September 13, 2010

So school has started and here I am diving into the year. What have I done in math class so far? Nothing! Well, that is probably what my students would say, but in reality I have spent the last week starting and working on the most important ingredient of my classroom; having students respect and appreciate each others differences and begin to have them work as a team.

I did not teach the Grade 5's last year like I did my now Grade 6's. So I needed to know more about these individuals. I talked about how important it was for me to get to know them and their feelings toward math. I explained how you think about math and feel about it really makes a difference in how you do it. I had them then write their math autobiography where I told them to be completely honest with me about their feelings towards math, why they liked it or not, what they think they are good at in math and things they have trouble with. Well, they took off. I was a little worried they would kind of not tell the truth to make me happy in saying they all loved math. But they were genuinely honest. Most said they did not hate math, but that it was not their most favorite subject. They felt it got boring on times, especially when they would use the book. They all said they felt they would like math this year and that they hoped I would make it fun for them. I was pleased!!

To bring this classes together more, I decided to proceed with one of my favourite team building activities of all time. I challenged them to build the tallest tower using only plastic drinking straws, paper clips, modeling clay, and tape. I put them into groups of 4-5, gave them the materials and stepped back. I wanted to watch the dynamic of each group and identify the team players and those that think there is an "I" in team. It didn't take long for the leaders to emerge and the followers to follow. I quickly stepped in and got them on track and asked them to start thinking like a team. I was pleasantly surprised to see that after some time, all groups realized they could work faster as a team rather than individuals. All was good.
At the end of the activity we had a great conversation about all the ways they used math. They could not believe how much math was involved such as planning, designing, communicating, knowing how shapes affect the design, predicting how much tape they would need to hold the straws together and so on. I felt this activity was a great way to begin my inquiry based math class and it gave students a chance to dive in and have fun with math, even if they did not realize it!!