Math 8 – Today was a pretty good day. I started the lesson with warm-up using ratios/percents/rates. I brought in a receipt from a dim sum lunch that I had over the winter holidays. Most students did proper calculations although it certainly took a long time. I was left wondering how long it would have taken them if they were at the restaurant?
I was able to use this assessment to identify a few students that I will ask to come in for extra help. While we are finished the “percents unit” or topic, I can’t let them leave like this. All students can and should be competent in dividing a restaurant bill including tip. Even if they end up with a restaurant app on their phone, this problem is nearly identical to dozens of other situations that will require the same skills.
We then moved onto a group whiteboard problem with fractions (or ratios, depends how you look at it!). Nearly all groups first attacked the problem by finding a common denominator but then they realized that the number of married women wouldn’t match the number of married men. Hmmmm…
