It’s May.
There’s a month left of school. We just went through a round of testing. And we’re all a little fried.
And so, I was sitting in my office a few classes ago, with a topic (functions), no particular lesson plan inspiration, and a textbook with a nice series of activities that checked all the boxes (mixed question/task types, at the right level, moving smoothly up Blooms…) I’ll be honest, “Class, please complete the exercises on pages __ to ___” was a tempting plan.
Except
It’s May. The students are fried, they’ve worked hard all year and focusing on a textbook for a big chunk of class now was just not going to work. They’re good, they’d try, but who could blame them for losing interest?
But was a nice series of activities, and I’m fried enough myself that I didn’t want to waste a perfectly good set of learning materials.
Solution: Envelopes. Scissors. Some re-framing.
I made copies and started cutting and sorting. Those vocab words? A tiny matching activity, in an envelope. A big #1 on the front. That exercise identifying functions? Cut apart and stuck in an envelope, it’s a card sort. With a big #2 on the front. That other exercise? I just stuck it in an envelope. Add a graph, ask for a sentence, envelope, envelope.
With a few additions and some cutting and editing, I soon had a few copies each of six enveloped tasks. I called them challenges and handed out the envelopes with that big #1 on the front. I told my students when they had completed the first challenge, they could exchange it for #2.
And it worked.
The mystery of the envelopes, the challenge, the sense of accomplishment and progress as they exchanged one envelope for the next added enough interest that they worked hard and stayed engaged the whole class.
In May.
When we’re all fried. (Did I mention that fact?)
I love that they worked hard and learned.
But, I also love that I got a new tool in my teacher-kit.
Cut it up, put it in envelopes, set up a challenge – that’s a transferable skill-set for the next time I’m contemplating “please complete the exercises on page…”
