Making a Commitment

We are currently at the end of unit 1 and the beginning of unit 2 at the same time.  The in-class discussions are focused on the beginning of unit 2, and the at-home assessments - more essay-like questions that are proving to give me a far better feel for what the kids know, and what they don't - are focused on the material from unit 1.  So, to me this was the perfect time to have the kids do some reflection/self-assessment and goal-setting.

At the beginning of each unit, I have the students take a look at the learning objectives, written in student-friendly language, and assess where they believe they currently are with each topic by marking "I completely understand this topic", "I somewhat understand this topic", or "I do not understand this topic".  Review topics tend to get either "completely" or "somewhat", while the new topics tend to get a "do not".  I then ask them to write a statement or two about each of the ones they marked as "somewhat" and "do not", being as specific as they can about what it is they don't know or understand.  I have them do this on an actual sheet of paper (a lot of things have gone paperless this year), and sign a statement at the bottom of the page in which they commit do doing what it takes to get their questions answered, including preparing for class, looking things up when appropriate, and actively participating in the discussions.  This time, however, there was a twist.

On the back of the sheet, I asked the students to make two lists, both of which were to concentrate on the "student skills" and not the "math skills".  The first list was to be about what they did well in the first unit: did they prepare for class, did they participate well, etc.  The second list was to be about what they need to improve on to make the second unit better than the first.  But let's be honest: just writing down the goals for the unit isn't really all that effective.  Most kids take the goals and tuck them away at the back of their folder or binder and never look at them again.  My solution?  Make a video.

There is a new website/app called FlipGrid, and it's whole purpose is to help kids share their learning through video.  Among other things it does well, FlipGrid uploads videos waaayyy faster than anything else I've tried, taking only seconds instead of minutes or hours.  Another great feature is that I can set the videos so they are shared with the entire class, meaning the kids are getting feedback from one another as well as from me.  For the unit goals, this is perfect.  The kids had to make a short (less than 30 seconds) video in which they were to state their "student skill" goals for the unit, which was to be shared with the entire class.  As we make our way through the unit, it is now our responsibility - all of us - to hold each other accountable to these goals.  I didn't tell them about the video until they had written their goals, and needless to say, there was some nervous laughter and a bit of hesitation.  But, they did make the videos, and they did watch the videos made by the other students.  

We've only had one class since the videos were made.  For my part, I plan to remind the kids about their commitment, both to themselves and to the others in the class, on a daily basis.  We'll see how it goes.

Above the Line, 4 for 50

Early in the summer (as in, the day after school let out), I was lucky enough to attend a workshop led by Dave Burgess.  If any of you have had the same good fortune, then you know the energy and passion Dave has to “Teach Like a Pirate” are infections, and that you walk away from the workshop with a firm commitment to do something different, even if you don’t quite know what that different thing is.  After spinning lots of different thoughts around, I decided to be more focused and more intentional during the first three days of class, which is something Dave mentions in his presentation and dedicates himself to in his own classroom.  I mentioned this briefly in the last post, but now that the three days have passed, here are the details and how it went.

Before Day 1: Since I had the class lists and a way to contact the kids, I sent out a couple Google Forms to collect basic contact information and to begin to get to know the kids.  The questions I asked for the “get to know you” part were:

• How did you last math class empower or disempower you?
• What were the qualities of the best teacher you’ve ever had?
• How do you handle conflict with another student? (In a discussion-based class, this one can be very important.)
• What type of feedback do you expect to receive in this class and how often do you expect to receive it?

The number of responses to the last question that were along the lines of “every two weeks or so” shocked me, and made me realize that even though I may be giving feedback every day, the students need to realize that I’m giving them feedback.  If they don’t realize it and internalize it, then it’s not really feedback, is it?  So, one more thing to focus on this year.

Finally, I made a short video introducing myself to the class and I asked the students to do the same.  If nothing else, I’m ahead of schedule in terms of learning the students’ names this year, but I think it made them realize, even before they got to my room, that this class was going to be run differently than other classes they have experienced in the past.  It also allowed me to find out a bit about their hobbies and their personality...always a plus.

Day 1: The class period was shortened due to homeroom, so we had 40 minutes together.  I displayed the kids’ names on the whiteboard courtesy of the projector that’s hooked up to my computer (along with their number for the semester, which I use to place them in groups each day), and had them cross off their name before they sat down, which made attendance on the first day a breeze.  I also had them make a “name plate” from a folded, large index card, on which they were to place their first name on one side and their number on the other.  Rather than give directions after the bell rang, I explained to one student what was to happen as they walked into class, and then asked them to lead others through the process.  As soon as everyone knows the name of everyone else in the room, we will stop using the name plates, but until then, the students will be required to have them out during the discussions.  Once the students were seated, we left the room to do a tornado drill followed by a fire drill, and we spent the rest of the period outside.  There were lots of comments along the lines of “Thank God we’re not just sitting again for another 40 minutes.”  Outside, I went through the basic set-up of the class and what their responsibilities are to the class, to one another, to me, and to themselves.  Nice, relaxed beginning, and a tangible reinforcement that this class is not going to be like others they have taken.  Plus, no homework, unless they didn’t fill out the pre-day 1 forms or make the video.

Day 2: Since I switch groups every day, the students need a brief description about how to find their seat, which means on day 2 (similar to day 1) I told one kid as they walked in the door how to find their seat, and that they were in charge of making sure everyone else understood what to do.  I then briefly took them through the class page on Schoology, just to show them where all of the paperwork for the class was located.  Not exciting, but necessary.  After this, I gave them ten minutes to individually look through three exercises and make as much progress as they could.  This was followed by having one group do a practice discussion which the rest of the class watched,  During this discussion, I interrupted the kids a lot, noting what was good and what to try to avoid.  I also explained how to use the green, yellow, and red cups that are placed on each table.  If the yellow cup is on top of the stack, then that indicates to me that the group is fine, but still discussing the exercise.  If the green cup is on top, that indicates the everyone in the group understands the solution, and that they would like for me to come over and hear their explanation (I normally ask a student who has not been as active in the discussion to give this explanation).  If the red cup is on top, that indicates that the group is stuck and needs a hint.  Again today, no homework.  They know it’s coming tomorrow night, but there’s no need to give them work just for the sake of giving them work.

Day 3: Among other books I read this summer, I finally got around to reading “Above the Line” by Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer (as a Buckeye I should had done this a few years ago, but…).  In it, he describes the type of leadership he tries to instill in his players, how he tries to instill it, and the ways in which this manifested itself during the championship season in 2014.  “Above the Line” refers to an overall attitude of self-responsibility, of being purposeful, intentional, and skillful when making decisions and leading others, and of avoiding blaming, complaining about, and getting defensive with others.  This sounds a lot like the attitude I try to instill in my kids, but I’ve never been able to look at the process as systematically as I have this year, and I think Coach Meyer’s book is a big part of the reason why.  In addition to this, he talks about instilling an attitude of “4 to 6, A to B”, which in the world of Ohio State football means “go as hard as you can for 4 to 6 seconds from point A to point B”.  Finally, Coach Meyer describes the concept of being “nine units strong” on the football field, meaning that to be an elite football program, all nine units of the team (offense,defense, special teams, etc.) need to be running at full capacity.  I took these ideas, synthesized them, and gave them a discussion-based classroom flavor.  Signs that say “4 for 50, Above the Line” are now in several places on the walls of my classroom, meaning that for the classroom to run at full capacity, for the students to learn and to grow as much as they can, we need all four tables to have students learning with an above the line attitude for 50 minutes every day.

So, on day 3, we watched a short video that describes what “above the line” means, had a brief discussion about it, and introduced the phrase “4 for 50”, after which the students did a pre-unit self-assessment for unit 1.  Essentially, I list out the skills we will be covering and ask the kids to indicate where they think they currently are with each skill.  Sample exercises are given so they can check themselves.  I don’t look at these; they are purely for the kids to use during the unit, focusing on the areas in which they are weak and keeping track of their progress.  Once they filled out the form, the kids had brief discussions about whichever exercises they wished; however, I asked them to focus on the topics and skills that more members of the group said they were having trouble with.  No need to run from the things you find difficult. Run toward them, and master them.

The preparation for day 4 was to get ready for the first “real” discussion, which would consist of the first five exercises from the packet for the course.  It also included filling out a brief Google form in which they stated (for each exercise) that they were ready to lead the discussion of a particular exercise, or which listed the questions they had about it.

Day 4 was the smoothest first discussion day I have ever had.  While I am certain there are other factors that could have contributed to how smoothly things went, I honestly think that being this intentional about how I started the class has already made a significant impact on how things will go this year.  So, my thanks to Dave Burgess and to Urban Meyer.  Who knew that a high school social studies teacher from San Diego and a college head football coach could have such a positive impact on a math class in southwest Ohio?

Recommitted

It’s been far too long since I’ve sat down and really reflected on how things are going.  Not that things aren’t going well, because they are, and I think that’s been part of the problem.  So often, we only reflect on what went wrong, in the hopes of making it better.  We lose sight of the fact that if something went well, we should reflect on why it went well, and on ways it could be even better.  In addition to this, if things are going well, we tend to push the reflection off, prioritizing other things ahead of it (like planning, giving feedback to students, etc., …), until eventually we fall completely out of the habit of assessing ourselves on a regular basis.  I know this has been the case for me over the course of the last year.

That ends, starting now.

So, as I being to prepare for the year, here is the plan:

1. Have the kids prepare the exercises for the discussion the night before, but with an emphasis on asking questions.  For the five exercises that will be assigned each night, the homework will be to fill out a Google form that commits the student to leading the discussion for one of the exercises the next day, and then requests that they list at least one question for each of the other four exercises they would like to have answered the next day.
2. In class, for each exercise, step 1 for the students will be to put the questions they wrote for homework on the board.  If someone has committed to leading the discussion, then it is their responsibility to make sure each of the questions is addressed during the discussion.  If no one has chosen to lead a particular exercises, then the questions will be the introduction to the discussion.
3. Continue to be “gradeless” as far as possible, placing the focus on the learning rather than on the grades.  The year and a half of evidence-based assessment has gone really well, but I’m still trying to find a way to keep the grades out of it.  Unfortunately, the fact that we have to report grades regularly (as opposed to having the option to report feedback and progress only, which I would love) prevents this from happening as completely as I would like.  I understand why; I just wish there was something better available.
4. Have students produce a “spider diagram” of the discussion each day.  My plan is to model this during one of the first three days, and then have the students take it from there.  I will probably have a different student take responsibility for each exercise.  However, if it gets in the way of the students being able to effectively get what they need out of the discussion, then I’ll probably drop this.
5. Continue to use the red-yellow-green cups that allow the students to indicate where their group is with a particular exercises.  Last year, each table had one red, one yellow, and one green cup.  They were stackable, so the cup on top indicated where the group was: yellow meant they group was working toward a solution, green meant they had a solution that needed to be checked, and red meant they were stuck and needed a nudge in the right direction.  One thing I need to do better is to require the kids to use the cups, and to stick by my self-imposed rule of not interfering if the yellow cup is on top.
6. Since our school is going 1-1 this year, have the kids take notes (as well as possible) on the same document.  Since word processors still aren’t very math friendly, especially when trying to take notes quickly, I’m not sure how it will go, but I think it’s at least worth a try.
7. Get the kids outside at least once a week.  This may be with projects, but it may also be with just doing what we usually do in class, but doing it outside.  My working title for this (admittedly stolen, but I can’t remember where I saw this...Twitter, maybe) is “deskless Wednesdays”, but it may be better placed on some other day of the week.  Along these same lines, I plan to take the class outside on the first day, at least for a little bit to do a fire drill...why just talk about where they need to go when we can actually go outside?
8. Continuing with this, I think it will help if we spend the first three days really setting the stage for the year.  The plan is to have a group talk through an exercise (maybe a 3-act exercise, maybe something that more closely resembles one of the “standard” daily exercises, maybe something else), make a spider diagram, and so on, and then debrief afterwards, creating a list of expectations on a Google Doc as we go for reference.
9. Have the kids reflect everyday on the discussion, focusing on who was the best prepared, who asked the most useful question, and so on, and not focusing on things like “who got the answers the fastest” or “who answered the most questions”. If I really value the questions, creativity, and learning from mistakes more than the answers (and I do), then the work we do and the feedback I give needs to emphasize this.  Another way I want to emphasize this is for the kids to bring in an exercise for me to do, cold, right there in front of them.  If I solve it, fine.  If I don’t, fine.  The point is the discussion, the willingness to try something, being comfortable with the mistakes, and so on, and to give the kids license to do the same.

So that’s where I am right now at the beginning of Harkness, Year 6.  And I need to commit myself to keeping this blog updated far more regularly, mainly because I need to reflection and self-assessment as much as the kids do.  The fact that I’m not being graded on whether or not I’m do should be irrelevant.  Otherwise, I’m a hypocrite.