Webinar + Q&A Period

[Laura Johns]

Wow! I am the chief rusher to the algorithm, or table, etc. The webinar helped me begin to think about how to take my time in unfolding a math story. It is like reading a book to your child, “And what do you think happens next?”

Great videos.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Laura Johns.

[Kyle Pearce]

I think we ALL struggle with that rush to the algorithm since it was so heavily entrenched in our own math education. So happy that you see the value in “staying curious just a little bit longer” and “holding off on advice giving just a little bit longer” 🙂

[Patrick Anderson]

The BIG takeaways from this episode were that we need to stay on the “Curiosity Path” while creating our lessons, we can always add but can NOT subtract when it comes to information, and Fuelling sense-making may be more impactful when students are describing the geometric form compared to the numeric (table). This was sooo good for me because I teach 6th-grade math and I am presently creating Virtual lessons for our Virtual Summer Learning program. This hits right in the “wheel-house” for me. Thank You!

[Kyle Pearce]

Sounds like you had some amazing take aways! Awesome!
Grade 6 is such an awesome year (especially in the Common Core states) as you’ll get to dive into so much proportionality. So much fun to Make Math Moments with proportions!!

[Heidi Warrington]

I appreciated revisiting modifying text book problems after taking the full Making Math Moments Workshop. What stood out to me was how easily we can modify problems by withholding information and that it doesn’t take technology to do it. I appreciate all the videos and visuals that you have created but it’s a little intimidating to think about changing how I teach and creating materials like that myself or alternatively, always having to search for materials. The idea that we could just use the board or powerpoint to do the visual patterns problem with the squares is reassuring and it is easy to see why kids would be so much more engaged with this than the original problem. Another big takeaway was discussing what the pattern looks like before creating a table or talking just numerically about the problem. I definitely have the tendency to rush to algorithms and seeing the power in slowing down is helpful.

[Kyle Pearce]

Loving your realizations!
As you’ll notice in our problem based units (https://learn.makemathmoments.com/tasks) you’ll see that we generally only use a video to spark curiosity on the first day and then try to ride the coattails of that context for the entire 4 to 6 day (or so) unit. Maybe that can be a strategy for you?

Tasks

[Merryl Polak]

Years ago I watched a video of Dan Meyer discussing this very topic. After that, Yeap Ban Har came to my district and explained that it was a natural tool for teachers in Singapore to rework problems from the textbook to make them tasks, rather than procedures at the end of a unit. I started dismantling the textbook problems and withholding information and my student’s excitement, anticipation, and engagement definitely increased. Watching this webinar today was such a powerful reminder that this is one of those skills that can still be used, even during this Covid 19 crisis. Thank you for the very necessary reminder! At the very end of the webinar during the Q&A an attendant asked a question I had been wondering about…purposeful practice. Where is this unit of study on hot chocolate you mentioned? Can it be found in the academy? I would really appreciate seeing an example of an entire unit’s compilation that incorporates rich tasks and meaningful practice. To this day, it is one of my continuing challenges and struggles.

[Kyle Pearce]

Wow that is so awesome that you connected the webinar to your past experiences. Both of the math educators you mentioned are huge advocates for context and building curiosity so I’m glad that you saw the relationship!

As for the unit, you can visit the task section in the main navigation bar of the website or jump straight to the Hot Chocolate unit here:

Hot Chocolate

Give it a look and let us know what you think!

[Sarah Merrylees]

Hi Jon and Kyle,

Was at this webinar in person way back in 2019 but it was brilliant to be able to go back and have a quick revisit before this year started again just to refresh my memory. I hope while you have space you can keep all your webinars available so we can revisit our faves and grab new takeaways.

Thanks again. The takeaway this time was to keep striving to bring the problems of the text alive by sparking curiosity 🙂

Sarah

[Tara Militello]

I have been trying to focus more on the making connections problems, and I continue to struggle not rushing to the algorithm. Having grade partners that don’t fully support my desire to change for the better, is making it a little difficult to follow through with what I want. That being said, I continue to find ways to have my students do the thinking and make more connections to the math.

My first goal is to make things more visual. When I return to school in the fall, I want to start off with pattern problems and challenge them to develop multiple responses so they can see that there is more than one way to solve a problem.

I am going to need more time to reflect on how I am going to develop a routine with visual learning to kick off each module for our 6th grade math curriculum. Do I stay visual in the sense of patterns, or can I mix it up with different modes of visual representations (e.g., video, patterns, etc).

[Jon]

@tara-militello you shouldn’t have to feel restricted to one form of visual over another. Feel free to experiment. There’s no wrong way if we’re trying to get students to think first!

[Tara Militello]

Thanks 🙂 I’ll get a routine down for each method and then mix it up!!

[Karynn Faivre]

I have been through the academy so much of the strategies I have heard before. I don’t remember about the search engine on the homepage, so i will check that out. I also liked that you reminded me that just because I created a notice & wonder opportunity, I have to also think of questions that will help students make connections without rushing to a table or algorithm.

[Mereana Povey]

Hi Kyle,

The main points I took away from this was ‘making connections to the questions’. If you have children who really struggle with maths. Making connections to their environment and what is around them, it real and authentic to them. You also have to be very enthusiastic when you are working with them. I also like the groups work on the whiteboards and placing them around the room is so meaningful. I would really like your flip book and the whiteboard resource. The final one is sparking curiosity to the students.

Thanks!

[Kyle Pearce]

Congrats my friend. So happy to hear you’ve had so many big take aways!