I’ve stolen so many great ideas from the #mtbos and I have no idea what “teacher clothes” look like, but I know what educational awesomeness looks like…and it has inspired me over the past 2 years. If imitation is the sincerest form flattery, it is also the sincerest form of learning.

And now I have shamelessly stolen from Fawn Nguyen.  A while back she posted about letting her students own the problem through putt-putt.  That post inspired my newest task which has been in the works since last May entitled For the Nguyen. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.C.6 measure angles in whole-number degrees using a protractor. Sketch angles of specified measure. Contexts and tasks for angle measurement in 4th grade suck.  My hope is that kids won’t ask “when am I ever going to use this in real-life?” after they dive in.

Where could you bank the white ball to sink the 8 ball without hitting a striped ball first?

Can you sink the #8-ball to win the game? Where would you hit it? If you hit a striped ball first you lose!

students recording sheet

I finally just finished and posted it today.  If you steal it and make it better please let me know how. Jennifer Bell posted this yesterday:

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If I can inspire one teacher the way the educators in this tweet have inspired me, then I know I’m doing something right.  Here was my reply:

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Thanks Dan, Fawn, Andrew, Tina, Robert, Mike, Jenise, Joe and many of you in the#mtbos that have made me a better teacher.  You allow me to steal (with proper attribution of course) and learn from you every week and for that I say… THANK YOU!