A low-prep class which worked out very well.
Wow, this improvised class worked out very well ... students even commented that they liked it! And part of it was just laziness on my part because I didn't bother to make an extra presentation last night.
I had homework sheets I didn't pass out yesterday. I had covered the basics of solving simultaneous equations by substitution, and had the students try two or three problems. I could tell that a few had gotten it, but many were still befuddled, so I didn't assign the homework I had planned.
So today I just handed out the worksheets and did a sample problem on the overhead. Then I set students loose to work together on the worksheets while I circulated around. At the end of the class I put up the answers and students who got them right could present the problems.
Low effort on my part, and they enjoyed it! It really got students up and out of their seats, and they were clustering around the students who had "gotten" it the previous day. The worksheet turned out to be exactly the right level of challenge to do in-class with help.
Now if I can replicate this experience over and over again...
I had homework sheets I didn't pass out yesterday. I had covered the basics of solving simultaneous equations by substitution, and had the students try two or three problems. I could tell that a few had gotten it, but many were still befuddled, so I didn't assign the homework I had planned.
So today I just handed out the worksheets and did a sample problem on the overhead. Then I set students loose to work together on the worksheets while I circulated around. At the end of the class I put up the answers and students who got them right could present the problems.
Low effort on my part, and they enjoyed it! It really got students up and out of their seats, and they were clustering around the students who had "gotten" it the previous day. The worksheet turned out to be exactly the right level of challenge to do in-class with help.
Now if I can replicate this experience over and over again...