COVID19 - High School Math Assigment - Project 2 - Puzzles!!

So I keep looking for different things to do during this time of change... Projects that can be read by email and done without internet (or sometimes I mail the page).

This is a project for 9-12 grade, Algebra, Geometry and Algebra 2.  

Here is what I email the students (allowing 2-3 weeks):

To: Students:

Hello gang!

I hope everyone is well.  I want to intro the new project for this week!

I like math puzzles!! 

So I want us to solve one and create one!  

Step 1 - solve the following!!  (Taken from Facebook)   If you can get me an answer - if you struggle send me your thoughts on it.....

​

Step 2  -- Create your own Social Media post-able math puzzle (so I should be able to snap a picture without your name like above)

This can be on paper,  on Microsoft word, on google doc....  Whatever medium you would like to use!  You most likely will need to start with a rough draft, then make a final copy!!

It can be like the one above (if you do a lock like the one above please do 4 digits instead of 3, which would take more steps to solve).  You could also do a lock like your gym locker, or anything you want to try. 

I will comment how it goes!! 

2020 - No more High School Math Homrwork (for my students)

HS Math classes don't (necessary) need homework....

About 3 years ago I migrated to no outside of class math practice (no homework).  And after some bumps have had success and student's continued to grow.  For me and my students a real positive!  Had presented about it a few times at conferences.....
This post really deserves to be better, but instead I am posting about what happened next.....

A parent contact the Channel 3000 local news about my teaching without assigning homework in HS math courses (Algebra, Geometry, Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus).   They wanted to do an interview and good PR for the school is always welcomed.

They came down and did a 3 minute segment and article. - here.

But then it really caught fire, had a Smart-brief wtih ASCD about it - here
then, probably received 80 emails about how....

And finally an NEAtoday article - here

Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs, 2nd edition

by Cathy A. Vatterott  - here  

(My Hitchhikers Guide to No Homework - yes 42....)

My goal for this post is to simply connect these for any teacher considering changing.  There are always naysayers, but I run on data and while HW for HS math is good - I skip good for great....

I am always open to discuss -   It can be done and I know my students are better because of it!

Things to do in COVID19 for math that are not rote

So as this school year finishes online the challenge for all of us is huge.  I have decided that the rote practice of worksheets or an online practice program are not what I want my students to remember.  So we will practice here and there (short sprints to maintain skills) but instead will spend more of our work time on open ended projects.  Some will be hits and others failures --

This is the email for my first:  (For Algebra, Geometry, Algebra 2 & Senior Math)

Subject: Decision Matrix   Sent 3-30

Gang, 
So we are going to alternate between videos/IXL/OMS (Other Math Stuff) and projects!  

This week is a project!!!

The first project I want you to do is create a decision matrix to select the best option from a list of choices.

To do this project you will need a question that needs answering between solutions (you pick the question and tell me - we will work together on this project).

Examples (and you can use these questions if you like)

1) Select the best Overwatch Character 

2) The best group of properties to have in Monopoly.

3) The best cell phone (Samsung-Android, Apple, Trace)

4) Best car brand

5) Best candy bar

6) Best soda

7)  Best Superhero (see start of my list below, I like a spreadsheet for this but pick what you want)

8) ANY QUESTION!!!   You can pick.

So here is the timeline of deliverables:

By April 1st - email me your question/list/idea and research what a decision matrix is!

By April 3rd - email me your factors and scoring system

By April 7th - Rough Draft of matrix (paper or excel or sand-tablet)

By April 9th - A final decision using a matrix!

I picked this because decision matrices are used all the time in the world.

It is a good skill   (and continue your IXL stuff, I will email more on April 2nd or 3rd).

Thanks all

SA

Start of Mr. A's Best Superhero Decision Matrix!

Probably should add 'School Appropriate column" since it is a tie.

I am sharing this in case it helps someone.  You will also see lots of time to do, students have enough happening - I also mailed this to some students....

If it helps great -- this is what I am doing... (for the moment)

Math & School & Life --- Help Students Avoid Negativity

Article written for School Newsletter:

Math & School & Life

Help Students Avoid Negativity

Student:  “I hate school; math is just too hard.  I can’t ever get it.”

Parent:  “Don’t worry about it; I never understood math either.”

This is an example of an all too common exchange with students and adults.  Now if you have heard about my math classes I often admit that the exact skill we are learning is not going to appear in some sort of “Real-Life” test - but I also quickly point out the skills of learning, processing and problem-solving are the skills we need, and math class is where we practice!  

These “Habits of Mind” are at the heart of creating resilient, lifelong learners who can attack problems in the world and workplace - but it starts with changing the exchange about tough subjects, tough days and tough events!   

Everyone can be successful in school and life, it is simply persistence!  We simply need for students to continually strive to do their best!  So try rephrase the above interaction:

“I hate school; math is just too hard.  I can’t get it.”

“Just keep working.  Everyone just learns at differents speeds.  You’ll get it, it just takes a bit more work and that’s okay.”

OR

“I hate school! Mr. Anderson just goes too fast during class!.”

“Just keep working.  Just talk with him maybe before school or during a study hall.”

OR

“I hate school, it is just too _____”

“Just keep working. Just talk with your teacher - I am sure there is way to go forward.”

We - parents, teachers and community members - are all creating young adults ready for our world.  The great thing for a student is we give multiple chances, an opportunity to stumble, show persistence, then succeed.  We only need to encourage them not to give up!  Help them keep their fire burning for learning and participating.  And keep encouraging our students to have empathy for others, too!

I am extremely excited to have the students back September 5th!

Raising funds & Getting a cool math shirt......

Trying to find funds is always a challenge.  To help support our math team I already ask local businesses to sponsor the team and put their logos on the back of our shirt each year (levels of sponsorship include Nerd level & Uber-Nerd level).  But as the team has expanded to 50% of the HS and MS - it keeps requiring more funds.

And I refuse to let the math team be exclusive - it is inclusive.
I also refuse to sell pizzas or candles, etc.  Cause it does not have a good return for the time required.

Now I am trying teespring.  Here is our first shirt:



Link to order

I will have to update in a few weeks if it worked (or did I at least get enough orders to get the one I order printed).

WMC Conference 2016 Reflections

Attended the Wisconsin Math Council (WMC) conference in Green Lake Wisconsin again this year, and another great conference.  A Gathering of a slew of dedicated math instructors from Kindergarden to College.  Peers presenting, keynotes presenting - just a lot of math discussions and thoughts.

For me personally it is a tremendous reflection time and I picked up some great ideas to use and share on ratios from Gail Burrill from Michigan State and division of fractions writing in a context from Natalia Bailey from Edgewood college/UW.   There was an intriguing session on standards base grading by Jeff Harding (even if he is from Illinois).  And UW-River Falls showed tidbits and I found some activities that will help my students with reasoning and justification.  All things that will make me a better teacher, all things that I would not have located on my own (most likely).  Things that make the conference very worth while - yet that is not the biggest return on my time at the conference (or my school district’s money).

There are 2 things I always find are huge at the conference for me professionally - 1) is presenting on my classroom (that is always scary - presenting in front of peers);  and 2) the reflections, peer discussions and time to think deeply about my practices.

I presented on recursive review and improvement that has resulted in our school’s ACT data - and that is always good for me.  It makes me think about the blend of necessary skills that my students need to be successful in math - while really reflecting on how to make sure my room is being driven from conceptual understanding with many opportunities for practice in problem solving and persistence (problem solving with many answers requiring justification).

The single most important thing that makes me go again and again is how the time, enviroment and presenters make me really think about my practices and how I approach the classroom.  What my goal for my teaching is, what my students will do - what I really need to lead them through so they are successful beyond my high school’s walls.  

And my number one take away is…..   

Wait…  

Picking one can always be something that gets a lot of “attention,” but this would be my number one - I am sure everyone’s is not the same. So a bit of a disclaimer: knowing how we teach is super important - that we are leading students to understanding, not memorization but from memory, that we would not worry about just the test but most importantly how they problem solve and analyze for their times beyond education institutions (and yet make sure they have the skills not to be unsuccessful in post-HS mathematics - meaning that the ACT and placement tests matter).  So with all that said, for me, the number one take away this year is:

Minutes matter.

I will modifiy many lessons because of this conference, and add things here and there.  But for me the number one thing is treating my 44 minutes period like the precious commodity it is.  That from bell to bell we are doing math - solving problems, mixing in review.  That the students are pushed and are working a combination of problems that review and stretch.  

It is so important that I am commiting to myself and 12 of you that read this blog that I am going to submit a presentation about it next year for the WMC (including some of more non typical things - like no HW grading or HW questions is class)   (Side-note: my wife does not believe there is 12 of you)

So there it all is - a great conference - already cannot wait for next year.  And I will do my best to make every minute count......

Curriculum - searching for the grail.....

So how do you select curriculum in a small district?  Form a committee?  There is only a few of us in the entire district (Grades:  4K-5, MS, HS, Admin -- ~7 to 8 of us).  So as the HS teacher, the only HS teacher it feel likes it starts with me.  So like any other school you ask for books and start searching through them, and finding what?

I hope for the book that helps our school make the students better problem solvers and learners, ready for whatever they do upon graduation.  And I am constantly thinking about what that should look like in a textbook.  How does that text book progress from Kindergarten to Calculus?  (or 4K versus Kindergarten)

I am feeling like I am searching for the holy grail, I need the theme song to Indiana Jones just to survive it.  I am sent books that are over a 1000 pages long (1300 pages/180 days --- 7.2 pages per day -- CRAZY!) -- I know that I don't have to teach the whole book - but we (the students and I) get to carry them around all the same.

I have looked at integrated and non-integrated, CCSS aligned, ACT College and Career Readiness models.....  And it leads me to one common belief, it is what we do in the room, not which book we have that matters most.

It is how we make sure they understand concepts versus procedures.  It how we lead them in problems solving, encouraging/modeling persistence.

The curriculum is not that important, the teaching is...      except....

Except I really need the text book series to have assessments and workbooks - because with so many different preps there is no time to make everything I need.  (Which is why I am scared of CPM, great book - but I don't feel I can prep for it, not enough hours in the day).  I currently make a lot of my own assessments with projects, but sometimes I need to use book assessment or worksheet as a base for a class (then just add a question or two, cross one off, etc).  This modification process is what keeps me sane (or at my present level of insanity).

So as a small district searching for texts you would figure someone would have made good assessments that use high level skills and practices -- cause big or small we all want that resource.  You wish for assessments that would be awesome (I mean they are written by the authors!),  But often they are the same "pump & dump" - little different than the 10 plus year old texts I have -- except they cost $100 each.

Perhaps I want too much, but I will keep combing the desert in search of that text book series that matches my school's vision.

STEM, Teaching Math is more than just the M

I have been lucky to be part of a STEM grant at UW-Platteville the last couple of days (STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) - we, the participants, have had the opportunity to do some STEM projects, reflecting on practices and working with a great group of dedicated excited educators.

And the big thing for me - with 2 days out of 8 done is a new mantra to repeat - that STEM has M (math) in the STE part too.  Meaning that the STE part can have a huge impact on my students - a bigger impact in their ability to problem solve, their ability to be ready for the world versus just doing M.

So a question discussed was: are you a STEM teacher? The question followed the story of a 5th grade teacher using STEM to teach Math (and her need to teach parents that M is STE).  And my answer today is I am a math teacher who has large STEM projects.  I integrate STEM into math as I can but I rely on the projects I assign to do STEM things (and also the math practices).  For me the next step is continuously improving my lessons to include more STE - to teach more math concepts.

The practices we want are there in the STE part and any math room will always have M - so a message to myself : keep pushing the STE part.  Keep finding the projects, keep making the math learning happening through discovery.  Keep using a holistic approach and make each class just a little bit better (continuous improvement).

And

A day without math is like a day without sunshine.

is still true (love that phrase)!!  Now we know that STE portion is pure sunshine too.

Has shaming ever worked?

Read an interesting article from my boss today - UW System wants to reduce remedial math classes - this article fits right into philosophy about our jobs as high school math educators -- which is we must prepare our graduates for college and career with respect to math.

Thus I was excited to read that UW schools plan to make data available on its incoming students math readiness - with the (correct) idea that if HS teachers know the deficits they can correct going forward.  And all the information we can get helps us as educators, info is the key to decisions.

Right now I have to track my students myself - ask (harass) how they placed, how their first math course went etc.  Pretty easy when you are a small school teacher in a rural community where everybody knows everybody - but pretty hard otherwise I am guessing.

But UW System also plans to make the data public saying " That number (of remedial students)  has prompted new legislation that would require the UW Board of Regents to disclose where students taking remedial math classes went to high school."

And perhaps I am reading this wrong but it seems to imply that the numbers would be public immediately - and I wonder how that will effect teachers..  If it will push them to teach to the test.  If the public shaming is the motivating factor - to improve?  to make better math students?

Or is this simply a push to provide cover for the UW system schools saying - it is not our fault that students don't graduate because of math.

I do believe it is on me to make sure my Algebra 2 students finish that course capable of testing into college Algebra thus not being a remedial math casualty.   And with the new rule you will soon see my results.....

Organization -- Not enough, or too much?

Statement of fact - I am not the most "organized" teacher.  Maybe I could be - but time is a limited commodity, and I do not like trading teaching time for neat piles.  I also don't trade teaching time for homework checking time (on a daily basis), a type of "neat pile."  I now check homework once every few days; I used to work hard at checking the work but the longer I have taught - the less I check and the better my students do.

Some of that is simply gaining some experience - I look back and know I do better in year 3 than year 1.  But it is more than that too.  The experience between year 7 and year 9 is not nearly as dramatic.  So student performance is definitely effected by teacher experience but there is point where it does not have a substantial impact.  It then becomes how you the teacher lead the class - your expectations, what you demand of them.

In industry you only give power for decisions to those you trust - and then you manage.  It is the same in school - a 16 year old cannot be allowed to decide to not be part of school or do school.  It is a young person's job, and if they cannot handle the decision to "do school" - then the educator (the senior manager) needs to take over and push.  And that is a ton of work - 10% of my students take 75% of my time.

I may not be  "organized" but homework is not a cornerstone of what we do (in my math room).  We work bell to bell like it is our job.  It is non-traditional, but I do not worry about what my class should "look like" either.

We do math from beginning to end.  A student is given a plethora of chances to show mastery - but no one is allowed to sit idle.  I joke, kid, mentally push them to be part of the class - just being quiet will not save you.  And thus everyday, every student has to do math for 44 minutes.

It allows me to ignore the routine of other rooms.  It allows me to use homework as practice but not learning.  It allows me to push students to mastery - so passing means a student who can succeed mathematically in the world.

And that is powerful.

More thans....

I have been putting a lot of thought into the impact teachers have on their students,  positive and negative, especially at high school level.  We are charged with teaching young adults in math, but we are really teaching them persistence and problem solving skills.   We are looking out for their future - arming them with the skills to succeed.

So every week when I am planning lessons for my courses -- I sit back and remind myself that teachers are more than:
   Spitters of facts
   Demanders of facts
   Discipline junkies
   Responsibility demanders.

I work for the students (not the 16 year old but the 27 year old future adult) -- and what my time machine tells me is the 27 year old wants to make the 16 year old ready for the world.

That is why I talk truly about the skills the world needs.   I worked for over a decade in a STEM capacity and never did Cramer's rule, simplified gigantic exponent expressions or graphed a hyperbola.  But the skills of thinking and researching how to find an answer to a problem I did do.  The skills of thinking and finding an answer I did use to graph a hyperbola.

So the what I am doing is important, but I am careful not to end on the slippery slope of saying Algebra 2 is real life skills by itself, for most students it is simply not true.  That is why I am stuck on the "more than" thought today -- I am prepping students for more than ACT or college math with Algebra 2.  I am making students who are able to not only do the basic facts to be successful in college math but also making them work on projects to make them prepared for their future.

More than....

End of pencil & paper homework?? Not yet......

So school starts in 2 days, volleyball is in a two day lull and I am reflecting on finishing touches for the school year.  And what I keep focusing on is how little homework seems to help students understand mathematics long term.  I see how they can quickly internalize a procedure and how rote practice can imprint a procedure but I wonder how to make homework a real learning and understanding tool.

I remember myself in High School - I was not interested in learning, I did the absolute minimum to get the grade I wanted, no care for understanding.  I know I am not the typical teacher, I did not like to play school.  But I was a pretty typical student for my class with respect to homework and caring how much I learned.  If I could take the first number divided by the end number in a word problem to get a correct answer that is what I did.  So why would I expect different from my students, that's why it is on me as the teacher.

On me?  I mean my homework and lessons must set the bar high enough that real understanding happens.  And that has meant less topics done longer, it has meant changing my grading so a D in Algebra 1 results in a student who can do Algebra 2.  Prior to my epiphany a D student was someone who did their homework and reworked tests, and that used to show on ACT tests (not college math ready).

Now I demand students can repeat and understand why, and homework is not much help in that goal.  So it has gone from 1 thru 59 odds (30 problems) to 4 to 8 targeted review problems - and I am seriously questioning the value of those.  I am going to assign 2 days of Khan this year - they have done some updating and I received a Morgridge Family Foundation grant for 10 ChromeBooks to help.  I like that better because it lets student's work at their level and makes them get the correct answer!  (It seems like every time I check assignments the students are just giving me any answer, even though I always provide the correct solutions for homework!)

So here I sit, here I ponder, here I wonder if homework should go yonder (ugh - sorry for that).   It is a bridge too far today, but I am going from 4 days per week to 2 days and that is progress.  And I will keep a firm grip on the my metrics - especially ACT score - to judge if this move is successful. 

Because that is my job to adjust and improve making every day better than the previous and to deliver the best education to my students.

Curriculum Improvement is slow work, Just going one step at a time....

So another nice day out, and I am making boards about Algebra 1 and Calculus.  These are the two classes out of the seven I teach that I am trying to flip.  It simply taking steps during summer to be slightly better each year - just 2% each year I joke and next thing you know you are making real substantial progress.

School in-service starts in 2 days - and I have done a lot of reflecting and working this summer on curriculum.  But I will admit the ugly truth - I have not made the best lessons and videos I could have.  That's because there is never enough time, I am always delivering less than my best (it is my best for the time available).   (Note - I know I read about this ugly truth in another article or blog  - but cannot locate it to cite - but I am joining that author and admitting the ugly truth.)

And sometimes that can be a weight on me.  I want to do the best - not just the best I can within my workload, or the best I can in some amount of time.  But that is not truly possible and something I rarely discuss - I talk about working hard, and making choices that maintain sanity.  I cannot spend 4 hours prepping a 45 min lesson - cause I have 7 different ones that day (7*4>24).

So another nice day - and I worked on curriculum - not all day, but part of my summer day and that is the best.

CCSS in jeopardy in Wisconsin

So Scott Walker has called on the legislature to repeal the CCSS, and put in its place our own rigorous standards, "set by the people of Wisconsin." A politcal move - perhaps/surely, a move for the good of education - doubtful, a move we should make - I don't think so.

To be clear I am not a CCSS fan - there are too many standards in high school and we drive down too much math too soon in middle school.  We are not training teachers properly and it is causing problems.  But....

We need to realize, that Wisconsin is not single nation but a state in this nation which is a collection of states that make a republic, a democracy.  And it is the populate that makes that democracy - an educated populate.

And we, the teachers in all states, need to have a guideline that we run to - that is the CCSS.  Now am I hoping for version 2.0  (we should have 2.0 done already and should be looking for 3.0).  But just calling on Wisconsin to remove themselves from the CCSS is not the solution -- we have made 3 years of investment, we should be tweaking - not throwing it out.

Personally - it is hardest for me when I get the emails saying "see, another program started and not finished."   And they may be correct.  Heck, we did not even get to testing (not that standardized tests prove anything). 

And here we are quickly moving down the path of making the ROD teachers correct (ROD = Retired-On-Duty).  The "We have seen this before" gang - no need to change it will go away.  No need to use data or worry about improving.  [Lucky my school is void of RODs]

It is a sad for education, it is sad for our political system -- we are making children's education a pawn of politics.  We need to stop having new documents and programs and just have continous improvement on what is there.  We need standards - but they should be living - not cut in stone.

But here we go again...



http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/scott-walker-calls-on-legislature-to-repeal-common-core-in/article_1db9265d-2257-5a43-9603-3e3d73b1c3a7.html

Tyrant of OR

Tyrant of OR is an interesting article that was passed along to me, and has gotten me thinking quite a bit. It is the belief that we often feel we have to make a choice between things – that one thing wins and one thing loses. For example problem solving and computation but in reality often we don't have to make a choice. You can do both – it is little counter-intuitive but I like the idea.

At my school we wanted higher ACT scores and more students taking the test.   And the single answer has been rigor.  I have pushed rigor, which is not just more homework (for me it has been less).   And as I pushed rigor, I have also pushed the idea that all students can be college math ready.  So even though math grades did drop at my school, our ACT scores and percentage of students have both gone up.

And to get scores to increase we did not lean the pool of test takers, we increased the count -- challenged more students to see how ACT would rank their college readiness.  Pushing hard on students to take the test and do well.  We have seen our college math placement scores go up AND more taking it -- from 20ish to 22.5ish for score and less 50% to nearly 75% taking it.  Definitely not a tyrannt of OR  -- would those results be the expectation?

Would you expect students to take more math with increased rigor? More students to take the ACT? Cause they are, when I started only a handful of students would take math as a senior – now nearly all the students do. When I started not even half of the students took the ACT test for college placement. This year over ¾ of the graduating class took the test.

Why? Because high rigor raises student performance AND student expectations of themselves. The students know they can perform at high level and that college or secondary schooling are within reach. Not everyone has to, but the problem solving ability, ability to learn are skills that serve students well for a lifetime.

OR does not have to be choice, I am taking AND. 

Dr. Cathleen Becnel Richard is an Assistant Professor at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. She earned her doctorate in 2010 from Northcentral University in E-Learning and Teaching Online. Her research interests include academic advising, distance learning, reflective learning, and service learning. - See more at: http://www.communityworksinstitute.org/cwjonline/articles/aarticles-text/bayou_tchgsustain.html#sthash.uZ3CFLf1.dpuf

Wisconsin Math Council Conference 2014

Reflecting on the two day WMC conference in Green Lake, Wisconsin.  Got back home last night and was just too tired, too overwhelmed from all I saw, too relieved from completing my 2 presentations, just too --- to type my thoughts.

As usual the WMC put on an excellent conference, they brought in good speakers but most importantly teachers stepped up to show what they were doing - which as a small school teacher I am so thankful for.  It is a  stress to present to your colleagues, to put yourself out there, to prepare the presentation.  But the reward for me as a member of the audience is great, I also think there is a huge reward in being a presenter - personally it makes me so much more reflective.

A huge portion of my PLC is this conference, what I look at, what I heard, the networking I do  - those things are the catalysts for how I plan curriculum and instruction.  I always plan improvements from my two, always seemingly rainy, days at Green Lake in early May. 

This year I presented twice; I presented about our school's mission to have a portion (~15-20%) of our class time devoted to mastery of non-negotiables using the ACT test as metric.  It was well attend and overall I felt I did a decent job of telling people about what we have done to improve our ACT math score from 1 point below the state average to 1 point above the state average.  It is a corner of our philosophy of creating students who are mathematically ready for our world.  (Link to Powerpoint)

The second presentation was the one I was more excited and nervous about.  It was titled "Making Homework look like it's 2014 instead of 1985." LINK to Powerpoint  It was based upon how I changed my classroom from my commitment to a June blog entry.  The blog entry reached well beyond the "12 other rural math teachers who occansionally viewed my reflections" (my joke in the conference) and like-wise this presentation was a room "filler."  (The only gripe I have about the conference is when a presentation fills up, many of the really interesting titles only have 50 seats and fill up well before their starting times.)

So as I rolled into the room at 11:00 to set up for my 11:30 presentation, the room filled quickly also, and was full at about 11:07.  Which was good and bad, I felt good about the interest level, good that I could start early and talk about a couple of things that I decided to cut for time (the number one thing I wanted to do was actually record a flipped video based upon the FIZZ course I took, last year at the WMC conference I heard really good stuff about flipping but I always like seeing, so I "showed" a flip).   I felt it went well and I took an hour instead of 50 minutes.

To really simplify the presentation is to say I have done 2 major things - first, no more class time doing homework questions, homework grading or homework chasing.  Homework is assigned as a combo of  things - Khan Academy, some paper/pencil (NO new material on paper/pencil work, I wait until things are mastered before it is assigned as homework) and adding more projects into curriculum.  And secondly, I started flipping my Algebra 1 course - and that has made a difference in how much time we can really do math in my class.  It has improved my ability to give better feedback (while sticking to my motto of "be less helpful").

At times it has been hard to maintain, in the presentation I talked about how I went too far in the first semester and let my pendulum swing too far back in the second semester.  There is a sweet spot which I will try and hit next fall.  In the end, it is not about being "perfect" next year. 


You will never hear about 20% improvement in 1 year with me teaching, but all of the work that has been done is making Juda 3-4% better every year, year after year.  And that continuous improvement is all I chase; and I believe it is what we all should be chasing.

Wanting to become a teacher - Planning Time (Part 2 of ?)

So I knew I wanted to be a teacher.  I knew that there were two things to get done, one, find a route to becoming a licensed teacher,  my Mechanical Engineering degree was not going to do it.  And two, plan our family's finances so we could survive the first few years of teaching which were going to be extremely lean pay.  (This comes back to the question of who do we, John Q. Public, really want to teach, the low pay keeps great people away - period.)

I knew that my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering would not allow me to teach, but I hoped to be just a few courses short - like 36 credits short.  But the first couple of places I check wanted me to finish a Bachelors in Education, well over 75 credits plus a math major degree (another 24).  Darn hard to work and go to school for....  -- well forever.

Then I found St. Mary's second career education program in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it gave credit for my BSME and was a masters program - I simply had to take 36 credits and complete my math minor (5 courses).  It gave some credit for my real life experiences as a manager and had the simple goal to put good people, who would do the work, into the classroom.  The best part is it had night and weekend courses, so I could work and do school.

But to do this the family and I had to live in the Twin Cities.  So I begin to unwind my emotional attachment to the company I was working for, because while I could not see anyway out of their impending bankruptcy, my heart pushed me to hang on.  (The question about I would have ever become a teacher is fair at this point, I think yes - but my kids would not have been toddlers.)  But I started searching for employment in the Minneapolis area with the thought that it had to be perfect,  it had to be win for the employer and myself, that was spring of 2003.

As things became worst at my job, my desire to teach increased and in the summer of 2003 I found a company searching for job shop manager where my engineering background had value.  The plan was to take about 7 years for me to complete the course work and save upto 40% of our salary, we (my wife and I) figured that would make a nest egg so we would be okay the first 5 years of teaching. 

My wife and I then downsized everything.  Any cost was cut, every dollar we saved. We knew we would need for her to be back to work (at this point my 3 children were 5,3, and 2 years old).  We knew we had to not "keep up with the Jones," we bought a cheap house, removed car payments, made vacations no thrills (little kids don't need thrills anyway), etc.  We just made ourselves live on 40% of my salary, period.


 And I signed up for one night course - a Foundations of Education course, the first course of what I thought would be long process.  I attended the first night and was so excited about the passion of the instructors that I immediately marched down and signed up for enough classes to cut my college time from about 7 years to about 3 years.

So instead of two days per week, I went to four -- that is where we will pick up in the next post, working and taking 9 credits per semester.

Studying 15 minutes can save you 15% or more on math tests

Encouragement comes in many forms, 10 minutes and a flip camera....

Fun!

Math Mob Monday is here! April 7th

So the idea I was considering is becoming a reality!  Math Mob Monday will happen in a few days, Monday, April 7th!  We are filling the desks and showing our parents and our community what we are doing in our room.

So my class has invited (or coerced) adults to fill our room, we are starting with Algebra 1 (an afternoon course).  The plan is to do a lot of review (mainly first order equations, PEMDAS), introduce a new lesson, have my students be helpers, etc. and get the parents/community members right into the thick of it!

I am excited - if you want to come contact the office and get on the list!  Only 14 spots total and 4 are taken already!

We are gonna have some fun, it is also important for everyone to see how and what we are doing!  I will try and post how it goes.

Now it's 2014, any progress on changing how the math looks? Is it 1985? Is it 2003? Is it 2014?

So last June I made the simple declaration that math homework was going to look different than 1985 in my room (It's 2013, shouldn't HS daily homework look different than 1985?).  I set up some ideas and defined a mission of my vision going forward.  I was looking at a 3 prong approach to practice (homework): weekly practice, projects with milestones, and combo of workbook/text problems (1-2 times per week). 

 

Now we are done with 3/4 of the school year, so how does homework look in my room?   Is the "time-machined math teacher" from 1985 comfortable in my room, or would he/she think it is a futuristic math room?  What year is my room?  (I will answer those questions at the end)

But first - how do the three prongs look like currently?  First, I did start by having weekly practice on IXL Math and Khan Academy.  I felt the review and feedback would work well.  For high schoolers I quickly discovered that IXL was not going to work with me, it is too rote for my students and myself.  Khan worked better and for the first semester I used it as part of the homework, I asked for 2 to 3 focused 20 minute sessions.  Khan would e-mail me each class with a report, which worked okay.  I still found it hard and time consuming to track what my students had done (and that is the kiss of death for me personally).

I continued to keep pencil and paper homework assignments small (about 6 questions) and completely review.  We moved to two times per week with review homework, but the move from daily homework to just a couple of assignments really made me wonder about the value of it.  Over the past few years I have changed my classroom to a point where we do not cover homework questions (it is all review material), we do not grade together (everyone has the answers) and the expectation is for the student to complete and turn homework into a slot by my desk (no stopping class to collect or ask are you done, occasionally I mentioned that "You should turn in your work").  I have just found taking homework questions, grading homework and collecting took too much precious class time.

So as I lowered the homework amount I really reflected on whether this homework had real value, so I let the homework become de-emphaisized -- I did not ask for the work or follow up with students about it.  This underemphasis was quickly picked up by the students and then I had the students who wanted to do well doing the work, and the others would "learn through tests and quizzes."  I discovered a lower limit with regards to homework, without it student performance started dropping (I really was truly surprised!).  So we went back to occasionally mentioning of the homework, making minor pushes for it and 'making' students do it; now student learning is back up.



Second, I had mentioned a workbook to get some practice on concepts and skills in my original post.  The goal of the workbook was practice, but I was concerned about the rote nature of worksheets.  What I needed was more time in the classroom to integrate problems in the course of the 44 minutes to keep students skills "in-practice."  Plus I really did not have the budget for workbooks.  So instead of a workbook, I flipped the first semester of Algebra 1 (Playlist 2).   And it has worked alright!  I plan to continue this next year and expand it into other courses.

Finally third, we continued our large scale projects.  I have slowly (so slowly) added more milestones, but this part of the change will have to continue into the summer and future school years. (Pay Day Loan Algebra 1, Stocks Algebra 2 and Constructing a house Geometry)  The long term goal with the projects is to have them become a larger part of the curriculum and make them tie better to direct mathematical concepts, for example teach area of a parallelogram through the house project versus lecturing on it and using it in the house project.  This PBL idea for math is still slowly, glacier-ally slowly happening.  (Though in my Physics class we have add a year long class project very successfully, our school is driving towards have 10% of our energy generated on site done by the class.)





So "Has it worked?" is the wrong question, is it making my room 2% better per year is a more appropriate question.  And yes, my room is evolving and getting better.  The projects are good and I am adding milestones (success).  The flip lessons were a great start in flipping and have worked well (success).  The on-line component has been too much work and has gone from a major weekly component in the first semseter, to once per week,  so we are back to paper/pencil homework 4 times per week. (in process). The on-line part will take more reflection this summer.

So what would a guest see in our math room?
 
The typical class now looks like this:  students enter and immediately start the warm-up on the board (usually using expo markers on their desks), we spend the entire period working on math, the room is loud with everyone working on problems, some helping others, some getting help from me.  We hit the recent concepts, the problems that have been a struggle, some easy, some hard.  (No homework help, no grading, no working on tomorrow's assignment - it's homework).  A quick lesson is presented  - where students are often ask to work problems as the lecture is happening.  We work on math for nearly the entire hour, I am guiding the room versus lecturing to it.  We recently received a grant for a new quad smartboard, and instead of just replacing the current board, we moved it to the back of the room - so we have 2!  Now I am trying to keep one student or 2 on the back board at all times, I am constantly having students do the work.  I simply prowl the aisles looking to assist while always remembering to "be less helpful."


Twice a week we have short recursive summative assessments of nonnegotiable mastered material (quiz), once week we have a test on current material and once every 2 weeks we will have a project day.  So 3 days per week there is some sort of recursive assessment, we never test on one concept, or one unit.  The class, the assessments and the homework are always set to make a Juda graduate ready for college and the world.



So is the "time-machined math teacher" from 1985 comfortable in my room, or would he/she think it is a futuristic math room?  What year is my room?  (the end is near....)

A teacher whether from now or 1985 would see plenty of action, practice is done in a variety ways, students always working, very little lecture, and no emphasis on pencil/paper homework.  They would be slightly uncomfortable with how much the students do, or how little I do.  It would be the project days where students justify the math, make assumptions and conclusions and chase projects that would make a time-machined math teacher confused. 

But alas that is only one of ten days, maybe next year it will be 2....