Recovering from Mistakes!
Awhile back, on my Facebook page , I shared an interesting blog post called, 3 Strategies to Promote Independent Thinking. The second point, Recovery from Mistakes, reminded me of math warmups in my classroom, and how that small piece of our math period changed math attitudes for the better. By sixth grade, it was a mixed bag, as far as who knew their math facts and who understood the standard multiplication algorithm. I wrote about this previously in my Napier's Bones post, but I didn't share the cool thing that happened when mistakes became part of the learning process. Morning warmups usually included a three-digit by three-digit multiplication problem to get their math brains working. When I would ask for answers, the usual suspects raised their hands while the others sat silently, hoping I wouldn't notice they were still breathing. I dutifully wrote down "the answer" and asked for other solutions. "The answer" owner was slightly indi...