Extra Time

One of the yearly struggles I have is with students who are done early.  Whether they are working individually and finished the practice, or whether it is a group of students who are finished after working on a group problem, I have never come up with a constructive way for them to spend their time when they are done early.  I have experimented with different options over the years, but I have never been satisfied with any I have tried.

One of the options I have tried is to let the students who were finished early get up and move around to "help others".  This, of course, turned into giving others the answers, showing them how to do it, or fooling around, none of which is satisfactory to me.

I recently read that in some countries, the classroom culture is that of having students help others when they are done.  It is expected, and part of what goes on in a classroom.  This makes sense to me.

Then I thought about how I help students.  I ask questions.

With these ideas in mind, I thought that if I came up with a list of questions that I ask, and posted these, then the student helpers could ask these questions while they are helping others.

1. What is the math concept/topic for this problem?
2. What information is given?
3. What is the meaning of the word ___________?
4. What do you think you need to do?
5. Have we already done a problem like this one?
6. What have we learned that may be helpful here?
7. What drawing/diagram could you make to show this problem?
8. What other strategy (table, equation, etc.) could you use here?
9. How would you describe the problem in your own words?
10. What would be your best guess/estimate for the answer?

I will model these questions.  I will post them.  When I explain how I will expect students to help others when they are done, I will refer to the posted list of questions and encourage them to use only these. 

Maybe this will work.