Thanks to Ashleigh at Ashleigh’s Education Journey for this “get it off the page” idea for learning about word problems. She turned the tables on her young students and had them rotate through the room to work on math problems. Students, however, were not solving problems, they were writing them! I really like the idea of switching up the task so that learners start thinking “like the teacher”. This sort of task is sure to give students a lot more flexibility in their thinking about multiplication and math vocabulary.
The best part of the post is Asleigh’s discussion of her informal assessment. She not only did some checking on student work, but talked them through making necessary changes.
This is a really nice activity for the diverse, inclusive classroom as it allows students to learn from the work of others. In addition, it can easily be adapted for those needing more support. Some students might have pre-made sticky notes that they place instead of create. Others might need a word bank to use in creating their problems. Still others could be given more complex problems to write.
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