Fastest Sticky Sticker

It's rare that I post about something I haven't tried in the classroom. Here's an idea that came to me today, inspired by:

• My File Cabinet task
• Anyone who has asked, "How long did it take to put all those stickies on?" 
• Al's Card Tossing activity
• Jon's Trashketball Spiralled Lesson

I haven't done this activity, yet. If you try it out, please report back or offer suggestions. Thanks!

Competition:

Who is the fastest Sticky Sticker?

Translated: Who is the quickest at covering a 2-dimensional shape with sticky notes?

Materials:

• Whiteboards
• Stickies
• Blue painter’s tape
• Scissors
• Timers

Break students into groups.

Have them time each other sticking 10(?) stickies somewhere (whiteboard, desk, etc.).

• Determine who is the fastest Sticky Sticker of the group.
• Use their cell phone stopwatches as timers
• Use some type of table to predict how long it will take each person to stick different amounts of stickies and write an equation.

• Have each student determine their rate.

Reveal the playing fields

• First, without the dimensions, of course.
• Muster up some trash-talking
• I bet you I could beat anyone in here with one-hand behind my back.
• I might even give you a head start.
• I could beat you blind-folded.
• Have them write down guesses as to how many stickies will cover each shape.
• Have students guess the dimensions.
• Have measuring tapes out for students to measure their shape.

Have all groups figure out how many stickies are necessary for each shape. All dimensions given in inches.

• Square (24x24)
• Rectangle (21x27)
• Triangle (27x24)
• Parallelogram (24x18)
• Trapezoid (b1= 27, b2=21, h=18)
• Circle (d=18)

*The following is where I start thinking out loud and not entirely sure what makes sense since I haven't tested this out with students. Feel free to try it out and please report back.

Have each group randomly pick a shape.

• I'm going to predict that some students or groups will complain/gripe about receiving anything other than the square or rectangle. That's where the scissors come in.
• Give each group the amount of stickies they calculated for their shape
• Include a couple(?) extra stickies for a mistake?
• Give scissors to every group, but the square and rectangle groups.
• Groups who don’t get the square or rectangle must cut their stickies to fit inside
• The Circle group(s) should maybe get a little bit of a cushion (modification).
• The square and rectangle groups need to be challenged while they wait.
• They can help other groups prepare or figure out a reasonable head start.
• Should certain shapes get a head start?
• Should the head start be:
• time?
• stickies?
• Can we modify any of our equations from above?

Ready, Set, GO!

I’d love to see each student participate in the competition. At first, it might appear as though each group picks the fastest Sticky Sticker, but I’d love to make this competition a relay race.

• Have each group divide their total number of stickies by the amount of group members
• Each group member should stick about the same number of stickies.
• Groups determine the order (strategy)
• Could we graph what that might look like?

*At this point, go back to the blog posts by Al and Jon for more tips.

Determine how the head starts will be determined.

Blow the whistle and get kids sticking those stickies.

Congratulate the winners. Take selfies. Play your national anthem...

Round 2

Who can take the sticky notes off the fastest?

Useful Math:

• Area of various 2-D shapes
• Ratio of stickies stuck to time (or time to stickies)
• Rate
• Unit rate
• Writing an equation to model the rate
• Using the rate to predict how long it will take
• Possibly graphing the data (or “constant of proportionality)
• Translate (graphically) the equation above to account for the head start
• Piecewise functions for different members of the group.
• Decompose square units in a defined area

Let me know if you're going to try this one out. I will probably test it out in a few weeks during my summer course and report back here.

Sticky sticker,

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Should We Use the Term "pace" More?

I'm preparing to be one of the presenters at a 3-day NCTM Deep Dive Institute in July. Hope you can make it. Fawn will be presenting too.

I've come across some great tasks from NCTM, thanks to Peg Cagle (that's C-A-G-L-E everyone) that I've adapted to have a much lower entry point for teachers and students. However, I'm also looking to mix in some favorite Estimation 180 challenges and 3 Acts like Fast Clapper from Nathan.

Fast Clapper Act 1 from Nathan Kraft on Vimeo.

I really dig this task. At first glance though, it looks pretty straightforward. Act 2 could look as simple as showing students a screenshot like this:

Then tell students to use this ratio to predict how many claps this dude will complete in a minute. We could call it a day, but what fun would that be?

Here's what I think should precede any screenshot from the Act 1 video. Have students get out their cell phones and partner up. Record their partner clapping for various increments that are less than 30 seconds. For example: 0, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, etc. Keep track of it in a table...
Then see who is the fastest clapper in the class and if they can break the record. Talk about what might prevent the students or dude in the video from breaking the record.

Here's an additional place I'd like to take Act 2. Talk about the term "pace". I really like this question I'll be using from now on with students and teachers:

How often should we check to see if he is on pace to break the record?

I think this question opens up the mathematics, especially for a table of equivalent ratios and double number lines. Forget equations (proportions) here. Furthermore, it reminds me of the pace timers that you sometimes see on television during the Olympics.

Talking about the word pace, is this the same thing as rate...?
I'd really love to hear from you about the term "pace".

• How often do you use the word pace in math class?
• What context do you use the word pace?
• Are terms like rate or slope synonyms to pace?
• Tell me everything you know about pace or how you use pace in your class?

Seriously, I want to know. Teach me!

Pace yourself,

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Questioning Strategies from the #MTBoS

This past week, a fellow asked me about questioning strategies.

Okay #mtbos, unleash your favorite book/blog/video/source on effective questioning strategies. GO!

— Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel) May 22, 2015

I'm not sure where your brain goes when someone asks about questioning, but there's at least a few places my brain goes:

1. What questioning strategies can we use to unstick students when they're stuck?
2. What questioning strategies can we use to explore student (mis)understanding?
3. What questions can we ask when designing lessons/activities/tasks?
4. What questions can we ask when launching lessons/activities/tasks? 
5. What questions can we ask...

Thanks to Twitter and the amazing #MTBoS, here's the list you all gave me. Hope this is helpful. If I missed any resources, please add them in the comments.

Questioning,
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P.S. Here's the list.