1. Teacher goes over answers from last night's homework
2. Teacher introduces new topic for the day while students take notes
3. Class does a few examples together
4. Students start the new problem set assigned
This format works if your goal is to have students learn (read: memorize) someone else's mathematics. If you want students to create, author, and do their own mathematics, something has to change. Brian Lawler introduced me to a lesson format that helps shift this focus:
1. LAUNCH: set up the task/question for the day
2. EXPLORE: students work collaboratively to explore
3. SUMMARIZE: students display work, ask each other questions, and make connections
More details about this format are available online. It's tempting to be a skeptic when it comes to this new format. Most of us have gone through a very different math experience and the pressure of standardized testing pushes us to cover as much "content" as possible.
Our class is still breaking apart the "infinite star" problem and today's task was to try to figure out the total area at each iteration. The class came up with this: