Made 4 Math Monday #4 Hole-Punch Game

Has it seriously been a week since I was here? Yep.

Just one quick thought on #TMC12 for today… It was everything I expected and it was nothing like I expected.  Yes – these people are the rockstars they seem to be on twitter… they are genuine in their desire to become better teachers – willing to share – wanting to learn… and give their students the best learning opportunities possible!  But what I was most amazed with – I was there with people I had never met – I guess I was expecting it to be weird meeting everyone for the first time -but everyone was exactly as I expected them to be… oddly as it may be – I felt like I had known them for ages.  I walked in to MICDS in awe of the company – I left MICDS knowing I had lifelong friendships / colleagues from all across the country.  These folks are the.real.deal.

To end Saturday, we broke out into content areas.  I was part of the Algebra I group.  There were some great ideas shared – @cheesemonkeysf rational expressions scavenger hunt game;  I’m sorry I didn’t write the name down, was it @msimmons5 (sorry if not) – had this great SURVIVOR review game he uses – within a matter of minutes – there were suggestions shared on what to do with kicked-off / disbanded teams.  Hoping he will actually start a blog and well, blog about the idea in its entirety (sp?).

I shared a snippet of an activity called the Staple Game.  It was shared with me at a KLN meeting this spring.  Since I hate to waste office supplies (staples) – I updated it to the “Hole-Punch Game.”  Simple rearrange a worksheet / practice problems so they are placed around a sheet of paper…see this example:

• Students work in teams.
• Each student will complete his/her own work.
• When everyone has completed 1 problem – they compare answers – to determine which is correct and will be used for the group answer.
• All team members run over to teacher – teacher checks solution –
  • if correct, hole punch the outer edge of the problem, students return to work space and continue to next problem.
  •  if incorrect, they return to workspace and rework.
• She also suggested staggering which # each team begins working on.

The teacher who shared said this accomplishes 3 things:

1. Students must talk / agree on a solution.
2. Students are physically up and moving.
3. Sure you could put a check mark, stamp it, etc. but the sound / click of the hole – punch (or stapler) does something crazy and the students – especially for those who are struggling are motivated to keep on working.  Weird, huh?

So for #made4math I am sharing a radical equation hole-punch game.  It could be used as a review or simply as in-class skills practice.

radicalequationholepunchgame

I think you’ll agree this is not a difficult thing to create.  Often times for me, certain classes of students will work harder when a “worksheet” is transformed into a “game-like” activity.  I have also used Tales from the Spring’s Ghosts in the Graveyard activity a couple of times- tweaked for the appropriate season / holiday eggs in a basket, presents under the tree… great discussions occurred every time – students helping students and they completed WAY more practice problems during that short amount of time than I could have ever assigned for them to do otherwise.  The thing I LOVE about this activity – Its not necessarily the fastest, smartest, who completed the most problems that will actually win…