Today, the lesson was on linear and non-linear functions. After plotting points and noticing that a ruler can’t go through all five, we stood up, hands at our sides.
I stood on a desk. Because it’s my class and I can do what I want to.
“Elbows out.” [I show them.]
“Arms out.” [All students are making a T.]
“Arms down.” [Everyone is giggling, but obeying.]
“When I say go, show me a linear function with your arms… go!”
The class snaps into a variety of positions, all with straight arms.
Kinda like this, but all at the same time.
“Awesome. Arms down. Now show me a non-linear function…go!”
Kinda like this, but all at the same time.
When 5th period arrived, the day went from good to great. First, they barely made it to one linear function before they were karate-kicking chairs and each other.
“Huh… Okay, siddown.” I said, hopping off the desk.
They froze. “What?”
“Yeah, I’m not gonna fight you so we can do fun things in class. Siddown.”
We do some more practice and agree to try again. We make it through a couple successful commands before Lorraine takes it up a notch:
“Can we play Simon Says?”
Hell yes, we can!
Simon says ‘show me a non-linear function’.
Simon says ‘show me a function that makes a vertical line’.
Arms down. Ah! I didn’t say ‘Simon Says’. You’re out, you’re out, you’re out. Sit.
Simon says ‘show me the YMCA’.
Previously, we established that one of Mr. Stadel’s hands holds 18 Red Vines, so our guesses hovered around 100-120 (5-7 handfuls).
Halfway through the video answer, we’re at 150 and I hear Frank.
“Goddammit! I only put 130!”
When’s the last time you found an activity for math class that got kids amped enough to curse about it?
For the record, Frank thought he was mumbling to his neighbor, and I didn’t discipline him. Judge if you must, but I’d much rather have excitement and foul language than boredom and silence.
The real highlight of today, however, came when the video slowed down.
…and Donte is out of his seat, pumping both arms in the air, chanting, “Two hundred! Two hundred! Come ooooon, baby! Two hundred!” He’s dancing back and forth as only an amateur pro athlete can.
Then, Mr. Stadel pulls out the 201st Red Vine, just to taunt Donte.
..and Donte’s arms fall to his sides, his jaw drops, and his eyes deaden. He stands transfixed, staring at the wall, crestfallen that he was so close to a perfect guess.
And I laughed my ass off.
Months later, I realized what a bummer it was that Donte was so crushed by guessing 201. His previous 7 years of math education had taught him he was wrong, even though he was 0.5% off of the correct answer.
Thankfully, after a few more months of these, Donte grew confident enough in his process to be content with having hisB product be different from the answer key.
~Matt “Hasn’t Eaten Red Vines Since Middle School” Vaudrey
Man! My life has been a blur the last 2 week! A few things before I start:
I’m unaccustomed to writing math-centered posts (which you’ve noticed if you read anything prior to the Mullet Ratio). Though I’m still pretty green, I’m thrilled to be involved in the “mathblogosphere”, for which, there must be a better name.
The Barbie Bungee lesson was planned in way less time than the Mullet Lesson, which was in the works for weeks. I was saving pictures, constructing the worksheets, planning my own mullet since April, and it still makes me a little embarrassed to know that people are downloading it. I would have changed this color, updated that picture, or tweaked this font. And the Barbie Bungee lesson was largely planned the morning of. Polished and perfect, it’s not.
In the last week, I got a few thousand hits on the Mullet Lesson, a few dozen tweets about it from people I’ve never met, and it’s been taught in Orange County, the Netherlands, and maybe some places in between. Plus, I got tagged to teach an iPad class with digital textbooks next year and I finished BTSA. Now I’m writing this post, finally. Again, polished and perfect, it’s not.
So, like a proctologist about to scope, I ask that you keep #2 in mind. Remember that teaching and learning are both about improvement over time, and this lesson will likely improve.
Prologue
Saturday, for the TEAMS grant at UC-Riverside, a couple teachers talked about Barbie Bungee and I figured I could call the ante and raise the stakes. I sketched some schematics for a bungee platform and began testing prototypes a few days before the Bungee lesson (Thursday/Friday). I finished up building 9 more of them last night.
It’s not too hard. It’s exactly how it looks. Those angles are 45 degrees and each one hooked onto the chain-link fence outside my class so students could raise and lower the platform to various heights.
Students’ only homework this week was for their group to bring in a doll. I advised them on size, weight, and clothing (one student gel-painted a bikini because she couldn’t find Barbie’s shirt), and stored them in class, tagged by period.
Late last night, I wondered in a panic, “Do I have enough content to fill the 90 minutes for two days?”
I turned to my teaching advisor, Google. It turns out I’m nowhere near the first teacher (as I found out via Twitter) to try a Barbie Bungee lesson.
…and many of them more epic than my plan.
NCTM’s Illuminations had some good questions for students. The Math Lab obviously planned their blog post, with pictures and stuff. Mr. Pederson filmed his class doing the bungee off the bleachers. Fawn Nguyen has been doing it for years, and even planned hers for the same day as me! Talk about being born under the same geeky star! I hope someday my Barbie Bungee lesson will be as involved and pointed as hers. You nailed it, Fawn! Fabulous work.
Seriously, teachers. If you’re interested in this lesson, go to her page first. I guarantee it’s worth your time.
Day 1
After the warm-up, announcements, and whatever, I show these two videos:
Purists will note that the second video (a Russian Missile silo) isn’t technically bungee jumping; they’re using what rock climbers call static rope, which doesn’t stretch. Meaning that they fall about 15-20 meters and are yanked at the bottom. Russians have a different meaning for fun, I suppose.
This is the front row at a KISS concert in Moscow.
But back to Barbies.
I started a discussion first (low-entry point, everybody’s involved).
What do you think the world’s first bungee jumpers thought about?
What makes a bungee jump exciting?
What are the dangers in a bungee jump?
I framed our plan for the day, passed out the pink papers (attached below) and set them to work.
This part was pretty easy. They began building bungee cords, threading their platforms and heading outside to bunge. The GATE (Honors) students finished fairly quickly, some even wanting to go higher (which I saved for day 2).
Memorable quotes:
“What if they don’t hit the ground on the first try?”
“It’s okay to smash their face a little bit, right?”
And my favorite:
“Can I tape her dress down? She’s flashing the goodies with every jump.”
Day 2:
Students were notified that Barbie was to jump 203 centimeters today.
Before we go further, here’s what yesterday’s pink worksheet looked like (Attachment below):
Mathematicians, you’ll note that this is a good time to talk about Ceiling Functions (because you can’t have a 6.3 rubber bands), but I glossed over that for this year.
Students, predictably, added the 60 cm to the 140 cm “then added a little more” to plan for the 203 cm jump. Okay, fine.
Then we took them outside to video as the Barbies jumped 203 cm.
Some classes were very successful, pushing the limits of how close they could get. (and getting frustrated when their doll’s skull cracked the ground).
Then, back inside to answer questions on the back and make calculations for the roof jump.
The janitor had agreed earlier to climb up to the roof and toss the dolls off, two at a time. Of course, I had to build a separate launching platform for the Pavilion roof.
I must really love my job, because I hate drilling pilot holes.
We also taped two yardsticks to the wall, so we could play back the footage and see who “won”. For the more cautious classes, it wasn’t really necessary. Here are all the jumps put together.
Bundle the rubber bands in 20s, then make sure to get all 20 back. (Way easier than counting each group.)
Show that the 60 cm jump is the distance downfrom the ledge, not up to the fence.
For heavy dolls, double up the bungee
Go very slowly to show the class a slipknot for Barbie’s legs.
All told, it was an excellent activity, but not yet a great lesson. Check out Fawn’s post on this. It’s awesome. Mine can get close, but for now it’s just a good year-end activity.
