Mrs. Hamanishi's 6th Grade Math

Our 6th graders have been learning what Productive Struggle is and how important it is in order to learn.

There are many things like emotions, being tired or hungry, etc. that can cause us to be in our downstairs brain and can make it challenging for us to learn. However, if we can recognize when this happens, we can tap into strategies to help us get back to our upstairs brain.

In working on this project, students were able to discuss major events in their own education history (positive and negative) that have shaped them as learners. They circled back to how a Productive Struggle is necessary in order to help us learn and grow in life.

As everyone has something they struggle with, the class was able to contribute their struggles together before creating their Productive Struggle Math Timeline. Afterwards, each student created their own dating back to when they can remember their productive struggle with math.