This is just so beautiful

I am in an email discussion group that talks about good ways to help kids learn. Today one of the emails was from Ted Kaehler, describing his old friend Julia Nishijima, who taught at the Open School in LA in the 1980s and 90s.

This is just so beautiful that I need to share it:

Julia had a first grade class and taught math. She had a very pleasant voice, and quietly evoked some surprising things from her kids. I was there when she asked, “How many ways can you make eleven?” The kids were sitting in a circle on the floor in front of a blackboard.

Someone suggested 10+1. They went through all of the 9+2, etc. with many children contributing. She went around the circle.

Someone suggested 11+0.

There was a silence. Julia asked how many ways there were to make eleven. Only half the kids were willing to agree that there were just 11 ways.

Someone suggested 12 + -1. Julia drew a number line on the board. This caused a stir. After some clarification, there came an avalance of negative plus positive. Everyone agreed that there must be a lot of them!

Again a silence.

Someone suggested 9 + 1 + 1. Again, the kids assaulted Julia with new combinations. They got tired after a while.

Are there any other ways? Silence.

Someone suggested 10 and a half plus a half. There was a debate as to whether this was fair. It was, and many suggestions followed. The bell rang with kids still begging to tell their new way to make 11.