WHITEBOARD CHALLENGE 1

October 27, 2008




I struggled to find a worthwhile task for this Challenge that fitted in with what was going on in my Grade 4 classroom.  Some good advice came from one of the other challengers echristophy  Why not think about revisiting a learning activity that we had already done, and involving more of the students’ senses second time around.

Our main lesson in maths over the last week investigated the properties of 3-D shapes.  I wanted the students relate their knowledge of 3-D shapes to real objects and 2-D shapes.  We played a game of Celebrity Heads, with a student having to guess a 3-D shape seen by the class but not by them, and asking the audience yes/no questions.  The game was popular, fast and seemed to ‘bump up’ the students’ use of mathematical language.

I created a Notebook file ‘What Shape Am I?’ with the help of a small group of students.  We inserted 3-D clip art from ‘Inspiration’ software.  For each shape the group created clues based on the mathematical features of the shape.  The clues were written down on a small (non-electronic!) whiteboard.  These were recorded using Audacity. The students inserted a text box with the name of the shape and then scribbled over it with the stripy fat pen for a rub-and-reveal effect.

 

 what-shape-am-i1

what-shape-am-i
The students selected contestants to take up the challenge.  They pressed the sound files button, guessed their shape, and did the rub-and-reveal to confirm their answer.
Why did it work?  When Isabella stepped up for her turn, she did something that made me think.  She replayed the sound file to clarify the clues.  The class was silent as she repeated the action.  We have a saying in our classroom:  GOOD THINKERS ARE NOT ALWAYS FAST THINKERS.  Thye sound file allowed Isabella to take her time, request clarification, and for the class to respect her process.  I liked it!
A huge question that is is my mind at the moment:  WHOSE IWB IS IT ANYWAY?  Whose lesson, whose thinking, whose literacy/numeracy artefacts are on the IWB?  I felt that this lesson enabled the students’ mathematical thinking to be prominent.  I felt the use of the IWB here didn’t turn the lesson into a chalk-n-talk experience because of the students’ involvement.  The creation of their own clues was the clincher here.  Because a small group worked on the construction of the file the actual lesson remained very student-centred.  The rub-and-reveal was fun for all.
My one regret is that I did not enable all students in my class to create a  file.  I felt constrained by time.

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