“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.” -Vince Lombardi

“Give me a lever long enough and a prop strong enough. I can single-handedly move the world.” -Archimedes

I was working with several students helping them develop greater number sense and algebraic thinking. The students were heterogeneously mixed at this Teacher Time Station (part of the Tabor Rotation structure for simplifying small-group instruction in mathematics) to encourage learning from each other. Having been a believer in constructivism for many years, I began the instructional time by building on their interests.

I knew that two of the students had a birthday in April. One of the birthdays was in four days. I asked them to determine how many hours till that person’s birthday. I told them they had the next 10 minutes to think about it. They could use any method that made sense to them as long as they could explain to others what they had done.

Several students took sheets of paper and began to write out multiplication equations. One student went to the math tool shelf and retrieved a calculator. Another student went to the calendar.

The last student, Matt, just sat there looking down, then up, and then straight at me. Only 1 minute had passed since I had assigned the problem to the group. No one else was even close to the answer.

“It’s 96 hours till her birthday.”

Several of the other students, especially the ones who were writing out the long equations, looked up in disbelief. They couldn’t believe he had the answer before anyone else. Maybe I should explain…the student who gave me the answer first was one who, in previous years, was always placed in the “slow” group. He was usually given extra worksheets to “help” him learn concepts. He was never given higher-order tasks, because he didn’t know his multiplication table yet. Instead of problem solving with the highly able group, he had to practice his facts with flashcards.

In fact, his teacher the previous year encouraged me to give him color pages since he “wasn’t really that bright.” That was a poke on my teacher chest. I set out that year to prove her wrong. I KNEW every student in my class was brilliant. It was up to me to figure out how to let them show it!

“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” -Carlos Castaneda

I encouraged the group to continue thinking throughout the rest of the given time. Then we came back together to explain our thinking. The emphasis during this instructional time was not on the “one right answer” but on the thinking process they used.

Everyone wanted to hear from Matt first. One student asked him how he figured out the answer so quickly if he didn’t even know his multiplication tables (notice how the remediation label is so readily known by all the students in the class).

He replied, “I’m really good at addition, so I just used that. I know there’s 24 hours in one day. That means there’s 48 hours in two days. Since it’s 4 days till LaTisha’s birthday, then I just added 48 and 48. I know that 4 tens and 4 tens is 80 and 8 + 8 = 16 and 80 + 16 = 96. That means it’s 96 hours till her birthday.”

“You never know when you’re making a memory.” -Rickie Lee Jones

That’s the beauty of memories. I hope this memory stays with Matt* the rest of his life!

(*The names in this post have been changed to protect the innocent. If you’re reading this, Matt, I hope you’re smiling!)