Day 6 - Rank them
When I was just starting as a Maths teacher I observed a class on simultaneous equations. It was with a C/D borderline class and they were obviously struggling with it. The teacher gave them one type of question and they solved it together and then students practiced but as soon as they came to a question with a slight difference such as negatives they were stuck and the class had to stop again and go through this type of question. The class proceeded like this with no real understanding going on. I have since faced simultaneous equations with a weaker group and they understood the basic concept. To progress them I gave them a group of scattered questions on the board and asked them to rank them from hardest to easiest and to describe the reason why they had ranked them. This caused discussion amongst students about the difference between the work they could do and these slight variations. This meant all the problems had been solved by them to turn the questions into ones they could solve and they could practice. I have used this method time and again and it does get students to focus on one particular aspect of a questions rather than seeing the whole thing as one big scary worksheet. It also removes the fear as I didn't expect them to solve these questions although if they were feeling really brave they could after they had ranked them.
Until tomorrow,
Mr Mathlete