Summer

Summer To Do List Update #3

Meta-Cognition, Standards-Based Grading, Teaching Practices and Policy , 0 Comments

I've got just three weeks to go until school starts back up. This has been, by far, my busiest summer of work. I have lots of things I want to do and am teaching two new courses. Here is where I am at currently on my to do list.[2]Note: New items are marked with asterisks. Others have been adjusted or removed. Struck-through items are completed.

  • Access my school's pre-algebra text
  • Outline what is covered in pre-algebra
  • Make pre-algebra standards - Today I finished developing standards for all of the content in my 7th grade Pre-Algebra course. They are mostly in order too. They need to be proofread and simplified where possible. Also, last year I had a "Sample Problem" for each standard. I have not written those yet, but I may skip them for two reasons. First, I am not sure that very many students looked at or read the sample questions to help understand the standard. Second, I am trying to declutter the standards document as much as possible
  • Collect tasks for pre-algebra course - Working on this
  • Be a good husband - Some good, some bad. Mostly okay
  • Develop 6th grade standards - I have been mostly focusing on 7th grade, this is my next big task. I got started this morning
  • Plan "emergency absence" lessons - May happen as I collect tasks for 6th and 7th grade. If some tasks are appropriate, I will set them aside for this purpose
  • Add SBG information to email signature for parents - I wrote a letter to parents about standards-based grading. I think I am also going to make a screencast explaining how I track progress in google sheets since that sometimes causes confusion
  • Read research on rational numbers - I have read less than I would like, but this IS happening
  • Create 6th grade pencasts - This is looking more and more like it will not get done this summer unfortunately
  • Develop ≥9 challenge problems - I think I have found enough problems but I am looking for a bit more variety. I have designed 5 of them and posted about 2.
  • Class openers - Another item that is probably not going to get done
  • Investigated CMP3 videos - I got into the CMP3 web suite today and checked out these videos. Some are okay. A few are good. More are bland and boring. I think I can do a better job launching tasks on my own using #MTBoS's resources and youtube/google. Still, I will use a few of these where I can
  • Plan a math coffee - No signs of a coffee happening, so this is getting postponed until I KNOW there is a coffee
  • Python program for emailing SBG progress
  • Python program for printing advisees' effort grades
  • *Make screencast touring my SBG documents
  • *Make planning document that outlines lessons for the year - Another teacher is taking over my 5th grade course that I taught for 5 years. I wish I had a more organized document to hand over to them. So, as I plan/prep two new courses, I have a few new Google Docs that I am using to organize and track my lessons/planning. That will make it easier to share ideas here and help me (or future teachers) teaching my course

What big projects are you all working on this summer! What can you share?

Summer Tasks Redux: Suddenly Thinking a Lot About Pre-Algebra

Curricula, Meta-Cognition, Teaching Practices and Policy , , , , , , 0 Comments

Well that changed quickly. Just two days after posting about what I wanted to work on this summer, I found out that my teaching assignment for next year has changed. Originally I was schedule to teach one section of fifth grade and three sections of sixth grade.[9]I wrote this post on 7/10 but waited until the news was shared with my colleagues before I posted it. I have taught both of those courses in the past -- fifth grade for the last five years and sixth grade once six years ago. The plan now is to switch that fifth grade course with a seventh grade course which is brand new to me.

While the sixth grade course is not a new course for me, it certainly feels like one. I first taught grade six in my second year of teaching. Next year will be my eighth year. And, with all the changes and growth my beliefs and practices have undergone in the last five years, I am basically planning sixth grade from scratch.

Seventh grade pre-algebra is an even greater challenge. I have never taught that course before. Moreover, seventh grade is in a different division of my school.[10]Grades 3-6 are part of the Lower School and grades 7-9 are part of the Upper School. Teaching in the Upper School will mean a few significant differences from my past five years of teaching exclusively fifth grade.

  1. I will be teaching in two different divisions of my school. Teaching in the Upper School will mean balancing different schedules, norms, and practices under two different bosses. I have confidence in both divisions of the school, but I can't ignore that balancing the different cultures of the divisions will be something that will take effort and time. For example, the Lower School and Upper School write report cards at different times of the year, have a different advisory system, communicate and track student progress with different procedures, and provide academic support in different ways. None of these difference are unnavigable, but finding my way through the less-familiar Upper School routines and practices will definitely be a challenge
  2. The Upper School services a different student body than the Lower School. Between sixth and seventh grade, my school grows from about 42 students to about 80 students in each grade level. With these new students comes a wider variety of learning needs, experiences, and academic backgrounds. Most notably, my school's boarding program begins in seventh grade. Many of the boarders are students from other countries living in the United States for the first time. This is exciting! But, it also will put new demands on my practices as a teacher particularly in working with English language learners
  3. I will not be the only teacher teaching my course. This will be the first time in five years that I am teaching a course that a different teacher (two teachers actually) is also teaching. In the past, I have had free will to make changes and adjustments to my course. I will need to work with colleagues to balance those changes this year. I am comfortable socially with both of my new colleagues, but I have never worked with them directly. I am, however, looking forward to having colleagues teaching the same course
  4. My school begins tracking students in seventh grade. I will, by request, be teaching the "regular" section of the course.[11]There is also an "advanced" section of the course which is designed to cover the same content, but separate students by ability. In eight grade, students are placed into one of three courses: 1) a two-year Algebra 1 course, 2) a one-year Algebra 1 course, or 3) an "advanced" one-year Algebra 1 course. While researchers know tracking is not in most (if not all) students' best interests, [12]NCTM made this point in this presentation (see page 25) on Principles to Actions. this is a circumstance of the school I teach at (and many many others). Given that, I prefer to work with the students deemed lower-achievers, so I can try to ensure they have access to the rigorous and challenging mathematics education they deserve.While no classroom is homogeneous in terms of ability, my seventh grade course will be the first "tracked" course I have taught in many years. I know I will have some work to do to promote a positive mathematical self-concept among these students as I have already seen changes in them since I last taught some in fifth grade. I am not sure how impactful it will be for these students to have been placed in the lower track, but I plan to do what I can to combat the negative connotation that comes with sectioning 12 and 13-year olds by ability
  5. Teaching in the Upper School also means using a curriculum/text that is very different from the text I use with 5th and 6th graders. In fifth and sixth grade, my school uses the Connected Mathematics Program 3 -- a problems solving and investigations based curriculum. In pre-algebra they use Larson Pre-Algebra (2012). The Houghton Mifflin Court curriculum skews towards more traditional mathematics instruction. Each unit or section introduces a single topic (ex: solving 1-step linear equations by multiplying both sides), details a new skill/algorithm, and then has students solve nearly identical problems.My personal beliefs align much more closely with the Connected Mathematics Program 3 model in which students learn best by solving problems rather than through direct instruction. Here is what the publishers of Larson Pre-Algebra says about problem solving "Holt McDougal's four-step problem-solving plan guides students through the process of problem solving. At the beginning of each book, the problem-solving process is introduced, and practice appears throughout."[13]Source

I am both excited and nervous about this change. Excited because I am eager to grow as a teacher. I am looking forward to developing the expertise that only comes from having taught a course. I am nervous because of the increased workload and demands teaching two (essentially) new courses will place on me. I always want to do the best job I can and I get really frustrated when I feel as though I am being pulled in so many directions that I can't do the sort of job I want to. I am going to have to work hard this summer and this fall to make sure that doesn't happen. Here is an updated list of what I am working on this summer.

Summer To Do List Update

  • ***Access my school's pre-algebra text - I got in touch with the other teachers who teach the pre-algebra courses and they shared a digital copy of the student edition of Larson Pre-Algebra (2012). I am waiting to get hard copies of both the student and teacher editions of the text.
  • ***Outline what is covered in pre-algebra - I used the chapter reviews in the Larson Pre-Algebra text to make an outline of the content the text covers. I need to speak with the other teachers in more detail, but my understanding is that they stick close to the content and the order in which it is presented
  • ***Make pre-algebra standards - There are 93 sections in the text each covering a separate topic (ex: 1.3 is on order of operations). I won't make each section a standard because 93 is just too many standards, so I need to go through and combine relevant content. For example, "Adding and Subtracting from Both Sides to Solve an Equation" and "Multiplying and Dividing Both Sides to Solve an Equation" are separate sections but could easily be part of the same standard on solving simple single variable equations. I am not even sure if I will need to separate 1-step and multi-step equations. While the latter is more demanding, they aren't necessarily distinct ideas
  • ***Collect tasks for pre-algebra course - Each section in the text is very traditional. It introduces an ultra-specific skill, shows how to use it, then asks students to practice those skills. It is very much a rote learning approach. I want to replace these lessons with problem-solving/investigation-based tasks. So, I have been scouring the web and identifying tasks that would work for teaching certain concepts. Geoff Krall's problem based curriculum maps have been extremely helpful with this
  • Be a Good Husband - Tyler is developing this skill. There is, however, still room for growth
  • Review and Update 5th Grade Standards - No longer relevant due to teaching assignment change
  • Develop 6th Grade Standards - Have not started
  • Add SBG Information to Email Signature for Parents - I am on the hunt for a good article I can share. I posted a question on MESE, but I may end up having to just write a summary myself because I have yet to find an article or resource that is what I am looking for
  • Read Research on Rational Numbers - In progress. I will share some reviews/summaries of what I have been reading in future posts
  • Create 6th Grade Pencasts - Have not started
  • Develop ≥9 Challenge Problems - I have a few problems picked out and am looking for more
  • Class Openers - I have started collected Always/Sometimes/Never tasks, but I have not fully developed this yet
  • Investigated CMP3 Videos - Have not started
  • Additional Parent Resources in Email Footer - Have not started
  • Plan a Math Coffee - Have not started
  • Plan "Emergency Absence" Lessons - Have not started
  • Python program for emailing SBG progress - I have figured out how to send emails using python.[14]I have definitely been misusing this newfound power. My poor buddy Doug got emailed a list of the first one million triangle number. His wife got emailed all of the lyrics to "999 Bottles of Beer on the Wall". I also know that I will not be able to access google docs with python because of my school's web settings. This can still work if I make a summary document that I download and go from there. I will work on this more once I get my standards written for 6th or 7th grade
  • Python Program for Printing Advisees' Effort Grades - I think I have this working, I am just not sure if the web address I am pulling the efforts from changes each time they are updated. And, I won't know that until the school year starts

***Newly added since my last post

Summer Tasks: SBG, New Problems, Code, and Parent Letters

Code/Programming, Curricula, Meta-Cognition , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

The end of the school year is always a hectic time where just meeting all of your responsibilities -- grading, comments, parent conferences, parent emails, etc. -- means there is little time to spend developing or planning new ideas for the classroom (read: the fun stuff). That's why I always look forward to the summer when I can tackle those big projects that can feel like pipe dreams during the school year.

Last summer I developed a system for moving my students to standards-based grading (SBG). That was a big project that took a lot of time. This summer I have many more smaller projects planned; and, because I am teaching 6th grade again for the first time in 5 years, I have lots of prep work to do. Here is what I will be typing away at in my local coffee shop this summer.

Must Get Done

  1. Be a Good Husband - I just got married!!!! Literally 2 days ago, and my number one priority this summer is to work on being a good husband. Presumably I have been okay so far. She did marry me after all. But any relationship takes work, and I plan to work hard!
  2. Review and Update 5th Grade Standards - As mentioned above, this was my first year using SBG. I need to go through an refine my standards after a year of experience. In particular, I want to rewrite them in language that is more accessible to 5th grade students. This may mean having a "simple" and "detailed" definition of each standard.
  3. Develop 6th Grade Standards - I want to continue using SBG with my 6th graders so I will need to develop standards for that curriculum. I teach at a private school, so I cannot just use the CCSSM since we are not aligned. Moreover, I found it was helpful to break CCSSM standards into smaller chunks for students.

Not a Must, But Exciting

  1. Add SBG Information to Email Signature for Parents - Last year, my students picked up the mechanics of my SBG system quickly, but parents were confused. I used much of my time at Parents' Weekend to summarize the purpose, process, and motivations, but not all parents attend and certainly not all remembered the details. This summer I want to develop a quick (1 page or less) summary of what SBG is and how it works in my classroom. Once developed, I will link to the summary in my email signature, hopefully making it available to parents when they need it.
  2. Read Research on Rational Numbers - After teaching the fifth graders' first unit on rational numbers (fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, and negatives) for the last five years, I finally get to continue exploring these concepts with my students as sixth graders. I picked up a number of great books at NCTM 2015 Boston Conference that I plan to go through. In particular, I am looking for key understandings and strong visual models that I can use with my students. I have some ideas and background knowledge but can definitely use a refresher since I last taught these ideas in 2009/2010 in my second year of teaching.
  3. Create 6th Grade Pencasts - When direct instruction cannot be avoided, I will often make videos (called pencasts) explaining a mathematical concept. Videos allow students to rewatch instruction for review (sometimes with parents) and allows me to avoid wasting class time explaining something, so students can use that time to solve problems. I have a pretty solid set of 5th grade videos, so I want to get a head start on making 6th grade videos. Creating the videos on my own also allows me to emphasize understanding and avoid tricks like keep-change-flip that parents invariably use.
  4. Develop ≥9 Challenge Problems - In past years, teachers at my school have posted "challenge" problems for students to work on -- similar to the Play With Your Math project organized by Joey Kelly and Xi Yu. These challenges have fallen off the radar in the past two years. So much so that one colleague refers to it as the "annual monthly math challenge." As I have gotten more involved in #MTBOS and reading other teacher's blogs, I have been finding many problems that would be perfect for these challenges. So, I hope to put about one problem per month together for next year.
  5. Class Openers - My school does not have bells our travel time between classes. Students just trickle in. This is not an issue for fifth graders who will walk all the way across the building just to be sure that it is okay for them to get a quick sip of water on their way to class. Sixth graders, though, tend to be more social and need some motivation to get to class on time. I want to use a mix of estimation 180 and Always/Sometimes/Never to make mathematically rich openers that make students want to get to class on time.
  6. Investigated CMP3 Videos - My curriculum, Connected Mathematics Project 3 from Michigan State University, includes videos that launch or supplement some of the tasks in their books. I haven't had enough time to check these out. So this summer I am hoping to evaluate them.

Unlikely, But Who Knows

  1. Additional Parent Resources in Email Footer - In addition to my SBG document, I would like to provide an additional resource for parents about how to support their children on homework. In general, my parents are afraid to let their kids leave homework questions unanswered. I want to help my students' parents understand the concept of a growth mindset and promote it in their children.
  2. Plan a Math Coffee - My school runs periodic coffees for parents of different grade levels. I am hoping to take over one of those to do some parent education about math. When parents become educated consumers on what good math education looks like, they push schools and teachers in the right directions.
  3. Plan "Emergency Absence" Lessons - All teachers have those days when they wake up with a fever and just know they are too sick to make it to school. I always feel incredibly guilty on these days. My colleagues are often stuck covering my classes, and the students get a disjointed experience. As I am searching for challenge problems, I am also going to collects tasks that can serve as single-class-period activities that substitute teachers can use on days I am out. Hopefully that will make these days more valuable.
  4. Python program for emailing SBG progress - As I have learned more and more about programming, I am looking for ways that code can automate monotonous tasks and give me more time for lesson planning. A fun programming challenge for me would be to develop a program that could email out weekly-ish updates on students' progress. Essentially, it would pull data from each student's shared grading document (in Google Sheets) and email them a summary.
  5. Python Program for Printing Advisees' Effort Grades - My school gives biweekly effort grades to acknowledge and honor students' effort. It's certainly not a perfect system, but it is wonderful for focusing students' attention on the things they can control (study habits, effort, etc.). We used to print out a set of each student's effort grades, so the advisors could talk to their advisees about them. As we have gone more digital, we stopped printing the grades. I still print them for my advisees, but on busy days I often do not have time to load each document on our cumbersome website and then print them (up to a 15 minute process for 9 students!). I am going to try to write a program that downloads and prints the documents automatically so that I can be more prepared for my advisees.