Hi everyone,

It was SO great meeting so many other WBT teachers at the Louisiana Conference, and seeing "in person" how to play some of these games I hadn't tried before. I'm not sure yet how much I'll use SuperSpeed Math with my 9th graders, but decided to experiment upon my own children (going into 4th and 6th grades) as guinea pigs over the summer - they can use the practice

Anyway, I do SuperSpeed Math with them after breakfast, before our day gets busy with other activities. Now, I know you all will tell me to use it however it works best, and to be "F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E" as Jeff Battle says, but.....

My question has to do with how you measure "personal bests" with SuperSpeed Math. I first started out with counting how many they got right, and then trying to increase that number in 60 seconds. But of course, as you increase the difficulty, it gets exponentially harder to do more problems faster...and I DO want them to experience success....

So, do you have them pick their goal (Say, E8 on Addition Level 1) at the beginning of EACH session, give them the two trials, and THEN reward for beating THAT goal? (And this, of course, begs the question of how challenging to set the goal - can't let them pick too EASY a target, after all...)

I'm guessing in this scenario, that they have to set NEW goals each day...is that how you are "supposed" to play it?

Thanks,
Jen

Hi Jen,

The goal is to have each student beat their last stopping point. For example, if I stop on E7 and then get to E8 I've beaten my last stopping point and have also increased my goal for next time. The next time I play my goal is to beat E8, which was my personal best. Also, don't forget that when students break their goal, the next time they play, they start one row down from their previous starting point. This helps them get through the entire sheet in a timely manner.

There is also a free downloadable ebook under the "Goodies" tab that has very good information on how to play, set goals, etc.

I hope this helps.

Tiffany
WBT Intern, 2011-2012

Thank you! That helps - and I DID download the SuperSpeed eBook, but for some reason couldn't figure out the goal-setting thing! How you described it is how I have been doing with with my own kids. The only thing I'm doing in addition is counting how many they get right. So, when they beat their goal and we start down a row, I try to have them set a new goal for about the same number of problems (to keep the goal-setting a bit challenging - they tend to want to pick easy goals!)

So looks like I'm on the right track...

Thanks again,
Jen