Do you Know What You are Asking

 

posted Oct 18, 2015, 7:24 PM by Amy Wix   [ updated Oct 18, 2015, 7:41 PM ]

One activity I like to do with my students in the beginning of the year is “Do you know what you are asking?”  I have a sheet of labels with  different questions.  I put one question on each student’s back and they  all have a recording sheet.  They go around the room reading and answering each other’s questions.  Each student records all of the responses they  collect.  When the data collecting is finished, I will project a list of all the questions and the students try and figure out which question was on their back.   I like this activity for a couple of reasons.  First of all, I have a neat set  of data that I can pull out any time of year when we have a few minutes left in class.  We can work on graphing, placing on number lines, talk  about outliers, etc. with data that is personal to the class.  Also, this gives me a chance to see my students in action.  I can tell who the shy ones are because they walk around the outside of the room and wait for students to approach them.  The more outgoing ones are always the first to finish collecting their data.  I can gather some personal info- who likes to text, how many siblings they have,  how many hours they spend in front of a screen.  Also, I find how many  of my 6th graders need help in Social Studies- it boggles my mind how  many students don’t know how many states are in the United States! All in all, the students are engaged and I have a nice set of data to use for the year.