I use a wifi keyboard which allows me to stand near the front of the room and type, even though my desk is at the side. It just can’t be on a metal cart as that interferes.

All things being equal, though, I’d rather help students with that struggle after I’ve perplexed them with a question-rich act one and they know the answer will be validated in act three.

Can this be fit in a 3 Act Task? Or do you just say “Here’s the formula. Use it.” How does that work?

Here’s a three-act task that uses the Pythagorean Theorem.

I’m also just curious in general of how often this type of task is used, say, in a unit. Can the days of just doing math (practice, practice, practice) be totally gone?

I try to use these tasks (or the principles underneath these tasks) whenever I’m introducing a new concept. I try not to say things like, “Today we’re going to learn about standard x, y, or z.” Instead I try to put students in a position where they need standard x, y, or z.

And we still practice. Lots. Fluency doesn’t come for free with these tasks. The day after a three-act tasks I’ll tell my students, “We need to get fast and good at the kind of work we did yesterday so we can do it without thinking too much about it.”

Any other questions, please let me know.

Now I teach PreAlg and Alg 1 so a more applicable concept might be the Pythagoeran Theorem. I spend many days on the origin of the Theorem to hopefully get students to understand why it works. We draw squares in different contexts and find areas, look for patterns, etc. I even read them “What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras?” (I don’t know how much it helps, but they love being read to! And we write children’s books about math so it’s a good model.) Can this be fit in a 3 Act Task? Or do you just say “Here’s the formula. Use it.” How does that work?

I’m also just curious in general of how often this type of task is used, say, in a unit. Can the days of just doing math (practice, practice, practice) be totally gone? Or should that be a goal of mine? I love this idea, and I’m confident I can run with it, but am scared to let go of my other lessons. I’d really love to know what happens in the few days before and after this task. Thanks!

On a side note, to people who think it’s awesome to have summers off…I’ve done more learning and planning in the 2 weeks I’ve been off than I get to do during the year! I love my job.

Lucy

I’d like to see some motivation for figuring this out built into the problem.

Example: he knows how many coins he has, he wants to know how many levels he can make.

In all other ways, it was great to see this technique modeled… It helps me figure out how I can use it on my own.

However, I still feel there is a lot of value in students figuring out the information on their own. Thoughts?

It depends on your instructional goals, really. You’re adding in some extra skills there — one of which is interpreting media — that are external to some of the mathematical goals. For my part, I want students to think about a) what information they need, b) how they would get it, and after that I’m happy to tell them (or show them) that information. That’s my instructional goal which dictates my route through act two.