Significant teaching experience

So far there have been several - but I have to choose one...

It was during the remedial classes that Jevi and I were teaching. I was beginning to grow frustrated because my mentor teacher was pushing me to fly through the content and give a test, when clearly the kids weren't understanding the material. After I graded the tests over the weekend, I decided that I was not going to keep pushing through and that we were going to continue solving one variable equations. Not a single student got above a 65%...and most received around a 20%.

When Jevi and I were sitting in the living room on Sunday night planning what we were going to do on Monday, I was expressing my frustration and what I was going to do as a result. However, I just kept coming back to the fact that I couldn't really do anything fun or kinesthetic with one variable equations. We began brainstorming. We honestly have no materials...if the headmaster isn't there when we arrive we have no chalk, we typically have to hunt for a rag or sponge to erase the board, and several students have no paper or pens. They certainly don't have textbooks because the school can't afford to buy a whole class set, and all of the students in the remedial class are all at different levels (it was aimed for 8th grade students, but we wound up with a mix of 7th, 8th, and 9th with ages ranging from 12 - 18). What to do, what to do?

We seriously talked about it for about a half hour. Our two major issues: the students don't seem to grasp the concept that terms with a variable, goes with other terms with variables, and integers go with integers AND they don't transfer/change the sign when they re-group the terms. I know that the second one is due to the fact that the teachers don't teach the 'why' aspect of the problem here, they merely show students how to do it, yell at them to stop writing while they're talking, and then maybe assign homework. My mentor teacher kept teaching them that when a number crossed to the other side of the equals sign that you change the sign of the number. No explanation other than that. One day I asked the class if they knew why the sign was flipped. No one had a clue. So our goal: to find an activity that would help them see the differences between terms with a 'x' and plain integers, and something to help them remember to flip the sign.

Walaa! We got it. After much discussion and our previous experiences with learning one variable equations, we came up with a solution. A card game! Ok, not with actual cards, but plain pieces of white paper with integers, integers with variables, and an equals sign! So what we decided...
*Write all three possibilities in different colors: Color scheme: Blue = integers with variables, Orange = integers, and Pink = an equals sign!
*On one side of the paper, write the positive version of the number/term. On the other side, write the negative term. This way, when they try to group numbers together, when it crosses the pink equals sign, it flips! (which is a good way to remember kinesthetically to flip the sign)
*Now..our class goal. To get the oranges on one side and the blues on the other.
*Supplies: about 50 sheets of computer paper, scissors, and 3 markers...

It worked beautifully. It took a minute for students to catch on to what we were doing and how to mimic what we were doing, but once they did they were good to go. We even had them creating their own equations and solving them! It was amazing the difference that you saw in their comprehension. Although it wasn't as deep of an activity as I would like it to be, it worked wonderfully in the small amount of time that we had with these kids. Throughout the rest of the week, I gave students the option of solving the problems with pencil and paper or creating their own manipulatives to help them solve the problem. It was wonderful. I think I need to patent this idea...we could be millionaires ;)