When I was a classroom teacher, my friend Julie Rogers and I developed the strategy RIJ. It is a thinking strategy students use when they are trying to understand a question.
R- Read
R- Read
I- Interpret
J- Justify
It seems pretty simple to teach, right? A student READS the question and rereads it if necessary. Then the student INTERPRETS the question, or puts it into their own words. Finally, the student JUSTIFYS their thinking, or provides evidence of their thinking. Here's the deal. This is a really hard skill for students to master. Most of the time the students will just reread the question when they are interpreting the question. They have a very difficult time putting the question into their own words.
I have been working with some 2nd grade teachers in implementing RIJ into their math problem solving. I introduced RIJ to the students and we went over several examples. However, the students just weren't understanding how to interpret the question and justify their thinking. I knew that if I wanted students to grasp this difficult concepts then I was going to have to take a different approach in teaching RIJ.
I started brainstorming different activities I could do with the students that connected to their interests. That's when I thought of Pokémon Go! It seems to be the only game the students are talking about these days. I told the students we would use Pokémon Go to review RIJ and they were really excited.
J- Justify
It seems pretty simple to teach, right? A student READS the question and rereads it if necessary. Then the student INTERPRETS the question, or puts it into their own words. Finally, the student JUSTIFYS their thinking, or provides evidence of their thinking. Here's the deal. This is a really hard skill for students to master. Most of the time the students will just reread the question when they are interpreting the question. They have a very difficult time putting the question into their own words.
I have been working with some 2nd grade teachers in implementing RIJ into their math problem solving. I introduced RIJ to the students and we went over several examples. However, the students just weren't understanding how to interpret the question and justify their thinking. I knew that if I wanted students to grasp this difficult concepts then I was going to have to take a different approach in teaching RIJ.
I started brainstorming different activities I could do with the students that connected to their interests. That's when I thought of Pokémon Go! It seems to be the only game the students are talking about these days. I told the students we would use Pokémon Go to review RIJ and they were really excited.
(The West Texas wind kept trying to blow down the sign but it held strong.)
I put a question card and Pokémon chips into each container. The students raced to a Poke ball, opened it, and used RIJ to interpret the question of each math problem solving card. Once they felt like they could interpret the question and justify their thinking, they raised their had and one of the teachers ran over to them. At that point, the teacher decided if the students correctly interpreted the questions and justified their thinking. If they did, then the students grabbed a chip from their ball, placed it in their bag, and then raced to the next ball.
I put a question card and Pokémon chips into each container. The students raced to a Poke ball, opened it, and used RIJ to interpret the question of each math problem solving card. Once they felt like they could interpret the question and justify their thinking, they raised their had and one of the teachers ran over to them. At that point, the teacher decided if the students correctly interpreted the questions and justified their thinking. If they did, then the students grabbed a chip from their ball, placed it in their bag, and then raced to the next ball.
The students had a BLAST! I was amazed how much they improved using RIJ. By the end of the activity they were interpreting the questions and justifying their thinking like pros!
Of course I had to dress up as Ash Ketchum. The students got a kick out of this.
Even my sweet little boys wanted in on the fun in creating the Pokemon characters :)
Poke Balls- Click Here
Ash Hat - Click Here
