Before introducing a task, I wanted students to understand the why and how. Why are they doing it? How does it impact their mark.
So, I started by drawing a circle on the whiteboard. I reminded students that 70% of their final course mark comes from daily class work and 30% is based on the final evaluations at the end of the semester. I asked a student to come and divide my pie to represent the two different slices. A student came up and drew it only to have her classmates say, “That’s too much. Make the larger portion smaller.” They were were collaborating and supporting each other.
Next, I explained that the 30% is divided into 15% for the final performance task and 15% for the exam. I asked another student to come up and represent it on our pie graph. He said, “That’s easy. I just have to divide the smaller slice into half.” He was talking out loud to share his math thinking and he had a positive mindset about the math.
Then I explained that 10% of the 70% course mark is reflection. It’s the process of thinking about what your strengths are and what areas you need to improve in. I asked another student to come and slice out 10% from the larger pie slice. The student came up, put her finger in different spots and turned to the class to ask what they thought. After calls of “less”, “more” and “move your finger a smidge”, the student drew her line. She didn’t feel like she could do the task correctly so she leaned on her peers for support to complete the task.
Then I explained the reflection conferences that students will engage in with me in the semester. I said that they will meet with me twice and those two conferences will total the 10% reflection mark. I asked, “So, what does that mean each conference is worth?” and a student raised his hand and said, “Each conference is worth 5% of our final course mark.” Immediately the class interjected and said, “No. It means that each conference is worth 5% of the 70% course mark.” The student asked, “What’s the difference?” and this resulted in a numerate conversation.
Students were talking about math in a collaborative way. They felt safe to ask questions, and share their confusion. Others emerged as leaders by helping their peers understand. Someone walking by in the hallway would have thought that it was a math class but we were in English class.
Once we were all on the same page in understanding the why and the how, I was able to move on to the what – what is the task?
Numeracy can be integrated seamlessly into language classes so that students see the value of understanding math and so that they can use their language sills to express their thinking.
This wasn’t a planned numeracy activity but it was something that emerged from me wanting my students to understand a task in our English class. Integrating numeracy into your classroom can spark students to participate in authentic and relevant knowledge construction and, in this case, it allowed students to see the value in preparing for the task before engaging in the conference with me.
#SPARKC
Stories from a 21st Century Classroom 