Throughout the course of The Classroom Chef, Matt and I worked to show you ways to add value to your lessons, all while building a risk-taking culture. While one of our goals in writing was to share how we have matured as educators, both in pedagogy and in practice, another was to get you thinking deeply about why your students are being asked to complete a certain task and how that is being conveyed. This naturally led us to reflect on some of our earlier lessons and handouts, leaving us vulnerable in the hopes of getting better.
Planning Your Own Vacation
Yeah, the title pretty much sums it up. The goal was for the students to work with unit rates and decimal operations to plan a vacation, but it was clear that I had covered pretty much all of it. This was scaffolded so that the student who struggled the most could follow along with the lesson. My biggest mistake here was forgetting the rest of the class when designing the handout and creating a lesson that pigeonholed any true creativity from my students. Equipped with a cart of broken-down laptops, my students were able to get through the lesson, but I wish I knew then what I know now; here’s the lesson handout, dug up from the classroom cookbook of 2007:
Planning Your Own Vacation
Yeah, the title pretty much sums it up. The goal was for the students to work with unit rates and decimal operations to plan a vacation, but it was clear that I had covered pretty much all of it. This was scaffolded so that the student who struggled the most could follow along with the lesson. My biggest mistake here was forgetting the rest of the class when designing the handout and creating a lesson that pigeonholed any true creativity from my students. Equipped with a cart of broken-down laptops, my students were able to get through the lesson, but I wish I knew then what I know now; here’s the lesson handout, dug up from the classroom cookbook of 2007:
I’d still like to believe that the idea was a good one. After all, giving students ownership of their vacation and having them plan it teaches them a lot more than unit rates and allows me to see some of their passions. The next time I teach this lesson, it'll go a little somethin' like this...
First, I would start with a Would You Rather that focuses on travel. For example:
First, I would start with a Would You Rather that focuses on travel. For example:
The goal of this is not to get students to plan out their vacation, but more about getting them to think in terms of best routes available. During any long trip, there are decisions that need to be made and whomever is in control of the wheel needs to make the best decision on behalf of the group. By starting a math fight, this appetizer would get students into the right state of mind for their entree.
Second, I would pitch the students the entree:
Class, my family (of 4) would love to go on a vacation. We have $1,000 to spend and need to get away for no more than 3 days. Your goal is to plan the most epic vacation for us within those constraints and sell your idea to us using any form of media you choose. GO!
From that point forward, I would serve as the person poking holes in the travel arrangements that students try to set up for me and my family. Essentially, the work from the handout is the same, but it is up to the students to determine what is best:
Second, I would pitch the students the entree:
Class, my family (of 4) would love to go on a vacation. We have $1,000 to spend and need to get away for no more than 3 days. Your goal is to plan the most epic vacation for us within those constraints and sell your idea to us using any form of media you choose. GO!
From that point forward, I would serve as the person poking holes in the travel arrangements that students try to set up for me and my family. Essentially, the work from the handout is the same, but it is up to the students to determine what is best:
Looking through the first three requirements of the handout, it is easy to see that I was giving students way too much. Take into consideration that this was in 2007, so the internet wasn’t as abundantly informative as it is now, but I was making their task far easier than I should have.
Pointing out the pseudo-context in my own lesson handouts has to be one of the most difficult things to admit as a fault, but nothing makes me cringe more than when I look back on my handouts and see the breadcrumbs being left to enhance creativity in the form of extra credit. As mentioned in the book, it only fed the rich. The students who struggled with this particular lesson didn’t even get a chance to try the extra credit, and the students who flew through the handout were doing extra credit, thinking that what they were doing was worthy of more than a 100% on a task aimed at assessing students on their level of mastery with unit rates.
Now that I’ve rendered my entire handout useless, I want to build it back up. This lesson is not a waste of time; there is a lot of value in what the students are being asked to do. More importantly, there is value in having a handout to assist the students who will need it without providing too much help for those who do not. With all that said, here is the new handout:
Now that I’ve rendered my entire handout useless, I want to build it back up. This lesson is not a waste of time; there is a lot of value in what the students are being asked to do. More importantly, there is value in having a handout to assist the students who will need it without providing too much help for those who do not. With all that said, here is the new handout:
I really don't want to leave a lot more autonomy at the fingertips of the students, all while asking a common theme to be maintained. Oh, and it doesn't hurt to slap some reality onto the class that $1000 doesn't go very far when you're on vacation... Yikes.
So what do you think? Where are the holes in this lesson? What would you do differently? Is this an upgrade, or simply changing the focus? I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts on this, so drop a comment, Tweet at me @jstevens009 with the hashtag of #classroomchef. Help me improve.
Happy "So Help Me I'll Pull This Car Over" Fishing
So what do you think? Where are the holes in this lesson? What would you do differently? Is this an upgrade, or simply changing the focus? I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts on this, so drop a comment, Tweet at me @jstevens009 with the hashtag of #classroomchef. Help me improve.
Happy "So Help Me I'll Pull This Car Over" Fishing
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