Looking Back 2016-2017 (Part 2) Class Closure, Verifying Solutions, 3 Things

My original intention with yesterday’s post was to discuss these items, but someone HW / Independent Practice hijacked the post (I have more thoughts to revisit that post soon!).

Class / Lesson Close

As mentioned yesterday, one of my professional growth goals was to improve on lesson and class closure.  I knew I had to become very intentional with it, but how could I hold myself accountable?

As school began, I created daily alarms on my FitBit for 6 minutes prior to the end of each class.  I tried some other times, but the 6 minutes worked best for me – I knew I had 1 minute to wrap up / tie together what we were doing – then allow students to actively reflect on the day / lesson.  I kept the alarms on the entire year – with a brief break when my flex died and I was waiting for my alta to arrive.  I finally deleted the alarms a couple of weeks after the end of the spring semester.

This one simple tool – made such a difference for me.  Yes, there were days – the close did not wrap up as smoothly as I had envisioned, but this is one thing I will definitely continue.  As for the closure tasks I used – anything from an exit slip, a post-it note quiz with stop-light self assessment, reflection on the lesson with choose a sentence to complete: Something I learned…, Something I was reminded of…, Something I realized…; What 2 problems were most challenging?  What questions do you still have?, 2-minute reflection grid, etc.  I will post more ideas on these closure tasks later.

List 3 Things You Notice About the Graph

A habit that began with this task True / False Statements about Graphs, was a win for students.  I continued throughout the semester to have them cover up ANY questions / statements about the given graph and always list at least 3 things they noticed / knew about the graph in a bullet list.  How we shared their noticings varied, but it became automatic for them to jot 3 things in the margins beside any graph prior to jumping in to the question.  Even on the EOC exam, I noticed multiple students jotting things they noticed in the margins, without being instructed to do so.

Verify Your Answer

Years ago, when I used Hands-On Equations System, I found how effective it was for students to substitute their solution back into the equation to check their answer.  Last year, I was reminded of this and I wondered, why / when did I stop doing this?  And I began requiring it again.  Its imperative.  And I continued using it again this past season.

Whether it was a 1-variable equation equation, 2 variable linear equation (x,y) or an inequality statement, students were asked to verify their solution algebraically by substitution.  If nothing else it is a test-tasking strategy they can use on standardized MC tests.  But more importantly, they began to see connections between the equations and comparing the functions related to both sides of the equation.  They began seeing connections with the graphs of those related functions – parallel / same lines with no solutions and identities or the point of intersection.  AND  this extends to all function / equati0n types.

But most importantly, they began supporting their answer with reasoning / evidence of their arrival at a possible solution.  They were verifying their answers – but also that of their peers.

What are some of your non-negotiable structures you have implemented with success in your classroom?

Looking Back 2016-2017 (part 1) Independent Practice

Looking back over the 2016-2017 season.  (T. Kanold referred to the school year as a season…in a recent training).

As I think on the past year, I will admit it was not my best yet. But I did have several areas of growth and also some targets for growth.  I intended this to be a reflection post over the entire year, but it seems it has evolved into a discussion of homework / independent practice…

My professional goal was to be more intentional in lesson / class closure – as not to have the bell ringing, students hurrying out the door as I am yelling do _ #’s on _ page for HW.  As well as trying to be more intentional with assigning independent practice with the idea of lagging.

In two of my classes we utilized Springboard Curriculum.  There was a lot I enjoyed, some things I learned and a few things I will adjust this next season.

For most of the year, I did a fair job of lagging homework in these two sections.  On Thursday / Friday, assignments for the following week were made, based on the lessons we had completed in the current week.  I used the activity practice sets at the end of a lesson provided in the workbook.  This was not the actually mixed practice I was hoping, but springboard does a good job of varied level of questions within their practice sets.  Not too lengthy, some skills, some reasoning, some application/ modeling.  The sets due on Tues – Friday of the following week.

This would allow students to be proactive and work over the weekend, should they have a busy schedule coming up the next week.  When an assignment was due, I would ask them to turn and talk with those in their group, comparing answers.  I walked around the room and made note of those with complete work, also paying attention to the conversations – and allowing me to decide which problems needed some extra attention as a whole class.  I found this structure from @cheesemonkeysf to be quite purposeful.

E shares step 4 as stamping and collecting every two weeks – for what is essentially a 100% effort grade.  Years ago, I used a stamping system.  A dated library stamp, on test days I would collect a crumpled set of assignments, flip through, counting the number of stamps and report a score for homework.

A few years later, I created a “stamp-sheet” on the back of our unit organizer. The front included how big ideas connected back to the unit concept, with a unit schedule, critical vocabulary and our assessment standards.  The back of the page gave students self-assessment skills for focus and an assignment log I included.

IF complete and on time, students received a stamp..IF complete and late, a circled stamp.  As I learned about formative assessment, I attempted to modify the table as a tool for students to track their learning.  Here is an early version of that:

I plan to revisit this idea and implement something similar this school year.  I have tried multiple other things in recent years with little success – somewhere along the way, I let students get away with not practicing.  Somehow I need to address HW/practice in the self-assess column with a structure that is efficient and purposeful.

Its imperative for students to get some independent practice.  My intention is to make it purposeful, engaging and non-negotiable.

Dr. Kanold referenced Steve Leinwand’s idea of independent practice as brief,  8-10 problems with 3-5 of  most current, a couple from a previous lesson and finish the set with a spiraling from less current topics / skills.  I attempted this for about 9 weeks in my other classes and then I got “busy” and gave it up-falling back to my “old ways”.  Again, I shall revisit, reflect, refine and re-instate.

I give myself a A-/B+ on the lagging homework, B on giving assignments ahead of time, but need to be more intentional in not allowing students to opt out – I failed that aspect.

I also had 3 other classes not using the Springboard Curriculum that I did a poor job with independent practice outside of class.  I lowered my expectations and failed them miserably here.

So overall a C-.  Some aspects in place but much room for growth.

Self-Care, #5Habits & #HEART! #blogitbingo #MTBoS

My past few weeks have been spent reading and chatting 5 Habits with a close friend.

Just last week, after a two day training with Dr. Kanold and a tweet from Casey, I decided to download HEART! for some reading with travel time on the road.

And this morning, I tried to get a walk in before the rains from storm Cindy set in while listening to Cult of Pedagogy.

Two things from the podcast…

If you want to know what your future life will be like, take a look at your life today. 

 I took this as, if my life right now doesn’t look how I want to see myself in the future, well, there are some choices I need to make.

This went right along with a quote Nicki Koziarz shared in 5 Habits: 

What you want most over what you want now.

And the beginning of our training with Dr. Kanold was about naming our vision and using it as the guide in our decisions.

Many will say, yes, Pam, this is common sense. Maybe. But apparently it’s a message I needed to hear at least 3 times before I actually heard it.  

The other thing that was shared in the podcast:

I dont like to think of myself as busy, but fruitful, productive, accomplished.

I would like to see myself as more efficient, intentional with my time.  

Anyway, just a quick reflection for myself of how 3 different resources are overlapping for me today.

Looking forward to this free webinar from Angela Watson, Teachers You are a Priority too! on June 28.

HEART! has been both convicting and motivating.  I have completed 80% of the book, finished Risk last night and beginning Thought today.  I am very excited to see how I will use what I’ve learned to have an impact on student learning in my school.  

I am sending myself a text for mid-September for accountabity.  Hopefully I will have a positive blog post for follow up.

What reading / resources / training have overlapped for you recently?

Puzzled #myfavorite New Shop #blogitbingo #MTBoS

A recent visit to The Island in Pigeon Forge, TN led me to a fun shop called Puzzled.  Not lying, this one kid exclaimed, Ohhhhhhh, WOW!!! as he walked in. Priceless reaction. 

And no wonder. A 40,000+ piece puzzle on the wall.  

The puzzle selection was wow.  But the games… oh wow.

Amazingly fun to browse, but when they welcome you to play with open games and puzzles.  Well, you gotta play. Right?

I finally had to ask…I was too lazy to read the directions. Celeste was super helpful! Man this gamw was fun and I can see where it would get super challenging!

They had a monster size version, but it was way out of my budget…  

I mentioned I was a teacher and she shared several suggestions of games.  A few of them…I already have/use in my classroom, like the scambled squares.  She shared how to play the IQxoxo seen here, which reminded me of cat stax.

They had lots of Tenzi dice sets. @mathequalslove! We played a round of Slapzi (from the makers of Tenzi) with Phil (I’m sorry- I hope I remembered your name correctly!).  It was great and I can see where it would be a blast with the right combo of people.

Anyway, I had to ise a little math, would I rather buy 3 get 1 free OR % off teacher discount?  “When will I ever use this?” at its very best!

Anyway, I was in Pepper Palace across the way (purchased some yummo Chocolate Habanero hot sauce) and the gentlman mentioned I had been over to Pete’s puzzle shop (my bright yellow shopping tote).  He shared they’d lost a lot in the fire last year in Gatlinburg.   Please visit their site or look them up on Facebook Puzzeled Etc. and support them!  If you cant find what youre looking for, give them a call 865-366-1188.

And they’ve got a great puzzle available to support Heal and Rebuild Project to help the victims of the November 28, 2016 wildfire that devastated over 2400 homes in the Gatlinburg and Sevier County region of Tennessee. 

If you are in East Tennessee, stop in their shop. They were so friendly, genuinely helpful and just plain ol’ fun!

Using In-Class Formative Assessment Effectively #hlta7

Last week, I walked away from Leading and Sustaining a Coherent Vision for Teaching and Learning Mathematics with Dr. Timothy Kanold, thinking, mind overflowing, wondering…how I can I share what I’ve learned with my colleagues to impact student learning?

I had several a-ha’s over the 2 days.  Some were things I *knew* but refined how I saw the big idea.  Every thing we discussed during our sessions, we attempted to tie back to our vision.  The difficulty I had, I wondered if my vision is shared with my colleagues.  If so, I look forward to building on our vision.  If not, what are the ideas we share, that we can agree upon when making future decisions.

The session referencing HLTA7 on Effective Use of In-Class Formative Assessments helped meld several ideas I muddled through in the past 6 years.  Dr. Kanold posed the question:

What is Formative Assessment?  Is it checking for understanding?

Hmmm.  I was a bit baffled.  That’s what I *thought* it was, then I could use it to change my instruction, right?

We were asked to divide our posters into two columns and list all the things we do, tools we use to check for understanding.  Some grand lists were shared!  I even learned of a couple of new tools.

When we are planning and we ask ourselves – how will we know when they know it?  We often list a tool to use to check for understanding…this is what I considered *formative assessment* But it was the next task that pulled it together for me.  We were asked to choose a couple of the CFU tools and describe what action we could use to offer feedback and allow for student action.

 

Formative Assessment is not the *tool* we use.  Its the follow-up action.  The decisions we make based on the information we now have.

Checking for understanding is at best a diagnostic event, an observation of evidence of student learning that helps you make decisions… In order to be formative, teachers and peers must provide meaningful, formative feedback to each other – then students take action.  The feedback needs 4 markers (Reeves 2011 & Hattie 2012):  Fair, Accurate, Specific, Timely.  FAST.

For years I have focused on finding new ways for FA – I just left the follow-up action up for chance, without actually writing the plan for feedback…my response if they know, my response if they don’t know – would happen when I see the evidence.

Wilham (2007) in order to improve the quality of learning within the system to be formative, feedback needs to contain an implicit or explicit recipe for future action.

I have been studying formative assessment since 2011.  I am STILL LEARNING!

According to Wilham (2011) when formative assessment practices are integrated into classroom activities, substantial increases in student achievement – 70-80% increase in the speed of learning are possible…  the changes are not expensive to produce… there is nothing else remotely affordable that is likely to have such a large effect.

However, if a teacher fails to support the student action on evidence of areas of difficulty, the cycle of learning stops for the student.  I’ve seen it all too often.  Even in my own classroom – learn, assess, but no continued learning follow-up of the assessment.

I will share more in another post about an idea shared by a middle school teacher, a “Pause Day” as part of their follow-up to unit assessments.  No new content is given, but an opportunity for enrichment, adjustment and/or reteaching as needed.  I love the idea of pausing to ensure time for student action.

Popham (2011) even states when teachers use formative assessment well, it can essentially double the speed of student learning producing large gains in student achievement, yet robust so different teachers can use it in diverse ways and get great results.

What ways have you seen formative assessment impact student learning?  What have you learned / adjusted through the years to make it more effective? How do you and your team have the needed conversations about your responses to the evidence provided with the cfu tool?

BTW – I got a button on the last day… for being an example of how we often “steal” students’ opportunities for learning.  I remember reading in Wilham’s Embedded Formative Assessment how we often pick up a student’s pencil and do the problem for them…and when we do, we’ve done the work and the thinking for them.

Showing them / telling them is not a follow up action for them.  If I find myself doing this (& I have many times in the past, thinking I was being helpful) – I can’t just ask – Do you understand?  I must have them show me what they understand with a follow-up action.

If I have learned nothing else in the past 22 years… I’ve realized this – there is no easy button in teaching.

Where’s Waldo… in Room 148

Over Christmas break I visited a 5 Below store and ran across a Waldo.  I thought – he is totally worth the price marked.  I had no clue what I would do with him, but I’d soon find out.

About a month into last semester, I placed Waldo in my room.  Some students noticed him.  Others were still looking for him.  I was surprised at how many never had heard of “Where’s Waldo?”

Anyway, as the semester progressed, students asked if they could start hiding him.  I agreed.  The only 2 rules – Waldo must stay in Room 148 and Waldo must be visible.

Students would come in daily – looking forward to finding Waldo’s newest hiding place.  And getting the chance to hide him for the next class.  It was quite hilarious.

Something so simple brought a bright spot and smile multiple times a day.

Do you have something that is unique to your classroom?  Something students look forward to coming in and seeing on a daily basis?

Becoming a High Performing Collaborative Team #blogitBINGO Newly-Ed Part 2

Are my best days behind me or ahead of me?

As we continue to consider how to build an effective PLC culture, these are the 4 critical questions we ask / should be able to answer:

1. What do we want them to know / be able to do?
2. How do we know if they know it?
3. What is our response when they don’t learn / know it?
4. What is our response when they do?

Seven stages of Collaborative Teams was shared.  I know where I felt our team has spent most of its time in recent years, but I wondered if others thought the same.  So I emailed a snapshot and asked.

Though some differences, most fell from stage 3 planning to a couple of courses stepping into stage 5 this year, but our goal could be to reflect on where we are, refine and adjust that will move us into Stages 6 and 7 by next spring.

The discussion tools provided in this training for High Leverage Team Actions are straight forward, seem like they will be easy to implement – but force you to take an honest look at your practices.  Responding to them as a team brings transparency and accountability, always bringing the discussion / debate back to our shared vision.

As I skimmed through the Team Building Worksheet, I wondered – have I disengaged because I lack courage? confidence?  Have I shared my expectations or let them fall by the door?  Have I been open enough / giving permission for others to care enough to confront when a conflict arises?

My goal – to be the best teacher I can be.  Not to be better than my colleagues – but to be my best for my students.  They deserve it.  When I try something new, its because I have found a gap in my teaching – a place for growth. – I am searching for a better way to reach my students.  It may work, it may not.  I’ll reflect, refine, adjust as I gather evidence.

I am excited to dive deeper into the protocols shared in this training – to utilize them in helping us know IF we are doing high quality math implementation or not.  And what are our next steps to becoming our best for our students.

What is the #1 vital adult behavior essential to effective instruction in our department?

 

Newly-Ed #blogitbingo #coherentvision

Old. New. Borrowed. Blue.  Commitment.

The past 2 days have filled my brain to overflowing.  I left GRREC both days feeling… alive.  Overwhelmed.  But alive.  That sounds weird, I know.   But I was not surprised, just saddened, with the a statistic shared from Gallup:

Only 31% of our teachers are fully engaged in our schools.

The people who are supposed to be engaging young minds are not engaged themselves.  And I was one of them.

I’m not sure what happened, how I ended up in that place, when it happened.  I”m not even sure I knew I felt that way until yesterday.  My realization began with this question posed on the opening slide of our 2-day venture.

Are Your Best Days Behind You or Ahead of  You?  Chicago Tribune 2002

I left yesterday with a smile on my face, excited to call home and share some of what I learned with someone!  And when I looked so forward to returning to our session “Leading and Sustaining a Coherent Vision for Mathematics Teaching and Learning” – I knew this was a turning point for me.

Defining our vision.

Is our vision coherent?  What we hope to become…but we must be patient because it may take a while to get there.  These are the non-negotiables, our professional duty.  Are we compelled by our vision?

Do we mean it or not?  Do our actions / ways honor it?  Does our instruction / behaviors advance our vision?  We agree to the vision, do we hold each other accountable?

I was reminded of a reflection our department did several years ago, what we wish to see in a dream math student and what actions can we take to support students to reach our dream student?  Here was our poster from 2014…

Like so many other things, I’m not sure we ever had follow-through with this task.  But I wonder how differently our reflection would look if we repeated it today?

Here are a couple of examples of other groups’ work on Monday… They used the acronym DRIVE and SOAR.  Other groups used CARDS (school mascot) and MATH.  He shared one with Math Teachers lend an EAR:  Equity, Assessment and Reflection.

My big takeaway – that we arrive at consensus, an image / tag that we can quickly share / refer to with parents / students / other stakeholders.  Then we make every decision – based on our shared, defined vision.

Within the discussion, Dr. Kanold defined consensus as – everyone’s voice is heard but the will of the group prevails.  If I’m honest, I cringed.  Am I willing to let go of new things I want to try and do?  What if an idea is outnumbered?  What if I never get to try anything new?  So I presented a question on our parking lot.

His response today – we are constantly in action research in education.  Part of the team can try a new idea.  But our agreed upon vision becomes the authority.  IF we want to try something new, we must ask IF it advances our vision?  Does it exceed our opinion?  Why?  Provide evidence / research.  Try it.  Compare.  If it works better for student learning, everyone agrees to use it.  If not, then stick with old way.   In the end, I (we) have to sacrifice my opinion(s) in an effort to advance student learning.

Over the next several days, I plan to revisit my notes and share a summary to reflect / process / plan considering these big ideas from the past couple of days:

• Instruction / Planning Whole group vs Small group discourse
• Check for Understanding vs. Formative Assessment
• Common Assessments & Tools to evaluate quality
• Homework
• 4 Critical Questions of a Collaborative Team Culture
• My Intentions for the upcoming year…

On a 1-5-10 scale of Stinky, Good, Great – I will give our #coherentvision days a 10!

 

Do you have a successful PLC?  Please share some things that made it work for your team!

 

Quote Poster # MTBoS #blogitBINGO

Been reading Five Habits of a Woman Who Doesn’t Quit by Nicki Koziarz.  Some great quotable points – that can span several aspects in life!  Here is one that really stuck with me!

Here’s the pdf What you want most

I will be sharing more quote posters later!  Just wanted to keep on track with #BlogItBINGO!  Please join me!

Summer Reading 2017 #MTBoS #BlogItBINGO Challenge

And so I begin…the #BlogItBINGO challenge!

I usually try to give myself 2 weeks of down time from most school talk, etc. before starting in on my summer reading.

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Visible Learning in Mathematics – I started this book but the end of the school year happened and I intend to finish the last chapters over the next couple of weeks.  Though I have read some controversy of the authors statistical reports – I find there are still some great ideas to think on.  I’ve read @cheesemonkeysf several times refer to transfer learning.  This book discusses the ideas of surface learning, deep learning and transfer learning.  So far, I feel like it will help me gain a better understanding of different types of learning and be intentional in my lesson / assessment planning.  I will post a review/share ideas learned when I finish it.

17 Equations – I’m not sure where I saw this book but it reminded me of some displays I saw at MICDS last year when I met up with @druinok and @mel6871 in St. Louis over the Memorial Day weekend.   I thought this book seemed to be a fun read that could provide me with some insight as to “why” we have certain things we teach.

Teaching Math with Google Apps – last school year, we were introduced to Google classroom.  I semi-implemented it with my classes, but know I can do a better job of utilizing the many options available.  I’ve listened to Alice Keeler on @bedleybrothers podcast this spring.  I am looking forward to what she shares in this book and hoping to implement some new ideas this fall.

I am the slowest reader around.  My friends can gobble a book up in a day…me, well, I’m just slow and that’s okay.  I’m reading and that’s all that matters.  For my summer-fun reads…

I always like to have a devotional book going – I find this keeps me focused on what matters and helps me get past those challenges / negative / struggling moments.  This one arrived in the mail the other day.  I love receiving surprise gifts!

5 Habits of a Woman Who Doesn’t Quit – a study of Ruth.  So far, as we began chatting about the first chapter, we found it was chock-full of quotes- not only great life-lesson reminders, but that can easily make their way into the classroom.  For example, I really like this one Nicki Koziarz shared:  “The space between where we are and where we want to be is called potential.”  I wonder how I can use that with my students…I see and know their potential, but until “they want it”  I can only be a resource and encourage them to seek it.

My very first download on my kindle was Unbroken – about Louis Zamperini.  @fawnngyuen had a great post about seeing him speak years ago.  This spring, I downloaded Seabiscuit also written by the same author, Laura Hillenbrand.  So far, so good.  Maybe that’s why I’m such a slow reader…I have too many books going at once! #adhdreader

I had seen several recommend  A Man Called Ove last year.  Two of my closest colleagues read it this spring and after listening to their conversations, it is now on my list.

After seeing Hidden Figures, I started reading it as well.  But again, when I get overwhelmed with school work – my reading begins to slack.

Last summer I read several titles by Ninie Hammon and thoroughly enjoyed all but one.   A bit of suspense, a bit of connection to my home state, unexpected twists.  Black Sunshine, Homegrown, Sudan, The Last Safe Place, The Memory Closet, The Knowing.   I have read 2 of the 3 titles included in  Based on True Stories and plan to finish When Butterflies Cry this month.  I also have Five Days in May on my summer list by this same author.

I have both of these titles on my to-read list, but seemed to get pushed to the side as my growth focus was not in this direction.  I still intend to read, because snippets and conversations support the great things the authors have shared!

Mathematical Mindsets  Making Number Talks Matter

A picture from @cmmteach has gotten me to look at these two titles.  I will attend a 2-day training with @tkanold in a few weeks, so hoping those days will lead me to which will have the most impact on my classroom.

Heart and Balancing the Equation

So what’s on your Summer Reading Shelf?