New and Improved Target Number!

Days when you know you are a teacher....I am ECSTATIC about the new and improved Target Number! I was so pumped when explaining it to the kids today, and they said they liked this better than the original target number! (YAYYY)
When teaching in Texas we taught our regular lessons, fractions, probability, equations, etc, then when it was a month before TAKS (state testing) changed to STARR now, we would review. All we would do was make copies of previous TAKS tests and have the students do word problems day in- day out. Homework, warm ups, in class work was all thrown out the window because the dreaded TAKS season was upon us. As a creative teacher I got bunched together with all the other teachers who were doing this and felt pressured because the test was so big. And the scores were always advertised.  I never understood why we taught everything during the school year, because it was all going to be reviewed anyway. I tried and cut the questions and make them into speed games, and candy land, and Jeopardy, but in the end I was still teaching to the test and class was all about trying to solve tricky word problems.

It dawned on me, that even though I put so much time and passion into what I teach, that the students would know the material now, but down the road it would not be used, so easily forgotten. To me, that would be all my general education classes in college, sociology, History of the Western World, Discrete Math, since I am not using it every day, it is not necessary information that I have stored away.

With these kids and math, I may teach scientific notation for a week, test over it, all students ace it, but when it comes to 2 months down the road, have they used it enough to remember how it works? I may include awesome ideas and outside examples but later in the year- all they see is numbers and exponents. This happened last week and I had to take a step back and look at the situation. What can I do as a teacher to help the students "retain" information, so that when it comes to testing, it is NOT teaching to the test, but rather problem solving and critical thinking?

My best ideas come to me while working out, and one day it dawned on me, I need to improve Target Number Tuesday to not only have the kids work on addition, subtraction, division and multiplication, but to put the number in other scenarios; mean, median, mode, scientific notation, regrouping with fractions, metric units, simplifying, converting, exponents, the list goes on and on....and each week it may be different with the amount of ideas that I have.

So the NEW target number will be part of the homework or the warm up, I need to feel it out. BUT I know in the long run it will help, because they will be doing prime factorization, adding fractions, and previous math concepts every Tuesday, I will incorporate materials that will not lost, but used! I am excited to see if this will help with their computation skills on NESA, and in overall math. Reteaching is something that I am ALWAYS willing to do. Not everyone gets if the first time, (prime example of me and History) but to do it every week will help the students "get it" each time, and not be "scared" of math, I want them to be confident in what they are doing.

We will try it out, and if I feel it is working I might make a Target Number Spiral book for the year, and if you would like, I can send extra copies home for Holiday Break or for the summer.

If you have any questions shoot me an email!
Kelseykoch@bennps.org

Ask your student about it tonight and see what they think of it! We did today's target number in class, I already have all the Tuesdays for the rest of 2012 ready! :)

-Miss Koch