Maker-Space Saturday....

   Today I am at a conference on Makers-Spaces (thank you Sun Prairie HS & presenters from www.naomiharm.org).   My idea today was just to blog through-out the day as thoughts hit me.
    Maker-Spaces are about hands-on.  Using building blocks, electronics, cars - anything, so long as you create.   It is the idea that doing is learning, that doing is understanding.  I know in math that the doing is critically important - but the skill I want to deliver is problem-solving.  And that happens by solving problems -- thinking about and handling problems.
    The first activity was the question what can you do with a paper plate, the instructor used Socrative and we thought about what a paper plate can be used for, then we built something.  It was interesting to think about a problem and then how to solve it.  My gang from Juda (4 of us) designed a car to deliver candy down the ramp at our school building (the cloths pin had a Kit-Kat prior to the picture - I ate it....).    A project that was a problem where students could build, test and revise.  Again - to get "good" at problem solving you must practice problem solving.

   We then discussed room redesign - remaking learning spaces.  The question from the speaker that I grabbed was:  "Is the classroom for me and my stuff or my students?"  After a decade of teaching I need to take a couple of days and make sure my room is actually their room.    I need to continue to make the space multi-purpose, make it a place where the cost of errors is non-existent and opportunity to succeed is always present.  That is part of the maker-space mentality also.
   Finally our group talked about our school.   That was big part of the day for us.  Our school's discussion centered on our vision for students and student learning.  How do we create the environment to help our students become better problem solvers?  And for us it centers on the idea that everyone needs the chance to be hands-on (forget a particular class) and is done for practice (thus not for a grade).  And lastly, probably most importantly, there is a culture where mistakes are not discourage but embraced as a step forward.  That mistakes occur on the path to success and those mistakes along with revisions are a normal part of problem solving (not to be avoided or made fun of).
    It was a good Saturday.

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.....

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.

3 minutes....

So my school change the bell schedule this year from 48 minutes per class to 43-44 minutes per class.  Our 8 hour class schedule now includes a Homeroom silent reading time (which is working great!), but this old dog is having a tough time with the new trick.

It is funny after 6 years in the same school where I have worked hard on developing curriculum based on concepts not texts I have developed lessons that are 47 minutes -- and I find it hard to get down the 3 minutes!  I use to have timing and would end with just a few seconds to go, I had a feel for the bell schedule and what we could finish so there was limited idle time (I believe in no HW time in class -- it is just a waste).  Now I am running into the bell 2-3 times per day, we are working on a project, or a discussion, or practice problems....  I just have no feel anymore.

I am sure I will adjust - I think it is just funny how engrained I have become really and I think it is a good example of how easily you can get into a rut teaching.  I have thought/reflected on this and don't feel this is a rut, but it is comparable.....