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.

Summer School Math - Passion makes it fun.

So today was the first day of our school's summer Math class - a skill practice class.  I like the idea, coming in 12 days total scattered over 5 weeks for 90 minutes a session.  Just hitting up the things we had already worked on, it is a way to help them recall skills (build on some concepts) and just make sure the students don't backslide.  I did a little recruitment by saying it would be different than the school year (wasn't sure how though when I said it) and got a 1/3 of the 9,10 & 11th graders.
 
So I started with a "scavenger" hunt -- where the clues lead to practice problems that they completed in teams.  I ran the 2 classes with passion, I was really pumped up - and that in turn pumped them up!  They practiced math, ran the halls and overall had a relaxed first day.  I am following up with some relay games coupled to practice problems, then I want to do some sort of "math lab."  (That is the part I have not figured out yet - I have to create/find/steal some sort of math lab.  The lab needs to make sense to supporting/growing skills.)

But first things first, today went well.  Math was fun...

Skills required.... Not quadratic formula....

So prior to teaching I was an engineer and manager for about a decade.  Then I started working on my masters in instruction to teach mathematics.  I was 33 years old when I started, was successful, and could no longer do the quadratic formula from memory, because .... wait for it.....   I did not need to.  But I could do algebra on demand, could find the quadratic formula on google to get roots, and could use the math I knew to dig in and solve problems.  The true reality of math required for being successful.

So as we start chasing the Common Core and its requirements we need to take pause and ask what is really needed.  Math has natural beauty, it ties together processes and our world - that is what students need to see.  They also need to be able to take large problems and rip through them looking for patterns and possibilities.  Meaning they need to be good at Algebra, graphing and problem solving.

Yet I fear these skills are going to be considered low level by teachers looking at the core (get them done in 9th grade -- know 'em, then never forget them, which we know doesn't work).  Most of the standards in High School are well above that, leading to my fear that the Core will scare teachers into showing everything, proceduralizing everything and developing a bunch of students who think math is just memorizing (an old school Biology course).

Worst yet, it will lead to a group of students who do not want to attack a math problem unless it fits into a little box they have seen...  I see it often with students who transfer to my school, students who won't start a problem unless they know the "procedure" to finish.  The problems we need to solve in our world are not this clean.

The Core will not produce problem solvers unless we look at our students and test them for true skills.  Yet it remains to be seen it we are going to test well, or measure end results well...    If we don't it will be another program with all the right thoughts and none of the right results.

Now versus later... Grades, GPA, Math & College.

So as a parent would I rather know of my child's struggles now or later?  I ask because I have taken the path that all students who can get thru my Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 sequence are college credit math ready (meaning they will know enough to take and pass college algebra for credit).  When you couple college/career ready idea, which is a "good" goal, with the fact that ~40% of incoming Freshmen to college are not testing into credit math you can figure that there will more than a few students who struggle in my class. {Side note that 40% had to take the Alg 1/Geometry/Alg 2 sequence so there is an issue}.  And it is easy to compare Little Johnny to Little Jimmy from a neighboring district where a 70% is a C and it is a D- at my school....  But I like our scale and I demand college/career ready skills.

The issue that was raised with my policy to make sure they're ready was with their GPA.  Now what I know and accept from the college admissions people is they don't put a lot of faith in GPA anymore.  So ACT and just an overall GPA is what they look for (we are not talking Ivy League here).

But at the same time a lot of my students don't react until they have a solid D going (or lower), and even though I allow retakes on everything - multiple times - a students own rosiness on what they can do makes it so some get Ds first quarter.  (I react at the D/D- level with mandatory rework for the student, except with students in Pre-Calc Calc and Senior Math -- these upperclassmen should be ready).  I always talk about the semester grade, effort and the need for the student to get the math skills to succeed at college.  But I have hit the GPA argument too, how is the student going to get into college with the D (or even a C with some parents).  My reply is they will get the skills, do well on the ACT and get into an appropriate college.  Better to struggle with me -- I care, push, provide extra work and opportunities -- versus at college where a remedial math student is admitted under a cloud of graduation uncertainly. Where they don't have an ally.....

Some of my benchmarks for performance are based on my acceptance of two things: 1) if you don't use it you lose it and 2) I know that the average student will not work at a subject hard for a grade, so I make everything about the skills.

What that means is my curriculum and grade system is set to make college ready math students.  It does not incorporate things for "nice or good" students, it does not give fluff at the end of the quarter so the parents won't yell at the students or me.  (Or the best where parents yell at students, then student says "It is not my fault," and they then call me and without pause start yelling at me...)

So I expect students to learn, understand and apply all skills in the 3 courses at any time in the 3 courses once mastered.  I quiz twice per week on these skills with no partial credit.  It means I can give a factoring quiz in middle of Geometry, or a congruent triangle quiz in Alg 2.  Or a quiz on basic 8th grade material anytime I want....

To end, I am unable to tell a student they have an average grade {C} if they cannot move to the next task -- college or career.  I am willing to work with them, help them, console them but I will not just pass them....

Skills or responsibility....

So as the quarter ends I am having the same thought as always -- is it skills or responsibility or a little bit of both.  What is a grade?  What I mean is every quarter I am descended upon for help to raise grades at the 11th hour.  So my policy is to have grades represent skills & conceptual understanding, not time and not work ethic.   For that reason I have paths for students to do work and have retakes, but after grading my 100th retake in a few days (for only 95 students) I am left wondering if this path is doable for me and/or best for my students.

It works though, Juda's math abilities are increasing -- whether checked by my assessments, the state assessments or the ACT exam.  And I don't worry about the struggler who works hard and just needs more time.  But I worry about the procrastinator and what I may be reinforcing.

So my new big move this year was only 1 retake a day rule (that works pretty well).  Last year without it I had students lining up for 2 or 3 quizzes, which is just a panic drill.   I also enter whatever grade they get (not the best) so the grade represents current understanding.  Yet when I talk with professors in the UW system I wonder if I am doing my students harm, if I making them think this is how it works after HS (I do preach that HS and college are different - but why believe me...)

So here I sit; quarter ended, grading globs of re-tests and re-quizzes -- but I see growth.  It just takes some external pressure (the end of quarter)  -- so until I figure something better (or copy somebody's "better") I will continue with this.  Because it is better than students just giving up, or deciding not to learn.  It really allows me to hold high standards....

"I cannot do math" is taught.....

So today I helped a friend with some math.  As non-traditional college student it has been awhile and rust is understandable.  But the person's feeling that "They're no good at math" was surely taught as clearly as any topic in Algebra.   

This myth , of people being incapable of math, is propogated by parents (who say "I was never good at math" meaning their kids should not be expected to learn), teachers (some who say "some students just don't get it") and our culture in general which supports the idea that some don't get math.

Lets pose the situation where little Johnny cannot read, do we simply say he cannot get it? No, we remediate and push and challenge, we know it is a skill that is needed to succeed.  Well guess what, the world has changed and the "good jobs" require abstract thinking and problem solving --- math.

Going back to little Johnny we as a society realize and accept that students learn at different paces -- having multiple reading groups in elementary school and middle school.  Yet there is a thought that they should all learn math at the same pace?  Where's the logic in this?

As teachers and people who care about youth and people who care about the USA (it's the economy, it's prosperity, it's position in the world) we need to stop the math excuses.  We need to realize that students learn at different paces AND THAT'S OK!  We need to get the concepts to our students and not let the idea they cannot learn math settled into a student's psyche.

We also must speak truths -- some students see math faster and/or better.  Just like some students play an instrument more quickly or run faster.  But all students can pick up concepts and that message needs to be heard over and over until a cultural change starts in our country.  Because we cannot allow  "I can't do math" to be acceptable -- it will not lead to the American dream -- it will not lead to a better life for that student.  The world economy has changed the rules and we must change.  Math is hard but it is now a prerequiste for a large percentage of high standard of living work.

Everyone can do math, the paces are different.  It is simply whether a student shuts down and quits that dooms him/her to failure.  I, for one, will not quit on them or every let them say "I am no good at math" -- I always say you can be, but the world is unfair and you will have to work harder than most of the other students;  but you will get it!  And if they don't quit they do.....