I spent today at Baxter Academy. Actually, I’m still here. See, I have a group of students working on Moody’s Mega Math Challenge. They have 14 hours to complete their solution to the problem. The clock starts ticking at the moment they download the problem. That was at 9:00 this morning.
I am impressed that this group, who in class is lucky to remain focused for 35 minutes (in a 55 minute class), has pushed through today with so much focus – I am assuming. You see, I’m not actually in the room with them. I make this assumption based on observations when I go and take some pictures or get a food order. I had to remind them about food, not the other way around.
Prior to today, they had done a bunch of work in class, on practice problems, getting organized, reviewing the modeling & problem solving process. One thing I learned from all of that is that we are definitely teaching these skills here at Baxter Academy. These students never once thought they wouldn’t be able to tackle any problem thrown at them. They would come up with a plan for what to do before the M3Challenge folks sent out their tips or hints.
Here they are, 8 hours into their day.
That was four and a half hours ago. Now, with less than an hour and a half to go, it’s truly crunch time.
rawsonmath 