Extreme Word Problems Angie Frabasilio Teacher: Sunrise Ridge Intermediate School, St George Graduate Student: Utah State University angie.frabasilio@washk12.org

What are we talking about?

Dan Meyers’ 3-act plays Get students away from textbook questions. And into the practice of asking their own questions.

Extreme Word Problems Puts the students charge of bridging the gap between the real world, textbook examples, and algebraic equations.

Warm -up: Write an equation and solve. Allie gets paid $21 a day plus $2 per pair of jeans she inspects. How many pairs of pants does she have to inspect to earn $33?

Allie’s eyes followed the seam of the jeans Allie’s eyes followed the seam of the jeans. The stitches clicking between her thumb and forefinger. The balloon inside the pants pushed gently against her palm. It was difficult for her to concentrate as she peeled the jeans off the device and tossed them into the second stage bin. Twenty one dollars for the day and two dollars for every pair of inspected jeans. 8

How long had she been working in the factory. She couldn’t remember How long had she been working in the factory? She couldn’t remember. But that didn’t matter. Tonight was the night it was all coming together. She was going to meet her. The girl that would change her family’s life forever. 9

She eyed her brother Max, who gave her a smile. She nodded back She eyed her brother Max, who gave her a smile. She nodded back. No one must know of her plan. Not Max, 10

not Brandon, 11

not even her older brother Cody, the one she had, in times of trouble, always confided in. 12

As she inflated the next pair of jeans, she repeated the plan in her head so as not to forget the smallest detail. 13

She would meet the stranger just after work at the Starling Bistro She would meet the stranger just after work at the Starling Bistro. The click whine of the sewing machines faded into the background. 14

The thirty three dollars was needed to pay the hostess The thirty three dollars was needed to pay the hostess. No words would be exchanged. She would take her to meet the one they all thought was long dead. She urged herself to refocus on her work. How many more jeans before she could change out and collect her pay? 15

Anxiously, she turned in her last pair and approached the paymaster. 16

Math textbook version: Allie gets paid $21 a day plus $2 per pair of jeans she inspects. How many pairs of pants does she have to inspect to earn $33? Equation: 21 + 2x = 33

Extreme word problem project: Use google slides to create your own extreme word problem. Include: A title page with your name and class period An extreme story with at least 5 images and 200 words, and detailed description of the problem. A simplified version of the word problem, similar to what you might see in your math textbook. The two-step math equation that represents the situation, including multiplication/division and addition/subtraction. Share your slide presentation with me- (teacher’s email). Include your first name, last name and class period in the file name. Give me editing share rights in Google Slides.

Layout and Design Is your font large enough for your reader to see? Is your text visible? Do not put green text on a yellow box. If you put text across an image, make sure you can read each letter. Hi Use what you have learned in your Language Arts class to create proper paragraphs. Use appropriate punctuation. If you use any references, cite on a final page.

How to use google slides - basic How to make your google slides look cool - advanced

Low-tech Option Create a 8.5X11 poster of images that represent your word problem. Include the simple version word problem and the equation. On a separate piece of paper, write out your extreme word problem. Use more than 200 words.

Lesson plan - 3 days by color Student Work Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Lesson - Warm-up on slide 6 Read through slide 7-16 Read through assignment, slide 17-18 Pre-Worksheet (use guided for special needs) Students work on project - for homework also! Give students another class period to work on their project Have students share their work with a partner. You could have them fill out a student rubric to help their partner remember all the elements of the project before they turn it in. (helps eliminate unfinished projects being turned in) Student Rubric. One more day to work on. Teacher could show a student project as a warm-up and then ask class to write the equation. Warm-ups Bellwork Project

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Google Shortcut: https://goo.gl/vN7viW angie.frabasilio@washk12.org

Factory Images from: Vintage American Toggery http://vintageamericanatoggery.blogspot.com/2010/08/kentucky-distressing-denim-factory.html Dan Finkel Ted Talk intro: http://mathforlove.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Dan_Finkel_TEDx_Images.pdf Dan Meyers link, Real World versus Interesting Math: http://blog.mrmeyer.com/wp-content/uploads/140314_1.jpg

This session geared towards teaching students how to create their own word problems by engaging their imagination and asking them to create a lengthy story, using descriptive adjectives. That story is then boiled down into a textbook type word problem and then into an algebraic expression/equation. Students are encouraged to make their story extreme, scary, wacky. The overarching concept is to help students see how to change the real world into a simplified word problem and to help them realize when they are working on a simplified word problem, that it was perhaps a real world situation that has been boiled down.

Extreme word problems uses Google slides, students bring together language arts, visual arts, and student’s creative mind. Lesson plan designed for 7th graders but could be adopted to other age groups.

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