| I have to start with a shout-out to one of my favorite math teachers, Alex Felton, for this idea. I walked into her math class one day last year to find her smirking and telling me to check out her clock. She had changed it into a square root clock, and it really helped the students memorize the most common perfect squares. A couple weeks ago my eighth graders and I reached square roots in our curriculum and I told them they needed to memorize the most common perfect squares. They very calmly said, "You can't make us and we don't want to." (Gotta love middle school attitudes!) To which I very calmly responded, "You're right, I can't make you, but I highly suggest that you do because it'll make your math life much easier." The bell rang and off they went to their next class. Later that morning I decided it was time for a little creative education. After all, what's better than an idea that is virtually free, legitimately educational, and totally messes with their heads? Thus, the square root clock was reborn in my classroom. The next morning the students walked in and started with the normal routine of "We had homework last night?" (Umm, yes, it's written on the board, where it always is, under two-inch letters that say HOMEWORK.) The second part of our morning routine is the whining of |
The clock has now become a major point of reference in our room. When we can't remember a perfect root, we look at it and think about what number is underneath; when estimating roots, we look at the perfect root larger and smaller and have our answer. I think my vice-principal may think I'm crazy because all through my observation I kept telling the students to, "Look at the clock for help and figure it out." I really don't care though, because now most of my students (including the seventh graders) have them memorized and can rattle them off faster than their times tables! Now that is how you spell success!