FIRST MATH LESSON OF THE YEAR

Do any of you teachers agonize over that first lesson of the school year as much as I do? I've decided that I want to spend the first hour with my new recruits diving into content more than yadda-yadda-yadda with my syllabus and class rules.  Let's get a taste of what this class is going to be like everyday! Then let's talk about how we're going to make that class operate like a well-oiled machine.

So, I've been agonizing about lesson plans. What to do? I want the lesson to be challenging, engaging, reflective, a learning experience, an assessment of general skills, and a little bit of fun as well. It's similar to the experience of Writer's Block - I just can't commit an idea to paper until I think it's "just right." This morning I'm taking the plunge.

 

After the usual attendance record-keeping, making sure the kids are in the correct class, and introduction of myself to those who didn't come to our summer school, we are diving into group problem-solving with Checkerboard Squares. The directions are simple: Find the number of squares on this checkerboard. Record your thinking. We're going to have our first math discussion and student display of their work. My objective is to see how my newbies work together and how they persevere in problem solving.

There are many descriptions of this activity online. Here's an interesting interactive model: http://www.donbeaty.com/CJHS/checkerboardmodel.htm. Or look at this: http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/domath/page2.html.  I might use these after students have quite a while to wrestle with this problem or as an explanation. Today I want to dive into allowing my kids the opportunity to struggle a little bit with some guidance a la Mathematical Practices.

It's going to be a great first day!