It Would Have Been More Fun If It Was Figuring Out a Trip for Us: Mr. C, What Is a Real World Scenario Part 2

The students finished figuring out the expenses to my baseball trip in July yesterday. Depending on the price of hotel and tickets it will cost between $1,000 an d$1,100 dollars for a three day trip. Apparently you need to be a major league baseball player to afford going to back to back to back games :(

After the students all shared their totals I asked them if they liked the activity. I had two very interesting responses from two different students. One student asked me if I liked the activity. I told them I really enjoyed their enthusiasm for the project. Another student then told me that she would have liked the assignment more if it had been a trip she wanted to go on. (This is what we in education circles call a teachable moment ;) So we immediately started making plans for a trip they will research.

I gave them some guidelines to help them:

• The trip would be five days long. We picked a week in July so they wouldn't miss summer school :)
• I told them they needed to budget $75 a day for food per person.
• I also had them spend $50 a day on souvenirs. 

I learned a lot in just the first day:

• Several students planned the trip around a real trip they are going to take later this year.
• Many students wanted to plan the trip together so they could share the experience (although I don't know if they want to share the actual trip or just the planning.)
• Most of my students have a very limited view of where they can go on vacation. I had to emphasize many times that they could go anywhere for those five days. Money was not an issue. Most still tried to find bargains with their hotels. 
• Many of the students wanted to visit relatives that don't live nearby. Isn't that wonderful!

The reality is this has been a great way to get our minds off of test prep for a few days and get them engaged and rejuvenated for math. 

Real Learning is Messy, Embrace It

Here is Stephanie working through an expression with a variable. I just introduced this concept today and there was a lot of push back from the students. Apparently they didn't want to be challenged. This is a real lesson where this wonderful student struggles and is slightly embarrassed about it. We have to push kids beyond their comfort zone and allow them to struggle. We have to push them to show what they are doing and how they are doing it. If we are fortunate they may even share what they are thinking too. Compare this to a Kahn Academy video. Which do you think is more valuable? Why?