This week I took up the Clap Hands game in my classroom with my grade 6's and I would say they engaged with a bit of reluctant compliance, rather than enthusiasm. Many kind of went through the motions and I lost some of them, but a few did immerse themselves in the pattern-based aspects of the game. It was a challenging week to take up this activity in my classroom, and so far not representative of my students' willingness to participate. It made for a difficult dynamic and I saw some difficulty in sustaining focus for the students. As the activity went on, a few students became distracted which impacted their ability to contribute and process some of the patterns that were occurring. I think this game would work well with younger students or within a music class, but many of mine had difficulty seeing the connections to math.
I enjoyed George Hart's traditional longsword dancing video and would love to try this with my students when we are engaged in geometry or angle work - right now we're looking at fractions so I'm focusing more on visual tasks that tie to parts of a whole and combining that with my class project. I love the idea with using popsicle sticks to manipulate angles and then trying to recreate the popsicle stick 'routine' with longer and larger pieces of wood that resemble swords. It would be a great movement challenge for the students.
Another thing from this week's work that stood out to me is the value of working together with others - only so much math can be learned in a silo alone, it is crucial to expand our work to include other people and get and give ideas. So many mathematical ideas were born out of bored people just hanging out with others and trying things out. With the requirements of the curriculum and the broad scope of things I need to teach in my class, I find there's never enough time for unstructured exploration. I'd like to make more space for that, as kids learn a lot through play.
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