Dear colleague,
For today's Valued Within example, let's look at an idea that's not mine at all. This one comes from Adam Craig in Massachusetts.
Each weekend, Adam's students have a simple homework assignment: find a mathy moment in real life. On Monday, Adam asks his students to report out what they found.
Within a month or so of doing this, students in class will roll their eyes when one of their peers says, “I couldn't find a mathy moment.” They'll chide the IDKer, saying things like:
- “C'mon, didn't you have to be anywhere on time?”
- “Did you buy anything?
- “Did you alter your car's speed at a stoplight? That's a mathy moment, dude!”
In my general level world history classes this year, I've given an Adam Craig-inspired assignment called “History in Real Life.” The task was simple:
- In the next week, look for an example of how history affects something in your everyday life. It can be media you watch or listen to that connects to history, a current event and its connection to history, a conversation with an adult in your life about how history has affected them, or anything else. Be creative, be observant, and be prepared to explain how your “History in Real Life” example connects your daily life with the story of the past.
Here are some of the better responses my students came up with:
- An example of World History in my life was when I asked my mom and dad a couple days ago of where they were during 9/11. My mom told me that she was at work (I don't remember where she said) and my dad said that he was sleeping. It's kind of fun to ask people where they were during 9/11 since it happened in 2001 and most adults now were doing normal things during the time of 9/11.
- An example of something in my life that connects to history is my sport. Every single day I am going to volleyball practice and it makes me wonder how volleyball came to be. I think all the time of how volleyball has evolved and how it's become such an important thing in my life. Volleyball is one of the things that gives me the most comfort and helps me to strive for my goals so I am very thankful for it.
- An example from my life last week that I can connect to World History is the constant political ads I see on television or other media. Now, I'm not referring directly to the ads but rather to what they say in their messages, using words such as “unconstitutional” or “constitution.” When they say such words they are referring to a document that is the backbone of the country which is unsurprisingly called the constitution. This document despite being written back in 1776 (sic) still stands the test of time in the eyes of the people as it has been constantly amended since it was made. It's interesting when cases like this happen in our world so I wanted to mention it.
As I've shared Adam's “Mathy Moments” assignment with teachers in my book (p. 165) and in my PDs, I've heard of all kinds of tweaks from all across the content areas.
The cool thing with Adam's idea is that, once students get used to it, it's perceived as an easy homework assignment, and it gets them looking for and thinking about your subject in everyday life. And that's why it's a great example of a Valued Within exercise.
Teaching right beside you,
DSJR
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