I have to admit, I love a good DIY project, I’m
semi-addicted to HGTV, and can be cajoled into looking for ideas on Pinterest
just like the rest of you. You know how it goes:
“How did you ever think to make
prom dress out of math homework?”
“Oh, I saw it on Pinterest.”
Or perhaps more likely:
“This dessert is amazing! Where did
you find the recipe?”
“Oh, I saw it on Pinterest and
decided to try it.”
The allure behind Pinterest – the images, the stories – they
promise that anyone can DIY. But like most, I love the idea of DIY more than
the actual DIYing. Why? Because I’ve learned through my many failures (yes, I
learn from mistakes, too!) that what looks easy and simple on TV or on the web
is often much more complicated. I know I’m not alone -- our collective failures
have their own websites. (Thus the advent of Pinterest Fails)
I’m a skeptic now. I look at the beautiful projects that
insist, “You, too, can create this masterpiece!” and think twice before running
to the store to buy the materials. My skepticism and reluctance is important to
understand, because I’m about to become *THAT*
person that says, “No, you really can
do this at home, too!”
Here it goes:
I’ve been dabbling with Clothesline Math for about a
year now. A few years ago, @DanLuevanos and I were having serious NCTM envy,
watching the tweets fly, and we stumbled upon an image of solving equations
using ClotheslineMath. We began pushing our own understanding by trying to use
the visual representation for just about anything. (He, of course, has done
much more with this than I ever could. Check out his blog and twitter-feed for more information). The path has continued with more posts
by #MTBoS folks. At the latest #CMCMath conference in Palm Springs, every ClotheslineMath
sessions had overflowing rooms, with more participants waiting for seats than
there were available.
So when I was
forwarded Tamara’s tweet and linked blog post :
…it shone as bright as a sparkling ornament. Genius. And the
timing couldn’t have been any better – winter break, or as I like to think of
it the great avalanche (you know, when
all the knowledge that was loosely piled on in a great attempt to cram things
in before break comes tumbling down the mountain destroying everything in its
path).
About halfway through my kinder’s winter break, a few days
into the rainy spell and cold weather that kept him closed up inside (it was bad...for San Diego), out came two pieces of
string and a set of cards printed from Tamara’s blog. I hadn’t really had time for a full lesson plan, hadn’t really thought
through my questions, or the order I wanted the cards to be introduced. This
was game time, and I hadn’t done enough prep. So I placed 6 of the numbers (0,
3, 7, 10, 15, 20), randomly picked, out of order on the lower line and simply
asked, “Can you help me? I think these are out of order.” My son leapt up from
his pile of Legos and started to survey the scene. “Hmm. I think so.” And he
started to pick up the number tents and move them around. He placed 0 far to
the right, and then picked up 3. He placed it on the line, right next to 0. I
started to get worried. But then he picked up the 3 and moved it one place
further to the left. And then again, one place further to the left. He turned
and said, “You know, this would be easier if you had a 2 and a 1 for me. Do you
have those, too?” It took me that long to realize he was trying to “place and space” by using the 3-tent to space for the missing numbers 1 and 2.
Interesting? A child, who has had no introduction to number
lines (as far as either of us know) immediately had a sense to place and space.
Human nature? Foundations of numeracy?
He spent several more minutes placing and spacing each of
the cards, in increasing order from right to left. I didn’t “correct” him – I
hadn’t specified what “order” meant, and here was a 5 year old making his own
sense of the word. (I’m still not sure if what he did was “wrong” at all. I’ll
have to think about that more.)
Between his own running commentary:
“I think I’m making sense of this.”
“Oh, what if I did
this?”
and “I wish you gave me all the numbers,”
he ended up placing all of the numeric cards in order on the
lower number line.
“What’s next?” he asked, clearly seeing that there was a
second clothesline we hadn’t yet touched.
Yikes…I hadn’t thought he would really be asking for more. So, I pulled
an audible and followed Andrew Stadel’s (@mr_stadel) advice. I dropped the rest of the cards from Tamara’s blog, which included
ten-frames, dice pips and finger representations of the numbers on the floor.
And I asked, “What should we do?”
He quickly started placing some of the representations on
the top clothesline that matched the numeric representation below. But then
something strange happened. He picked up two different representations (a
single pip and a tens frame with 4) and placed them on top of each other, and
then on the clothesline above the 5. “Wait, that looks like 4 to me.” I said.
“No, mommy. That is a four and a 1. See? That’s the same as 5,” he answered as
he showed me the card hidden below.
Wow – this just went way further than I imagined, and all
because I just backed up and let him play with math.
As he continued to play, he realized he wanted cards he
didn’t have. I handed him blank ones and a pen and allowed him to draw the
numbers himself. I was surprised that he chose different representations each
time. He didn’t have a clear explanation to me on why he drew the
representation that he did, other than it was what he was thinking or
visualizing in his head.
He continued playing with clothesline for a while, and then
went back to Legos. A short while later, his head popped back up and he walked
over to the clothesline and started moving the numbers around more.
I know it’s important to read with and to my son every day,
so that his literacy and love of reading continues to grow. It’s equally
important that I spend time playing with math, problem solving and making sense
of numbers so that his numeracy and love of problem solving continues to grow. Clothesline Math has been a great way to start this new year off right.
So, my New Year’s Resolution 2016-1: Find opportunities to
play with math daily with my kids.
Are you up for the challenge, too?
