Director of Teaching & Learning Miles Azzeh's Academic Spotlight: Nicole Wallace, Penny Wagner, and Becky Kranhold
Our Lansing USD 469 teachers are incredible at engaging our students in fantastic learning opportunities to reach their full potential every day in our district. To highlight and bring recognition to this great work, Director of Teaching and Learning Miles Azzeh will be regularly shining a spotlight on a stand-out teacher through "academic spotlights."
May 25, 2022 Academic Spotlight by Mr. Miles Azzeh:
Shout out to LMS math and special education teachers Nicole Wallace, Penny Wagner, and Becky Kranhold for the engaging and experiential activity they did with their students this past week. These teachers blended math with critical thinking and collaboration by asking kids to see how many rubber bands it would take to safely drop a barbie doll from the second-story railing in the main commons of the school. The students used a "trial and error" approach as they performed the experiment:
"We began by testing how far she would drop with two rubber bands and added two more with each drop." - Becky Kranhold
The teachers then connected the experiment to the math learning by having students record their results as they went:
"We then placed this information on a scatter plot and determined a line of best fit to calculate the max number of bands that could be used to get her as close to the floor without touching."
Not only was this a fantastic way to connect the current learning to an experience (Experiential Learning is highly effective), but it also helped the students enjoy and actively participate as they went through the experiment with their peers:
"All of the students were actively involved and commented on how much fun they had dropping the Barbie."
Way to go, Nicole, Penny, and Becky!