Ketut

Point out any examples of creative problem-solving you hear in their stories. Perhaps share a personal story of your own. In this lesson you’ll be encouraging positive problem-solving skills, including thinking about how these skills can be applied to math challenges.

“As you watch the video, imagine what type of challenges or problems Ketut might face in her day-to-day life.” Once they share a few ideas, suggest, “Now let’s learn how she feels when she faces these problems and how she solves them!” Read the story, I am also Mama. At the end of the story, check for reading comprehension by asking students to identify the challenges Ketut talks about and the emotions she feels when facing them. At the end of the story, she talks about worry. Ask students to share some of their own worries, and offer up some of yours as well. “It’s important we let ourselves feel all of these things. It is also important we don’t stop there! Why might that be?” Try to facilitate the conversation toward arriving at the conclusion, “Worrying doesn’t solve or change anything!” Then introduce the concept of problem-solving, or solution-orientation. Excitedly tell students, “Often times, any problem or challenge that arrives in our life has multiple solutions, or ways we can solve it! Can you think of examples where this has been true in your life?” Tell them that now, you’re going to carry out an exercise to practice problem solving. Step 1: Imagine a problem they’ve faced in the past, or a problem they are facing now. Put it down on paper - write it, draw it, anything that will help them remember what it is. Step 2: Close their eyes and envision themselves facing the problem. How do they feel? Frustrated, maybe? Now, facilitate a short and simple meditation exercise they could do on their own. Step 3: Open their eyes and brainstorm silently at least three potential solutions - again, draw them, write them, or any other creative illustration symbolic for them. Step 4: Pair share. Buddy-up with someone and share their potential solutions and help each other come up with additional ones. Step 5: Close their eyes again and envision themselves facing the problem. Now pick a solution - how does it play out? Do they like where it takes them? If not, try envisioning another until they find the one that feels like it best fits. “How might this process help us in our lives? What about in the whole world?! Think huge: how could people use this process to help them solve big problems? What are some of those big problems?”

This prompt provides an opportunity to practice repeated addition, strategies for adding and subtracting, and subtracting 1s, 10s and 100s. Share the prompt with the students, then ask them to walk through the problem-solving process. Even if they do not feel worried about the math challenge, pose it as a chance to practice the problem-solving process they just learned. At the end, debrief by asking students to “share their ‘solutions’ (in other words, the math strategies they utilized) and which worked best for them.” Where students use different strategies successfully, point this out as an example for their being multiple solutions to a problem. For additional math, look in the middle of page 3. Ketut shares a bit about rice as their top-selling item in their store. She asks students to calculate the profit they make with each bag sold by calculating the difference between how much the rice costs the store vs. the customer. This challenge offers a chance to practice skip counting by 10 and is a missing value problem. Debrief this exercise and the lesson by asking, “How did it feel practicing this process on your own? In what ways might it be helpful in the future?

You may hear stereotypes. Be prepared to challenge them, perhaps by suggesting, “If two people work equally hard at accomplishing something, does their gender matter?” In this lesson you’ll explore the concept of hard work and gender roles.

“Let’s pay attention to some of Ketut’s qualities that stand out while we’re reading!” Spend a little extra time on the middle of page 3, where Ketut talks about being the primary financial provider for her family in a culture where men typically are the “workers.” “What do you think about Ketut’s family’s approach? What are some qualities that her husband might hold in order to successfully be a ‘house-husband?’” Brainstorm some adjectives to describe both Ketut and her hard work, as well as her husband’s hard work in the house. “Can you think of some people in your life who fit these descriptions as well?” Point out when students describe people of different genders with the same adjective. Then watch the video, I am Ketut Madra. “What more do we learn about Ketut from this video? What do her actions say about her as a person?” Encourage students to consider the quote, “actions speak louder than words.” Then ask, “What does hard work look like?” Consider making a list as a class, or encouraging students to think creatively about hard work by illustrating what it looks like. Guide them toward acknowledging that hard work can look like a lot of different things.

You can use this exercise to practice telling time on both labeled and unlabeled clocks by also tying it into a conversation about chores. Ask your students, “What type of chores do you do at home? What is your routine? Is there a certain time by which you have to finish helping around the house?” Invite students to make creative clocks by drawing or by cutting and pasting parts together. For practice counting dollars, look at the top of page 3. Ketut offers an example of how much money she has made, and the average cost of various common items in her hometown. Please note the currency is converted to USD in order to work with smaller numbers. To practice subtracting and adding two-digit numbers, ask students to come up with various combinations of items they could purchase with the amount of money Ketut has. Take note of whether students use addition or subtraction, and invite students who use different methods to share their purchase - and how they calculated it - with the class. If possible, make it interactive by setting up a “store” with these items where students can “spend” their money.

Do you think hard work is important for a leader?” Wrap up by asking them to again think about the saying, “actions speak louder than words” and to reflect on what their actions say about them as a person.

Perhaps share a personal example, as well. “How might this relate to teamwork? Why is teamwork important? In what ways are we, as a class, also a team?” In this lesson you’ll discuss persistence and teamwork while also learning about cashew production in Bali and thinking critically about farm-to-plate production on a larger scale.

Ketut begins the story by describing the production process of the cashew. Consider facilitating a brainstorm session with your students where you ask, “What is everything that goes into the production and processing of a cashew? Who is involved?” See how detailed you can make the list, from fertilizer to the team at East Bali Cashews. To involve the whole class creatively, you could draw the process collectively, inviting each student to illustrate an element of the process. “Wow, look at everything that goes into one cashew! I wonder what other foods go through such a process?” To continue practicing ecosystem thinking around food production, choose a common, favorite food your students like to eat. As a class, research and illustrate what that food’s production process looks like from farm-to-table. Some reflective questions to explore include, “Who does it impact? What type of environment does it require? What resources does it use? How does something like teamwork come into the picture?” At the bottom of page 3, Ketut also offers some question prompts that will guide your class toward questioning how poor soil and lack of farming might impact Ketut’s community.

In the middle of page 2 you’ll find a prompt where Ketut describes how the company has grown each year and offers amounts (in tons) of cashews produced.* Begin by asking the students to order the amounts from least to greatest. Then, let students decide what type of visual representation they want to try out in illustrating the growth over the last 3 years. Because Ketut states that production has grown each year, students can assume that 900 tons was produced during the current year, the second greatest amount was last year’s production, etc. Each student can work independently on either creating a bar graph, picture graph, or line plot. Invite them to share their work with the class, asking, “Why did you choose this style? What was easy? What was challenging?” *Please note that while the 900 number is accurate, the other numbers are fictional for sake of this math practice. However, the company does hold a goal of doubling production each year moving forward and has grown each year of its existence.

If we want to be a successful team, we need to keep trying even when it isn’t easy, or things don’t work out as we planned. What makes a strong team member?” After you collectively come up with a few qualities of strong team members, ask students to reflect on “Times when you’ve been a good team member and when you haven’t been so great. How do our contributions to the team impact the experience we each have in the classroom and in our education?”