Now we're getting into the meat of things…! I thought this was a great chapter. I know that most of us probably start with some sort of warm-up activity. I know I do. What got me in this chapter was on how to structure the warm-up. We've used Math Minutes previously and this year I've decided to write my own. I wanted to have half of my questions be strictly review of material learned throughout the year, and half of my questions be a recap of what was learned during the previous class. It looks something like this:
So, I was really into this (and have created my first 10)… until now. After reading this chapter, I may have to rethink this a bit. Or at least rethink the next 10 :). I don't really have any open ended questions (except maybe #5) and I liked the reference to using those during warm-up time in chapter. Since I have 111 minutes during my class period, I have some flexibility with the length of the warm-ups and have found that 10 questions is a good length. Possibly I could keep the 5 Review questions and then have the Recap question be something more open ended (maybe not called Recap?). Hmmmmmm……………..
I liked the Accountability Structure Hoffer suggests on page 96. It is important to have a way to ensure that students are participating in the warm-up activity, especially if it's not going to be graded. I liked the "Give One - Get One" strategy - I haven't heard of that before.
I also liked the short synopsis of homework at the beginning of class. I too grade very little homework and find that it helps keep up with paperwork. However, this means there have to be plenty of other graded assignments, simply for parents to see how their kids are doing. I tend to go for the Weekly Quiz, using the homework as a basis for it. This takes a little shuffling since we are on the block schedule, and turns into more of a quiz every other week, so that I've seen the students around 5 times.
Good, working chapter. Excited to keep going!
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