When Teaching Math Makes you Laugh

So after the downer post that was yesterday, I wanted to take a moment to focus on something much more positive. I'm sure you've all seen posts of funny student answers on assignments. This year I have a student who consistently makes me laugh with her responses, most often on her math papers. Her mom is a co-worker and friend of mine, so I have an inside view of how challenging it can be for this student to complete math assignments. She is really intelligent, and definitely an outside the box thinker.

We have standardized testing next week, so I'm handing out review sheets when they fit into the day with little to no instruction. A quick refresher often gives kids confidence going into this kind of test. But, when the kids saw the "Bonus Box" option to name all of the polygons on a perimeter worksheet, their eyes got huge and they asked if they had to do the bonus. I told them I'd like for them to try. Most of them declined. But this outside the box thinker did not disappoint in her responses. I had to give her bonus points for her answers!

Even though math assignments are challenging for this student, everyone who works with her can see that she does understand the concepts. But she doesn't like math and has developed several work avoidance techniques. Her parents, her therapist, and I are all working together to decrease these behaviors. She is slowly learning that there might be a short term gain to avoiding her work, but in the long run it becomes more work. We've added the incentive of the gift of a random Pokémon card for any assignment completed with expectations exceeded. (I kind of felt bad that the first one she earned from me was a lousy Energy card.) The assignment above definitely deserves a card, but her mom texted me a picture of something that surely deserves to be praised. 

When her mom asked why her math homework was taped to the shower, she responded, "So I can I review my math while I shower." 

Given that this is also the child that turned in the assignment below, I believe making her math work visible during her showers is a step in the right direction.

Kids really are awesome.