Plate of Cheeseballs

I might be the only one excited about this Estimation 180 challenge. And that's okay. If you want to play along and test out goformative.com at the same time, click here.

How many cheeseballs will fit on the plate?
*a single layer of cheeseballs

Enter your estimate, work, and reasoning here. Play along.

Cheese!
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Is Your Math Class Forgettable or Memorable?

A little over three days ago, I tweeted the following:

I’m preparing for an IGNITE talk. What’s the most a) forgettable b) memorable part of your math class? #MTBoS

— Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel) September 17, 2015

I highly recommend you read everyone's response. I truly appreciate everyone who responded. This question definitely can be revealing and/or create vulnerability. You will be my biggest ammunition as I attempt to inspire teachers at the Northwest Math Conference in October to create more memorable times in their math classes.

Here is my takeaway from your responses:

If you (the teacher) want your class to be FORGETTABLE (to both yourself and students), do the following:

• TALK a lot
• LECTURE a lot
• make sure students are silent
• have students take a lot of NOTES
• ask closed questions
• have students sit and get, then forget
• give meaningless homework
• focus on grades
• discipline students because the math wasn't engaging
• be bored with your own work
• assign a lot of WORKSHEETS

If you (the teacher) want your class to be MEMORABLE (to both yourself and students), do the following:

• make a math song to "Can't Touch This"
• be kind
• build relationships
• tell stories
• have students work collaboratively
• have discussions about identity, character, and equality
• allow students to propose methods that you never considered
• build a class community
• allow shy students to present
• engage even the negative students
• have students work in small groups
• have students share their thinking
• believe in your students
• use stuff from the MTBoS like 3 Acts, whiteboarding, visual patterns, estimation 180, barbie bungee, number talks, etc.
• build relationships

A few of you were kind enough to email me and share some amazing stories. A fourth grade teacher emailed me about two of her students writing a letter to Swingline asking them why their box of staples says 5000 staples, when their math class calculated it to be 5040. All because of Days 14 & 15 at Estimation 180. Those students probably won't remember the worksheet they had last week in any class, but I guarantee they'll remember writing those letters. Now I hope Swingline does the right thing and replies to those students.

Thanks again. Keep creating memorable times in your math classes. 

Memorable,

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