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Saturday, June 30, 2012

WSQ for 5th Graders...and other ramblings

Most people who are out there in the "flipping" world...okay, that sounded bad, but you know what I mean...have heard of Crystal Kirch.  She started flipping last year (like me), and both of us have been blogging about the process.  Her blog can be found here.  Crystal teaches High School math & uses something called the W.S.Q. (Watch, Summarize, Question) with her students.  It worked well for her, and did something that I feel is incredibly important but doesn't happen often enough - it incorporates writing into math, two subjects that seem to be opposites.

After following her blog this year, I knew I wanted to try her W.S.Q. method, but I need to tweak it, as I have 5th graders, and she has high schoolers.  Below, I've embedded the prezi I will use to introduce the W.S.Q. to my students in the fall.




A couple of reminders for myself in the fall:
1)  Spend the first unit heavily guiding the students through their WSQ's.
2)  For each unit following the first unit, do the first WSQ together, therefore keeping it fresh in their minds.
3)  Have some variety for their summaries...paragraphs, lists, bulleted items

If you watch the prezi, you can see that I require them to write a sample problem in their summary.  My thought is to use that sample problem when they are done proving their knowledge.  I'd like to get more students involved in the video making process, by recording themselves solving a problem.  The problem from their summary is a great place to start.

Another idea...

I'd love to have my videos with a whole bunch of student created videos all in one location so if a student is stuck and needs to see sample problems, they will have a whole bunch to choose from.  I've recently heard about MentorMob, which I will blog about later, once I know more about it, but I think it might serve this purpose.  Making several sample problem videos is something I would have liked to have done last year, but realistically, there was zero time!  Why should I be doing all that work, put it on the kids...what's that old saying..."If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime."

It's time to teach these kids to fish!

4 comments:

  1. hi Delia, I like it. I have been planning on incoorporating writing into science and SS too. Instead of "starters" that are multiple choice I am going to have more open ended questions, with a writing journal. These kids are going to leave 5th grade knowing how to write and think! Lets go! oh, not yet...I'm not in that big of a hurry

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  2. I love the prezi! This is a good overview of WSQ that 5th graders could grasp. I am going to flip my 4th grade reading, writing and SS this year and you have given me a good foundation for how to teach learning from the videos :) Thank you!

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  3. Flipping my 5th grade math class in NJ. So happy to read your blog. Would love for our kids to connect at some point this year. Let me know what you think.

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  4. Awesome, thank you! I know it's not something I'll be able to implement in the few weeks I have left this year, but I will definitely be checking it out this summer and seeing what I can do :)

    Thanks again!

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