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.