As the year draws to a close, I look back to see what went well and what didn't go so well. Since I am doing Standards Based Grading, I have not been grading homework/practice problems. In fact, since I stopped grading homework, I have done a rather poor job of even checking to see if my students have done the homework/practice problems at all. This needs to change for next year. Somehow, I need to not only check to see if my students are doing practice problems, but I think I need to factor it into their grade somehow. At least if it's in their grade, they do make some attempt most of the time (even if they copy it).
However, I am not real thrilled about putting in some sort of homework grade. I feel that if it's practice, they shouldn't be graded on correctness. They are still learning the material and won't necessarily have it all correct. When I used to grade homework, I did it by completion - 5 points all done, 3 points partially done, 0 points not done (or not much). I don't want to go back to that - it would put a huge imbalance towards homework/practice problems based on how I do my grading now.
So, what do you do about homework/practice problems when you are doing Standards Based Grading? I know true SBG doesn't factor in homework at all. For my students, I don't think that is the best answer. How would you incorporate a homework/practice problems grade to help encourage students to do the practice problems? Or what would you do differently to ensure that students do practice? I look forward to your comments.
Showing posts with label homework. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homework. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Sunday, September 09, 2012
HW Feedback 1st Time
In June, I had blogged about something I thought may work in my class as far as getting feedback to students on their homework. I decided I was going to try it Friday after I gave my first practice problems. As I was getting it ready, it dawned on me that there would be students who wouldn't have completed the assignment. Rather than doing the whole sheet that Hedge did, I added a line at the bottom: I did not do practice problems because ________________. Here's the page I handed my students Friday (2 to a page);
These were the directions I left on the SMART Board for them:
Some students did actually give me the problem and the work. A lot just gave me the answer (some with problem numbers). I have redone the sheet below (this one is for Monday):Warm UpPlease pick up a half sheet of paper from the stool and copy your work from your paper onto it as directed. Please hand it to me when you are finished.Once you have done that, begin checking with your neighbors to see if you got the same answers on the problems you attempted. If you didn't, figure out what the correct answer should be. The rule here is ask three before me: ask three other students before raising your hand to ask me for help. You have 10 minutes to complete these two tasks. Thanks!
Overall, I was pleased with what I saw. Most students were able to successfully complete a problem. Even on the feedback problem, most had made good progress. However, there were several who did not give me much to give them feedback on. Obviously, we will talk about this on Monday.
The most disappointing thing to me was the number of students who did not attempt the practice at all. Of the reasons I got, most of them really seemed like excuses. The majority of the students who did not attempt the homework are my juniors and both my seniors. This concerns me for three reasons:
1) I know these are my students who have historically struggled with math. I have had most of them now three times - as 7th graders, as freshmen in Math 1, and now. These problems are problems they should have seen before and had some idea of how to start.
2) Almost all of these students have at least one study hall and in some cases, two. Why aren't they doing the work in study hall? (We had to cut staff and we have very few electives. Almost every kid has at least one study hall.) When I walked passed 7th period Study Hall any day last week, the students were talking and not many were working. How come they aren't using this time?
3) Some of these students are mentors to our freshmen in a program called Freshmen Focus. If they aren't willing to try practice problems because they had practice or it was a nice day, what kind of message are they going to send to our freshmen?
So, here are the reasons I got: I did not do practice problems because:
- I feel comfortable with the LT and didn't feel I needed to. (2 times)
- I had cross country practice. Then I had to be judge for volleyball.
- I was absent, sick in bed.
- (blank)
- My mom wouldn't let me do my homework.
- I didn't know how to do the problems past 2.
- I had practice after school and I forgot to do it.
- I wasn't sure where my points on the graph were to go. I attempted, but it didn't seem right.
- I don't know where it is.
- I forgot. It was in my folder.
- I forgot my binder in school. (5 times)
- I don't understand how to do it.
- I need a little feedback.
- I don't understand math. (2 times)
- I think they are unneeded.
- I think I need more examples.
- I have no time after school to do them. It's either be dog tired everyday or go to sleep.
- I really didn't feel like doing it yesterday since it was nice out.
- I didn't want to get them all wrong and then have to erase the whole thing.
- I don't have a graphing calculator at the moment, so it was more difficult without it. I don't really understand.
- It was nice outside and I chose to go riding than to do my homework.
- I kept getting stuck on the decimal part. The ones that where were the answers turn into decimals.
- I went to look at a truck.
- We had talked about how Math is not a spectator sport - some of you are already starting out on the sidelines. Good habits start early and it's time to form them now.
- How many of you have at least one study hall? (show of hands) There is NO excuse for not having 6 practice problems at least attempted when you have a 50 minute period provided in your schedule to study. Get it done.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
HW Solution?
I, like many of you, have been debating what to do about homework. I don't want to grade it. With doing Standards Based Grading, I don't feel it makes sense to grade it (I'm not rehashing this discussion). However, students aren't practicing like they should be. As I was in a session with Cathy Hamilton over the last two days, she made the point that students will not do any homework that does not receive any feedback. This was the brainstorm that hit me as I was listening to her today.
Students would come into class and pick up a half sheet of paper that looks like this:
(obviously this is the full page I would send to the copier)
On the paper, they would fill in the top and copy (from their homework) a practice problem that they felt good about how they did on it (on the left) and a practice problem that they need some feedback from me (on the right). Since I provide them the answers, they would be able to check themselves to know what was correct. I would need to make clear to them that I would not work out a problem from the beginning for them on this page - receiving feedback means that they would show me what they could do and I would comment on what they did and point them in the right direction.
What do I hope to accomplish?
First, I would hope it would encourage students to do their assigned problems. Second, it would allow me to see what they've actually done on two problems and comment on them.
Downside?
The biggest downside I see at the moment is the time it will take to read through and comment on each paper.
What do you think? Please comment (good and bad) and help me figure out if this is a possible way to encourage students to do their assigned problems and be beneficial to both me and my students. Thanks.
Students would come into class and pick up a half sheet of paper that looks like this:
(obviously this is the full page I would send to the copier)
On the paper, they would fill in the top and copy (from their homework) a practice problem that they felt good about how they did on it (on the left) and a practice problem that they need some feedback from me (on the right). Since I provide them the answers, they would be able to check themselves to know what was correct. I would need to make clear to them that I would not work out a problem from the beginning for them on this page - receiving feedback means that they would show me what they could do and I would comment on what they did and point them in the right direction.
What do I hope to accomplish?
First, I would hope it would encourage students to do their assigned problems. Second, it would allow me to see what they've actually done on two problems and comment on them.
Downside?
The biggest downside I see at the moment is the time it will take to read through and comment on each paper.
What do you think? Please comment (good and bad) and help me figure out if this is a possible way to encourage students to do their assigned problems and be beneficial to both me and my students. Thanks.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Post Spring Break Blues
We have 37 days left with students (yes, I finally counted) and I'm real concerned on how the rest of the year is going to go. We returned from Spring Break yesterday and I started into adding and subtracting rational expressions. I did the guided notes thing I've been doing and I really felt like the lesson didn't go well. I had planned on doing the Ghosts in the Graveyard activity to have students practice and after my first class, I scrapped it until tomorrow. I called it "Flowers in the Garden" because it's spring and I used post-it flowers instead of ghosts. I had put 2 problems per card and most groups only got through 2 problems in about 30 minutes. They had no clue. For my second and third classes, I gave them the Pizzazz worksheet I planned to do tomorrow and sat down with some students for some one-on-one (or small group in some cases) tutoring. Their work ethic (as a whole class) pretty much sucked.
After some reflection, there are a few conclusions I have reached:
1) I think I could have better designed the lesson and set up the examples better. I do like how I started out the lesson, but I am going to revisit what examples and in what order they are in. Here is my note page - feel free to offer comments.
2) It is harder to get students to put forth effort in class when you haven't been doing it all year. When I set up smaller group activities (here is what I have tried in the last few weeks), I still have students who blow it off, but for the most part, they are more engaged. When I went back to a worksheet today, maybe a third to half worked on it, but of that group, not all of them stuck with it. Less structure at this point means less effort.
3) It takes a lot of work on my part to set up these activities. @druinok's post on practice has been a big help in giving me some ideas of what to try. However, it takes some significant work to set up these activities. I know that once I've done it, I have them and can use them again. However, I am incredibly busy both inside and outside the classroom and I feel like my energy and time to put this stuff together is waning fast. (I'm on two different committees for work and both have me out of the classroom on the average of once a week between late March and mid-May, not to mention all the other stuff going on in my life.) I wish I had half the creativity that my fellow blogging math teacher do with coming up with these practice activities. I am happy to use what they have shared, but I'd love to come up with something myself.
4) I really feel like I am busting my can and my students don't care/appreciate it. It's not like I went into teaching for the recognition, but sometimes it would be nice to see genuine effort and to overhear comments like "that was fun" or "I learned that better" or something positive rather than comments that could very well be sarcastic. One of my students after one of these activities (and I can't remember which one) made the comment on the way out the door "that was fun" and from his tone, it was difficult to tell whether it was sarcastic or serious. When I asked him, he said "both" and added that he did learn something during that class period. It's not like I live for positive comments from my students, but I could really do without the sarcasm. It's hard not to take it personally when I spent a lot of time getting the activity set up in the hopes that they would actually practice and learn the concept since other methods weren't working.
Well, what's next? Next week I am out Monday and Wednesday (scheduled doctor's appointment and committee meeting, respectively). I would be ready to begin solving rational equations on Monday, but since I won't be there, @druinok suggested that maybe reviewing how to solve equations with fractions in them without a calculator would be good practice. This is the worksheet I came up with:
On Tuesday, hopefully they'll be ready to go with solving rational equations and it won't be so horrid. Since I'm out again on Wednesday, I am going to have a practice Pizzazz worksheet for them, We'll see how that goes.
After some reflection, there are a few conclusions I have reached:
1) I think I could have better designed the lesson and set up the examples better. I do like how I started out the lesson, but I am going to revisit what examples and in what order they are in. Here is my note page - feel free to offer comments.
2) It is harder to get students to put forth effort in class when you haven't been doing it all year. When I set up smaller group activities (here is what I have tried in the last few weeks), I still have students who blow it off, but for the most part, they are more engaged. When I went back to a worksheet today, maybe a third to half worked on it, but of that group, not all of them stuck with it. Less structure at this point means less effort.
3) It takes a lot of work on my part to set up these activities. @druinok's post on practice has been a big help in giving me some ideas of what to try. However, it takes some significant work to set up these activities. I know that once I've done it, I have them and can use them again. However, I am incredibly busy both inside and outside the classroom and I feel like my energy and time to put this stuff together is waning fast. (I'm on two different committees for work and both have me out of the classroom on the average of once a week between late March and mid-May, not to mention all the other stuff going on in my life.) I wish I had half the creativity that my fellow blogging math teacher do with coming up with these practice activities. I am happy to use what they have shared, but I'd love to come up with something myself.
4) I really feel like I am busting my can and my students don't care/appreciate it. It's not like I went into teaching for the recognition, but sometimes it would be nice to see genuine effort and to overhear comments like "that was fun" or "I learned that better" or something positive rather than comments that could very well be sarcastic. One of my students after one of these activities (and I can't remember which one) made the comment on the way out the door "that was fun" and from his tone, it was difficult to tell whether it was sarcastic or serious. When I asked him, he said "both" and added that he did learn something during that class period. It's not like I live for positive comments from my students, but I could really do without the sarcasm. It's hard not to take it personally when I spent a lot of time getting the activity set up in the hopes that they would actually practice and learn the concept since other methods weren't working.
Well, what's next? Next week I am out Monday and Wednesday (scheduled doctor's appointment and committee meeting, respectively). I would be ready to begin solving rational equations on Monday, but since I won't be there, @druinok suggested that maybe reviewing how to solve equations with fractions in them without a calculator would be good practice. This is the worksheet I came up with:
On Tuesday, hopefully they'll be ready to go with solving rational equations and it won't be so horrid. Since I'm out again on Wednesday, I am going to have a practice Pizzazz worksheet for them, We'll see how that goes.
Friday, April 06, 2012
How Much is Enough?
When I first started teaching 20 years ago, I was happy that my textbook had a guide to let me know what problems (and how many) to assign my students. I had no real idea how much was enough. Of course, at that point, most of the assignments were like #1-39 odd. I learned that it was a good idea to look at the problems before just assigning #1-39 odd carte blanche.
Fast forward to now, 20 years later. Assigning 20-30 problems a night doesn't work. I'm struggling to get my students to complete any outside assigned problems at times. So, as I was mowing the lawn today, I was wondering, how many problems is enough practice? Can you put a number on it? What practice do you assign on a regular basis? I look forward to reading your comments.
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Practicing in Class Update
Over the last few weeks, I have been complaining about my students' lack of practice and being able to work on their own. I did want to give a quick update, but first I need to give a shout-out to my great twitter friend @druinok for her blog post on practicing that she put together after my complaining. I have tried some of her suggestions and I am grateful to have had a one-stop resource to start looking for ideas.
My Math 1 students had a test today and I used the colored folders activity from Mrs. Graham's Math with them on Monday. I took some 12" x 12" card stock and cut it into 4 6" x 6" squares and wrote review questions on them. Each color had the same type of problems on them. With my Math 1 students, I put the answers in the folder they would get next so they wouldn't just copy the answers. I felt my students worked very well with this review activity. Almost every student was engaged and some of them were helping each other. This is my inclusion class and it allowed both me and the aide in class to get around and help students. My only complaint (and it's my own fault) is that some problem sets didn't take as long to do as others did, so there was a little too much down time. I think if the problem sets took around the same amount of time, this would work well. I did Speed Dating with them again (they did it before the previous test) and also did fairly well with it. The one thing I have found with them is they tend to take the problems they are comfortable with rather than challenging themselves to work with one they are not as sure of. Overall, it's been a successful week with them and I think I'll be looking to do more of these type activities with them.
My Advanced Algebra 2 students also had a test today. Instead of giving them a review sheet like normal, I broke it up and used the same colored folders activity I used with Math 1. I did put the answers in the same folder as the problems because they like to know they are correct as they are working on it. I think they were a little more engaged than if I had given them the worksheet to do the problems, however, their test scores today were not good. I'm trying to figure out if they didn't learn the learning targets very well when they were taught and it's catching up with them or if the different way of reviewing is the issue or what. More on that in another blog post, perhaps.
My Algebra 2 students did the notecard activity that Mimi blogged about on Monday - I had originally planned this for last Friday but didn't have time. We did a new lesson Tuesday and since today was our last day before Spring Break, I put together a relay activity similar to what @druinok mentioned in her practicing blog post. I set up 6 sets of cards and made duplicates so I had 12 sets of cards. I used the Random Word Chooser to have students choose partners (or in one class - 1 group of 3) and had them get whiteboards. Once they were settled, I explained the rules: They would each begin with a card (face down to begin) and work out the problem on the card. When they thought they had the correct answer, one team member was to bring the whiteboard up with their card and I would check it. If it was correct, they would get the next card. If it was wrong, they had to go back and fix it. (In most cases, I gave them a hint as to what was wrong to keep them moving along.) The first 6 teams to successfully get through their cards (I did 9) would get to pick a plastic egg from my basket (they all had candy in them).
At the start, most of my students were engaged. When they got stuck, some of them got really stuck. (The first 2 problems had GCF factoring in them - I have no idea why they don't "see" it, but that's another story.) In all three classes, there were 2-3 groups that basically seemed to give up after struggling for a while with the problems and those groups got through maybe 2 problems each. However, most of the classes were engaged and working - and it was the last day before Spring Break!
Here's what I am struggling with: although I am seeing more students who are engaged with practicing the math when I do this in class, it takes a lot of work to set these up, even when I am taking problems from worksheets (and not creating them from scratch). I probably have about 2 1/2 hours invested in the set up of the relay activity. Right now, I don't have a lot of extra time to give to keep setting up these kind of activities. However, it does mostly pay off since the students are doing the math and seem to be somewhat enjoying it. I am still seeing an issue in terms of them not completing homework or worksheet/book problems. How do you get the students to realize that they still need to do outside work, especially now when the weather is nicer and we are getting near the end of the year? I'm not sure what that answer is right now.
My Math 1 students had a test today and I used the colored folders activity from Mrs. Graham's Math with them on Monday. I took some 12" x 12" card stock and cut it into 4 6" x 6" squares and wrote review questions on them. Each color had the same type of problems on them. With my Math 1 students, I put the answers in the folder they would get next so they wouldn't just copy the answers. I felt my students worked very well with this review activity. Almost every student was engaged and some of them were helping each other. This is my inclusion class and it allowed both me and the aide in class to get around and help students. My only complaint (and it's my own fault) is that some problem sets didn't take as long to do as others did, so there was a little too much down time. I think if the problem sets took around the same amount of time, this would work well. I did Speed Dating with them again (they did it before the previous test) and also did fairly well with it. The one thing I have found with them is they tend to take the problems they are comfortable with rather than challenging themselves to work with one they are not as sure of. Overall, it's been a successful week with them and I think I'll be looking to do more of these type activities with them.
My Advanced Algebra 2 students also had a test today. Instead of giving them a review sheet like normal, I broke it up and used the same colored folders activity I used with Math 1. I did put the answers in the same folder as the problems because they like to know they are correct as they are working on it. I think they were a little more engaged than if I had given them the worksheet to do the problems, however, their test scores today were not good. I'm trying to figure out if they didn't learn the learning targets very well when they were taught and it's catching up with them or if the different way of reviewing is the issue or what. More on that in another blog post, perhaps.
My Algebra 2 students did the notecard activity that Mimi blogged about on Monday - I had originally planned this for last Friday but didn't have time. We did a new lesson Tuesday and since today was our last day before Spring Break, I put together a relay activity similar to what @druinok mentioned in her practicing blog post. I set up 6 sets of cards and made duplicates so I had 12 sets of cards. I used the Random Word Chooser to have students choose partners (or in one class - 1 group of 3) and had them get whiteboards. Once they were settled, I explained the rules: They would each begin with a card (face down to begin) and work out the problem on the card. When they thought they had the correct answer, one team member was to bring the whiteboard up with their card and I would check it. If it was correct, they would get the next card. If it was wrong, they had to go back and fix it. (In most cases, I gave them a hint as to what was wrong to keep them moving along.) The first 6 teams to successfully get through their cards (I did 9) would get to pick a plastic egg from my basket (they all had candy in them).
At the start, most of my students were engaged. When they got stuck, some of them got really stuck. (The first 2 problems had GCF factoring in them - I have no idea why they don't "see" it, but that's another story.) In all three classes, there were 2-3 groups that basically seemed to give up after struggling for a while with the problems and those groups got through maybe 2 problems each. However, most of the classes were engaged and working - and it was the last day before Spring Break!
Here's what I am struggling with: although I am seeing more students who are engaged with practicing the math when I do this in class, it takes a lot of work to set these up, even when I am taking problems from worksheets (and not creating them from scratch). I probably have about 2 1/2 hours invested in the set up of the relay activity. Right now, I don't have a lot of extra time to give to keep setting up these kind of activities. However, it does mostly pay off since the students are doing the math and seem to be somewhat enjoying it. I am still seeing an issue in terms of them not completing homework or worksheet/book problems. How do you get the students to realize that they still need to do outside work, especially now when the weather is nicer and we are getting near the end of the year? I'm not sure what that answer is right now.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Revelations?
I am so fed up at this point. I don't know if it's just my lack of snow days/break, but I'm just fed up. I need Spring Break soon.
So, as a follow up to yesterday's questions/ponderings about how to get students to practice more, here are some excerpts of a conversation that @druinok and I had:
S: But part of the problem is on a practice day, how to make them do the practice
S: I pretty much stopped giving worksheets like that and do it other ways instead
me: ..But I don't know all those things. Where do I find them?
S: Speed dating is from Kate's blog
me: However, it still doesn't address the other issue - if you weren't planning on having a "practice day," how do you make sure they practice?
me: I know speed dating. I can't remember what other ideas I've seen.
S: You don't... the way I see it, the only way to ensure the practice is do it in class.
S: And I can say my kids were more willing to do a worksheet if it was a puzzle worksheet.
me: So you're saying I should build practice into my lesson? Maybe along the lines of what Jackie did? Her stuff looks to be discovery-based. Intriguing idea.
S: Yes... I build practice into the lesson... if I work them hard every day, the need for outside time should reduce.
S:And in order for them to practice more, I had/have to learn to talk less.
me: So how do you do that? How do you know how much direct explanation with examples to give before letting them try one? I usually give 2-3 examples of each "type" - easiest to hardest. Maybe I give too much. Maybe do one with the notes and have them try one on their own?
S: I've done that...
me: And then I assume you walk around the room as they are doing the one on their own. But then how do you avoid getting stuck with 2-3 students, each asking the same question as you walk around? I feel like I should know how to do this. I've taught for 20 years, for cryin' out loud!
S: I do walk around... when they raise their hand, I might say a word or two, but I don't linger.
S: I tell them to just try out... same as the other problem, just different numbers.
S: ok, so for practice...sometimes I will do a PPT with one problem per slide, put it up, walk around watch kids do it
problems are from worksheet then put up the answer or have kids go put an answer up for me
me: Is this after you've shown them how to do it?Same day or different day?
S: different day - as an alternate to giving a worksheet for them to practice
me: oh okay
S: part of the reason kids dont do a worksheet is proximity I think.. and being overwhelmed... one problem at a time and me walking around seems to curb both of those
me:: : makes sense
me: but, as i sit here on march 22nd feeling time pressured - i am still sitting here looking at, how do you teach something and ensure practice within a class day?
S: when teaching, I would do an example, then give another that was the same except for numbers.. they worked it, asked partner if stuck.. I walked around then we tried another that was a bit tougher
me: just to get through domain, vertical/horizontal asymptotes and holes of a rational function with my advanced alg 2 kids, it took me 2 days of class, and i could use another 10-15 minutes more. i did one example per part with fill-in-the-blank explanation and one addl example
S: now the downside of it was I focused too much on the "do" and not enough on the "why
me: which of course we have to focus more on the why now
... S: right
so assuming I teach alg2 next year, that is going to be one of my major things
S: my summer list is shaping up to be a major redo of alg2
but I would have the kids discover as much as I could...
me: i am starting to think that also
which would mean a major redo also
i've had crazy thoughts this week of not giving students textbooks next year and just giving note pages/problem pages
with common core changing things and our textbooks being 10 years old - maybe it makes more sense
S: I dont think that is crazy
me: i can't see buying new textbooks yet
i don't trust anything that says it's ccss yet - too quick to really be well thought out correlation to ccss
S: I tried to do discovery when I could - things like zeros, transformations, etc.. but I need to figure out how to do more
me: i need to figure out how to develop it in the first place - i've never done it before with my students
S: I want to do more activities like matching cards, etc... the kids respond very well to that
me: sometimes mine do, sometimes mine cop-out and don't really try with them
i really do like how the transformations ones turned out though
S: i want to work on engagment in general
me: with you on that
me: i may end up spending next year doing a major overhaul of how i do algebra 2 - i have taught it for 17 of the 20 years I've taught, so this will be major for me
S: we're gonna have a busy summer, huh?
here's the issue I see with common core though - we can't change alg2 until alg1 has been changed
bc quadratics are pretty much gone from alg2 based on what i've read... ?
me: yes
but i am certainly going to start. at least next year i'm not going to do much linear at all. i'm starting with quadratics i think.
S: we will still have our state tests that have systems on alg2, so I dont think we'll get to do that yetI hope I know soon if I'm teaching alg2..
me: it all depends on how much the alg1 teacher gets through where i'll startbut i am DEFINITELY not starting with solving linear equations in one variable.
S: agreed 100%
i would really like to get to a point where I start w/ an engaging problem and it sparks an exploration
me: maybe someday
... S: yup
but how to fix your issue right now is where we need to focus
tell me how a class day is structured
me: warm up - which they don't do until i get to the board
go over any questions from yesterday's problems, which are getting fewer since they aren't doing outside practice
new lesson
if time, start on practice problems. usually about 10-15 minutes if i'm lucky
very traditional
when i do something other than worksheets - speed dating, the thing i did yesterday, more tend to do it than not
giving them a worksheet and tell them to have at it doesn't work
although with being out 3 of the next 4 school days, they're getting worksheets. not much more of an option with a sub
S: I never liked the hw questions part.. always seemed like a waste of time don't know how to fix though
me: i am really becoming resentful of that
S: resentful of what?
me: i have a few kids who will ask question about a problem who have not done the assignment and then i watch them and they a) don't pay good attention and/or b) don't write a thing down as i do it
i am resentful of making that time daily and it being abused
but you want to provide question time for the students who honestly want their questions answered
S: okay, so let's break it down from start to finishwarmup time - what do you think? do you like it? does it work for you?
me: yes and no
S: could it be done differently?
me: it does give me something to focus on (themes) although some days are getting tough now
S: do your kids work in pairs or groups?
me: i like that they were practicing state test questions twice a week if they actually did them
they are seated in pairs
i may not do the themes next year - just rotate what they're warming up on
i like the concept of it, but my students don't follow through
they sit and talk while i'm getting attendance
at this point in the year, that's hard to correct. trying to think of how i would do it better next year so they are more engaged
S: remember you could try some new stuff after spring break - tell them you are testing out some ideas for next year
me: i am thinking if they are not doing outside of class practice, they could pick up a worksheet as they come into class
S: I have an idea, but not sure
me: start on it.
it would have a warm up at the top, then the "lesson"
S: do you have mini whiteboards?
me: hopefully somewhat discovery
yes
S: what if each pair came in, got a whiteboard and a problem (could have several problems)... worked it on the whiteboard w/ their partner
it would be a review of previous day's work
then had them switch slates and "grade" a different groups board?
might have the same effect as the HW check
OR - do the problems fom the HW - they worked on their whiteboard, lined them up at the chalk tray for kids that had HW questions?
then you kill two birds w/ one stone
me: if i did the problem with a partner - how many problems?
i don't want to create a ton of work for me in set up
(i know that sounds really selfish right now, but i don't want to be creating 12 problems and have them blow off the doing/checking of the problems)
i feel so darn stretched right now.
i really need that spring break
S: maybe use the problems from Kuta?
I honestly would figure out a way to do the homework problems.. if they did the HW, they can copy it on the whiteboard.. if not, they can work it
how many HW problems do you assign?
me: varies
S: more than 10?
how big are your classes?
me: after teaching 20 years, i am still struggling with what the "right" amount is. i feel they really need to practice, but if i assign 20ish problems, they won't do it
i have been trying to keep to 10ish
don't kill me... my largest class is 22
18-22
S: so, 9-11 groups
me: generally
S: lets say you pick 5 of the HW problems - assign each one to 2 groups (so they have a built in "check").. they work on the whiteboard, put on the chalk tray
could even ask each group to briefly explain the problem?
gives them some public speking practice too
then can move on to the new lesson
me: totally skip warm up? go straight to this?
S: then you aren't creating warmups
this would be both
me: may be worth a try
S: review of last night and warmup in one
now as for assigning.. could do randomly as they walk in... could post the 5 problems and they sign up?
me: so... what if i want to keep them doing the state test problems?
S: are the state test problems general review or do they go w/ the lesson?
me: i like the sign up idea but have to make sure they stick to only 2 pairs to a problem/can't switch out someone involuntarily
S: on the state test problems, I would probably put a timer on the board too - that sems to light a fire under some
me: i have a few jokers who might try that
me: state probs are generally review - not usually correlated to lesson (although sometimes I try to put something we recently did when i see it). usually i just start picking problems from a certain year's test. this year started with 2009 released questions and then moved to 2008 when i finished '09
S: are they pretty good about doing them?
me: no
a few are, but most of them don't do anything about them until i am ready to survey them on their answers
when i force them to do it on a 1/4 sheet, they do them, but again, slow starting
S: is your HW from the book or on a worksheet?
me: depends
both
boy do i really feel like i suck as a teacher right now
S: if its part of your HW, then it could be one of the warmup problems?
gosh no! if you sucked, we wouldn't be talking about this
me: it's not usually part of the hw, however, if i go to no textbook next year, could be part of hw
S: when is the state test?
me: it was last week
(yes, i know that makes no sense... test them 8th-10th grade at mid-march of 10th grade year)
S: that's right
then it would be okay to try something different for now w/ warmups
me: yes
S: and next year put them on the HW
me: i've been bringing in act practice problems on testing tue/thu
S: I think after spring break is a great time to try something new though - let you see if you like it before committing to it next year
S: okay, so moving on to the new lesson part... how active are the kids during that?
me: not very
S: so they fill in the notes and copy down the problems you work?
me: i am way too laid back - i don't tend to make them raise their hands.
i know i should. but i like the conversational bit as opposed to having to call on them. less formal.
some do. some just watch
S: i dont make them raise hands either
me: depends on which class. my classes with the "better" students tend to fill in notes/copy what's on the board. the ones with "weaker" students have a larger group that just watch
nice to know i'm not the only one
my advanced alg 2's tend to ask more questions. i have a couple of pretty ditzy freshmen girls who ask a ton of questions - but they do get it
sometimes it gets really annoying because i just answered the question and they just slightly change the question for the same result
S: so during this time do they try any problems on their own?
me: i haven't been having them do that
it goes back to the question i asked you earlier - how many do you show them before having them try?
i guess if i only showed them one and had them try it, they would have to work on figuring it out more on their own
S: one
me: but i am also afraid that if i did that my lower students wouldn't even try - if they didn't understand the first example, how could they try it on their own type thing
even in alg 2? i can see that ap stat would have a different caliber kids
S: yes in alg2
stat is a whole different ball game
me: i don't mean to be a pain. i am just trying to work through what my reality is
S: i'm thinking alg2/geometry here
me: i see how these kids have been so dependent/clueless
some of them are FINALLY coming around and making good progress but the lowest ones are still stuck
S: i tell them to try it - work w/ their partner.. and all i've done is change the numbers
me: not a lot of parent involvement here - this year i had my lowest number of parent conferences in 20 years
also got the poverty issues going on here too
me: so glad you "get" me
can't just have this conversation with anyone - or twitter at large
S: i understand some things are not for public consumption
me: although it could be an interesting twitter at large convo
not sure i want to go there tonight though
S: probably not since its still a work day for you tomorrow
me: geom lends itself to discovery so much easier than alg
S: yes
but I was trying to find a copy of guided notes and show you how I did indepedent practice within a class
me: i understandwhat did you have on the board then? the filled in parts for the defs/thms?
S: yes, I had a PPT that matched it
I am on my netbook, but I can send you a typical lesson tomorrow
I never did guided notes in alg2
me: i'm just starting them
i do like them - i think it makes a difference, even though it goes against the "they need to take responsibility so they can do all right in college" part of me
S: I liked the guided notes in geometry
and they used their notes
but in order to do them, I had to be very organized and prepared w/ the copies
no putting together PPTs the night before
Now, I will be honest, this is a little difficult to put out in the blogosphere. I feel as if I am at a very exposed moment here. I do a good job of explaining the mathematics to my students (or at least I'd like to think so), but my class is very traditional. And I know it's not working well. I need to make changes and I'm not sure where to start or how to change things. It's like there there is so much to change - where do I start? It's very overwhelming. I think that @druinok has some good suggestions and I will probably incorporate them.
So why am I putting this out there? I think there are other teachers who are in the same place I am and feel as I do. Maybe it will help them. Maybe some of you have some of the same thoughts (or have been there) and have some practical suggestions for me. But I think that there are some good nuggets here and it's worth having it out there for others to read and possibly add to. Feel free to add to the comments. I'm sure this is to be continued...
So, as a follow up to yesterday's questions/ponderings about how to get students to practice more, here are some excerpts of a conversation that @druinok and I had:
S: But part of the problem is on a practice day, how to make them do the practice
S: I pretty much stopped giving worksheets like that and do it other ways instead
me: ..But I don't know all those things. Where do I find them?
S: Speed dating is from Kate's blog
me: However, it still doesn't address the other issue - if you weren't planning on having a "practice day," how do you make sure they practice?
me: I know speed dating. I can't remember what other ideas I've seen.
S: You don't... the way I see it, the only way to ensure the practice is do it in class.
S: And I can say my kids were more willing to do a worksheet if it was a puzzle worksheet.
me: So you're saying I should build practice into my lesson? Maybe along the lines of what Jackie did? Her stuff looks to be discovery-based. Intriguing idea.
S: Yes... I build practice into the lesson... if I work them hard every day, the need for outside time should reduce.
S:And in order for them to practice more, I had/have to learn to talk less.
me: So how do you do that? How do you know how much direct explanation with examples to give before letting them try one? I usually give 2-3 examples of each "type" - easiest to hardest. Maybe I give too much. Maybe do one with the notes and have them try one on their own?
S: I've done that...
me: And then I assume you walk around the room as they are doing the one on their own. But then how do you avoid getting stuck with 2-3 students, each asking the same question as you walk around? I feel like I should know how to do this. I've taught for 20 years, for cryin' out loud!
S: I do walk around... when they raise their hand, I might say a word or two, but I don't linger.
S: I tell them to just try out... same as the other problem, just different numbers.
S: ok, so for practice...sometimes I will do a PPT with one problem per slide, put it up, walk around watch kids do it
problems are from worksheet then put up the answer or have kids go put an answer up for me
me: Is this after you've shown them how to do it?Same day or different day?
S: different day - as an alternate to giving a worksheet for them to practice
me: oh okay
S: part of the reason kids dont do a worksheet is proximity I think.. and being overwhelmed... one problem at a time and me walking around seems to curb both of those
me:: : makes sense
me: but, as i sit here on march 22nd feeling time pressured - i am still sitting here looking at, how do you teach something and ensure practice within a class day?
S: when teaching, I would do an example, then give another that was the same except for numbers.. they worked it, asked partner if stuck.. I walked around then we tried another that was a bit tougher
me: just to get through domain, vertical/horizontal asymptotes and holes of a rational function with my advanced alg 2 kids, it took me 2 days of class, and i could use another 10-15 minutes more. i did one example per part with fill-in-the-blank explanation and one addl example
S: now the downside of it was I focused too much on the "do" and not enough on the "why
me: which of course we have to focus more on the why now
... S: right
so assuming I teach alg2 next year, that is going to be one of my major things
S: my summer list is shaping up to be a major redo of alg2
but I would have the kids discover as much as I could...
me: i am starting to think that also
which would mean a major redo also
i've had crazy thoughts this week of not giving students textbooks next year and just giving note pages/problem pages
with common core changing things and our textbooks being 10 years old - maybe it makes more sense
S: I dont think that is crazy
me: i can't see buying new textbooks yet
i don't trust anything that says it's ccss yet - too quick to really be well thought out correlation to ccss
S: I tried to do discovery when I could - things like zeros, transformations, etc.. but I need to figure out how to do more
me: i need to figure out how to develop it in the first place - i've never done it before with my students
S: I want to do more activities like matching cards, etc... the kids respond very well to that
me: sometimes mine do, sometimes mine cop-out and don't really try with them
i really do like how the transformations ones turned out though
S: i want to work on engagment in general
me: with you on that
me: i may end up spending next year doing a major overhaul of how i do algebra 2 - i have taught it for 17 of the 20 years I've taught, so this will be major for me
S: we're gonna have a busy summer, huh?
here's the issue I see with common core though - we can't change alg2 until alg1 has been changed
bc quadratics are pretty much gone from alg2 based on what i've read... ?
me: yes
but i am certainly going to start. at least next year i'm not going to do much linear at all. i'm starting with quadratics i think.
S: we will still have our state tests that have systems on alg2, so I dont think we'll get to do that yetI hope I know soon if I'm teaching alg2..
me: it all depends on how much the alg1 teacher gets through where i'll startbut i am DEFINITELY not starting with solving linear equations in one variable.
S: agreed 100%
i would really like to get to a point where I start w/ an engaging problem and it sparks an exploration
me: maybe someday
... S: yup
but how to fix your issue right now is where we need to focus
tell me how a class day is structured
me: warm up - which they don't do until i get to the board
go over any questions from yesterday's problems, which are getting fewer since they aren't doing outside practice
new lesson
if time, start on practice problems. usually about 10-15 minutes if i'm lucky
very traditional
when i do something other than worksheets - speed dating, the thing i did yesterday, more tend to do it than not
giving them a worksheet and tell them to have at it doesn't work
although with being out 3 of the next 4 school days, they're getting worksheets. not much more of an option with a sub
S: I never liked the hw questions part.. always seemed like a waste of time
don't know how to fix though me: i am really becoming resentful of that
S: resentful of what?
me: i have a few kids who will ask question about a problem who have not done the assignment and then i watch them and they a) don't pay good attention and/or b) don't write a thing down as i do it
i am resentful of making that time daily and it being abused
but you want to provide question time for the students who honestly want their questions answered
S: okay, so let's break it down from start to finishwarmup time - what do you think? do you like it? does it work for you?
me: yes and no
S: could it be done differently?
me: it does give me something to focus on (themes) although some days are getting tough now
S: do your kids work in pairs or groups?
me: i like that they were practicing state test questions twice a week if they actually did them
they are seated in pairs
i may not do the themes next year - just rotate what they're warming up on
i like the concept of it, but my students don't follow through
they sit and talk while i'm getting attendance
at this point in the year, that's hard to correct. trying to think of how i would do it better next year so they are more engaged
S: remember you could try some new stuff after spring break - tell them you are testing out some ideas for next year
me: i am thinking if they are not doing outside of class practice, they could pick up a worksheet as they come into class
S: I have an idea, but not sure
me: start on it.
it would have a warm up at the top, then the "lesson"
S: do you have mini whiteboards?
me: hopefully somewhat discovery
yes
S: what if each pair came in, got a whiteboard and a problem (could have several problems)... worked it on the whiteboard w/ their partner
it would be a review of previous day's work
then had them switch slates and "grade" a different groups board?
might have the same effect as the HW check
OR - do the problems fom the HW - they worked on their whiteboard, lined them up at the chalk tray for kids that had HW questions?
then you kill two birds w/ one stone
me: if i did the problem with a partner - how many problems?
i don't want to create a ton of work for me in set up
(i know that sounds really selfish right now, but i don't want to be creating 12 problems and have them blow off the doing/checking of the problems)
i feel so darn stretched right now.
i really need that spring break
S: maybe use the problems from Kuta?
I honestly would figure out a way to do the homework problems.. if they did the HW, they can copy it on the whiteboard.. if not, they can work it
how many HW problems do you assign?
me: varies
S: more than 10?
how big are your classes?
me: after teaching 20 years, i am still struggling with what the "right" amount is. i feel they really need to practice, but if i assign 20ish problems, they won't do it
i have been trying to keep to 10ish
don't kill me... my largest class is 22
18-22
S: so, 9-11 groups
me: generally
S: lets say you pick 5 of the HW problems - assign each one to 2 groups (so they have a built in "check").. they work on the whiteboard, put on the chalk tray
could even ask each group to briefly explain the problem?
gives them some public speking practice too
then can move on to the new lesson
me: totally skip warm up? go straight to this?
S: then you aren't creating warmups
this would be both
me: may be worth a try
S: review of last night and warmup in one
now as for assigning.. could do randomly as they walk in... could post the 5 problems and they sign up?
me: so... what if i want to keep them doing the state test problems?
S: are the state test problems general review or do they go w/ the lesson?
me: i like the sign up idea but have to make sure they stick to only 2 pairs to a problem/can't switch out someone involuntarily
S: on the state test problems, I would probably put a timer on the board too - that sems to light a fire under some
me: i have a few jokers who might try that
me: state probs are generally review - not usually correlated to lesson (although sometimes I try to put something we recently did when i see it). usually i just start picking problems from a certain year's test. this year started with 2009 released questions and then moved to 2008 when i finished '09
S: are they pretty good about doing them?
me: no
a few are, but most of them don't do anything about them until i am ready to survey them on their answers
when i force them to do it on a 1/4 sheet, they do them, but again, slow starting
S: is your HW from the book or on a worksheet?
me: depends
both
boy do i really feel like i suck as a teacher right now
S: if its part of your HW, then it could be one of the warmup problems?
gosh no! if you sucked, we wouldn't be talking about this
me: it's not usually part of the hw, however, if i go to no textbook next year, could be part of hw
S: when is the state test?
me: it was last week
(yes, i know that makes no sense... test them 8th-10th grade at mid-march of 10th grade year)
S: that's right
then it would be okay to try something different for now w/ warmups
me: yes
S: and next year put them on the HW
me: i've been bringing in act practice problems on testing tue/thu
S: I think after spring break is a great time to try something new though - let you see if you like it before committing to it next year
S: okay, so moving on to the new lesson part... how active are the kids during that?
me: not very
S: so they fill in the notes and copy down the problems you work?
me: i am way too laid back - i don't tend to make them raise their hands.
i know i should. but i like the conversational bit as opposed to having to call on them. less formal.
some do. some just watch
S: i dont make them raise hands either
me: depends on which class. my classes with the "better" students tend to fill in notes/copy what's on the board. the ones with "weaker" students have a larger group that just watch
nice to know i'm not the only one
my advanced alg 2's tend to ask more questions. i have a couple of pretty ditzy freshmen girls who ask a ton of questions - but they do get it
sometimes it gets really annoying because i just answered the question and they just slightly change the question for the same result
S: so during this time do they try any problems on their own?
me: i haven't been having them do that
it goes back to the question i asked you earlier - how many do you show them before having them try?
i guess if i only showed them one and had them try it, they would have to work on figuring it out more on their own
S: one
me: but i am also afraid that if i did that my lower students wouldn't even try - if they didn't understand the first example, how could they try it on their own type thing
even in alg 2? i can see that ap stat would have a different caliber kids
S: yes in alg2
stat is a whole different ball game
me: i don't mean to be a pain. i am just trying to work through what my reality is
S: i'm thinking alg2/geometry here
me: i see how these kids have been so dependent/clueless
some of them are FINALLY coming around and making good progress but the lowest ones are still stuck
S: i tell them to try it - work w/ their partner.. and all i've done is change the numbers
me: not a lot of parent involvement here - this year i had my lowest number of parent conferences in 20 years
also got the poverty issues going on here too
me: so glad you "get" me
can't just have this conversation with anyone - or twitter at large
S: i understand
some things are not for public consumption me: although it could be an interesting twitter at large convo
not sure i want to go there tonight though
S: probably not since its still a work day for you tomorrow
me: geom lends itself to discovery so much easier than alg
S: yes
but I was trying to find a copy of guided notes and show you how I did indepedent practice within a class
me: i understandwhat did you have on the board then? the filled in parts for the defs/thms?
S: yes, I had a PPT that matched it
I am on my netbook, but I can send you a typical lesson tomorrow
I never did guided notes in alg2
me: i'm just starting them
i do like them - i think it makes a difference, even though it goes against the "they need to take responsibility so they can do all right in college" part of me
S: I liked the guided notes in geometry
and they used their notes
but in order to do them, I had to be very organized and prepared w/ the copies
no putting together PPTs the night before
Now, I will be honest, this is a little difficult to put out in the blogosphere. I feel as if I am at a very exposed moment here. I do a good job of explaining the mathematics to my students (or at least I'd like to think so), but my class is very traditional. And I know it's not working well. I need to make changes and I'm not sure where to start or how to change things. It's like there there is so much to change - where do I start? It's very overwhelming. I think that @druinok has some good suggestions and I will probably incorporate them.
So why am I putting this out there? I think there are other teachers who are in the same place I am and feel as I do. Maybe it will help them. Maybe some of you have some of the same thoughts (or have been there) and have some practical suggestions for me. But I think that there are some good nuggets here and it's worth having it out there for others to read and possibly add to. Feel free to add to the comments. I'm sure this is to be continued...
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Spring HW Blues
Spring fever has hit here and it is only the second day of spring. Our weather warmed up considerably last week and it felt more like May 15th than March 15th here. Of course, since the weather has warmed up, the students' focus has gone down. Yesterday, I had taught my Algebra 2s the last part of graphing quadratic equations, using the axis of symmetry to find the vertex. It certainly wasn't my most spectacular lesson. As I was getting ready this morning, I just had the sense that my students didn't do the 5 problems I assigned for practice. On the drive in, I had thought about doing a matching activity similar to what I had done with my Advanced Algebra 2 students when we did transformations back around Christmas. As I thought about it, if I gave them the equations and the graphs, I felt that enough of my students would just try to substitute the points from the graph into the equation rather than figuring it out as they would have to on their quiz Friday. I guess I just feel like my students are at the point right now they are looking for the easiest way to get through class rather than trying to do their best. I hate that feeling.
The more I think about it, the more I don't like how I am doing homework or practice problems, or whatever you want to call it. I don't grade it - I stopped grading it a couple of years ago when I switched to doing my version of Standards-Based Grading. I want students' grades to reflect what they know, not what (busy) work they've done. Even though their grades reflect what they know, I don't think they take the practice portion as serious as they should. When we do stuff in class, sometimes they practice well, sometimes they don't. For instance, today, students were fairly engaged. I had them get into pairs and work through 4 problems. I left it up to them whether they divided them so they each did 2 or whatever worked for them. The only answer I gave them was the vertex so students would have a mid-way check point. I walked around as they were working and checked their five points and let them know they were correct. I gave them a worksheet with additional problems to practice for homework after they were done.
The original plan for today was to have them work on the aforementioned worksheet in class and I would walk around and help students as needed. That's what I've done in the past when I know students would need additional practice - teach it one day, give a worksheet or other additional practice problems in class the next. That doesn't work anymore. Some students will do it in class no matter what - just like many of us did when we were in school. However, I am seeing more and more students not taking advantage of the class time to work or to get help. I know I need to make changes to what I do, but I just don't know what. I cannot keep coming up with these activities - I am stretched pretty thin right now and if I want to maintain what little sanity I have left, I need to make sure I have time that is not work/mommy related.
I know some people seem to think that the flipped classroom may be the answer - let the students watch the instruction piece at home on their own time and use the classroom time for practice/homework. I just don't see that being the answer. If that is the direction to head, classroom activities have to be more dynamic and engaging for students than here are x problems - do them in class. Plus with what is coming down the pike with Common Core, I just don't see that working.
So what do you do in class to ensure/motivate/encourage students to practice? It is hard to be successful in mathematics without practice. About the only thing I am certain of is to not make the amount of practice too long. Even though 4 problems may have been too short (time-wise) for some students, overall, today, it seemed like the right amount. Most of my students did complete at least 2 problems and some did do all four themselves. At least I know they actually did practice and talked with their partner and/or me to figure out what was going on, and I think that was a good thing. For some students, 2-4 problems was enough practice, but I suspect that for most of my students, they probably needed a little more practice. How do you get them enough practice?
The more I think about it, the more I don't like how I am doing homework or practice problems, or whatever you want to call it. I don't grade it - I stopped grading it a couple of years ago when I switched to doing my version of Standards-Based Grading. I want students' grades to reflect what they know, not what (busy) work they've done. Even though their grades reflect what they know, I don't think they take the practice portion as serious as they should. When we do stuff in class, sometimes they practice well, sometimes they don't. For instance, today, students were fairly engaged. I had them get into pairs and work through 4 problems. I left it up to them whether they divided them so they each did 2 or whatever worked for them. The only answer I gave them was the vertex so students would have a mid-way check point. I walked around as they were working and checked their five points and let them know they were correct. I gave them a worksheet with additional problems to practice for homework after they were done.
The original plan for today was to have them work on the aforementioned worksheet in class and I would walk around and help students as needed. That's what I've done in the past when I know students would need additional practice - teach it one day, give a worksheet or other additional practice problems in class the next. That doesn't work anymore. Some students will do it in class no matter what - just like many of us did when we were in school. However, I am seeing more and more students not taking advantage of the class time to work or to get help. I know I need to make changes to what I do, but I just don't know what. I cannot keep coming up with these activities - I am stretched pretty thin right now and if I want to maintain what little sanity I have left, I need to make sure I have time that is not work/mommy related.
I know some people seem to think that the flipped classroom may be the answer - let the students watch the instruction piece at home on their own time and use the classroom time for practice/homework. I just don't see that being the answer. If that is the direction to head, classroom activities have to be more dynamic and engaging for students than here are x problems - do them in class. Plus with what is coming down the pike with Common Core, I just don't see that working.
So what do you do in class to ensure/motivate/encourage students to practice? It is hard to be successful in mathematics without practice. About the only thing I am certain of is to not make the amount of practice too long. Even though 4 problems may have been too short (time-wise) for some students, overall, today, it seemed like the right amount. Most of my students did complete at least 2 problems and some did do all four themselves. At least I know they actually did practice and talked with their partner and/or me to figure out what was going on, and I think that was a good thing. For some students, 2-4 problems was enough practice, but I suspect that for most of my students, they probably needed a little more practice. How do you get them enough practice?
Saturday, February 04, 2012
No Answers, Just Questions
I gave my Algebra 2 students a quiz this week on multiplying polynomials and factoring. I didn't put any feedback problems on it this time. We have been working on factoring for the last week to week and a half and it was time to see how well they knew it. We are getting ready to move to solving quadratic equations and I plan on giving students another opportunity to assess on factoring on the next quiz, but it was just plain time to give that assessment. Two weeks ago, I had given the assessment with feedback (details here) if you want the back story.
I do have to say that the students did much better on multiplying polynomials than the first time around. I would have liked to see a few more 4s and 5s - but for the most part, students were where I had expected and hoped they would be. Factoring, well, I'm still not so sure how I feel about their results. The results were not as horrendous as I feared they might be. However, I had hoped for more 4s and 5s and the reality is that I have more 2s and 3s than I would like. I am a little baffled.
I felt I had prepared them fairly well. We did notes on Friday and Monday on ax^2 + bx + c using what I call the x + box method. I had given them a note sheet with not only the examples, but what I felt was a pretty good explanation as to how I work through it. Students practiced in class with worksheets on Monday and Tuesday and we did a review game using my SMART Board game I came up with (details here in the last 2 paragraphs). Students seemed to feel that they had a good grasp on it when they left class Wednesday. Then Thursday was the quiz and I'm not sure what happened from Wednesday to Thursday. I watched students do the process on their own Wednesday with confidence (several students in particular who have been struggling with my class) and saw on their quizzes Thursday that they forgot part or all of the process. I have no idea what happened. How can they know it well in class the day before and then forget it the next day?
I think some of it goes back to not practicing the material enough. I have blogged about this on and off over the last month (In order: here, a little here, and here). Students I have today are not like what students in my generation were. Plus, their outside of school situations are very different than what students in the community I live in are. Many of my students do not do much practice outside of class - especially the ones who need it. Do I need to totally restructure my class so that they have practice time embedded in it? Do I shift to something like Mathy McMatherson discusses in his recent blog post - giving only exit tickets and occasional outside of class practice? I can relate to several of the issues he discusses in his post - he is wise beyond his (teaching) years. If you don't already read his blog, add it to your reader. Well worth your time. While I am mentioning some other recent blog posts I've read - Bowman's post on retention of high school mathematics has me thinking also. How can I expect my students to retain this year's stuff if they can't even retain this week's stuff? Bowman teaches Calculus in Jordan and also blogs good stuff. Another newer blogger worth adding to your reader. I'm also trying a little of what Glenn talks about here with guided notes for his students. More on what I did in a later post - but I thought it was worth trying.
As long as I am adding other blog posts that have me thinking on this issue, I need to add David Coffey's recent post on our expectations of students. I think this is the largest overlying issue to me right now. If I keep setting up parts of the learning process for them (giving them guided note sheets, embedding practice in class and not putting the onus on my students to do outside work), how successful are they going to be once they leave my class? What will happen to them next year when their teacher will do very little of those things? How do I help my students to be successful?
I do have to say that the students did much better on multiplying polynomials than the first time around. I would have liked to see a few more 4s and 5s - but for the most part, students were where I had expected and hoped they would be. Factoring, well, I'm still not so sure how I feel about their results. The results were not as horrendous as I feared they might be. However, I had hoped for more 4s and 5s and the reality is that I have more 2s and 3s than I would like. I am a little baffled.
I felt I had prepared them fairly well. We did notes on Friday and Monday on ax^2 + bx + c using what I call the x + box method. I had given them a note sheet with not only the examples, but what I felt was a pretty good explanation as to how I work through it. Students practiced in class with worksheets on Monday and Tuesday and we did a review game using my SMART Board game I came up with (details here in the last 2 paragraphs). Students seemed to feel that they had a good grasp on it when they left class Wednesday. Then Thursday was the quiz and I'm not sure what happened from Wednesday to Thursday. I watched students do the process on their own Wednesday with confidence (several students in particular who have been struggling with my class) and saw on their quizzes Thursday that they forgot part or all of the process. I have no idea what happened. How can they know it well in class the day before and then forget it the next day?
I think some of it goes back to not practicing the material enough. I have blogged about this on and off over the last month (In order: here, a little here, and here). Students I have today are not like what students in my generation were. Plus, their outside of school situations are very different than what students in the community I live in are. Many of my students do not do much practice outside of class - especially the ones who need it. Do I need to totally restructure my class so that they have practice time embedded in it? Do I shift to something like Mathy McMatherson discusses in his recent blog post - giving only exit tickets and occasional outside of class practice? I can relate to several of the issues he discusses in his post - he is wise beyond his (teaching) years. If you don't already read his blog, add it to your reader. Well worth your time. While I am mentioning some other recent blog posts I've read - Bowman's post on retention of high school mathematics has me thinking also. How can I expect my students to retain this year's stuff if they can't even retain this week's stuff? Bowman teaches Calculus in Jordan and also blogs good stuff. Another newer blogger worth adding to your reader. I'm also trying a little of what Glenn talks about here with guided notes for his students. More on what I did in a later post - but I thought it was worth trying.
As long as I am adding other blog posts that have me thinking on this issue, I need to add David Coffey's recent post on our expectations of students. I think this is the largest overlying issue to me right now. If I keep setting up parts of the learning process for them (giving them guided note sheets, embedding practice in class and not putting the onus on my students to do outside work), how successful are they going to be once they leave my class? What will happen to them next year when their teacher will do very little of those things? How do I help my students to be successful?
Friday, January 27, 2012
Homework Ponderings
I have been pondering the whole homework issue on and off lately. With doing SBG, I don't grade homework. It's actually been rather liberating - I don't grade every little thing and students' grades reflect what they know. However, I am really seeing this year that my students don't do much of the assigned homework problems. We can make the list of excuses reasons as long or as short as you want. But the bottom line is that many of my students don't practice their mathematics outside of class as they should.
I suppose I could ponder as to why this is and we could all come up with a pretty long list. But I guess the bottom line is that as I look at students today versus 15-20 years ago versus about 25 years ago (when I was in school) is that society and home lives are much different now then when I first started teaching or even when I was a high school student myself. Add to that the fact that my students face a much different home and economic situation than when I was in school (some discussion on that in this post) and my current students' perspective on homework is radically different than mine.
Over the last few days, I have really been pondering about what to do to ensure my students practice the mathematics so they can be successful. I am pretty certain that my best students are doing that with little push from me. They have that motivation to do well and they realize they need to practice it. But what about the lower ability students - the ones who have struggled with math? They don't like math and often times don't want to do it, so if I'm not grading it, they don't have much incentive to do it. I can give exit ticket problems so they do one problem (or two) before they leave class. I can give opener problems for them to do as they come into class, but unless I collect it, they don't seem to put much effort into it. For that matter, even some of my best students don't put much effort into the warm up problems. I suppose I could do My Favorite No with their Warm Up Problems every day which would force them more into doing the problems. If I do that, it's kind of hard to do that with "Mental Mondays" and the multiple choice questions I use on Tuesdays and Thursdays for my Bellringers.
I am getting better at having them do a couple of problems during the lesson. Part of it is that I ended up going back and reteaching factoring using the GCF and in x^2 + bx + c form (see these posts for details) and I did note pages for them with examples for them to work as we went along. As much as I hate putting together note pages for them to work on, I have more of a chance of them actually doing notes if I do this than if I just tell them to take their own notes from my SMART Notebook file as I teach. Given that we are really moving into "new" territory for them, I am really debating if I should just throw in the towel and provide them note pages to write on and hope that they follow through with taking the notes or really continue the push to take their own notes. I am struggling with this because if they ever hope to survive in college, they have to learn to take their own notes. However, I have some students (who probably won't end up going to college) who won't do anything as far as notes go without some sort of push like having the note page provided. There are still students who won't take any notes at all and I am certain I am not going to change their minds no matter what I do. It's those middle to low kids who just might do something if I give them the paper that I'm hoping to get going in the right direction.
Anyway, getting back to the issue I started with... Part of what sparked these ponderings about homework/practice problems is what happened in class Thursday. I had put together this game (see the end of this post) where students had to work out problems and the teams got points and the winning team got blow pops and for 2 of my 3 classes it went really well. The kids mostly did the problems. In my lowest ability class of the 3, I was able to get around and help some students and got them on the right track. The students really liked it (and I think would have done it without the candy incentive) and were engaged with the math. My 2nd class had four students who pretty much ruined it for the whole class. I had divided the room into teams by where they sat and all four students were on the same team. They didn't want to try and would copy the answer from another student when it was their turn. So I added the condition that they had to explain their answer to get the point for their team. These four students' behavior pretty much demoralized their team and made what was fun for other classes not fun at all.
As I look at the students in question, one has really been struggling with math. This student has gone to get help which has helped a little bit, but the reality is that this student probably shouldn't have gotten the grades that were on the report card and maybe even shouldn't have passed Algebra 1. Two of the students have the potential to be decent Algebra 2 students but they choose to not put forth much of an effort. The fourth student also has some issues with understanding the mathematics as well. This student has had extended absences a couple of times due to medical issues and has come in for help a couple of times after those absences, but has not chosen to make much of an effort as of late. When they choose to practice problems, they do much better. Although I will be changing seats next week to help deal with the behavioral issues these four students cause for each other (and subsequently for the class on Thursday), it doesn't change the underlying problem of lack of effort.
How do you get students to make the effort they should? Not every topic in mathematics is compelling to everyone and certainly not every topic in mathematics has "real world" application problems that I can pull out to help make the mathematics compelling (not that I am doing what I should be or could be as far as that goes, but that's another post for another time). If I can't control what they do outside of my classroom, how do I get them to work on the mathematics inside of my classroom? Some would argue I need to "flip" my classroom - have videos for students to watch for the lessons at home and have work time in class for students to work on the problems. I'm not convinced that's the way to go. For one, not all my students have access to the internet outside of school. For some students, their only internet access at home is through dial-up. This is a socio-economic issue here. We also go back to the issue of time and priorities that I mentioned earlier as far as even doing the assignment outside of class. I need to get back to reading Drive and ReWired, both of which I started before Christmas and haven't gotten anywhere since.
I know I certainly don't have the answer. I don't expect that others of you do either. At this point, I am just trying to sort through my many thoughts on the issue. My wonderful math tweep @cheesemonkeysf has said to me before that the answer is there, I just haven't found it yet. Blogging helps me get there - eventually. Meanwhile, feel free to add your thoughts and ramblings to mine in the comments.
I suppose I could ponder as to why this is and we could all come up with a pretty long list. But I guess the bottom line is that as I look at students today versus 15-20 years ago versus about 25 years ago (when I was in school) is that society and home lives are much different now then when I first started teaching or even when I was a high school student myself. Add to that the fact that my students face a much different home and economic situation than when I was in school (some discussion on that in this post) and my current students' perspective on homework is radically different than mine.
Over the last few days, I have really been pondering about what to do to ensure my students practice the mathematics so they can be successful. I am pretty certain that my best students are doing that with little push from me. They have that motivation to do well and they realize they need to practice it. But what about the lower ability students - the ones who have struggled with math? They don't like math and often times don't want to do it, so if I'm not grading it, they don't have much incentive to do it. I can give exit ticket problems so they do one problem (or two) before they leave class. I can give opener problems for them to do as they come into class, but unless I collect it, they don't seem to put much effort into it. For that matter, even some of my best students don't put much effort into the warm up problems. I suppose I could do My Favorite No with their Warm Up Problems every day which would force them more into doing the problems. If I do that, it's kind of hard to do that with "Mental Mondays" and the multiple choice questions I use on Tuesdays and Thursdays for my Bellringers.
I am getting better at having them do a couple of problems during the lesson. Part of it is that I ended up going back and reteaching factoring using the GCF and in x^2 + bx + c form (see these posts for details) and I did note pages for them with examples for them to work as we went along. As much as I hate putting together note pages for them to work on, I have more of a chance of them actually doing notes if I do this than if I just tell them to take their own notes from my SMART Notebook file as I teach. Given that we are really moving into "new" territory for them, I am really debating if I should just throw in the towel and provide them note pages to write on and hope that they follow through with taking the notes or really continue the push to take their own notes. I am struggling with this because if they ever hope to survive in college, they have to learn to take their own notes. However, I have some students (who probably won't end up going to college) who won't do anything as far as notes go without some sort of push like having the note page provided. There are still students who won't take any notes at all and I am certain I am not going to change their minds no matter what I do. It's those middle to low kids who just might do something if I give them the paper that I'm hoping to get going in the right direction.
Anyway, getting back to the issue I started with... Part of what sparked these ponderings about homework/practice problems is what happened in class Thursday. I had put together this game (see the end of this post) where students had to work out problems and the teams got points and the winning team got blow pops and for 2 of my 3 classes it went really well. The kids mostly did the problems. In my lowest ability class of the 3, I was able to get around and help some students and got them on the right track. The students really liked it (and I think would have done it without the candy incentive) and were engaged with the math. My 2nd class had four students who pretty much ruined it for the whole class. I had divided the room into teams by where they sat and all four students were on the same team. They didn't want to try and would copy the answer from another student when it was their turn. So I added the condition that they had to explain their answer to get the point for their team. These four students' behavior pretty much demoralized their team and made what was fun for other classes not fun at all.
As I look at the students in question, one has really been struggling with math. This student has gone to get help which has helped a little bit, but the reality is that this student probably shouldn't have gotten the grades that were on the report card and maybe even shouldn't have passed Algebra 1. Two of the students have the potential to be decent Algebra 2 students but they choose to not put forth much of an effort. The fourth student also has some issues with understanding the mathematics as well. This student has had extended absences a couple of times due to medical issues and has come in for help a couple of times after those absences, but has not chosen to make much of an effort as of late. When they choose to practice problems, they do much better. Although I will be changing seats next week to help deal with the behavioral issues these four students cause for each other (and subsequently for the class on Thursday), it doesn't change the underlying problem of lack of effort.
How do you get students to make the effort they should? Not every topic in mathematics is compelling to everyone and certainly not every topic in mathematics has "real world" application problems that I can pull out to help make the mathematics compelling (not that I am doing what I should be or could be as far as that goes, but that's another post for another time). If I can't control what they do outside of my classroom, how do I get them to work on the mathematics inside of my classroom? Some would argue I need to "flip" my classroom - have videos for students to watch for the lessons at home and have work time in class for students to work on the problems. I'm not convinced that's the way to go. For one, not all my students have access to the internet outside of school. For some students, their only internet access at home is through dial-up. This is a socio-economic issue here. We also go back to the issue of time and priorities that I mentioned earlier as far as even doing the assignment outside of class. I need to get back to reading Drive and ReWired, both of which I started before Christmas and haven't gotten anywhere since.
I know I certainly don't have the answer. I don't expect that others of you do either. At this point, I am just trying to sort through my many thoughts on the issue. My wonderful math tweep @cheesemonkeysf has said to me before that the answer is there, I just haven't found it yet. Blogging helps me get there - eventually. Meanwhile, feel free to add your thoughts and ramblings to mine in the comments.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Mid-Career Crisis
Well, I have finally up and done it. I have started blogging. I suppose this was bound to happen. I suppose I ought to give a bit of an introduction and why I'm here, but it will take some time. So, I'll start with the homework issue that we started with last night.
I have taught for 18 years - all but one at the high school level. I spent last year (08-09) teaching 7th and 8th grade math and I had also taught 8th grade math earlier in my career at a 7-12 high school. I have never been really happy with how I've done homework. In reality, there are a lot of things I'm not happy with at the moment (hence the title), but I'll get into those over the next few weeks.
I had started on Twitter in the fall and winter, but got away from it in the spring - things had gotten too busy and I just hadn't really "figured it out." Couldn't see what the point was. Boy do I see it now - crystal clear! I tried to jump into conversations and I guess I never figured out how to make it work right for me. Looking back, I now see that I wasn't looking at the right time or at it in the right way. But I digress.
My tech coordinator was impressed with my reaching out to him in the spring in terms of being willing to guinea pig stuff, so much so that he ordered me a SMART Board (which I now know is on its way and will be in my classroom for fall). We will have a new school in the fall of 2011 and all the classrooms will have SMART Boards. I want time to figure it all out. So, once he told me that I was getting one, I started to look for any PD I could find. The county offers several 2 days courses and I signed up for 2 - "21st Century Tools" and "Teaching Mathematics in the 21st Century" (or something like that). The week I started 21st Century Tools, I started playing around with Twitter again. Little did I know that we'd be talking about it in class the next day.
So, we went over Twitter and blogs and a few other things day one and I was trying to find everyone's blogs and get them loaded into my Google Reader (something else we learned a little about). Plus, I started followng stuff on Twitter. I jumped into a conversation about homework. Like many others, this has been a big struggle for me. I have always done homework by grading based on completion - usually 5 points, but I've done 3 before. All points mean you completed pretty much all of it. I have done partial credit based on how much was done but in recent years, I've pretty much given half credit for partially done and no credit for not really doing it or just giving answers. I hate when students just give answers. Doesn't help them or me.
This has been the system I've used most of my teaching career. Lower level classes (like my Math 1) I grade HW daily. College prep classes I tend to grade "randomly" - which usually means 1-2 times a week and many times on the 2nd day of a topic. It kind of works for me but I've never been totally happy with it. It places too much emphasis on doing homework for their grade and there's just too much copying. I don't really feel like they are getting it. Like many things I am finding that I do, I am just not happy about it. It's time to make a change.
So after our hour and a half long conversation on Twitter last night, I was just so thrilled with all of the discourse. I'm not going to get into it all - others have summarized it much better. Check out the post at I Speak Math or My Web 2.0 Journey to get a summary of it. All I know is that I walked away with so many ideas floating through my head and an email from my Twitter friend with her policy that I am seriously thinking about trying, not to mention this wonderful feeling that something great had just taken place. In my 18 years of teaching, I have never had this kind of discourse before. I still was on such a high this morning - a morning after euphoria, if you will. The conversation was so intellectually satisifying and I felt that there were others out there struggling with some of the same issues that I am. And I just want to learn from these great people.
I know I could be doing much better in the classroom. I can explain math well. There are better ways of going about the business of learning. Someone said in my class today that we tend to teach the way we were taught. I was taught like many were - go over the homework problems, learn a new lesson, do new homework problems. And I had great teachers who could explain things well. But is this the best way anymore? I'm getting a SMART Board in the fall and I need to figure out how to use it. There are so many things I could be doing in class to be a better math teacher. I want to be a better math teacher. I just don't know how to get there. But - Twitter is going to help me get there in some way, because it has connected me with some pretty neat math teachers. And I need to learn from them. I'm just past halfway (potentially, depending on what STRS does about when you can retire and at what percentage) in my teaching career. I'm at a crossroads. I want the fast car/gorgeous man/fill in the blank of your favorite mid-life crisis object here. But it's a lot harder to make that happen. Can an old dog learn new tricks? Stay tuned...
I have taught for 18 years - all but one at the high school level. I spent last year (08-09) teaching 7th and 8th grade math and I had also taught 8th grade math earlier in my career at a 7-12 high school. I have never been really happy with how I've done homework. In reality, there are a lot of things I'm not happy with at the moment (hence the title), but I'll get into those over the next few weeks.
I had started on Twitter in the fall and winter, but got away from it in the spring - things had gotten too busy and I just hadn't really "figured it out." Couldn't see what the point was. Boy do I see it now - crystal clear! I tried to jump into conversations and I guess I never figured out how to make it work right for me. Looking back, I now see that I wasn't looking at the right time or at it in the right way. But I digress.
My tech coordinator was impressed with my reaching out to him in the spring in terms of being willing to guinea pig stuff, so much so that he ordered me a SMART Board (which I now know is on its way and will be in my classroom for fall). We will have a new school in the fall of 2011 and all the classrooms will have SMART Boards. I want time to figure it all out. So, once he told me that I was getting one, I started to look for any PD I could find. The county offers several 2 days courses and I signed up for 2 - "21st Century Tools" and "Teaching Mathematics in the 21st Century" (or something like that). The week I started 21st Century Tools, I started playing around with Twitter again. Little did I know that we'd be talking about it in class the next day.
So, we went over Twitter and blogs and a few other things day one and I was trying to find everyone's blogs and get them loaded into my Google Reader (something else we learned a little about). Plus, I started followng stuff on Twitter. I jumped into a conversation about homework. Like many others, this has been a big struggle for me. I have always done homework by grading based on completion - usually 5 points, but I've done 3 before. All points mean you completed pretty much all of it. I have done partial credit based on how much was done but in recent years, I've pretty much given half credit for partially done and no credit for not really doing it or just giving answers. I hate when students just give answers. Doesn't help them or me.
This has been the system I've used most of my teaching career. Lower level classes (like my Math 1) I grade HW daily. College prep classes I tend to grade "randomly" - which usually means 1-2 times a week and many times on the 2nd day of a topic. It kind of works for me but I've never been totally happy with it. It places too much emphasis on doing homework for their grade and there's just too much copying. I don't really feel like they are getting it. Like many things I am finding that I do, I am just not happy about it. It's time to make a change.
So after our hour and a half long conversation on Twitter last night, I was just so thrilled with all of the discourse. I'm not going to get into it all - others have summarized it much better. Check out the post at I Speak Math or My Web 2.0 Journey to get a summary of it. All I know is that I walked away with so many ideas floating through my head and an email from my Twitter friend with her policy that I am seriously thinking about trying, not to mention this wonderful feeling that something great had just taken place. In my 18 years of teaching, I have never had this kind of discourse before. I still was on such a high this morning - a morning after euphoria, if you will. The conversation was so intellectually satisifying and I felt that there were others out there struggling with some of the same issues that I am. And I just want to learn from these great people.
I know I could be doing much better in the classroom. I can explain math well. There are better ways of going about the business of learning. Someone said in my class today that we tend to teach the way we were taught. I was taught like many were - go over the homework problems, learn a new lesson, do new homework problems. And I had great teachers who could explain things well. But is this the best way anymore? I'm getting a SMART Board in the fall and I need to figure out how to use it. There are so many things I could be doing in class to be a better math teacher. I want to be a better math teacher. I just don't know how to get there. But - Twitter is going to help me get there in some way, because it has connected me with some pretty neat math teachers. And I need to learn from them. I'm just past halfway (potentially, depending on what STRS does about when you can retire and at what percentage) in my teaching career. I'm at a crossroads. I want the fast car/gorgeous man/fill in the blank of your favorite mid-life crisis object here. But it's a lot harder to make that happen. Can an old dog learn new tricks? Stay tuned...
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