Teacher brief

Order of Operations — Exponents

Grade 6 · Lesson 2 · Dimensions 6A, pages 3–4

What this lesson is

An exponent counts how many times the base is used as a FACTOR — it is repeated multiplication, not multiplication by the exponent.

Why it is built this way

The warm-up reaches back to Expressions and Equations. That is not a starter to settle the class — it is retrieval, and retrieval of the immediately preceding lesson is what makes a sequence feel like a sequence rather than a list of days.

The worked example is built one step at a time and nothing is erased. A finished example on the board is not a visual instruction plan — Fred Jones warns specifically against the habit we all grew up watching, of making summary graphics at the end. Each step gets its own picture, drawn as that step is taught, so the child sees the ORDER the steps happened in. That order is the method.

The same numbered steps are printed on the student sheet, which is the part that matters most and the part most often left out. Jones: the VIP is first and foremost for the student — a permanent record they can refer to at will. When it is in front of them, helping a stuck child costs about five seconds and one pointed finger instead of a re-explanation, which is what keeps you free to work the room.

After the I DO come two guided examples of the same type, and only then the book. Dimensions gives few problems per lesson because it expects the method to have been built first; three authored examples mean a child has met this type four times before they are alone with it. The book's own problems are clipped onto the slide rather than retyped, so the numbers on the board are the numbers in the child's book.

The question they should be asking themselves

“How many FACTORS, not how many to multiply by?”
Watch for
4² = 8 is the error, and it is nearly universal. Make them write the factors out longhand for the whole of this lesson — the shortcut can come when the meaning is secure.

Closure

Evaluate 2⁵.