Win-Win Situation

This past week was monumental for some of our 5th and 8th graders in Texas. These students attempted for the second time this spring to pass the Math and Reading TAKS. Forty-two of my students worked hard for the past two and half weeks, diligently solving questions like those on the TAKS. A handful of them had me as their teacher for an extended two periods a day!

There was one problem I had, though. The TAKS were given on Tuesday and Wednesday. This left me 2 days with nothing to do with these students! Sure, it would have been nice to relax and take it easy, but spring final exams start on Monday. At the same time, these students had a lot of bottled-up energy. What to do, what to do . . .

Then it hit me! Mr. Valdez, a long-term sub for one of our math teachers, was telling us in the teacher’s lounge during lunch one day about an outside activity he had done with his classes that involved both sports and math. That was what I needed to do!

I ran the idea through Mrs. Vaughn, my former student teacher who we hired during this AMI (Accelerated Math Instruction) period. She is taking over the math enrichment classes so that I can return to my regular classes. She liked the idea, but thought getting full involvement from all the students who were let “free” in an open field was going to be a classroom management nightmare. Instead she came up with an option that turned out very well. Watch the video below:



We only have 4½ school days left! Hang in there Texas teachers – summer break will be here before you know it!