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David Schwartz reminds us that once upon a time, we wanted to be older than we were! Your students will love this. |
English/Language Arts
Explore synonyms
The numbers presented in this Minute are expressed in different units but deemed equivalent. Even though the amounts are equivalent, our perception of them is not equal. The same is true with words. Synonyms are supposed to mean the same thing, but the words we choose change a reader’s perception. Try this exercise with your students. Ask them to observe what you are doing, then move from one point in the room to another point in the room. Ask them to write down what they saw. Some will say you walked across the room. Others may try to please you with creativity and say you strolled, ambled, sauntered, or more. Ask them to generate a list of words to move someone from one side of a room to the other, and then partner up and have them act out one of their sentences and try to get their partner to guess what word they chose. All words get you there, but what we see is not the same!
Explore procedural writing
Author Schwartz provides a great example of writing out how to do something step by step. See if your students can follow his directions. Then ask them to design a problem of their own and write out the directions for a partner to follow. How good are those directions? Test it with a partner and find out!
STEM
Explore word problems
This Minute is essentially a word problem. You take a problem, design a solution and solve it. Sounds easy, but many students struggle. Use this Minute as an opportunity to talk strategy about word problems. Work this one through together, then look at some other tasks that require students to design mathematical solutions. For some good strategies, check out We Are Teachers. And if students want to know why they will ever need this, pick some of these examples.
Research Skills
Explore Google’s conversion features
Did you know that Google can convert just about anything to anything if you only know how to ask? Don’t believe me? Type year to week into the search bar. Now try week to month and son on. This works for miles to kilometers, or cups to tablespoons or dollars to pounds. After students learn the math behind the conversions, show them the shortcuts!
Explore synonyms
The numbers presented in this Minute are expressed in different units but deemed equivalent. Even though the amounts are equivalent, our perception of them is not equal. The same is true with words. Synonyms are supposed to mean the same thing, but the words we choose change a reader’s perception. Try this exercise with your students. Ask them to observe what you are doing, then move from one point in the room to another point in the room. Ask them to write down what they saw. Some will say you walked across the room. Others may try to please you with creativity and say you strolled, ambled, sauntered, or more. Ask them to generate a list of words to move someone from one side of a room to the other, and then partner up and have them act out one of their sentences and try to get their partner to guess what word they chose. All words get you there, but what we see is not the same!
Explore procedural writing
Author Schwartz provides a great example of writing out how to do something step by step. See if your students can follow his directions. Then ask them to design a problem of their own and write out the directions for a partner to follow. How good are those directions? Test it with a partner and find out!
STEM
Explore word problems
This Minute is essentially a word problem. You take a problem, design a solution and solve it. Sounds easy, but many students struggle. Use this Minute as an opportunity to talk strategy about word problems. Work this one through together, then look at some other tasks that require students to design mathematical solutions. For some good strategies, check out We Are Teachers. And if students want to know why they will ever need this, pick some of these examples.
Research Skills
Explore Google’s conversion features
Did you know that Google can convert just about anything to anything if you only know how to ask? Don’t believe me? Type year to week into the search bar. Now try week to month and son on. This works for miles to kilometers, or cups to tablespoons or dollars to pounds. After students learn the math behind the conversions, show them the shortcuts!
© Karen Sterling, 2018 - May be used for educational purposes without written permission
