1. I was a little bit scared by the sound Dave Hewitt made with the ruler at first and my second thought was that the sound effectively attracted students’ attention. Later on, I realized that the sound was not the key to engaging students — the key was the well-designed activity. In my short practicum, I learned from a language teacher to use a ring bell to get students’ attention. However, I found that it did not work as I expected. Now, I understand the reason behind it.
2. I noticed that he wrote everything he needed on whiteboards/windows in advance so he would not make students wait and have nothing to do. I think well-preparation is essential in math teaching. Due to the requirement from the curriculum, sometimes, the contents of two sections in the workbook have to be covered in one 80-minute class.
3. I like the idea of having mental calculations. It is a good approach to practice mathematical thinkings. He also addressed the problem of solving an algebra equation as a game of guessing the number I was thinking of. Thus, students could be more willing to share what they got as it was a game and there was no such thing called mistakes in games.
I will try to hold a similar activity when introducing the number line to grade 8’s. I would like to watch the whole video and learn more from Dave Hewitt’s teaching strategies.
Thanks, Yiwei! I used the number line activity as a hook in my grade 8 classes every year before I started the unit on integers (after watching the same video in Susan's class 10 years ago ;)). I didn't use a big ruler, and it worked just as well (if you are concerned about scaring students). I personally found that an invisible number line helps students when they work with negative numbers. Glad to hear that you are interested in giving it a try, too!
ReplyDeleteHello Erica,
DeleteThank you for sharing your experience of using the Dave Hewitt's strategy! Now, I will definitely be holding this activity in my teaching and hopefully, have as much success with it as you did with your classes.