Class #6--6th Grade Math

Friday, September 17, 1:00 P.M., 6th Grade Math Class. Class #6 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” quest. Mr. Doss, teacher and coach extraordinaire, is holding court in Room 301, up in the top corner of the Middle School. Although it is a Friday afternoon on a festive Black and Gold Spirit Day (yes, I am wearing a blinking gold necklace over my Calvert t-shirt), the students are attentive and engaged. Class starts with a review of the homework (evaluating expressions) and then moves to a lesson on order of operations. Working on the Smartboard, Mr. Doss goes through a few examples, offering high fives for correct answers. He stresses PEMDAS (in fact, he has the class chant it in unison!)—Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply/Divide, Add/Subtract. Next up is a team competition. The students rearrange their desks to be with their team members and then work together in teams to solve order of operations problems. Mr. Doss checks the answers and gives tally marks to the teams with correct answers. The “Dream Team” won the competition by amassing 13 correct answers, with the other two teams close behind with 12 and 11 correct. After the controlled frenzy of the competition, the students work individually on some workbook problems to finish the period. It was certainly a packed, productive class!