that packages their answer
- 81. Thing 1 2 Weekly Turn-ins: 1 Pager (what I’m learning) ½ Pager (what I’m learning about myself)
- 83. Thing 3: Deliverable Presentation Book Video
- 84. I have 3 goals for my kids
- 85. That a text-book cannot provide.
- 86. I want my kids to be able to:
- 87. I want my kids to be able to: 1) Get important work done
- 88. I want my kids to be able to: 1) Get important work done 2) Manage internally (Define themselves)
- 89. I want my kids to be able to: 1) Get important work done 2) Manage internally (Define themselves) 3) Manage others (Stay connected)
- 90. Imagination is more important than knowledge.
- 91. Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Albert Einstein
- 92. Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Albert Einstein