Day 3: New Planet Activity

Today the students started a new group-building task, called the New Planet Activity. Newly organized groups of six or seven discussed which 10 of the 30 various persons described would be allowed on a rocket ship to repopulate a distant planet. Reasons for the choices must be provided as well. Students were told that they will have to present their work the next day.

With about 20 minutes left in the period, I gave an additional instruction: the chosen ten persons must be ranked in order of importance, in case that all ten persons are not allowed to go, due to budget issues.

The groups dove in, with only a couple of students not engaging. There were a few clarifying questions, but the groups seemed to get it. Overall the period went well. Hopefully the group presentations go well, as well.

Grading Commenting the Marshmallow Challenge Writing Prompt

Tonight I've almost finished commenting the prior writing prompt related to the Marshmallow Challenge. I asked the students to write for ten minutes on the prompt "How does the Marshmallow Challenge relate to doing Algebra?" As expected, I have received an array of responses.

Since I am not grading my Algebra students in the traditional fashion (more on this later this week), I am learning to put constructive comments on the responses. In fact, based on my research tonight on "effective feedback", I found and ordered (for under $6 including shipping) the book How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students by Susan Brookhart. I also have learned from Grant Wiggins. I hope to see my students respond positively to the comments, and the lack of a grade.

The Plan for Tomorrow...

After giving the groups about ten minutes to prepare, the groups will present their choices and their thinking/reasoning. After all groups present I will hand out a reflection sheet, and set the thinking about how the groups worked. This will lead us to discuss group norms. More about this next time...