Monday, December 1, 2014

ACT Preparation

Working in a school that values ACT scores that will allow students to be accepted to top universities has pushed me to think about ways to prepare students for these high stakes tests.  In my old school, we would give students practice problems to complete and then go over the answers as a class.  Many students did not pay attention to the explanation and did not get better on the same type of question if it were given later.

I want to work toward a more personal approach to the thinking of individual students.  The tests are written so that there are a variety of ways to solve each question, so I want to leverage the thought processes that each student already has about math.  That means that students may solve a problem in multiple ways in my class, but as long as they can solve the problem we have a basis for getting the question correct.  Based on the students background and understanding, I can work with them to find more efficient ways to solve the problem based on their own understanding.  Without knowing where they are starting with the problem, I can't steer them appropriately.

If I direct all students to use the same process or algorithm, then I may have students that are missing an important component and they will not be able to follow the process.  I know that students who are in Algebra 2 should have a base understanding to build on, but the fact is that they could pass their previous class with a 70% and have holes of understanding that are critical to moving forward with a particular method.  Sometimes you have to go old school and just create a chart and find the answer or skip the problem and come back to guess.

In class, we use ClassKick to complete ACT Prep Warm Up questions.  The app allows me to give students individual feedback on their solution.  Students then go back and correct their answer.  If the answer still isn't correct, I give more feedback and the process continues until the questions are correct.

My hope is that each student will get the help that will propel them forward and earn a respectable score on the ACT.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Using Coding in the Algebra 2 Classroom

Making connections between Algebra and the real world is important. Coding is one way to both show students mathematical thinking, since it needs to be fairly explicit when writing code, and show how what they do daily is actually Algebraic thinking and modeling.

I started using bootstrapworld.org to get my students practice in setting up code for evaluating numeric expressions.  This practice reinforced the use of function notation.  After students were comfortable with numeric expressions, we moved on to using function calls to generate shapes that were either outlined or solid in multiple colors.  The next phase is to have students write contracts (function declarations) for functions that are or will be defined.  While working on these contracts, student will being to understand the format of arguments coming into the function as well as coming out of the function.  We can tie these contracts with the actual functions we use in Algebra.

Once students have this general understanding, they will start using their knowledge of transformations and coding and create code that will move a shape around the screen and change it's characteristics.  This will be the transition to coding from the Algebraic background.  Students will have the opportunity to import an image of their choosing and then create a game that will move the image based on a known function.

The opportunity to make the Algebra come to life, so to speak, will hopefully make students more engaged in their learning and increase their understanding.


Saturday, November 29, 2014

Making a Game of It

A traditional Algebra 2 classroom is composed of a Warm Up, Review of the Warm Up, Review of the Homework from the previous night, a Lecture and a possibility of starting homework problems before the end of the class.  The next day is much the same. My goal this year is to empower students.  That is why I am going to start gamifying my classroom with my next Unit.

Students have already chosen their teams of 3 that they will work with through January Mid-Terms.  Students will be expected to work on Missions, Quests and Challenges together.  Each team will work to ensure that each team member is successful in their learning.  Tracking of the teams points will be done in ClassCraft.com.  Students will choose their team names next week.  I have a week and a half to set up the missions in ClassCraft and adjust the Missions, Quests and Challenges in Schoology.

I will need to talk with some gamifiers to find out how to set up the scenario that will drive the Missions, Quests and Challenges.  Somehow I need to learn how to weave a story throughout each Unit, so that the flow of the class is seamless.  Making it easy for students to follow the flow of their assignments, while learning and engaging in the Algebraic concepts.

It is important for me to set the stage for students, so there isn't confusion on what is expected from each student and each team.  I hope that making the math more engaging and allow for learning.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Give them an Authentic Audience

I remember when I would have to write a paper or research project and I didn't truly understand the purpose and audience for whom I was writing.  So every paper probably sounded the same and was written for my teacher to read.  Then I got a job and had to write different types of materials for different groups of people.  It was an adjustment to think about my audience and write accordingly.  If I had learned that earlier in school, it would have been easier.  It wasn't that no one had tried to teach me.  I just didn't get it at the time.  It definitely wasn't for lack of trying on others part.   I remember late nights at the typewriter with my Mom trying to revise a paper that my Mom had taken the time to comment on and I didn't want to listen.  Yes,  I did say typewriter.

I want my student to experience what I did in my first job, now.  Not have to wait until their livelihood is at stake to learn what speaking to an appropriate audience looks and feels like.  I want them to know that citing a reference is important because it is an actual person or group of people that came up with that idea or research and they should get credit for it.  Just as my students want to receive credit for what they do, others want the same respect.

Writing and presenting appropriately to a group is important so that students don't talk over their audiences heads or be seen as condescending to their audience.  If someone has taken the time to listen to my students then they need to be aware of how to engage them and deliver the information at the correctly level and depth.

That is why I am in contact with Tricia Shelton.  Tricia has a class of AP Anatomy and Physiology students that will be commenting on our blog posts with our research about bacteria and viruses.  This will give my students a chance to create research that other students want to view and at a level that would be easy to write for, since they are peers.  It, also, gives them a chance to practice citing their sources and looking at the claims in the Next Generation Science Standards.

I will, also, be working with Adam Taylor.  Adam is very involved in bringing scientists into classrooms.  I am going to use this opportunity to let my students wonder about what scientists do and how they do it.  Then they will get a chance to ask them and gain an understanding of what science really is and how it has changed the world in the last 20 years.

Both Tricia and Adam are trying to get students involved in Social Media for academic use.  They have a twitter chat on Thursday nights for students to connect with scientists.  This will give my students a chance to engage in social media in a positive way and leave a digital footprint that they should be proud to share with colleges.

We, as educators, need to show students the value in things that they take for fun.  Keeping in mind that their voice and the audience they are speaking to can change the tone of whatever environment they are in.  Twitter is usually to communicate daily life, but what if the audience were someone other than friends and family.  Then could it be a tool for learning?  Blog posts usually talk about the daily life of someone who rides their bike and hangs with friends, but what if the audience were shifted to other learners that were interested in the same things you were interested.  We need to show students that it is not the took, whatever it may be, but how you frame it for your audience.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Grading Unit Tests Using a Rubric

In an attempt to give my students useful feedback on their Unit 2 Test, I decided to use a rubric for the main concepts. Given multiple problems to assess 8 concepts, students received scores of 1-4 on each concept and then the ratings were weighted based on their importance to the unit understanding. That way the score added up to the 100 point test of Unit 1.  I can't switch to Standards Based Grading in the middle of the semester so I am doing what I can. Students were given a copy of the rubric with their test along with a contract to retake the test if they wanted. In the contract students made a commitment to create and complete their own study guide. Students could use the rubric to study for the concepts they struggled with and not waste time studying concepts they scored well on the test.

Going forward, I am going to give students the rubric for the test with the review packet. That way they know how they will be graded and not worry so much about where they will lose points. It will give them a focused way to study. Students can use the rubric to drive the conversations we have in our one on one sessions in class or their help sessions during study hall. 

I would like to develop skills for my student's in how to study efficiently and effectively for their tests. Allowing them to know whether they will do well on the test because they understand the expectations. They will also understand where their weaknesses lie and set goals to improve in those areas. Instead of just completing the assignments and hoping for the best.

My goal is to try and help students be as informed about their own learning as possible.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Interactive Notebooks in Algebra 2

I started having my Algbebra 2 students keep an Interactive Notebook for our Unit 3. I know I started a bit late, but I am flipping my classroom and the note packet for Unit 1 had too much extra information. The videos for Unit 1 were too long for my liking. In Unit 2, I started going in a different direction from the traditional textbook. Units are now based in concept development instead of topic development. So, I grouped all solving in one unit. All factoring is in another unit. Transforming parent functions are another unit. In this way, I can show the connections to all forms of functions and not expect the connection to be made by students as we hit each topic (quadratics, polynomials, conics, etc. ). It, also allows me to focus on a concept for all function types and then tie in a previous concept and not have to reteach for a particular function type.  I can say, solve this equation regardless of parent function and have students graph the solutions (x-intercepts) and write The  equation as a function and then graph the related vertex/inflection point and 2 surrounding points based on vertical and horizontal stretch, y-intercept or other facets of the function. 

Since my teaching has gone off textbook and the way it is presented and developed through practice and application is quite different, I needed a way to group the notes so they were accessible and wouldn't be lost in students binders. The Interactive Notebook allows me to be concise and students have a place to go that is ordered and bound together. The concepts are on foldable and colorful sheets which allow students brains to associate a color with a concept and make it easier to visualize the information versus having all notes on white paper with black ink and writing in pencil or pen. That consistency doesn't allow one concept to look different from the others. The table of Contents and Unit sheets allow students to find the concepts in the INB (Interactive Notebook). The color of the page helps students to flip through the notebook and find that particular note sheet by color, as well. 

As we move forward in the year, we will be backfilling concepts in the INB, since we started on page 34 with Unit 3. My hope is that the INB will be helpful for students during their time in algebra 2 and be a valuable resource for them in PreCalc and Calculus, too.   Time will tell. 

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Goals for the coming year are all wrapped in one word - Empower

My goals for this school year can be wrapped up in a package with a bow and a card that says "Empower".



I was watching the TEDxYouth video Why Kids Hate School featuring Nikhil Goyal and it hit me.  Everything I want to do with and for my students this year revolves around the word "Empower".  Empowering them to learn and engage in their own learning like they haven't in the past.  I don't want them to mark time until they get out at the end of the day or, heaven forbid, wait until they graduate to find joy in learning.  I want to spark that inquisitiveness that they have when playing with a new app.  What if...?  What is ...?  How does...? Where did...?  Can I...?

Empowering students "to learn" in a way that connects with them is my goal this year.  I'm not saying that class will be a free for all with students running around doing whatever they want.  I mean that the classroom will be a place where students are presented with information to learn, but in a way that they can connect with at different levels and in different ways.  Let's face it, students don't just walk in our room at the same level, same life experiences and interests.  Teaching would be simple if they did, but they don't.  So we need to engage them in a way that makes sense to them.  Is it always the teachers responsibility to come up with the individual projects that will engage each student or can one project be engaging to multiple students in different ways?  Can that one project be presented to students in the same way and, yet, be completed in ways that make sense to the student, have the same learning outcomes and look completely different in the end?  I believe that it is possible.  It happens in business everyday.

This year, I want my students to feel empowered to own their learning. To feel that learning is something they do and not wait until it is done to them.  Let's face it.  Students won't learn unless they learn.  It isn't a matter of, "Oh, I've seen this before.  Show me how to do it, again."  That's not learning, but students believe that it is learning.  Somewhere they have learned that just being presented with information, seeing it before and handing in the worksheet equates to learning.  If that happened with riding a bike, where would we be? Having to continuously teach our children how to ride a bike.  Learning is deeper than just seeing it.  Just like riding a bike, it becomes part of you and you know it or can trigger a way to get to it. We have done our students a disservice by allowing them to think they have learned, when all they have done is see and mimic.  I want them to be empowered to actually take ownership and pride in internalizing and actually learning in my classroom.

The ideas I have for class this year revolve around giving students back that ownership and allowing them to be more involved in their learning.  There are so many apps and resources out there for teachers to use. I have been trying to keep myself focused on what is truly going to get me to that point of "Empowering" my students and weed out the things that don't contribute to that goal.  Many times, the possibilities that exist are overwhelming.  I wonder if I will be able to keep myself focused, knowing that less is more.

That is where my PLN will come into play, as the year progresses.  Keeping in contact with them and having them keep me accountable to my goal and my students.  I know they are there to lend a suggestion or a hand when needed.  I wouldn't be able to make this journey without them!


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Perfect, is it worth the wait?

I can honestly say from personal experience that opposites do attract. My husband came home from work yesterday with the results of a personality test. I have to say that it fit him perfectly.  As he read the paragraph descriptions for his top five descriptors, we laughed at how it described him like no other "personality test" ever has.   It said that he was structured, rigid, has to have a checklist formulated before he gets out of bed and  check things off everyday before he goes to bed, it doesn't have to be perfect-it just has to be done, frames interactions as a story teller, and seen as an expert at what he does, does a good job of blowing holes in other peoples ideas and feels a sense of pride when he "shows" others how their thinking is wrong. His bottom five had to do with: shows empathy, visionary, comfortable with instability or new situations, patience and able to see a solution to a problem not seen before.

Funny thing is, I am those things that he is not.  I feel others pain, which leads to letting it affect my feeling of worth (even though I know I have insightful ideas), want things to be perfect and have a hard time getting things completed because I want them to be perfect (not just right). I can see where I want to go but have a hard time getting there because there are so many choices of paths to take. 

Being a math and biology teacher has shown me that math teachers are much more like my husband and bio teachers are more like me. Is that because math has a structure already created for us and we just have to pass it on to students?  Old way to teach math was procedural.  Bio teachers are by nature inquisitive about the world around them and want to pass on that wonderment to their students. Life isn't always set out before us, sometimes you have to inquire why something happens like it does and then go about proving what you thought was true, contrary to others beliefs. It takes a brave soul to go against the norm. Look at the great scientists of the past. They were thrown in prison, ostracized, and ridiculed for their beliefs.

I wonder, after all these years of trying to be perfect, I should just let go and just get it done. There are far less obstacles to overcome, if you just get it done and don't worry about being perfect. People readily accept you. If you try to do something different and want it to be perfect, it may never get done perfectly. I still want to change the world, but maybe small imperfect steps would be a better option than large perfect ones. 

I am one of those people that need to see the whole picture. How one thing fits in with another and work from there. I'm not a GPS follower. Some people get out their GPS and just follow the directions. I need to actually see my position on the map to see where I'm headed, in case a detour pops up, and I can reroute myself without waiting for the GPS to recalculate.  It's like that with teaching.  I want to see where my piece fits into the grand scheme, so that my students are on the correct path and avoid being rerouted (retaught) if possible.

Can i do both,  just get it done (not perfect) and still contemplate the best route possible (perfect) for my students?

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Just trying to learn!

I have to say that Twitter is one of the best things to come along in education for me.  I started my Ed classes after my 3rd child was born. I had a degree and was working in the IT world. My husband told me that we were at a point in our lives that we could handle paying for college and a career change. So I jumped at the opportunity to pursue a passion of mine. 

I want to inspire kids to find something in their life that ignites their fire and pursue it!  That is where they will make the biggest impact in this world. I don't want them to go through the motions of the every day grind. Waking up at 70 and wondering what happened to all those great things they were going to accomplish. I believe there is something to be said about doing what you are supposed to do, but does it have to be dreaded? Forcing yourself to get out of bed every morning to do it?  Can you approach it from the other side and add your passion to it?  Or find what you are pasionate about and pursue it?  I want my students to live a life filled with interesting possibilities and not just a job (just over broke) that has a positive impact on them and those around them. 

For kids in school, it is the forgetable worksheet. How many worksheets do you reference by section number in your day to day interactions?  Do you even remember what was on any of those thousands of worksheets that you have completed in your education? Or the paint by numbers projects that you completed, but had no learning takeaways. I wanted something more for my students than arriving at the classroom, receiving a warm up worksheet (5 problems), taking time to review every problem for the whole class (even students that knew the material...and those that waited for me to do the thinking on the board), Reviewing last nights homework (same student scenario as warm up), Talking at them (I mean...providing a very insightful and engaging lecture on quadratic equations, where Billy is poking Sam, Sarah is snapchatting Philip across the room and Tommy is texting with Mom about the cleats he forgot at home for the game tonight) while a few took notes to refer to later, assigning homework (to be completed before lecture ended by a few,  struggled with at home by a handful, fought over at 10:30 at night with parents after a sporting event for a bunch, given up on by a group and copied from others in the locker pod before class by a cluster). But this is what was expected. All teachers of a course need to provide the same assignments and experience the same projects. 

A herd of cattle being directed from one place to another with not much thought required. Students aren't cattle. They are the leaders of tomorrow! We want them to think and make appropriate decisions. Changes that I wanted to see in our practice as an educational community were not being talked about as in depth, with as much urgency or necessity that it needed. 

When we had our first set of snow days in January, I sat down at my computer.  I started looking for something. I wasn't quite sure what it was that I was looking for...but I found it!  I found a website that referred to something called EdCampHOME. (Thanks @LS_Karl for helping put it together) Like everything else in life, I was 2 days late!  BUT, what I did find were archives of the Google Hangouts that I could watch like I was there. Fascinating!!!

So I curled up with my fav blanket and started watching. Taking notes on all the people they referenced and resources that were available. I noticed that they seemed like they had the same passions I did. Then I watched an archive that I really didn't think would help me because I am not a social media type of girl. I am fairly private in my personal life. Man was I wrong about the need for the idea they presented on that video!

I don't remember who was in that session, one may have been @MsVictoriaOlson, but it changed the world for me!  It was about Twitter. I had an account that I made years before, like we all do, and I had "tweeted" out assignments (before I started using Remind101) to my students. That idea for the use of Twitter totally morphed into something amazing that day!  I feverishly started trying to understand and use this new tool. Totally clueless, but with reckless abandon, I started trying to understand this hashtag thing. So many tweeps tried to help me! 

Then someone re-tweeted a google doc (http://goo.gl/oqHneq) and it was on. This doc contained the hashtags, days of the week and times that Twitter chats were run by inspiring teachers in any subject area you could want!  

I took the Leap and refuse to turn back!  The educators that I have connected with have the same passion as I do for educating students and more!  I found a world where my ideas are normal! And other teachers push my thinking again and again! It has led to so many fabulous people and opportunities to grow as a person in the last six months than my last 45 years on this earth!  It is such a great place to be!