Mr Hammerlund

This year was the single most difficult year I have had in my [short] teaching career. The students would not listen. They would not stay still. They would waste time. They would get up when they felt like it. They would speak out when I was talking. They would fight and cry. Teaching them was like a daily game of Hit the Mole. They put me to bed at 8:00 on many occasions. All this, and yet I will miss them immensely. I would teach them again in a second.

I don't know what, but this math problem had my students hooked. I wish we didn't run out of time that day. I got the idea for this while reading the book, The Elephant in the Classroom . It was great to see the working together and comparing answers. When I posed the question I had one student right away shout out, "64"! And after I told her there were many, many more than that, they went to work. We got right to the point where I opened their eyes to how the squares can overlap  - until that point they were counting the squares as if they were bricks side-by-side. It was interesting to watch them. They were more engaged than I expected.