What's your 'Best Number'

A few weeks ago, I showed my grade 8 students a short clip from 'The Big Bang Theory.' In the clip, Sheldon proposes that the best number in the world is 73.

Here's an extended version of the clip.



I gave my students 5 weeks to find their own 'best number.' I gave them very few guidelines since I am curious to see what they can come up with on their own. I told them that they could use both mathematical and personal reasons to justify their choice.

Today, I showed them why my 'best number' is 28. I was happy to see that quite a few students are working hard to find their own. I am hoping to post some of them here.



Maybe there are other reasons why 28 is awesome.

What's yours?

Teach Students to Ask Questions

Came up to Fredericton to attend 'Tech or Treat' virtual conference.

Everyone should check out Dan Rothstein's talk - "The Simplest and Most Powerful Learning Technology: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions."

I set up my students in math class so that they get the opportunity to work with other students that are at a similar level in whatever big concept that we are working with. This allows them to work collaboratively at their own pace, which helps me differentiate instruction while maintaining my sanity in my class.

One great thing that has happened is that students seem much more comfortable at asking questions to students who are at a similar level. The major difference, however, is the level of question posed by the different groups.

Some groups -usually the ones in which students are more comfortable with the concept in question- will ask questions such as:
"Why did you do it this way?"
"Wouldn't this work better?"
"What's the first step to do this?"

The students who have less comfort or mastery of a concept will often ask the following question:
"How do you do this?"

The last question usually leads to one student telling another how to solve the entire problem. Very little learning occurs.

I'm thinking I can maybe use Dan's ideas to help my students ask deeper questions and to answer questions in a more open way.

Not quite homework ...

Homework is getting a pretty bad name lately, and for good reason. I am not a fan of homework.

However, I do think that (homework) extending classroom learning at home can be useful/necessary for certain students. If a student is struggling with a certain topic in our math class, I will often ask them to spend some time on it at home. What's even better, is when they request it themselves. But this is individualized work and the student and the parents are always involved. In addition, students can visit my class blog for some tutorial videos if they want to. And finally, I always check in with them once a week or so. Not homework in the traditional sense ... learning from home.

This year, I am going one step further, and all because of a comment made by a parent last year. She pointed out that people seem OK with saying that they suck at math. Or students that say, 'my parents weren't good at math either.' We need a culture change. You don't hear people happily talk about being illiterate. Numeracy skills should be the same.

I want my students to think about Math and Number Sense outside of school. Start with the small stuff: how much time is left in a TV show, how much time it will take you to reach your destination in a car, how much tip you should leave.

I want to encourage them to talk about it in class or on a blog ... its a work in progress. But it's obvious to me that something needs to change. Not quite homework, just learning out of the classroom. It's a tool, and I think it can be useful.