Comments on: “…dance like no one’s watching.”

By: Renee H

Renee H — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:58:57 +0000

read the works of Robert P Moses and his Algebra Project http://www.algebra.org/ or his book Radical Equations. He used subway trips, drums and more

By: Pam Thompson

Pam Thompson — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:32:37 +0000

How wonderful that a student like Marissa has been given the chance to use her talents in this way and to express herself so effectively.

Thank you, Paul, for sharing. I am certainly questioning the way I ask for assignments.

By: Paul Bogush

Paul Bogush — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:00:35 +0000

I used to whine also. I have a “dead” subject. It is hard to look around and “see” history in everyday life.” I found it incredibly difficult to create authentic units that would matter to anyone. With math, I think it would be important to simply use the math it would be used in real life. Not fake word problems, but use it to solve something real. I read about one school that was next to a construction project. They did something like figure out how much cement was needed for a foundation and handed it over to the construction manager. Is math more about putting them in a situation to use it for real rather than a situation to learn it?

By: Paul Bogush

Paul Bogush — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:54:30 +0000

Hmmmm….Maybe the parameters are as wide as the examples they have seen? Dance Elizabeth! Dance!
It is hard because when told anything new everyone tries to connect the new information to past experiences. When told “present however you want to” they immediately try to connect to past ways they have seen things presented to them, or they have presented. To often when we present anything new and it flops we tend to blame it on the planning of the activity. I think one has to look at the activities before the one that flopped. So to get them to “dance,” we just have to make sure we show them some steps they could use prior to the big show.

By: elizabethdn

elizabethdn — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:50:22 +0000

Love it! It is much harder (as a student) to reflect upon the subject matter and present “however you would like”. I’ve had this happen in Grad classes & it makes adults very fearful! Preparation is surely the key, as well as fostering a classroom community that makes it acceptable for someone like Marissa to feel safe enough to go that far to offer up her gifts; that’s a lot of risk taking for a middle school student.

I’m wondering how to do these types of assessment/presentation in early childhood? Maybe those are years of preparing students to do this type of thing in middle school.

I have my 1st graders present a reseach project at the end of the year where they may choose whatever topic that interests them, so it’s open-ended in the topic choice. The requirements are pretty structured, though. So what does this look like at younger grades? Is there more structure necessary for the younger students ? As the age of the students increases, the parameters widen?

By: Elissa

Elissa — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:33:10 +0000

“Live like it’s heaven on earth.”

That’s the last line of the quote. I love the ideas that you use with your students. But I don’t even know how to create those kinds of assignments when all I’ve done and been taught to do is traditional.

And not to be a whiner, but I don’t see how students can do these types of things with math. Maybe it’s my stumbling block because it’s my content area, but should it be my area of expertise?

I love your ideas and that you are affecting students enough to make them feel comfortable in sharing their talents and ideas.