Giving Perspective

I was talking to my 7th graders today while they were doing their warm up typing. I told them how important it is for them to drink plenty of water, especially now that it's getting warmer and they are losing more water due to perspiration. I told them they should drink eight eight ounce glasses of water a day. To give them perspective I tried to relate this to a gallon because I'm pretty sure they've all seen a one gallon milk container.

I began by asking what 8 X 8 equals. Silence.

"OK," I said, "Anybody, what's eight times eight?"

The first two guesses: "Twenty?" "One hundred?" Oh, boy.

Finally, a bright eyed and proud girl gushed, "Sixty-four!" My, I couldn't help but give her a warm smile and say, "Right!"

I was encouraged so I pressed on. "What part of a gallon is 64 ounces?" I should have known better.

"OK. How many ounces are in a gallon?" Silence again. Then the guesses poured in.

"Twenty."

"No."

"One hundred."

"Close. OK, it's 128. Now, what part of 128 is 64?" I might as well have been speaking Urdu.

So to ease the tension I tried again. "What's half of 128?" Blank stares...or was it just their awe of me? Maybe they think I'm a genius.

Well, my attempt at giving them perspective failed. As a teacher, I've been taught to reflect on my teaching. Where are the gaps? How is my delivery or method not working? If my students don't understand something, what am I doing wrong?

Well, I guess it's true. I must have failed as a teacher. The fact that my 7th graders don't know how many ounces are in a gallon has nothing to do with it. Just because they don't know what half of 128 is beside the point. If I try to point out the student deficiencies to a college education professor, then HRH will inform me that I am sidestepping the real issue: the deficiency of my teaching.

So, how should it have been taught? Maybe I should have brought in eight eight ounce glasses of water and told them to drink this much every day.