Real World Math

SO many schools are making their teachers feel the need to “teach to the test” and just teach the skills necessary to pass the test. There is so much pressure on teachers since many states gauge a teacher’s success by the classroom test scores (ridiculous by the way). Because of this pressure, many teachers don’t feel like there is enough time to add much fun to their classroom. I believe that, no matter what the skill and no matter what the time frame, it is SO important to tie everything (or as much as possible) to the “real world.”

You’ve seen them…. the memes floating around the internet that say “I’m so glad I learned about parallel lines in school instead of how to balance a checkbook” or others along those lines. Whoever created them did so in jest, but it’s absolutely true.

One of the FIRST things I created as an interventionist was a checkbook activity. My students needed help with decimals and another practice worksheet just wasn’t going to cut it. They needed something different. They needed something real.

This Checkbook Activity provides students with real world applications while having them practice essential skills. We would start with a small decimal operations review, and then get right to it!  Students not only had practice adding and subtracting with decimals, but also would learn how to keep a transaction register and write checks.

One year I had a student ask me why I was teaching her how to write a check. I told her, that chances were, nobody else was going to do that. When I was in high school there was a life skills math class. Students learned how to manage money and were able to reinforce the math skills that they WOULD be using in “the real world.” Today, classes like that are few and far between.   I always stress the importance of (1) handwriting, (2) filling out the check completely and (3) spelling…  (That always makes me giggle)

Comment on this post and let me know: 1) Do you think teachers often stray away from “creative” and “fun” lessons due to restrictions of testing? 2) What is your favorite real world activity that you use in your classroom?