word problem problems in Atlanta

In January a middle school math teacher in Gwinnett set up a couple of math problems like this and shared them with other teachers.

The question read, "Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?"

Another math problem read, "If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week?"

Another question asked how many baskets of cotton Frederick filled.

The parents were outraged, the teacher resigned.

This week in Clayton County a teacher wrote a problem "A plantation owner had 100 slaves. If three-fifths of them are counted for representation, how many slaves will be counted?" and the parents are outraged.

It is a stupid topic to try to build a math problem around - about as sensitive as doing something with the concentration camps in Germany or the Trail of Tears.

In defense, there is so much pressure to make the questions work across the curriculum, be relevant, be word problems, that I think it is easy to lose sight of what is appropriate.

I am going to county tea cups and tea cozies instead.

Word Problems

My students struggle with word problems because they do not know what is important. So I think I am going to use this in my classes Monday.
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Mrs. Brown had finally reached the end of her tolerance for her husband’s Lazy Boy. The dog had chewed up the bottom as a puppy; the cats had sharpened their claws on the back; it smelled like something had crawled in it and died, but she suspected it was her teen-aged son’s socks. And the color no longer worked in the room since she purchased a new sofa.
So, she spent her Saturday traveling to furniture stores. One offered a new one for $299 with a 25% discount and a delivery charge of $25. Since this was in her home town, the tax rate was 6%. Another in the next county was $250 with a tax rate of 7% and a delivery charge of $15. The third was $300, no delivery charge and a tax rate of 5%.
So many decisions!! So she stopped by the grocery store on her way home and bought 4 cans of dog food and went home to decide which Lazy Boy to buy.

a) If the dog food was 59 cents a can and the store is in her home town, how much did she spend?
b) How many stars are on the current American flag?
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I am going to have them read the problem and then use a highlighter to highlight what is important.

I want to ban breaks

Today was the 4th day since the break. They are still acting like we're about to have another.
* Group of kids were outside my door during a class - yelling down the hall. (Including some profanity) Two of the darlings were mine. I walked up to one (in his personal space) dropped my voice to almost a whisper and asked him in my most innocent voice if he had something he wanted to say.

* Curtis2 from yesterday is still pouting. I did figure out that he probably never heard me say show your work because, unless it directly relates to him, he doesn't hear anything. Since he wants attention, I am going to try to give him no more than his fair share (not the amount he demands). This has required ignoring him.

* I wrote up about 6 other darlings for stupid stuff I don't even want to think about.

I did come up with an idea. One of the classes I teach has only word problems. I finally suggested to 2 that they use a highlighter (mine) to mark the numbers. It was obvious I need to teach this method tomorrow.

I have a student who will be transferring tomorrow. I asked her what grade she thought she deserved (I remember a college professor doing this. Does it surprise you that it was abnormal psychology?). She looked at me (I mean, really looked at me) and said "I deserve a B. I haven't done what I should have done to earn an A." That is soooooo insightful. And correct.