I’ve been reading Dan’s posts for a while now and this is one series that has stuck with me….. “You Can Always Add. You Can’t Subtract.” Ctd . Here is one small way I used this concept today…
Here is the original problem from EQAO
My applied students in previous years have struggled on problems like this. I simply “whited out” some….
That pic is what I start with. It’s amazing what happens! With the original problem students immediately are turned off….it looks tough, and confusing. It’s got a few things going on! With this new one…..kids are voicing their thoughts on a bike priced at $175. They’ve got lots of ideas on this statement. They start sharing stories and are comfortable! It’s pretty awesome that this “subtraction” strategy has changed the tone in my classroom. It’s more inclusive……more safe!
I then reveal a little more….
We had another discussion on what this means…..but most students jumped right to finding that percentage (we calculated percentages last day). Kids were engaged! just because we started with that small simple statement.
I then revealed everything once they had calculated that percentage.
Again, they were off and working…..I had a student put their solution on the board and we discussed it. It was awesome to see that there were not intimidated on this problem! It was also awesome to see that they could apply their knowledge when we saw another problem like this!
thanks Dan!
