Light bulb moments are when students truly understand something.
Even now, in my 18th year of teaching, I strive for the moment that one student 'gets it." The moment a realization hits them, a concept is fully understood, or a difficult problem clicks. It is so rewarding to watch.
Real-Life
It's better than what you see in the movies. When kids figure something out, they get what I like to call ‘light bulb face.’ You can literally see their brains connect the dots, and they go slack jawed and wild eyed, usually letting out a dramatic gasp or “Ooh! Ooh!” It's almost magical.Sometimes, it’s even more dramatic...
Small Group Learning
This week we were reviewing repeated addition in a small group (for example 2 + 2, plus 2 more, plus 2 more). The rest of my class was working on multi-digit multiplication with problems like 571 x 27 and 369 x 49. The group of students who were working with me still use their fingers to add, so this was a perfect time to turn multiplication problems into repeated addition. I would write on my dry-erase board a problem, and they would copy onto their boards, and then solve... (For example, instead of writing 3 x 3, I wrote 3 + 3 + 3 = ?)
Dramatic Light Bulb Moment
As they were working in partners to solve a problem I gave them, one boy stood up so fast his chair crashed to the ground, he pointed his hand at me, and very loudly said "Oh my g-d!" Everyone, including me, stared at him. Then he pointed to his dry-erase board, and in an excited loud-whisper said, "This is just like multiplication!" YES!!! Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!
The light-bulb moments aren't always dramatic, but they are always rewarding.
Stay tuned, the best is yet to come!
Until next time,
~Sandra @The Happy Learning Den
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