Set The Hook.
Follow me:
  • Home
  • Fishin' Solo Blog
  • MTBoS
  • Table Talk Math
  • The Classroom Chef
  • Would You Rather...?
  • Meet the Fisherman
    • Resume
  • Flipping 2.0
    • Flipping Your Classroom
    • Troubleshooting a flipped classroom
  • Choose Your Own Assessment
    • Student Work Samples
  • Apps In Class
  • Pre-made Math Lessons

That Useless Restaurant Placemat

2/24/2014

1 Comment

 

Whether it was my family, friends, roommates, teammates, or event wife, everyone thought I was just about that "Math Life". In their minds, I would accept nothing less than a Finonacci protege. Wellllll, I'm thankful that this isn't the case.

Picture
Not really sure my son could pull this look off

This weekend, we had the pleasure of celebrating my mother-in-law's birthday at a casual Italian restaurant. You know the ones, playing ESPN on the big screens and bringing out baskets of store-bought French bread smothered in butter and garlic, then toasted just long enough to make you wonder if they bought them from the freezer aisle. Regardless, it was hectic, but my boys were given the honor of making something cool with crayons and some kids' adventures (a worksheet, I guess you could call it).

As would be par for the course, my youngest offspring swiftly chucked the crayons and tossed his worksheet. He's the kid that I'll be getting phone calls for when the behavior rears its ugly head. He even tried to share his disdain for paper and crayon assessment with his brother by repeating those steps to his paper, but NO! Cooler heads prevailed and my oldest got into the activities.

To a parent who has much older kids, someone who doesn't have kids, or parents who aren't as crazy as I am, what happened next may not seem like a big deal. However, keep in mind that he has been behind the rest of his classmates at school, partly because they have been there at least 6 months longer than him. It may not seem like much, but that's a large percent of his life at this point. He gets behind, gets frustrated, and then becomes quiet. Remind you of a few students???

Picture
C'mon, the kid does calculus in the bath tub

As he was gripping the crayon like any 3 year-old would do, he began to focus. Not the focus of a kid in school that doesn't get it and is in fear of looking dumb, but a focus that centers around an objective. He was on a mission. In the top left of his paper, there was a maze. "No chance this kid conquers that maze", I thought. He didn't, but he stayed within the lines for every single path he took. He never got frustrated and always checked for my approval. Of course I was there to praise him for staying in the lines and following directions.

Next up was the crossword puzzle. As a kid, I loved crosswords. They were just the right dose of challenging and rewarding. But I wasn't 3. Staring at a large grid of letters (because let's be honest, there's no way he's picking up patterns), my son's eyebrows perked up, he smiled, then pointed:

"This is for Apple, daddy!!!"

Faking no part of this interaction, I happily agreed and told him how proud I was of him. We then worked to color in and identify all of the A's on the paper. After each one, he would look for feedback and I was right there to give it, along with his mom and grandparents (his brother was still wreaking havoc elsewhere).

Picture
I've never been more proud of a simple restaurant placemat

Suga Mitra talks about his model for dropping a computer into an area and having kids teach themselves. He then reinforces the learning by adding a grandmother-figure, someone who is there to simply encourage and give positive feedback. As I reflect on our dinner, I can't help but feel like I'm filling that role as a father. He didn't color every single A, didn't even identify all of them, but I was able to cheer on my son as he realized that he was completing an objective that was started at school.

Picture
The amount of focus was better than some Olympians in Sochi

Overall, the dinner was good, the garlic bread was awful, and the birthday celebration was filled with laughs and memories shared.

More importantly, the feedback that I was providing had stuck. Today when I got home from work and got ready to wrestle with my boys, my oldest son stopped me and nearly brought me to tears:

"You're so proud of me daddy"

You have no idea, son.

1 Comment
Matt Vaudrey link
3/6/2014 12:33:56 pm

Solid.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Author

    Math nerds tend to have a reputation for being math nerds.  I'm here to continue that trend.

    For more blog posts, click HERE

    Picture

    Archives

    August 2021
    April 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from timlewisnm, leppre, KristinNador, Jarosław Pocztarski, Martin Pettitt