Just Have to Share

This next excerpt is from Jelena, celebrating what happened in her room with MTI conversations.  This is good stuff.  Please share these experiences with me by either inviting me to your class or sending me these celebrations.  It's not tooting your own horn.  Consider it adding to your professional portfolio. 

I should have invited you in today! Sometimes I wish I had a tape recorder to record the conversations in my room...

I had the kids do a beginning fractions lesson using real food objects. At one point, I handed each group of four students a Hershey's chocolate bar, and I asked, "How can you divide this candy bar equally among you? What fraction of the bar would each student get?"

I expected the students to grapple with finding a fractional answer, but I had no idea the depth of conversation that would result from it! Groups figured out that each student could have 3/12 or 1/4 of a Hershey bar...and then they disputed which was the right answer...and then they argued whether both could be a right answer...and then they questioned whether fractions could have 2 names (3/12 and 1/4? Could they mean the same thing?) and then they went deeper as to probe whether there could be more names to represent one fractional quality? WOW!!! My students identified fractions, compared fractions, and discovered equivalent fractions all from 1 Hershey's bar! MTI would be proud!!

Had to share:)