A Place for Me Here

Abstract

thought it was tough to keep nine year olds on task when their minds were on the dodge ball game coming up after lunch. That was nothing compared to trying to stop eighth grade girls' note writing and eighth grade boys' arm wrestling. When was able to get the girls to fold their letters long enough to open a math book and the boys to unclench their sweaty fists long enough to pick up a pencil my lesson was met with skepticism. Mrs. Lewis, finding the area of a polygon is really exciting but hope you know I'm never going to use this in real life. Emily was trying to measure the area of a square but she was confusing it with perimeter. I don't get this and don't see why we have to learn all this useless junk anyway, she said as she slumped down in her chair. closed my book, switched off the overhead and g t down on the As traced around a square yard of tile said, Let's say you are building a rabbit hutch this big. Emily straightened up a little. Perimeter is the length of chicken wire you run around the outside. Area is the piece of plywood on the floor. Oh, get it, she said. There are nine square feet in a square yard. OK, so got through to one person. But what about the other 129? They seemed to come and go so fast barely had time to sign admit slips, record absences, collect homework, and introduce the lesson before it was time to assign new homework and stand back as they thundered out again. noticed the teacher across the hall was