Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Boring!

Have you ever been in the middle of a lesson/period and thought to yourself, "This is so boring!"  Well, it happens, and it happened to me today.  I have a total of 5 class periods left with my students until we take semester exams, and I feel like I'm pushing as much content at them as possible without any regard for best teaching practices.  We've spent the better part of the last 3 classes talking the basics of probability.  For the most part, I've used the traditional stand and deliver approach with an "I do, we do, you do" mindset.  While it seems to be going well, mainly because I'm doing most of the talking, I notice students either dosing off or not engaged at all.  It's okay I tell myself, at least they're getting the content that they need.

Eu contraire, they have no idea what probability is or how to find it.  This was evidenced by a few short formative assessment, and by the classroom discussion that does and doesn't take place.  I finally came to terms with the tedium of the day during my last section today, and decide to add a very small bit of energy and engagement into the lesson.  It's amazing what a pair of dice can do to liven up a sixth grade classroom.  I'm not sure if they learned more than my other classes, but at least they were throwing some dice, engaged, and maybe thinking about probability in the process.


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