Synergizing!!

I sometimes wonder if other professions have the amazing moments that teaching holds.  Today during math, I challenged the students to read a particular math problem carefully (I'm always reminding them that good mathematicians are very careful readers!) and then to work with tenacity (a word we are learning about.  We call it "stick-to-it-ness"!) to solve it.  The problem looked like this:

I gave the students time and I wandered around and watched and listened as they worked through the problem.  After several minutes, I could tell they were still struggling.  Since our habit of the week is "Synergizing", I suggested to the students that maybe if they worked together and synergized they might have more success.  They readily agreed and grabbed a partner and got back to thinking and working.

Blake and Vanessa Ann got busy talking and re-reading the problem.

Drew and Nathan talked about possible solutions.  

Evan and Keagan tried teamwork to solve.

Carter and Caleb discussed the parts that got them stuck.

Mariela and Katelyn talked about strategies.

Ava and Judah re-read the problem.

Abby and Cadasia tried working it through again.

After several more minutes, I could feel the energy in the room rising as students' excitement grew over the problem, but no solutions were forthcoming.  I again, suggested synergizing.  I reminded students that working together sometimes means partners and sometimes means bigger groups.  They readily joined forces with other pairs and made larger groups.

 

There were some great discussions about what strategy would work best to solve.

Students worked together to try the new ideas. 

Finally a team produced the correct answer!  

Caleb, Carter, Blake and Vanessa Ann all worked well together and figured out the correct solution.  We put the problem up on the board and the four took turns to explain the strategies they used to solve the problem. 

Math might have taken a lot of extra time today but the students learned so many life skills I just couldn't stop them!  Besides, when kids get this excited about learning, I get really excited about being a teacher!

Kudos to all the BUGS!  Way to synergize!!