Puzzles

Earlier this week, I placed you in academic teams and departments with the task of putting a jigsaw puzzle together.  There are many more types of puzzles – tour puzzles, construction puzzles, stick puzzles, tiling puzzles, disentanglement puzzles, folding puzzles, lock puzzles, combination puzzles, and mechanical puzzles.  The world record for solving a Rubik’s Cube is 9.03 seconds…one-handed.  I just peel the stickers off. A woman from the UK completed a 250 piece jigsaw puzzle in 14 minutes and 58 seconds….by herself. You may recall that your time limit collectively was 9 minutes, thus, a pretty impressive solo feat.  I enjoy crossword puzzles. The first collection of crossword puzzles was published in 1924 coinciding with my high school graduation.   The largest word search puzzle ever consisted of just over 5,500 words.  Side note = the effect size on learning for this activity is about the same as lounging in a hammock.  Thus, scrap that activity from your plans.

The purpose of our activity was to use team work to solve the puzzle before you.  That is the way this school year will go – it will be solving one puzzle after another. That was evident today, starting with the downpour at drop-off time and getting kids in the right classes. Globally, you will have to solve for when to meet with parents, the adjustment of a new schedule, and changes in personnel. Each student will be a puzzle as well. What to leave in, what to leave out. What makes this kid tick?  How do I make this material relevant for this kid?  How do I reach those Tier II kids while still challenging the kids who are knocking it out of the park?  How do I get him to learn what I want him to learn?  How do I get her to understand what I want her to understand?  These are all real questions for you to answer.  These are real puzzles for you to solve.  If you cannot solve it yourself, seek the guidance of a team member or another colleague.  Why not every kid is a corner piece, our teaching has to be the cornerstone of what we do in putting the puzzle together.

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The Browns host the St. Louis Rams this Saturday on the shores of Lake Erie.  Ironically, at one time, the major league baseball team in St. Louis was named the Browns.