Starting Under the Big Top

Hi all. I've been a bit lax in posting here. Call it the start of the school year coupled with starting another grad class.

On Monday of last week my level 2 class had an assessment in the pyramid module. Most kids did a bit better than I expected. On Tuesday we started Under the Big Top but Above the Ground. It is the first exposure for the kids with linear modeling and feasible regions. We started the module by playing guess my number. The kids had a blast with it while learning to properly express and writ inequality statements. We followed that by guessing a coordinate game. Some of the kids got pretty confused with the quadrant they were trying to describe their. After a couple of games they got pretty good at it. Next we played by adding conjunctions for questions. This proved much more difficult than they thought.

After 2 mods the kids were pretty comfortable with the coordinate grid. Next we worked on finding the intersection of 2 lines by graphing. We did it on paper and then moved on to the calculator. I don't think I have had a better time with this module.

This class is probably below average in math, but they are giving me a really good effort. I have been very clear with them about what I expect. I think this is key when facilitating a SIMMS class, or any other for matter. As next week goes by I will keep you posted on this classes progress. Please let me know if you have any questions. Jim