Today’s learners need to SLOW DOWN and consider context before answering word problems without much thought to the words. Today’s teachers need to inspire REASONING instead of RUSHING through meaty problems. We do this with rich math tasks, 3 Act problems and performance tasks among other things. But we also need worthwhile activities that elicit enough buy-in to keep kids on task when you’re working with other groups. We need something that will move student thinking forward when we aren’t there to ask the good questions. We need to get THEM to ask the questions! Kids who can write math problems… can solve math problems.
Challenge your students to carefully consider subtraction situations versus addition situations; and eventually multiplication and division scenarios too! This could be the highlight of math class with this incredibly engaging and meaningful activity! In grades 3-5, all you need is 3 plastic cups or brown paper bags… Students choose a number pair, and operation and a topic. Then they write their own problem. This is a fabulous activity to do once a week ALL YEAR LONG and there are so many combinations that it never gets old! (My students have started making their own topic cards and adding them to the center…. sometimes during lunch! Now THAT is buy-in!)
This should start as young as 1st and 2nd Grade!, but you might find they are NOT off and running writing their own problems! If you teach first or second grade… My First Math Story offers a scaffolded approach. There are fill in the blank mad libs style problems for addition and subtraction. There are LOTS of options, but many of your students will be ready to move quickly to the story writing stage. For those who need more emerging level experiences.. there are plenty.
It is differentiated because students have a number of levels they can be working on… AND THEY CHOOSE THEIR OWN NUMBERS! OH!! And speaking of choosing your own numbers…
For more DIFFERENTIATED PROBLEM SOLVING, go numberless! It intrigues (okay, so it technically forces) students to consider the context (all they have is context) Check out Brian Bushart’s fabulous blog to learn more!
I have added my own twist to these, with numberless task cards to sort by the operation required. After a whole class numberless problem activity, these can be used in small groups. This way students can compare addition problems to subtraction or eventually to multiplication. (It is SO IMPORTANT to focus on the ENTIRE CONTEXT and not key words.) After sorting, they can use their own numbers to solve! Personally, I also have students critique each others’ sorts before they solve. I do this with them the first time. (Available for grades 1-5, including fractions!)
Engaging, relevant problems will ALWAYS yield more effort from students. Naturally occurring questions, particularly those posed verbally are some of the best rich tasks for students to solve! (If you’re sneaky, you can take a problem from your book and twist it into a real problem about your own class trip, cafeteria, talent show, desk arrangement etc) Photo or Video openers will always blow a textbook question out of the water. If you are not already using Graham Fletcher’s 3-Act Lessons, pay hm a visit! If you are looking for some quick pics to inspire math thinking,
Finally…. please don’t forget about Calculators! They free up the brain for reasoning. ‘Nuff said. Let the kids use them now and then. They’re happy. You’re happy. Everybody’s happy. Calculators are like the Nutella of math class!
This Free Google Slides Presentation includes over 100 of my go-to photos for math openers! Today there are over 100 fun photos with open ended questions that you can use as is… or tailor to your needs.
How could you not have a little fun with these math-tastic photos? How could you not be inspired to add a few more of your own? Animals, Food Art, Sports, TV and Movie Characters, YouTube… What’s not to love?
My Own Problem Solving Timeline
1980: We had word problems, but even if we guessed at both of them … we could still get A’s in math! Until we attempted to move beyond computation and we fell apart… saying we “weren’t math people.”
1990: There were more word problems… but we figured out how to ignore the words and do something with the numbers. (Usually the last thing we learned how to do. Hey, it worked more often than not!)
2000: I started teaching and realized that kids are being held to MUCH higher standards (with MUCH shorter attention spans.) I learned that kids put WAY more effort into tasks that seemed legitimate… or just plain fun! I began having my students write problems about topics that interested them.
2010: These kids have the attention span of fleas and our curriculum seems to move that quickly too! I must adapt and give them relevant topics… and visuals… and manipulatives! But we have to clean up quickly… it’s time to assess again! Wait, didn’t we take a test yesterday?
2020: OMG DID I SRSLY SAY THAT ALMST 10 YRS AGO NOW? Math curriculums are more rigorous than ever, and kids rarely have the stamina to type all the letters in a word! And those flea-sized attention spans??? Oh how I long for those now! GAME ON, TEACHERS!
What do we do now? Quite simply, we do MORE problem solving. But there are ways of gaining buy-in and there are ways of sharpening reasoning skills. I have found the strategies shared here to be the most successful supporting activities across grade levels because they all focus our energy on reasoning about the context… AND they are fun. What other ways do you elicit buy in for problem solving? Do you already use 3 Act Tasks in your math classroom? Do you evaluate problems already solved by others? What do you feel gives you the most bang for your educational buck?
