These last three days have been a whirlwind of high intensity and anxiety and excitement. Eventhough I am only teaching two blocks, I feel exhausted at the end of each block, overwhelmed by all the things that happened, all the organisational tid-bits that need to be remember here and there, and the faces of students. As well, the excitement of trying out new ideas and activities has kept me awake at night eventhough I am exhausted.
Yesterday on the drive home I had a game idea. It was solidified on the drive to school this morning! I wrote the decimal, hex, and binary chart on the wall. Asked each row to help me do the counting. Asked each student to create a "message" for sending in binary across the ocean to a recipient. Near the end of period, I distributed to each student a binary message that they are supposed to encode.
Rationale: to appreciate the grunt work that computers are so great at - working on 0s and 1s. To see how amazing it is that human beings can build on top of this digital logic, and create complex software applications and solutions!
Yesterday in math, I wrote 5 clues on the board for them to guess "who am I". They found 2 numbers 5, and 6, that both meet the criteria. Oops! I was only thinking of one. So I asked if they can think of one bonus clue that will help us decide for sure that it is a five, and not a six. Turned out to be a great teaching opportunity. I was so happy to see this mistake turn into a useful exercise. Then each table took turns creating clues for a special number. Other tables guessed. It was fun.
Today in math, I asked them to write squares of 1-20 on a piece of paper, and asked them to memorize it. They took turns doing it, and I felt that it was valuable and worthwhile. Tomorrow I just might quiz them. I was surprised to see the boy with challenges come ask me for practice questions.
Today in math, we did a round-robin think-pair-share with 3 coloured slips of problems. They moved tables, to explain to each other. Whenever someone asked me a question, I would redirect the question to their partner. And I could see them learn by teaching one another. That was cool. One boy really went out of his way to patiently help a challenged boy. I praised him later. I told the class that being able to explain, and teach, or make up a new problem, is one of the best ways to test that you really know something.
I am exhausted. The lack of sleep lately is really going to get me. I must find ways to be more efficient if I want to survive these 13 weeks!
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