Thursday, July 2, 2009

Ingenuity at its best

Thanks to my mom, I have an entire class set of individual white boards and dry erase markers to use in my math class. Everything I bring into the classroom becomes a novelty and I am often met with excited gasps and wide eyes. The introduction of the white boards was no exception. I felt like a magician as they oohed and aahed at my ability to erase the marker from the paper. During the first week of using them a small problem quickly arose – how do they erase them without tissue or erasers? Some learners tried to use old newspaper while others were just rubbing it with their hands – neither one successful. One day while practicing long multiplication on the boards, one of my learners found an amazing solution to our problem. I was walking around helping them when I saw Tangeni, one of my boys in grade 6, get this bright eyed look on his face, a light bulb had gone off. He then proceeded to lift his white board above his head and rub it back and forth against his hair. I then had 25 learners picking up their boards and rubbing them furiously on their heads. Problem solved – who needs an eraser when you have a fro?

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