Mrs. Hardenbrook’s class at Byron-Bergen Elementary School has been working on “chicken wing math.” At the end of each week, they choose a math problem based on their comfort level with that week’s lessons. They can choose “mild,” “medium,” or “spicy” – a much more challenging question.
Mrs. Hardenbrook was secretly keeping track of how many kids attempted to do a “spicy” problem. When over two dozen “spicy” problems had been completed, the class was rewarded with lunch in the classroom and an extra side of Ralph and Rosie’s chicken wings.
The concept of the mild/medium/spicy choice comes from Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedah. Mrs. Hardenbrook added a chicken wing twist to make it more enticing and, being a Bills fan, she chose a Buffalo staple treat. The goal is to encourage students to continuously push themselves to higher levels of thinking.
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