Teaching Eachother Through Videos

As we are winding down the year we are studying pre-algebra. The boys are struggling with showing their work and explaining the problems. They really want to just put the answer down. We have discussed that just putting the answer does not help if they do not know how they got there. The technology teacher, Melissa Smith, suggested that I have the boys make a teaching video on Voicethread. I was not sure how this was going to go, but I was on board to try anything that would help my students. This was their last project of the year and it had amazing results. I am going to incorporate this activity in almost everything I teach. As I reviewed the boy’s videos, I realized that even though they were writing the process and putting the right answer, in the end, they “really” did not know what they were doing. I also had the boys evaluate each other’s videos. By listening to the critics, I could hear who was struggling and who was not. I spent the next class period explaining what I saw in the video and what they needed to work on. They were also able to go back and hear what they were saying. Having them talk out loud also helps them to understand what they are doing.

Similes For Integer Rules

I asked the boys to write two similes. One on negative times a negative equals a positive and one on a negative plus a negative equals a negative. The boys brought them the next day and shared them with the class. We discussed each one and decided if it worked or did not work. The boys gave feedback and had to support if they thought it was good or needed work. This was a great activity for me to see if they really understood the rules. It was so much fun for me and the boys to listen to each other and take feedback from each other. I would love to share some of the examples that they created.

negative x negative = positive

negative + negative = neg

I also had them write headlines to show their understanding of the concept. Here is an example on the things they came up with.

How Fractions Relate to Racism

Holly Butora, the boys reading teacher has just had them read the Cay. The Cay talks about racism in the story. As they read the book, the class would talk about what racism looked like and how it was being played out in the book. After many class discussions the class was asked to write a simile about racism. They then turned their simile into a worldal that compared racism to a real world topic. These boys choose fractions. I am showing this as an example of how deep the boys are now going to really learn about what they are doing in math. I was so impressed on how the boys were able to take a topic like fractions and compare it to racism.

Tax and Sale

This week we continued talking about percent. I had the boys look up sales tax in all the different states and compare the different sales tax. They were sad to find out that their state has the biggest sales tax. We looked at local and state tax and talked about the differences. The boys had fun comparing the states.

Here is the website that the boys used in class.

Random Guy -- Sales Tax

Percent Problems

We have been talking about different types of percent problems. This week the boys have been working on word problems that involve part/whole or is/of. They have had fun trying to find the unknown (variable). One boy said, "This is fun because it is more like a game than math." I am telling them to treat it like a game. The boys are finding the answer first and then explaining why as a form of checking themselves. This is where Random Guy is coming back into the picture. One of the problems I gave them this week was:

On field day Barry entered 16% of the events open to his age group. If he entered 12 events, how many events were there altogether?

One boy even did a podcast of his explanation to help the other Boys in the class.

Example

The boys have also started asking about sales tax and how you find it. We talked a little about the process and next week we will be comparing the different states and their sales taxes. We went on a field trip this Friday and one of the boys asked his mother for a little more money so he would have enough for sales tax. I thought that was cute. The boys are very interested in sales tax and how it makes a difference in their purchases. The lesson really has them thinking about how math can effect their everyday life.

How Fifth Grade Looks at Geometry

Here is an example of what the fifth grade wrote about their thoughts on Geometry and what they learned from this unit. I had them share their thoughts with the class as they presented their project. I was very excited to see that the boys now look at the world through a geometry perspective and see how much math plays a part in their life.

One group even brought up that making pills has geometry involve and how big to make the containers that the pills will go into. Teaching with discovery has really allowed these boys to own their learning and question things they are learning.

Geometry and Building

The boys' final project in Geometry was to create their own dream house. They had to make a blue print, use perimeter, circumference, and area, write about how they see Geometry in the world, and build their dream house out of things around their home. When they used perimeter, circumference, and area the boys had to ask a question about why they needed to use perimeter, circumference, and area. Then they answered the question in the project.

**** Some examples of the Geometry projects. --- These are some videos that the boys made of the full project.

Here are some pictures of their houses.