Clip 8/20: Multiplying and Factoring Polynomial Expressions Lesson Part 2B
Overview
Melissa Nix challenges the eighth-grade students to find the dimensions of a figure if the area is 3A^2 + 3A. She notes that “there are many answers to this, so if you can come up with one, see if you can come up with two.” She gives students “private think time” and then asks them to turn to their partner and get started.
As they work, Melissa circulates around the classroom and engages pairs in sharing their thinking. She occasionally calls the group back together to communicate possibilities about the challenge (“3A might have come from A and A and A, by A – Do you agree?”)
Melissa praises students for writing down their thinking and then identifying what questions they have for the next phase of their task. She asks them to identify ways in which this challenge is similar to the previous problem: “Where is the 3A coming from in this model?”
Teacher Commentary
Teacher Commentary
In the classroom is the time to practice and try stuff and get muddy. ... If you're making an analogy that school should be more of a learning zone, and kids should be practicing like you would practice for soccer, then I want them trying stuff out and using what they know — what skills they've amassed to apply them to what they're doing.
And it's okay if they make some mistakes. But, let's learn from that, let's look at that. “Okay, he didn't kick the ball into the goal. It hit the goalpost. So, let's make some adjustments to figure out, How could you actually get it into the goal itself?” That takes treating learning opportunities as a really big deal; but making sure that you spend enough time to develop that class culture ahead of time, I think, is imperative.