Toaster Questions: more ways to teach Math

Toaster Question from David Cox on Vimeo.

In another great blog post by Dan Meyer, I found this video by David Cox. Watch it and see if you don't wonder what you should do with it.

In a previous post on Dan's TED talk, I learned that the way we pose math problems to kids can be limiting and convergent. Since viewing his TED talk I have tried to use his strategy in my everday math classes. It has been fun to have such a powerful strategy. I have not created videos for these lessons, I have just been making up examples that are open ended and missing enough information that the kids have to assist in creating the problem.

One simple example of my earliest attempts is this question:

John wants to have a bath and fills the tub partially (a fraction) full with hot water. He soaks for a short time and then decides the water is not hot enough. While he has been soaking his sister has had a long shower and drained most of the hot water. He adds another fraction of a full tub with colder water. How much of a full tub does he have and what is the temperature of the water after the second fill?

Some of the variables the students mentioned and asigned a value were:

• first fractional fill
  
• second fractional fill


• temperature of the water, first fill, second fill


• volume of John's body


• temperature of the room


• volume of the tub

This is really fun for me and the students look forward to the divergent thinking and creating of the problem.

Back to the toaster problem, it took me a moment to think how this could be used in my class, but it has great potential. How would you use this in your math class?

Metanoia, Ryan Bretag

I have recently added Ryan Bretag's blog to my google reader. He has great posts and I look forward to including him in my learning network. He writies about the recent criticism of American schools on Oprah and "Waiting for Superman". His prescription for American schools includes:



1. We need to address poor teaching and ineffective teachers
2. We need to focus on student achievement
3. We need to create a system that holds schools accountable
4. We need to focus on growing effective educators: teachers and administrators
5. We need to review legacy and archaic concepts that govern too many schools such as the length of the school day, the school calendar, tenure, curriculum, grades, etc.





It is inspiring to me that so many people from all across the world are writing about school reform and coming to many of the same conclusions. I am happy and honored to be in the trenches and in a good position to influence the future of education in my province.

Did You Know 2.0

Pretty sure many of you would have seen this. Have a look if you haven't.

Why Wikis Are Beautiful: in case you didn't know

Sharing is beautiful and, according to Dean Shareski, an obligation!

Apple's Challenge Based Curriculum

I stumbled onto Apple's Challenge Based Curriculum in my reading. It's remarkable the resources available on-line. Among other things, the site includes challenges on the topics of:

• water



• air



• food



• energy



• resources



• apathy



• blindsight



• diversity



• individual



• group

There are great resources, mostly on video, outlining the process, key components and lots more. Check it out!

Interview with Will Richardson

Will Richardson is interviewed about education and how it needs to change to keep pace with the world. As he says in his blog, there is nothing too new here. The interview is worth looking at. My favorite point he makes is that we need to rethink how we learn, not just how we teach. Also included:

• he talks about that we need to experiment with new ways, but that those experiments had better work or it is unfair to the children.
• assessment in schools and how it doesn't match 21st century skills.
• we can't wait for 21st century skills assessment to be developed before we teach the skills.
• Kids need to learn how to learn from the numerous expert sources of information on-line.
• He talks about 1:1 computing failing because teachers don't dive deeper into the curriculum.
• internet safety being embedded in the curriculum
• cultural diversity can come alive using blogs and collaborative sites
• some students and parents don't want to change as they have the school system figured out. We need to engage people in the conversation about 21st century skills and schools.

Celebrating Success at Confed: web site design and google readers

Our school is part of a system-wide technology inititative and our school objective is "to have every teacher use technology effectively in two different ways to improve instruction and literacy". Days after getting that objective on the google doc, we are talking about dreaming much bigger. Our new objective may be much broader, describing cultural and structural changes empowering 21st century learners.

Change is fun to watch and it can be infectious. One of our gifted teachers has taken it upon himself to learn how to create a classroom web page. He has chosen wix as the tool. He is beside himself with how easy it is to do and the power to create and communicate. He can hardly wait to show his class and has plans to have his kids all make their own. He will share his success with the staff at this week's staff meeting. I have no doubt that many more teachers will be eager look at what web 2.0 tools mean for their classrooms.

Another classroom is blogging. The goal of which is to read, to communicate in writing and to build a network of learners. To assist them in this we will teach them how to use an RSS feed or google reader. We are very excited to be using a 21st century tool to improve literacy instruction.

It is an honour to work with a team who believe in the potential of each child, able to discuss openly the merits of all ideas, to look towards 21st century innovation and to chart an effective course of learning for each child.