Ideas for Habit 8 Building Vocabulary

I started delving into Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking recently.  The introduction caught my attention because I spent a chunk of my career in elementary school.  There, much attention is given to teaching reading strategies to students like fix up strategies, thinking strategies, making connections and more.  Authors Pearse and Walton take those ideas and apply them to math.

Building vocabulary is essential at all levels in all courses.  I've written about vocabulary before ... so today I'm capturing some of those snippets!

From Overcoming Textbook Fatigue, the strategy vocabulary mix-up is highlighted.   She suggests placing vocabulary words on table tents - one word per tent.  Set up student groups, use roles even ... reader, illustrator, leader, and reporter.  Provide resources ... a textbook, other books, chart paper, markers.  Have each group draw, define, and explain their assigned term using the available resources.  When completed, ask each group to report out and hang up their work to create an illustrated word wall. 

I mentioned self-reflection on vocabulary at Math = Love last year! Here is a snippet from that post.  I remember reading about this strategy in Marzano's book on vocabulary but I didn't put it into practice this past year.  Creating a master list for each unit, rating before, in the middle and at the end of the unit will be helpful in getting students to think about their own understanding of math terms.

Early in my blogging (2012) I captured this vocabulary strategy. Played a vocabulary game this week in "new teacher" orientation that I liked called Moving Words.  Choose enough vocabulary words so that you have one per 2 students.  Ask each pair to come up with a movement or signal  for their assigned word.  When all pairs are ready, stand in a circle.  The teacher leads by illustrating a word with a movement.  The class repeats her movement.  The next pair in the circle illustrates their word.  The class repeats it.  Then the class repeats the teacher's word and the first pair's word.  The 2nd pair illustrates their word.  The class repeats it.  Then the class repeats the teacher's word, the 1st pair's word, and the 2nd pair's word.  The process continues around the circle.   After the movement exercise, ask students to sit down and make notes on the vocabulary words.

Last summer I played with ThingLink and created a vocabulary example using it.  I have to admit that I did not use ThingLink with my students last year.  It is a tool I think has a lot of value.  There are just so many tools, and so little time.  I'm curious what tech tools others find to be the most valuable!

A last example of vocabulary strategies to share today comes from the Desmos class activities.  The PolyGraph activity engages students, they have fun with it, and it provides the perfect tool for using vocabulary to play a 20 questions-like game defining graphs.

Confession: I don't do enough with vocabulary to ensure all students understand the terms completely.  We use academic vocabulary daily, we talk math daily, but possibly too often I make the assumption that all students know the meanings and nuances of the words we are using.  This habit is one to think about for sure!

Reflecting on Habit 7 Summarize, Determine Importance, Synthesize

The authors of Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking begin the chapter on Habit 7 with this sentence, "Determining importance, summarizing, and synthesizing are related acts that together comprise one of the most crucial of the nine critical thinking habits."

In the chapter they talk about note-taking and journaling. This past year I encouraged students to use the Cornell Note System.  I created the structure for them; and for some students that worked well. Others struggled with notes.  They were good about class discussion, working out examples, but taking notes seemed to be a challenge.  I've been thinking about how to improve note-taking in the coming year.

I especially want to take more time with summarizing the lesson.  I know how important it is in my own learning to stop and reflect for a moment on what I've learned and how it connects to previous thoughts.  Stop and jot is a tool - helpful for summarizing learning as is One Minute Write.  Another tool is creating study cards.  I did not use this at all last year, but in the last few months I have seen examples of sketch noting that would make awesome study cards. And study cards would be good tools for interleaving practice.

My take-away from this habit is that I need to allow more time for reflection.  Summarizing can't happen well if we are frantically working right up until the bell rings.  My goal ... set my internal teaching clock to allow reflection in the last five minutes!

An aside about journaling ... it's a great tool as well.  My students blog but I don't require a particular topic.  So some students use their blog to synthesize learning.  Others use it to curate interesting ideas they are researching in math.  I want to continue student blogs in the coming year and I'm trying to decide what purpose is best.

Resources for Habit 6 Question for Understanding

Habit 6 in Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking matches our school's initiative well.  One focus last year was critical thinking.  To analyze our effectiveness in addressing critical thinking we focused on questioning.

Pearse and Walton stress the importance of preplanned high level thinking questions.  Most of us have heard of research that says in most classes teachers ask mostly low level questions.  It takes specific planning to be sure to use worthwhile questions.  Rarely will they just happen.

Resources that I have used to help with questioning strategies include these books.

I wrote about these books in a previous blog post.  In that blog I also note a helpful resource by Ontario Ministry of Education, an excellent article entitled, "Asking Effective Questions," which has question stems for planning high level questions for various instructional purposes.  These are similar to what Pearse and Walton have included in their book.

As Pearse and Walton point out, keep such a list of questions or question stems handy when planning is helpful in designing optimal questions.  In addition to keeping lists handy, using a template for planning discussion around a problem or question is useful.  The book Intentional Talk has such templates.  Those templates are free right now on the Stenhouse Publishers website.  You can also preview the entire book for free there as well.  Currently there is a slow math chat about this book on Twitter!  Check out the hashtag #intenttalk or this blog post on the summer long chat!

One area I want to work on is making sure all students are participating in the thinking when I ask questions.  I've been reviewing the book, Total Participation Techniques.  Some of those participation techniques include think, pair, share; quick writes; whiteboard responses; hold-up cards, four corners, and more. Since we will have iPads this year, I am looking for free apps that we can use easily as participation techniques that will add to our learning.  One strategy I saw this week, is having students respond to a prompt, capturing a screen shot, and adding to it Padlet.  I can envision students working out or illustrating their work in educreations or desmos, capturing it and sharing.  Then we can easily talk more about individual students' strategies.  Hopefully by sharing more student responses we can generate more student questions!

If you haven't read Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking, check it out.  Yes, it has an elementary focus but the habits apply to all of schooling!

Great Sites to Support Habit 5 Predict, Infer, Recognize Trends, Use Patterns, and Generate & Test Hypotheses

The authors of Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking write:

"Playing Clue or Twenty Questions, reading Nancy Drew, and watching Scooby-Doo were a big part of our childhood memories.  Why? Because we became part of the mystery. We collected all the clues, made our predictions, inferred from the implications, and became part of the action. We were reading the situation and actively reading the world." (pg. 53)

This description resonates with me and describes how I want my math class to flow.  How awesome would it be if students could become part of the "story" in each class, uncovering clues, putting ideas together, and celebrating the ending with a mystery solved.  I am pondering how to create this vibe, this environment, this structure!

Predicting, inferring, generating and testing hypotheses are all very closely related.  Recognizing trends and using patterns are also related.  And all of these activities are very much a part of the secondary classroom.

Always, Sometimes, Never are statements that allow students to justify thinking using prediction, inference, and testing hypotheses.  Just this week I launched a new website curating statements to be used for this purpose.  They will make good classroom warm-ups, discussion starters, or assessment opportunities.  Check out the website, and please, help add statements.  It is definitely a work in progress!

Collecting data to examine patterns is a great way to illustrate the relationship between the circumference and the diameter of a circle (pi), the relationship between the legs of a right triangle and its hypotenuse, or the values of a quadratic and the discriminant.  I use this activity borrowed from a Holt textbook before introducing the discriminant:

Students graph the functions and complete the table.  They talk together with partners about patterns they see and make conjectures.  We discuss their ideas as a class, and then hopefully, explanations of the discriminant make more sense to them as we apply it to problem solving.

Several sites provide support for teachers wanting to develop this habit:

• Estimation 180:  great for working on number sense.  Students guess - make a prediction.  The value comes in the discussion as students explain the evidence they use to support their inferences.
• Visual Patterns: the place to go for building understanding of patterning, for developing and testing hypotheses.
• Which One  Doesn't Belong: perfect for examining patterns, making inferences.
• Graph of the Week: Awesome site for analyzing graphs, making inferences, recognizing trends!

Do you have a structure or routine to promote inferring, patterning, testing hypotheses in your classroom?

I started delving into Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking recently.  The introduction caught my attention because I spent a chunk of my career in elementary school.  There, much attention is given to teaching reading strategies to students like fix up strategies, thinking strategies, making connections and more.  Authors Pearse and Walton take those ideas and apply them to math.

Yes, the book is written primarily for K-8 teachers.  But strategies can often be applied to a wide range of audiences and I want to make connections from the book to my high school class!

Pearse, M., & Walton, K. (2011). Habit 1: Monitor and Repair Understanding. In Teaching numeracy: 9 critical habits to ignite mathematical thinking. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. 

Multiple Representations & Habit 4 Represent Math Non-linguistically

Habit 4 in Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking is labeled "represent math non-linguistically."  It reminds me immediately of Marzano's highly effective strategies.  But in secondary math it is more than using various graphic organizers to organize content although that is significant.

In 2012 Texas adopted new standards.  They are being applied to high school mathematics this year in our district.  There are seven process standards that are the same K - 12.  In that set of seven, at least 3 relate to this habit:

(D)  communicate mathematical ideas, reasoning, and their implications using multiple representations, including symbols, diagrams, graphs, and language as appropriate
(E)  create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas
(F)  analyze mathematical relationships to connect and communicate mathematical ideas

Multiple representations has been a strong emphasis for some time now.  Even popular major textbooks identify clearly the exercises that ask students to look at math from multiple representations:

A popular problem solving organizer asks students to represent the problem using a picture, a table, a graph, and an algebraic model.

In addition to these forms of representation, we use manipulatives even in secondary math. From MTBoS bloggers, some examples include:

• Algebra Tiles and Completing the square from Julie
• Legos and Feasible Regions from Fawn
• Skittles and Exponential Growth and Decay from Sarah

We also use media - pictures, video - to represent mathematics.  A couple of great resources include Estimation 180 and 3-Act Tasks.

When you think of representing math non-linguistically, what tools do you hope to find?

Examples for Habit 3 Identifying Similarities and Differences

Critical thinking across all disciplines is one of our school initiatives.  We looked specifically at our questioning strategies this past year.

I was attracted to Pearse and Walton's book, Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking, because I want to incorporate habits that promote high levels of mathematical thinking. Their book is written with K - 8 in mind, so as I read, I'm interpreting their habits for the secondary  math class. 

This third habit, identifying similarities and differences, clearly connects to Marzano's work on high-yield instructional strategies.  There are four ways to identify similarities and differences: by comparing or classifying and creating metaphors or analogies.

I teach Algebra 2.  We spend most of our year on functions, identifying key attributes of each function, paying attention to transformations, and then applying those functions to problem situations.  Learning to note similarities and differences is essential to our work.

One go-to strategy is I notice, I wonder.  It is so easy to jump into a lesson without pausing, giving time for students to examine a graph, an equation, a situation.  It is in that pause, students can notice similarities, wonder about differences.

Another task that I used several times this past year is "Odd One Out."  I gave students four functions, expressions, equations and asked them, "Which one doesn't belong?"  We started with the Sesame Street clip to activate prior knowledge.  Students enjoyed the clip and sang along. I created a couple of my own "odd one out" activities and found a few of them in the book, The Algebra Teacher's Activity-a-Day, Grades 6-12: Over 180 Quick Challenges for Developing Math and Problem-Solving Skills.  Then sometime this year, MTBoS teachers started talking about the activities and Mary Bourassa created this website, Which One Doesn't Belong.  Check it out!  Add to it!  Invite your students to add to it!  One particular feature of the Odd One Out activities that worked best in my classroom and a definite difference from the Sesame Street version is that there are multiple correct answers.  Here is one example I used this year:

Student responses included:

1. The quadratic function because it is the only one symmetrical about the y-axis.
2. The exponential function because it is the only one with an asymptote.
3. The exponential function because it is the only one that does not pass through the origin.
4. The linear function because it is the only one with an unrestricted range.
5. The linear function because is the only "straight" line.
6. The linear function because it is the only one that can be found in the third quadrant.
7. The square root function because it is the only one that is only found in the first quadrant.
8. The square root function because it is the only one with a restrict domain.

Other comparison activities from this past year include:
Systems problems ... how are these alike and different

Factoring methods - I wrote about that activity here

A problem I didn't use this past year but one I want to use to use this year is "Intersections" at NRICH Maths. It gives 2 sets of simultaneous equations and asks: Explain why the solutions are so different and yet the pairs of equations are nearly identical. Can't wait to listen in on these discussions! I'm hoping that by looking at the equations more critically students will understand the significance of accuracy.  Minor changes in math can make huge differences!

Comparison activities fit well in the course I teach.  I struggle with creating metaphors and analogies.  If you use an activity for creating metaphors or analogies in secondary math will you share?

Pearse, M., & Walton, K. (2011). Habit 1: Monitor and Repair Understanding. In Teaching numeracy: 9 critical habits to ignite mathematical thinking. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. 

Strategies for Habit 2 Activate Background Knowledge

Our brains are wired to make connections.  I often describe students' brains like sophisticated filing cabinets and each file is cross referenced with multiple tags so that content is well connected.

When planning lessons it is essential to structure content so that students can make connections; educators call this activating background knowledge.  Students need to see, experience the connections to make meaning out of new content.

I collected a few strategies - some tried and true, some new ...

Stimulating Interest; Developing Curiosity

• Anticipation Guides can stimulate discussion before a unit begins.
• True/False questions can be used for 2-corner voting.
• Start with I notice ... I wonder sessions.

Building knowledge, making connections through vocabulary

• Mathematics Word Wall is a creative collection of math words.
• Vocabulary Cards Set 1 and Set 2 are illustrated cards.
• Vocabulary Activities ... ways to use word walls.

Scaffold learning

• Use paired learning, Think, Pair, Share to support new learning.
• Use thinking aloud to support learners.
• Clarify learning targets and criteria for success.

How do you activate background knowledge?

I started delving into Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking this week.  The introduction caught my attention because I spent a chunk of my career in elementary school.  There, much attention is given to teaching reading strategies to students like fix up strategies, thinking strategies, making connections and more.  Authors Pearse and Walton take those ideas and apply them to math.

Yes, the book is written primarily for K-8 teachers.  But strategies can often be applied to a wide range of audiences and I want to make connections from the book to my high school class!

Pearse, M., & Walton, K. (2011). Habit 1: Monitor and Repair Understanding. In Teaching numeracy: 9 critical habits to ignite mathematical thinking. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. 

"I just don't get it!" - Habit 1 Monitor and Repair

I've been contemplating Pearse and Walton's first habit to improve mathematical thinking.  This habit is borrowed from elementary reading instruction, good readers know repair strategies.  They monitor their reading to be sure they are comprehending and know strategies to "fix-up" their comprehension as needed.

In order for math students to monitor their understanding, they have to interact with the math.  Too often students gather the numbers from a problem and apply whatever rule they have been learning.  And then when they get answers, they don't know if those answers make sense.

First students must be aware of the work they are doing, engaged with the problem situation, reading for comprehension.  Even in a raw equation, students should be noting the type of equation, how many expected solutions, and noting the possibility of extraneous solutions. In problem scenarios, students need to visualize what the problem represents, even sketch out that representation.  They need to be able to determine what type of equation, graph, or table is needed to solve the problem. After completing procedures, they need to determine if the solution makes sense in the scenario.  And all math teachers utter, "Duh!'  Yet, often students are not able to complete all of these steps.  And if you ask them at what point they get stuck, they can't answer.  "I just don't get any of it."  This is where we must teach the concept of monitoring comprehension.  Students need to be aware of their thinking process enough to determine at what point they no longer comprehend.  And it is at that point we can offer "fix-up" strategies!

It's important to note here that if students say they don't get any of it, teachers should not give answers or even tell students what to do next.  Instead, teachers should take students back through the problem solving process.  Reread the problem.  Tell me what it is asking.  What do you know about this type of question?  What would a sketch of this problem reveal?  Coaching by asking questions allows students to own the learning and models for them a way to repair understanding.

Repair or "fix-up" strategies to assist in comprehension that we might use in a secondary math class

include:

For raw problems:

1. What type of equation or problem am I solving? If related to a function, what function? (ex. linear? quadratic? square root?  exponential? absolute value?)
• If related to a function, visualize the graph.
2. Ask yourself questions.  
• Is there a pattern to consider? 
• How many solutions should I expect? 
• What are legal moves, operations, that I can apply to both sides of the equation?
3. At what point in the solving am I having difficulty?
• Review the notes on this unit.
• Ask a classmate to talk you through the problem.
• Watch a review video or read the textbook for additional examples.

For problem scenarios:

1. Re-read the problem pausing at the end of each sentence to think about what it is saying.
2. Try to picture what is happening in the problem.
3. Ask yourself questions as you read and pause.
4. Determine at what point the problem is alluding you.
• Review notes given in the unit that might apply to this problem.
• Talk with a classmate about what the problem is asking.
• Watch a review video or read the textbook for additional examples.

What are other repair strategies that you suggest to your students?

I plan to create an anchor chart this year on monitoring and repairing comprehension.  I'll post my version in the blog later this summer.

Pearse, M., & Walton, K. (2011). Habit 1: Monitor and Repair Understanding. In Teaching numeracy: 9 critical habits to ignite mathematical thinking. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. 

#70 Days Just for fun

Today I played with the app, Tellagami.  I just have the free version ... can make 30 second videos with limited avatars.

I'm leading a short session on Desmos in a couple of weeks ... so I experimented with Tellagami to explain why I like Desmos.  Check it out here.  It's just my first run at it.  I want to try again soon.

I envision using the app in class ... 30 second videos on vocabulary, maybe explaining just one problem, or thoughts about a concept.

30 seconds is very short!

#70 Days Creative thinking!

Each year, to maintain my certification in gifted education in Texas, I am required to get six hours of training. This week, I attended a training with a focus on creativity. The team that made the presentation offered several good ideas for infusing creativity in curriculum.

Here are some ideas that can be adapted to math class:

Idea One:  Forced association with sketching and writing:

Idea Two:  Fluency/Flexibility Exercise:
When asking students to brainstorm fluency lists, give them a short time (maybe 2 minutes).  Then have students draw a line and do it again.

After they create their category lists, have students share their various categories.  How are the categories different?

Idea Three:  Thunks

Idea Four: 6 degrees of separation

The presenters shared other ideas ... including synectics and "which one doesn't belong!"  They also share a number of excellent motivational videos.  I hope to review them to see if any of them would work with students.

I look forward to infusing creative thinking in my math class - opportunities for students to flex their  divergent thinking.

#70 Days Currently August!

Conflicted!

Wanting one more month of summer!

So excited about school it consumes my thinking!

We gave up cable a year or so ago.  It hasn't been hard ... I use TV as background noise mostly for grading :)  We've also found old series that we missed the first time around and enjoy now.  Netflix is our go-to TV spot!

We just returned from a family vacation on Hatteras Island in North Carolina.  There were 16 of us, ages 3 to 85.  We had a blast!  My dad instigated this particular party some months ago when he said he wanted us all to return to the house he built in the 90s for mom and him.  The house was so much the same, the beach beautiful and the family time memorable!  We are already planning next year's trip.

As much as I am loving summer, playing with the grandsons, swimming, reading, relaxing, my mind is non-stop on school.  I'm a planner ... I like to know the logistics ... I love to dream about what could be.  In fact, I'm so caught up in these mind games that I'm tired ... and that just won't do to be tired already.

Our first official day back is August 17.  I haven't tackled my room yet.  It's on my mind.  I need to set aside a day or two to decorate! I've created a few posters - they are at the print shop.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to re-do, re-organize the bulletin boards and the student access spaces.  I better get busy!

B2S RAK ... back to school random acts of kindness ... I've been thinking "be kind" will be my motto this year.  Time to channel some heavy thinking about how to put that in action ... from intentional acts in my classroom to random acts about the school.

Thank you, Farley, for the Currently tradition!

Hooray for August!

#70 Days Thinking Through Technology 2: Assessment Tools

Goal 1: Where possible modify and redefine our work using technology. 

I'm looking at three or four tools for assessments:

My number one go-to is Google Forms. There are a couple of things about forms I like.  One is that you can use them as generic forms.  I can still create the paper copy quizzes - project them, or put a class set of quizzes in sleeves.  Students can work out the problems on paper, and enter their answers in the forms.  I can get a quick grade using Flubaroo, sort the papers - reviewing the ones that scored poorly, spending a bit more time on those.

I created several Socrative quizzes last year so I have those handy for use this year.  It will be easy to tweak them, make them fit this year's  classes.  I used Socrative for short learning checks.  You can leave the "classroom" open over night as well - or open it for students who need to work on a quiz from home.  I know there are integrity issues that way, but I ask students to turn in work to support their answers on Socrative.

Kahoot and KnowledgeHook are great for informal assessments that don't affect grades.  I can quickly tell what questions are giving students difficulty, where we need some additional practice.  And they add a definite element of fun to the room!  I rarely create a Kahoot game from scratch.  Most often I search for one already made and make any adjustments needed.  One thing I'd like to do this year is to get students to create Kahoot games for personal review.  

I didn't use Edmodo last year, but I want to revisit again this year.  The "snapshot" feature intrigues me.  They've added the Texas TEKS for both Algebra 1 and 2.  I can see assigning the Algebra 1 snapshot questions to preview a unit, to determine what students retained from previous courses, to get a read on what they know.  Until I get the hang of them, I don't envision assigning a grade to the snapshots.  I'm curious about the questions and if they are worthwhile.  Has anyone used the Edmodo Snapshot feature??

Other informal assessment tools that I have used briefly are IXL and MangaHigh - both without subscriptions - no money for those.  I keep wanting to use Quia because I hear so many teachers suggesting it but writing the math in laTeX is challenging for me.  Does anyone else use Quia ... and if so, what's the key?

Are there other online quiz programs that are suitable for math?  Share in the comments!

Addendum ... just read an article on 10 formative assessment tools for 2015.  I need to check out Go Formative.

#70 Days Thinking Through Technology 1: Google Classroom

Goal 1: Where possible modify and redefine our work using technology. 

This year I plan to use Google Classroom as the central hub for all assignments.  

In the "About" section, I'll have links to key documents that students will need almost daily.  The syllabus will be there as well as the tutoring schedule.  But more importantly there will be two Google Forms docked there.  One will be for warm-ups.  I love Alice Keeler's ideas ... and the one about creating a generic Google Form for warm-ups is super!  The form is generic ... the questions are not in the form itself.  Instead, I can post them on the doc cam or on the board.  Students will use the same form daily for warm-ups.  That way I'll have a running record of their work.  I plan to use the warm-up for interleaved recall practice.  The problems will vary from ACT practice, to current problems to past content.  There is a Script (beta) I can use to separate each student's work onto a separate sheet.  I can use the data from the warm-ups in conversations with students.
Also in the About section will be a unit reflection form.  I want to collect reflective data at the end of each unit.  There will be just a few questions about the activities, strategies used as well as student study habits and time spent on homework.

Since I teach six sections of the same course, I'm creating one assignment stream for all classes. This will simplify the posting of assignments.  I like being able to attach all the necessary pieces of an assignment in one place.  I see the assignment stream has having a link to the day's lesson, a link or doc for the assignment itself, and any other supporting materials for the concepts for that day.

Students will turn in many of our assignments in Google Classroom as well.  Submitting Google forms, docs, drawings is simple.  Submitting Desmos links to graphing work is simple.  Yes, students will do paper and pencil work ... some of which they will capture in photos and submit in Google Classroom.  This part is very new to me but we have the tools to make this happen.

Submitting online makes me rethink my assignments.  How can I create assignments in which students can show me they have mastered concepts without requiring a typical worksheet?  I'm collecting ways!

I'm excited about using Google Classroom as the hub for all classroom activity.  I'm continuing to dig into resources to learn how to use it more effectively.  If you have ideas ... I'm all ears!

#70 Days Setting Goals

Writing the goals here ... making them public ... hoping you will help hold me accountable!

Goal 1: Where possible modify and redefine our work using technology.

I was selected to lead a Next Generation Digital Classroom this year.  My students are assigned laptops - they carry them to and from school.  We will also have iPads for use in the classroom.  I'm not sure what other technology will be given to us.

I'm not looking to add tech type activities for tech's sake.  Instead I want the learning to be more meaningful, stick better, and cause students to think more deeply!

Goal 2: Change the focus of testing (quizzing) from grades to retrieval practice so that testing becomes a tool for learning!

Brown, in Make it Stick, emphasizes the benefits of retrieval practice.  As part of this goal, I want to teach students how to quiz themselves.  I'm not sure how to do this yet.

I also want to be more consistent in five short questions a day.  I plan to use a blank Google Form in Google Classroom - the form is generic.  The daily questions will be projected.  Students will answer in Google.  I can grade or not grade - I'll have a daily record of their warm-up retrieval practice.

In addition to the daily warm-up routine, I plan to use Kahoot regularly.  Of all the tools I used last year, it is the one that generated the most enthusiasm.  Kahoot will help with retrieval in a friendly rivalry kind of way ... no grading.

Goal 3: Make thinking visible. Make learning visible.

Resurrect my 180 blog by posting a picture daily of our learning.

Create a space on our class website for making our thinking and learning visible to others. I'm thinking students should be taking the photos, determining what to display!

Provide time in most lessons for students to share their ideas, strategies, as well as finished work. I plan to use Padlet ... didn't realize what a wonderful tool it is for discussing student work in class with the added benefit of my being able to hold on to that work.

Continuing ... these are goals from years past that I will continue to develop!

• Student blogging ... will continue to require two blog posts each six weeks
• Parent communication ... will continue to email parents weekly about what's happening in our classroom
• Questioning/critical thinking ... will continue to work on the questions I ask students!

This is where I am tonight.  We have just over two weeks before the work starts in earnest!  Time to get organized!

#70 Days letting go ... getting started

I feel bummed today.

It is the math textbook adoption year.  Yesterday I went to training for the textbook selected for our math course.  I left disappointed.

I'm not bound to a textbook.  I use it as a reference tool, an extra help for students who are struggling - who need extra practice, and for question sets.

Our previous text was OK, not great, but had a span of materials that was helpful.  There were powerpoint presentations with detailed examples, tutorial videos, interactivities, leveled practice (reteach, practice, challenge), and extra problem solving sets.  While I didn't use those for every chapter, they were there if I needed to reach for materials to help students master concepts.

Our new textbook and the training that came with it has several issues.

• The textbook has no instructional pages with multiple examples; it doesn't have practice sets.  It is a series of questions, the phrase used, "learning by doing."  Basically it is an extended work-text.
• It's consumable.  It's bulky, pages will need to be torn out, the paper itself is not sturdy - one or two erasures will bleed through. 
• The trainer described lesson planning as pulling out the lesson from the book, working the problems before class, determining how much time to allow on question subsets, and making a few notes.  In other words her instructions were to use the book as is for most of the 90 minutes with some class discussion??  She said not to throw out our good activities, to insert them where appropriate, but that's not how she demonstrated lesson planning.  It was disturbing.
• There are no, NO, ancillary materials purchased.  Yes, we can access the work-text online - download pdfs; we can access other pdfs - assessments, limited practice to support the text.  All paper driven.  There are no prepared presentations, videos, interactivities, technology driven practice.  There is no leveled practice - no challenge for those who need it.  No reteaching pages.  There are no typical extra practice sets.
• The practice that we can access online - pdfs to download - are designed with space for students to write.  Meaning one practice set could potentially require 4, 6, 8 pages to copy per student.  They are not editable - or at least I haven't found a way to do so easily yet besides copy/paste each problem. It's a very heavy paper-driven program.

So how did this happen, why this book?  As is the case in most districts there is a textbook committee.  A group of teachers reviewed several published books and voted on this one.  I would love to hear from that committee about why this book over the others - I am curious what caused this book to be the "best" of the choices.  (Other high school math courses went with other publishers!)

I think my biggest disappointment is that a book has been chosen with NO technology associated with it.  So for 8 more years we are bound to paper, or must adapt other technology apps to fit our curriculum.

So today, I feel bummed.  I set my hopes too high on having a technology supportive resource to help students who need it ... or as a support to me as I plan lessons.

Today, I am challenging myself to let go of this disappointment and just get to work creating engaging lessons.  There is plenty online to adapt to our needs.  In my classroom we are not going to write in a work-text as our primary mode of learning!

#70 Days Thinking about Day ONE

I just read a couple of posts about icebreakers here and here.  The gist of both posts is that icebreakers can embarrass or at least make students uncomfortable.  Both authors suggest activities that are nonthreatening and yet still help students to get to know one another.

Here are three activities that I am considering ... I'm thinking I'll do just one of them.

• Hexagon Design Thinking ... each student will get one pre-cut hexagon.  I'll ask them to write a favorite activity on it.  Then students will gather around a table and connect their hexagons.  If we glue those down, we will have a map of favorite activities in each class.
• Speed Dating ... with easy to answer interview questions (could also be up and about with music - talk to someone new when the music stops)
• This or That ... students choose between 2 choices and move to one side of the room.  They share why they made that choice.  Example ... would you rather have a dog or a cat for a pet?  Would you rather play video games or a sport?

I also want to do math the first day!  I really like the How Many Hot Dogs Did They Eat 3-Act Math Task by Kaplinsky.  The math is easily within reach for my students but complicated enough to provide opportunity for conversation and thinking.  It will be interesting to see how students go about solving the problem ... will they make a table?  will they create an equation?  will they use some other strategy?

We'll only have about an hour on the very first A day and 90 minutes on the very first B Day.  I am still thinking about how I might modify for the shorter day.

#70 Days #FridayBlog

I started making posters for my classroom today ... designing them ... now just need to find a good way to get them printed.




There are only three so far.  The content comes from the book Make It Stick by Peter Brown.  We've been discussing it at #eduread ... my favorite online Twitter Chat.

This is my second time to read the book and I'm hoping to spend a little more time this summer digesting it, and figuring out how to implement key ideas in my classroom.  One goal I have is to teach students how to quiz themselves as they are learning.

I wrote about this book in a previous post ... check it out there.  Also look back for more posters in a couple of weeks.

Heading out to the beach in the morning ... hoping to relax on sand for a while with my extended family!  Excited to be on our way!

 Brown, P. (n.d.). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. 

#70 Days Reflecting on lesson planning in Tackk

Posting lesson 3 in the series on our unit on absolute value functions.

While we have taught a similar unit in the past, it is new that we will lead with this unit this year.  I believe the thinking behind starting with this unit is that we will review linear functions in the process.  We will follow the unit with systems of equations.

I have spent the past week playing with organizing this unit in Tackk.  Tackk was new to me until I went to iPadpalooza this summer.  Many presentations were in Tackk or Smore.  Benefits including needing only one link to access the whole presentation; various media can be embedded including interactive media, and it's easy to publish.

Someone asked if I would use this everyday ... I don't know but quite possibly.  Benefits in my classroom include less paper copies, all parts of the lesson organized for student access, easy to share online, and perfect for students who are absent.

In lesson planning I have a few goals ... plenty of math talk, collaboration, problem solving, short quizzes, student reflection, and less teacher talk.  I'm looking at these first four lessons to see what areas I need to strengthen!

TACKK is no longer available - UGH!

#70 Days Day 4 with Tackk

Loving the ease with which I can organize the parts of a lesson in Tackk.  Since we are a 1:1 classroom, having an organizational tool that all students can access is nice!  I can also envision much less paper copies.

The lessons may still need tweaking but I find it helpful to start putting them together to see what I need to work on.

I had a lesson example here for you but TACKK is no longer available - UGH!

#70 Days Lesson Planning Comparing Examples

#EduRead has been discussing Make It Stick by Peter Brown.  The conversations online have been fascinating, full of great ideas, thought-provoking questions, and more!

Tonight the big issue was "giving notes."  Do we provide too much information in giving notes?  In giving notes, are we doing the thinking for the students?  When should students decide for themselves what notes to write down?

In a previous chapter, we noted a key strategy for learning that sticks is to compare/contrast examples.  I made this note that night:  "What’s happening in these two examples?  How are they alike?  How are they different?  What rules or procedures can you identify as essential to both?"

It was a "just-in-time" discussion because I've been working on lesson plans for our first unit: absolute value functions and solving equations/inequalities.  I decided that instead of giving notes, I would give sets of 2 worked out examples and elicit procedures from students.  Tonight I put that idea in a Google presentation.  I may upload it to Nearpod ... thinking about using it as a guided homework assignment so that we can spend class on inequalities (trickier) and extra practice.

Here is the Google version ... and always, your feedback is much appreciated.