The other day, I had Ashley in as I tried a lesson involving improvising word problems related to multiplication. I had my students make up word problems using multiplication (one step and multi step) for the rest of the class to solve. The catch was that they will have to make it up on the spot. I made up some topics that the word problems must follow (shopping, taking a trip, distance traveled, working and making money, etc). The student randomly selected a topic from a bucket, and was given a little time to think, and then had to type the problem on my laptop so the class can see it on the SMARTBoard. The whole class solved the problem at their desks (the creator had to solve it too) and then the creator acted as the teacher and lead a class discussion on how to solve it.
The lesson went quite well! For the first problem, the student came up with their problem very quickly and the rest of the class stared in suspense waiting for it to be finished on the board. During the second problem, we had a little more difficulty getting the question out because it involved multiple steps. Still, the class waited patiently for the problem to be finished, then went to work. Ashley and I talked about how I could have students working in their pairs only as they gave each other a topic to base the question off of, create the problem, then exchange, in order to keep everyone involved. Which is what I tried a bit of today...
We started division of whole numbers with 2 digit divisors. After a couple examples as a class, I allowed each pair to challenge their partner with their own problems. I set the guidelines that the problem could include up to a 5 digit dividend and up to a 2 digit divisor and was allowed to include a remainder. The idea was that each student make up the problem, swap with their partner to solve each others', then swap back to the original creator had to check their partner's answer. I had a couple pairs get through several problems and it gave them a nice challenge and gave a nice break in the period.
I plan on doing the Improv Problem Solving again sometime next week with either division problems or mixed application of multiplication and division. I'll let you know how it goes!
- Mike
Mike, your lesson was nothing short of phenomenal. I was amazed not only how creative and well your students improvised their word problems, but how engaged the entire class was. You could hear a pin drop, the other students in the "audience" were anxiously waiting for what was coming up on the smartboard.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone would like to see video of this, I did video tape Mike teaching.