Saying “No” to regular full-group discussions

Well, I have argued with the best over this one! I am talking about exemplary and well-loved teachers and program consultants, literally the best colleagues I and our students could ever ask for. But I still feel I have to speak up on behalf those who are a) gifted, b) hyper, c) visual learners, and likely others.

The trend over the past few years towards group chats and activities ranging from Number Talks to Gallery Walks, has the potential to alienate learners, and in my view, goes against the imperative for differentiation.

As a learner, I have a bit of a), b) and c) above, and spent the vast majority of my elementary school years trying to avoid going there, and hating it while I was there. From story time on the carpet, to oral reading where the teacher called on everyone in order to read a paragraph, this was the stuff of nightmares for me. Literally.

The crippling boredom combined with the threat of dire consequences fill these years with bad memories… and stomach aches:)

I know we no longer threaten our students, but I wonder about the long-term impact of the constant re-direction of the same students, day after day, for these activities.

My first discussion on this topic occurred quite a few years ago when, as a Grade 8 teacher, I was invited to a math curriculum meeting on the subject of Number Talks. It was before the term was popularized, but that was the gist of it. I simply could not believe that after enthusiastically honing my DI skills for the previous several years, that I would be asked to do this group activity. In my naivety, I asked the consultant if there were groups with different, related questions. No! He was horrified. He then swore that all students of all abilities would relish the presentation and discussion of a wide variety of solutions and ideas.

I have to say now (though I held my tongue in the meeting, as I was obviously the odd one out), this is complete and utter hogwash!

In our fictional Number Talk, there will always be a sub-set of students who have instantly seen and processed every single option within one minute of the task being assigned, and for whom the remaining allotted time is both wasted and disliked. This is especially true in primary and junior situations where the prompts are often quite closely defined. For these students this occurs every single day, all year long. We cannot fool ourselves. For these kids, that period of time is dreaded.

As is a read-aloud, as is shared reading, as is a gallery walk with an extended discussion of what was observed.

I am certainly not blaming teachers for following a recommended strategy, and for excelling at it. And the benefits for some students are real.

But I also see small reading groups formed to scaffold the skills of readers at similar levels. How humane. How effective. Why have we rejected this approach in other subject areas?

In the meantime, we need to ask ourselves about negative behaviours that we see and respond to on a daily basis. And take steps to make learning a positive experience for all.

#notabookstudy Week 1

I was very keen to be a part of this project for any number of reasons. Well, 10 to be precise!

In addition to knowing I would learn more about the work of Cathy Fosnot and how it relates to our goals in Ontario and Near North DSB math classrooms, I was fascinated to learn more about building a community of learners online.

I am always telling people that I learned most of what I know about tech-enabled learning and teaching from colleagues I met on Twitter. I have also had an all-purpose blog, that I contribute to in fits and starts, for several years. More recently, I have friended quite a few teacher friends in the virtual world of Facebook. I had explored on the fringes of the #ossemooc project as well.

But when Donna Fry started promoting #notabookstudy, I knew I wanted to try to become a part of it. It all boiled down to those 10 reasons!

For a variety of circumstances, I had to watch Week 1 from the sidelines. But now I am geared up for Week 2, and have my own reading done. My next blog post will address one of Cathy Fosnot’s questions – to the best of my ability.

But the new learning for me has been huge – VoiceEd Radio, trying to support participating bloggers by commenting on their thoughtful posts, not to mention Fosnot’s work itself.

I can’t help thinking of the potential for our #notabookstudy online community in light of our board’s new work with George Couros. Will my local colleagues take the plunge into the Twitterverse? If yes, might they be open to further online collaboration and learning.

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I am very much looking forward to these possibilities.

Ruth Beatty Update

I have been a big fan of Ruth Beatty's approach to teaching patterning and algebra for a long time, since Ruth came to our school and led a workshop.

Now this year, we have had the chance to retire my old Powerpoint, adapted from Ruth's own file, and replace it with her brand new text. I was happy to see that our Math CI was going to use this resource, for many reasons.

But it has led to far more fun that we ever anticipated.

As the students explore the relationship between patterns and algebraic expressions to do with slope, they work with tiles to represent growing patterns. To begin the unit, one of our first-year teachers projected the first tile pattern onto her Smartboard. Time to build the rocket pattern. Time to examine what is growing and what is staying the same. Two yellow tiles form the base and are the constants. Extending upwards are five red tiles. 

Shouts of hilarity echoed around the classroom. “It’s a penis!” they shouted.

The teacher got them settled down. Sort of. But then she showed them the second pattern. Now multiplication has taken place. The single column of red tiles is now two tiles wide.

ROFL? It was literal.The students were hysterical with laughter as they screamed, “It’s growing, it’s thicker!”

This is perhaps not the exact response Ruth was aiming for.

Personally, I blame Minecraft. Our students are addicted and have spent many hours creating blocky and complex universes.

I have to say it is true. The rocket pattern looks exactly how a Minecraft penis would appear.

Or maybe we are onto something - it is subject integration: math, tech and health!

My #ecco13

Once again, the ECOO conference was one to remember. Thinking back over other events, I started trying to pin down what made #ecoo13 the same, better, different…

I was always wishing in previous years that I had made a list of sessions I had attended so, for posterity, here goes. Of course my Lanyrd account says I went to 23 events. Oh well, that was just me trying to make up my mind with a long list/short list approach.

#ecoo13 sessions

Keynote with Amber Mac

Raspberry Pi – Rob Robson

Redefining Reading – Alanna King

Video Game Integration, Intermediate Math – Andrew Dobbie

Scratch as a Writing Tool – Ray Mercer

iPads and Writing - Todd Gribbon... and Me:)

Run With Alana

Paperless Math Classroom – Brian Aspinall

And a wild card, which changed many of my views and will likely affect me on an ongoing basis…

Office365 and London DSB – Chris Demers

Followed by two lengthy visits at the Microsoft booth.

Differences

I think this year I did less rushing and gave myself more time to reflect and digest information from the sessions. My inclination is always to plan every minute and catch my breath three days later.

Another difference was having people from my board at ECOO! My principal co-presented which was way less stressful for me and likely a lot more informative for the audience. Also two of the IT people I really enjoy working with (and relying on) from the board level were there. I hope they had as much fun as I did!

I would say I enjoyed the social times more by having dinner with a small group and meeting new people, and of course with the beautiful dawn run. Truly a standout memory!

Trend

In my personal growth and planning at this time I am drawn very strongly towards the STEM areas. Imagine my delight in being able to attend not one but several sessions involving teaching intermediate students about programming, to use as a method of exploring the curriculum. I am in awe of the ability of this conference to allow each of us to move forward on the path that suits us, making huge leaps in understanding, and gaining resources. Right now.

Main message

I heard over and over from various speakers: “It’s not about the tools, it’s about the learning.” And as well, “Why not have the students make the tool and then use it to learn.” Wow. This ties in so closely with my own goals.

Thank you to everyone who made ECOO13 possible. Ok, thanks again! Now I will stop.

P.S. As for Office 365 and its role in my future, that will be another blog post.

First Day

I have been reading with interest and curiosity some blog posts about starting the new school year. I was pleased to see that I am doing a lot of what @stumpteacher wrote about with such irony! In fact at our school we are encouraged to spend a lot of time during the first two weeks doing exactly what he suggests - getting to know our students, and team building.
But, every year I feel I need to have something important to tell the students, about our class, or myself, or the year ahead. Maybe this is to inspire myself as much as to motivate them!
This year I finally have my idea. It's a "We're not in Kansas any more" sort of theme. When they arrive in my room as Grade 8 students, I want them to realize that I do a number of things with intent, to pave the way for a successful year and to ease their transition to high school. In a humorous way I also want to distinguish my routines from what they may have experienced in the past.
I have come up with two images to describe what I do.
One: curling. Everyone can get out and throw the rocks down the ice. But my routines are like giving them the brooms so they can steer the rocks or make them go faster.
Two: sledding or tubing. Picture two hills, one with just snow and one with lots of ice, especially at the bottom. I want to ice the hill so that I can expect them to go farther.
Here is an example of what I mean. In math:
* All tests are open book: notebooks, texts, etc.
* All definitions and formulas on the word wall stay up for tests. In real life if I need to use a formula, I can look it up or check, first.
* Don't ask if you can use a calculator. Yes. Every day use the thing.
* Tests are fairly short and marked on levels. If they get three questions right, they definitely know something about the topic. They get a Level 1, not 30%.
* Level 1 is not wrong; it is a base on which to build more expert knowledge.
* Grade 8 is not the time to stress about math. It is the last year they will not be able to stream themselves according to interest and ability.
This approach allows me to really differentiate - not just in the class and during formative assessments, but for summative tasks as well. And I mean for those gifted in math, as well as for those who struggle.
I get an accurate idea about the knowledge of the topic and the thinking skills of each student. And I actually enjoy marking them!

Math class options

This year, beginning in November, I tried several different approaches in my grade 8 math class. Although none of it corresponds exactly to the current wisdom of the three-part lesson, it did work beyond my wildest expectations and allowed for differentiation selected in part by the students themselves.

The three things that changed in class were as follows. One, we got a Smartboard. Two, I started reviewing using Livescribe pencasts. Three, I established a group of six advanced students who worked independently in an adjacent classroom. I should note that this is in addition to all the regular strategies I use to animate a math class!

As I mentioned in the previous post, I do not think you can underestimate the capability of the board to display with light and colour, and to save solutions on separate screens for recall. To me this has a measurable impact on the acquisition of skills. I also found that the willingness of students to come forward and write solutions on the board, while prompting their peers on the processes, correlated to their confidence in learning the math topic, as well as to the needs of individual students to be active in class.

My use of the Livescribe pen is still in its infancy, but I believe that the pencasts did function as a “minds on” type of activity. The room was always silent during playback, a rarity with this group, as they watched and listened.

With the “science room group,” what pleased me the most was the willingness of the students to go really far with their problem solving one day, and then the next decide that they needed info on processes and rejoin the big group of 20 for all or part of a class. To a certain extent the science room group was flexible, but I also wanted the whole group to understand their own personal needs. When they asked me if they could move to that group due to a high test score, I always asked… Did they really want to learn independently? Or was their increasing math success due the fact that they were in the big group for practice and to have their questions answered. I got very little argument from this class, and they were not a shy group!

Now for the big group. Twenty bright kids with a mix of poor computational skills and little recall of math concepts taught previously. I gave in to their needs, expressed in no uncertain terms, to have every question explained, in order. Every single one. Lots of prompting from me and Q and A. But as a result, all students had their personal questions answered in every class, something I have never been able to achieve before. Followed by copious copying from the board. Their choice. In the big group, I always told them, if you get it, move ahead on your own. And some in fact did.

Day one of a unit was always grim, with many complaints, phrased colorfully. Day two, a little better. By day three, they could usually all grasp the concept and do practice questions without too much frustration. Sometimes we got to problems, sometimes not.

What this showed me was that many of the kids were sick of never understanding what they were supposed to be doing in math. Many who became solid level 3 students would still be the loudest whiners about their lack of math ability. They craved the chance to gain mastery over processes, the tools that would let them be successful in solving problems. The pattern of learning that we adopted this year allowed them to work past their frustration point, and feel competent. So, after about six weeks of the above approach, the level 4 students were still there, working virtually with no teacher, but collaborating on their solutions. Some of the level 3 kids were able to apply their learning and thinking skills on problems and tests and became 4 or 4-. The students who started out at levels 1 and 2 often went up a level.

What the Smartboard did was make the learning of more complex processes more accessible to the students who have the ability to take college level math in high school. In my class this included one student who was identified and had never been given anything above grade 4 math in the past. That student had an amazing term two, and with the last unit, on the Pythagorean theorem, had one of the highest marks in the class.

On a non-tech note, I got much better at creating assessments that would challenge the advanced students but allow all to succeed on parts of the test. In each instance, using the test generator that comes with our text, I managed to put together tests that were short enough to be completed in one class and that presented “process” questions and higher level “challenge” problems in order of difficulty. I can always gauge the success of an assessment tool by the response. If I can get every student working and thinking about the topic for nearly an hour, without complaining, and able to show me their skills (from basic to higher than me!), I believe I have been successful with my own goals.

I now feel more confident in myself as a math teacher. With the Smartboard, I seem to have found a rhythm of presenting information that engages the students and their math brains. In the year ahead, I now feel I will be ready to build in more problem solving for my struggling math students, knowing that I can get them to the point of applying their knowledge successfully.

The Anti-Probability Party

Hey, it should have worked, but instead we were like molecules with like charges rolling slowly around Bracebridge in sundresses and sandals, each in our own random orbits.
It all started when Halina suggested that she and Jackie and I leave our separate homes in Sprucedale, Emsdale and Orillia and meet up in Bracebridge for lunch. Jackie added that it would be a good opportunity to see the “Bob and Joe” show at the Chapel Gallery. It was a special occasion – my birthday. We planned to met up at the Riverside Inn, park Halina’s car and then use mine for the rest of our jaunt. It was a wonderful afternoon: lovely luncheon on the airy, tree-shaded patio at Inn at the Falls, leisurely stroll up and down the main street of Bracebridge, and then a bit of a rush to get over to the gallery and see the paintings before closing time.
The works were by Roberta Haviland and Mendelson Joe, on an environmental theme, many showing the effects of four-laning on the Highway 11 corridor communities. (Although the reality of the deaths on the old road makes me strongly in favour of the project. More people alive and well to revitalize the villages. They need loop signs like in New Brunswick.)
We were delighted to see that the people who had signed the guest book right before us were Jane and Randy, our friends from Emsdale who live across the road from Len. What a coincidence, we exclaimed.
When we returned to the Riverside Inn we had a little surprise – a gallery postcard on Halina’s windshield saying, “Sorry we missed you, sad face.” Our speculations ran wild. It had to be Jane and Randy. But how would they know Halina’s Lancer? Well, Lenny must be with them. Didn’t sign the book, but spotted the car on the way out of town…
Then we went home. Over dinner I said to Frank, “Too bad we couldn’t have gone a day later so MaryAnne could have come with us.”
An hour or so later, MaryAnne arrived for a visit, having driven from Regan’s cottage near Bala. Now to summarize the rest of the story:
1. M.A and R had called Frank that morning with a view to meeting up with our original trio. He told them we were meeting at 12 not 12:30. They got tired of waiting at the Riverside Inn, had lunch at the pub and went to the gallery, signing somewhere above Jane and Randy. Never saw anyone they knew. They left the postcard on H’s window.
2. The next day, I ran into J and R in Huntsville. They had been to the Bracebridge vet and the gallery, didn’t see anyone else. Len was not with them.
3. The next day Len came over for dinner and we regaled him with this improbable story. He replied, “Tuesday? But I was in Bracebridge, went to the gallery that morning.” By himself, didn’t sign the book.
So there we were, all eight of us, roaming around this small cottage town, all at the art gallery, all within the span of a few hours – and not a glimpse of each other. You know it will probably be New Year’s Eve at Len’s traditional party before we all get another chance!