6th Grade Math
Story Problem Practice
Story problems tend to be a struggle
for my 6th grade students. In class, I asked them to develop 3 story
problems involving different operations. After they created the
problems, I simply had them pick their favorite and post it onto the
class blog. The students homework was to go home and read their
classmates problems and try to solve them. After they had solved the
problems, they were to respond to 3 classmates with their answer and
back it up with reasoning and the process they took. The results were
absolutely amazing! I had kids that responded to every single
question even though they only had to do 3. Each question would have
a long list of conversations under it. During the conversations
students would collaborate and discuss mistakes they had spotted in
each others work and then come to a final answer. The blog activity
worked better than I ever could have imagined. I actually got
responses from students that never want to talk in class. This is a
process I will use again.
Before letting the students go:
Prior to starting this project I went
over the process with students with a practice blog on the front
screen. We discussed that I would be monitoring all conversations and
they were to be things that would be allowed in the classroom. With
the practice blog, we went through a step by step where they would go
and how to get there and then did a practice dialogue. I also typed
up a direction sheet to take home, so that if they or their parents
needed guidance they would have it. I also did an internet survey
prior to assigning the blog activity to make sure students would have
the resources needed. I made a plan B for students who did not have
access to internet by making my classroom open an extra hour after
school.
Blogging can make a boring lesson
engaging and get all students involved. If anybody has ideas on
lessons or how I can improve the blogging process in my classroom,
please let me know.
I think that is a great idea! I teach 9th and 10th grade math and students still struggle with story problems. I like how you had the students respond to 3 problems but I would just be afraid that once the correct answer was given, then other students would just copy it for their response that way they would get their credit. At least I could see my high schoolers doing that... but maybe 6th grade they wouldn't think of doing that yet. Either way, I would love to try something similar to this at the high school level as well.
ReplyDeleteEric,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your ideas on blogging in the classroom. You allow the students to have a second option if they do not internet access outside of the classroom and this also allows them not to have an excuse for not being able to complete the task at hand. This blogging activity seems to really engage the students! Having the students respond to at least three blogs makes the children become involved if they were not before.
Since you explained to the students what was expected and showed them how to complete the activity, the students were left with hardly any questions of how to complete the assignment. I visualize this as a type of rubric. They had a great example to follow and know how to respond in an adequate manner.
@nperior - I was thinking the same thing about students copying and pasting. One thing that I have done in the past is to give a pop quiz the day after an assignment like this where all the questions are from what they should have done last night. If they copied and pasted the answer, then they would not know how to work the problem on the quiz. Its a little underhanded, but it really pushes the idea of personal responsibility.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea. No question, it would hold each student to a certain level of accountability and integrity. I know my goal is too make sure students are learning and not just "faking to making", so even after a lesson incorporating a blog while engaging students in learning is beneficial. At the end of the week I would go back to the lesson during class time ensuring the students are actually learning from this interaction.
ReplyDelete