One thing about teaching in the upper grades if you do, or say, something off-beat they tend to remember it.  Even if it is completely unintentionally off-beat, or strange, or quirky, or weird, they’ll remember it.

So why not use this knowledge to our advantage?  Once I made the discovery, I began to take advantage of it every time I got the chance.

Some have asked me how I came up with the name ‘Early Bird’ for my task card series?”  Well, because I needed something a bit on the ‘quirky’ side to get my 5th graders interested.

Still others have asked why I choose to call my “I Have, Who Has…” cards “I Have, Whoooo Has…”  Because, yes, you guessed it…it’s just off-beat enough to get my kids hooked on the idea of playing.  And, I do, by the way, let them ‘whoooot’ the ‘whooo’ (within reason) when we play.

I can say that most everything I create, or implement in my room has just a bit of ‘quirk’ to it. Today as I was organizing some folders a tattered fold-up fell out…”The Cross-Eyed Method”.

I dare you to look in any math book and try to find the definition of the “Cross-Eyed Method”.  It’s not there.  That’s because I gave it that name.  And, boy did it stick!  Of all the skills we learned when working with fractions, “The Cross-Eyed Method” was the one that stuck.

Each student put a matchbook fold-up in their math journals.

The fold-up explained how to apply the “Cross-Eyed Method” before multiplying fractions.  The skill itself is nothing new.  It is known by the rest of the world as cancelling before multiplying fractions.  Of course, I did explain to them that it’s real name isn’t “The Cross-Eyed Method.  It was just a silly name we were using to help us remember how to apply the skill.

I never saw a group of kids clamor to try the process out in the “Cross-Eyed Fraction Flapper”!  And, why?  All because of silly gimmick!

So, my advice if you are working with older or reluctant students…get your quirk on 🙂