October 4^th, 2008

Today, I decided I would try to pose an open ended question as a warm up activity to start the class. I gave students a cue card and asked them to write one fraction in the top, middle of their card. I then asked them to look at that fraction and write any three other numbers/fractions that they knew was greater than their first fraction and to explain how they knew the other three fractions were greater. I let them work for about ten minutes then collected the cards. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. All ten students were able to write a fraction and then correctly write three others that were greater than the first chosen fraction. What differed was their explanations of how they knew the other three were greater All students were able to tell me, how they knew the other three fractions were greater, some better than others. I was able to see and understand (for the most part) their thinking, but also was able to assess their reasoning. It gave me information about how much they knew about fractions and fractional pieces, which will benefit me as I plan my unit on fractions. I was really pleased with this activity and I can begin to understand the power and benefits of asking open ended questions.