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.

Teaching with technology versus using technology to teach

Was at the WTI conference today, it was a good day -- a good PD day.  It really made me think how I use and need to use technology for creating students ready for the world.  My prior belief was reaffirmed --- the device is not important, the project is.  Devices are simply tools - it is the set up of the project and direction (or in my case lack of direction - I like making students decide their project's fate) of the work.

The keynote, Kristen Swanson, spoke about what learning really is.  Students doing problems in class then on a test is not learning; the point of education is "transfer" and that is what I need to continue to locate for my students.  A way to use the math, the problem solving on real world projects.  To take the skills and use them in a context outside my classroom.

A really good problem, with a really messy answer and a chance for students to attack and learn.  Empower students to be persistent and let them own their project.  That is the goal I am walking away with - get the problem and give them the tech.

Use the tech to focus on instant access, to find real authentic audiences -- that empowers the students to work on the problem to show persistence, to do - which all means to learn.

I feel re-energized to find ways to take the math to the world.  Because I want to make sure my students are able to use their skills in the world.  I want them to be problem solvers, so I want that transfer (I also want them to be ready for college math - so again it is a blend).

Finally the keynote spoke about unleashing student's superpowers, which made me think what is mine - and I think mine is my commitment to finding the messy problems, leaving it open ended with multiple solutions.  The problems and projects that stretch students.  My students would call it Captain Annoying most likely at first - but in the end it makes them (and me) better.

Again, overall a good PD day.

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.

Big day in small school math meet

So the Six Rivers East Conference Math Meet happened last week.  And it was a big day in our small school conference.  All the schools have enrollments in the High School from 95 (that's Juda!) to about 140ish. (that is 9 thru 12 total, not per grade).   The teams are set up to be large - each team is 16 students (8 Juniors/Senios & 8 Freshmen/Sophomores) - and I encourage teachers to get everyone and anyone interested to the meet.

This year, out of the 7 conference schools, we had 14 total teams -- or double the number of schools in our conference.  That is a big deal.  And while my school had more than a few teams (53 students did it), lots of the schools had 2 teams this year.  Math is contagious!

Instead of only getting around 100 students doing math for the day, we nearly had 200 students doing math for the day.  Reviewing answers, talking strategies - and just having fun with math.  Some of the students who participated only expect to get 1 or 2 right out of the 20 problems they see and that is okay, because everyone's math journey is along their own timeline. 

It shows that reasonable expectations and passion sell. It shows that everyone can be part of the fun and festivals tied to a math meet. 

It was a good math day.


PS - results at judaschool.com

Math Meet!

Every year for the last six years Juda hosts a conference math meet (could say I do).  The first meet was a ton of work, and it is still quite a few hours - especially creating keys.   This post stared as just a break from the hours of making solutions three nights ago.  It is always a lot of work - but it always works out well.  I think this something every conference should do - it is a great way to do mathematics - to celebrate academics.

The meet ran yesterday and was a really nice time.  Our small school of about 95 students, had about 205 mathletes doing problems.  It is a fun math day.

The hardest part is creating the tests.  With that knowledge I would offer anyone who wants help with getting tests made for their first year.  I am willing to help whoever get this running in their school and/or area.  It is a fun day for my students and the other conference schools. 

For me it is just chance to tie what we do in class, to something outside of class.