Purpose of Learning Explicit

I agree with Julie in that I make the learning targets known to students at the beginning of the lesson or within the lesson to help them focus on the purpose of the work being done in class. I have started having students write them in their agenda books. I also try and let them know why certain work is being done. If I give a warm-up problem that will help them on a test, quiz or in class I let students know the reasoning behind my choice. I want them to know that I pick their work with purpose, not just to keep them busy. If I have to redirect a student I also try and tell the student why I am redirecting them. "You can't talk to people at other tables during math work time not because I am mean, but because it disrupts your learning and the people around you." Whenever I can I try to relate the math content to the real world. Hopefully this shows students that there is a point to learning the material. They will either be able to use the information in their lives or it will help them be successful in another math class. If I use a type of math in my regular life I try to mention that to students. I was doing a warm-up problem with sixth graders yesterday and I had them converting between several different measurements. I explained how I convert between measurements all of the time in life and gave some examples. Ms. Meyer was explaining to students during study hall the correct way to label cents as an answer to a word problem. She showed them the correct way and the incorrect way and told students that many adults and businesses label cents incorrectly and that they could look for errors and find them in the world around them. She mentioned that one year DQ had a bunch of signs printed incorrectly. The students all thought it was so cool they could be smarter than adults. I think throwing some fun information like that into lessons also makes students realized the benefits of learning the material.