"The Locker Problem"

I have a confession. I used an *old* math problem. One that parents told their children they remember seeing in school. One student told me her step-father said, "They're still doing this problem in school?!?" Yes, I used an old problem. BUT it was awesome! It's the age old "locker problem". There are 100 lockers. 1st student opens all the lockers. 2nd student changes the status of lockers with numbers that are multiples of 2. 3rd student changes the status of lockers with multiples of 3. And so on.... Which lockers are left open?

I don't remember much about this problem from when I was in school. But two years ago, I went to a math workshop and learned about the math behind this problem. What it actually reveals. I thought it was interesting, but still didn't see a place for it in my classroom. But then I realized, students need a chance to come up with strategies to challenges. Determine their own materials and embrace the struggle. So this year I piloted "The Locker Problem". It was so fun to watch! I saw all sorts of different strategies. Some students drew out the picture on whiteboards. Some recreated it with post it notes. Some went out and labelled actual lockers. One student had an idea of re-enacting it with books.  Some realized their strategy was too cumbersome and switched methods. We all eventually got to the answer. Hopefully tomorrow's lesson will reveal "why" it was the pattern they found ;)

The dry erase board method:

  

  

Post It Notes

  

 

The "Locker" Method

 

The book method

(can you tell someone abandoned the locker method and decided to join this method?)

  

One Month Down

2018-2019 school year is already blowing by. I cannot believe the first month of school is already over! I've been collecting photos of activities, waiting to post a snapshot of September and I can't believe it's October tomorrow.

Here's a quick view at the action in Room 204! (sorry about the emojis and blurs. I make a point not to include student faces on my blog, but apparently lost my photographing skills over the summer!)

A(nother) new layout! 

This was based off of suggestions from last year. We'll see how this year's crew likes it

First Day!

They thought they were going to get off easy because it was the first day of school. NOPE! All my classes were given challenges. We spoke about growth mindset and the importance of embracing challenges and struggles. Here are my 7th graders working collaboratively as they discovered the "trick" to the first challenge I gave them

   

Group Work!

   

  

Scavenger Hunts!

  

Games!

Of course it wouldn't be Room 204 if we didn't play some games. My 6th graders LOVE zombie and have been asking for it every day (can you see a group conspiring in a photo??). My 7th and 8th graders really enjoyed playing our Hidden Treasure game.

   

Sub Plan Videos

Getting pulled out of my classroom to chaperone a field trip can't stop me from making sure my students learn.... even if it means video taping myself teaching a lesson and having them watch it without me. Here's a behind the scenes peek of me making slide show presentations of my videos!

Quick Peek

With PARCC testing going on, my class schedule has been thrown all out of whack. Here's a quick peek at some Room 204 activities that went on before we started testing this week...

My 8th graders looked at a visual representation of what happens when they "complete the square"

We played Quizziz to review for a test. They enjoy these review games.

We tried out a new review game style of "Truth or Dare". They were disappointed it didn't involve real dares ;)

"For the first time in forever..."

I am the worst! I let so much time lapse between blog posts. Posting more regularly was one of my goals for this year and clearly I did not meet it. However, like I tell all my students to do, I will reflect on my mistakes. I tell them if we make mistakes, but don't think about what we did and how to correct it, we will never improve. Well, I know my mistake is not posting on here because I just simply forget about it. So my new plan of action: I am adding into my agenda book memos to post! Many people may be shocked to learn this, but despite my age, I'm not great with social media. Hopefully this will help keep me more regular. 

Here's an update in what's been happening in or around room 204 since, well...

Solving problems in a "domino" style.... or spiral

      

Are my students watching basketball in class?? Yes they are. They were applying their skills to a real world situation trying to make an educated decision on who is the best basketball player in playoffs (spoiler: overall consensus was they felt LeBron James was the best).

  

   

Becoming Crime Scene Investigators using math

Turning some classwork into decorations around the room

  

Are those Easter Eggs??? Yes they are. I hid some problems in some Easter eggs and then had my students hunt for eggs/solve problems. They loved it!

  

  

And of course our annual March Book Madness Bracket

Math Fun

Sometimes I'm not sure how to incorporate some fun activities into the actual content I'm teaching. Luckily, I have a few teacher tricks up my sleeve. It's amazing how a simple practice worksheet transforms when you add a play element to it. Here are two "games" I play in my class sometimes.

Tic-Tac-Toe. The students work with a partner to solve problems, but now we're turning it into a game. Person 1 declares which problem they want to do. If they're right, they get to color that number box on their sheet. Then Person 2 states which problem they're going for. Eventually, they plan the problems based on their tic tac toe moves!

Pirate Game. Well, that's not it's name. We don't know the name of this game. But it's amazing how creating a little competition has everyone focusing! All that happens here is that the students are told to solve one, two, or three problems at a time. Then get checked by a teacher. If they're right, they get to go to the SmartBoard to click on a number box. One of the boxes has a hidden treasure underneath. If it's not the one they chose, they rush back to get started on the next set of problems so they can go up again to choose another box before the other groups find the treasure.

Book Challenge

A few years ago I learned of the "Empty Shelf" book challenge. It's when you clear off a shelf on your bookcase on January 1st and everytime you read a book that year, you add it to the shelf. At the end of the year, you can see the amazing collections of book you read that year. I first did it in 2015 (the blog post is here). Of course, instead of a bookshelf, I used a word document. The shelf wouldn't be an accurate representation since I use many ebooks on my Kindle and I take full advantage of the amazing library that Merchantville is associated with.  So every year, I keep  a record of the books I read in a word document and at the end of the year reflect on what I read, which my favorites were, if I challenged myself, etc. I tell my students about it because I think it's always interesting to reflect on what you have done. I still have some folders and documents from my middle school years and I always find it interesting when I stumble upon them and see what books I read that year. Sometimes I recall fondly reading a book that has become a favorite of mine, while others I couldn't even tell you the basic premise. It's still interesting to see.

So with that said, I wrap up 2017 having read 51 books. Not my personal best, but I did finally conquer some long books that have been collecting dust in my to-read pile, and I read some books that will stay with me for a while. I look forward to reading more in 2018 and as always, exploring new authors and genres.

And since I'm a math teacher -- I should probably throw some math into the mix:

Facts:
- 51 books in 365 days means I averaged about 7.2 days per book.
- Sometimes I reread books that I just love, and I do count those for my total. 8 of the 51 were rereads of books that I can't get enough of. That means approximately 16% of the books I read this year were not new to me.
- Since my 7th graders just learned percent change, the percent change between this year and my personal high in 2015 is found through the formula: |51-111| / 111  x 100. That gives me a percent change of 54% decrease. That's kind of shocking (see how the math behind it made me aware of this!). As a person who always reflections on why things happen, I'm inclined to consider the differences between 2017 and 2015 and notice legitimate reasons for the decline. But, reading is reading and I will still feel proud for having read at a pace of approximately 1 book a week. Any adults reading this know that 111 books in one year is crazy! Even if I slowed down, my love of reading hasn't and I'll keep encouraging all my students to keep reading and finding books they love.

Who's with me for the 2018 challenge!?! :)