I almost spit up my coffee when I got to the punchline on this one.
From Tony Pratt:
I’m a first year teacher (4th Grade) in the New Orleans Recovery School District. The one common thread that I’ve noticed between the lessons that have stuck was a relation to something the kids were familiar with or interested in. I frequently relate math lessons to the beloved Saints and create bizarre scenarios to maintain student interest. The best and most interesting story, however, came from a colleague. He was teaching the concept of probability and went into a long monologue about how small of a probability you have to win the lottery. He relayed the particularly sticky stat that it is more likely that you will be struck by lightning than win the lottery. The lesson was memorable enough that several students went home and told family members.ÂOne student, Jarred, relayed his story, “I saw my uncle buying lottery tickets last night. I told him that he was more likely to be struck by lightning than he was to win the lottery and that buying lottery tickets was a bad idea because of probability.” “What did he say?”“He told me to get the F out of his face.”Â
I loved this story. I plan on using in on of my newsletters. I run about 8 Lottery Pools, and am always looking for story’s to put in them. This one is really a keeper! Thanks.
Okay, I wasn’t expecting that but I thought the story was really funny. At least the lesson stuck long enough for the kids to remember and re-tell their families. And as for that Jared kid, I’m guessing the lesson on probability stuck a little more than the teacher intended to. All in all, this makes for a really great story.