I came in from my morning walk the other day to find my wife, coffee in hand, reading a tweet I had posted earlier that morning. The tweet included a photo of an example-based worksheet that requires students to graph inequalities on the number line, and as I walked past, she said, scanning the examples and thinking her way through the practice problems, “This is like doing Sodoku!”
This was not the first time I had heard this; my 6th, 7th, and 8th graders from a while back used to say the exact same thing.
And it's not surprising.
In addition to their countless other benefits, pre-worked examples present students with a delightful challenge right up front: “Are you clever enough to figure out what's going on here?” Add the chance to test their understanding with practice problems and throw in a self-checking key, and you've got everything you need for an enjoyable and even addictive activity that leaves students feeling smarter than they did before.
Sorta like a self-instructional Sodoku.
#YouTeachYou #SelfCheckingMath #ReproducibleMathWorksheets