Glorious Struggles and Good Failures

It really is crazy (in a good way) when education worlds collide.  I guess that means the conversation is an important one, and people all over are really reflecting on what we can do to help our students succeed.

Last week during a district staff development, we watched Angela Duckworth's TED talk on Grit, and our school leadership teams discussed ways to help reinforce the idea of a growth mindset and the importance of perseverance in problem solving. This weekend at an ASCD conference, my first session was on "Fostering Grit," and our presenter referenced Carol Dweck's work on mindset and Duckworth's research on grit. Finally, this week's #eduread article was also about developing perseverance in problem solving, specifically with math problems.

Message received!  I need to be intentional about teaching students (and teachers) the importance of grit, how to develop a growth mindset, and that failures help you learn and succeed.  After finishing our article Faster Isn't Smarter, I knew this objective needs to be a priority.

Luckily, I'm not starting from ground zero, but I know I can do much, much more.  For the past two years, we have talked mindset in my classes, and we call my challenge problems on assessments #growthmindset questions.  When I first started my work as an Instructional Specialists, my work partner and I heard the phrase "Glorious Struggle," and we used that when we were having a hard time with our job (which was quite often during the first year!) and I taught the same phrase to my students. Yesterday, I created my first TEDEd lesson on Duckworth's talk, and I will ask my students to watch and reflect on her message. In the past, I talked to my students about "Famous Failures," and last summer, I created the Google presentation with quotes on failure, success, and struggle, and shared it with them.



Our presenter at the ASCD conference was Thomas R. Hoerr, and he leads a "Multiple Intelligences" school where teaching grit is one of top objectives for teachers and students.  In his session, he offered six steps for teaching grit, and these ideas also align with some of the points in Cathy Seeley's article.

Teaching for Grit

1. Establish the environment.  Students must realize that they are cared for and supported, even when they're struggling. (How many times have we heard that it all boils down to relationships??)  When teaching grit, how can we acknowledge effort and improvements?  How can we make it "cool" for students to be seen working hard?  Have posters in your room or hallways about effort, success, and hard work.
2. Set the expectations.  Students must understand the value of grit and accept that learning is not always easy or fun. Seeley says the same thing in her article.  Teach that mistakes are good lessons, and there are such things as good failures! (At a different session, we watched "My Favorite No," which I think would help here.)  Teach the students about the brain research, too!
3. Teach the vocabulary.  Hoerr asks his teachers to frequently use words like grit, growth mindset, frustration, and comfort zone when talking with students and parents.  (Seeley had the same reflections in the "For Families" section of the article.)
4. Create the frustration.  Another way that my edu-worlds collide: Hoerr suggests to differentiate by process, and ask students to solve problems using an intelligence that was not their dominant intelligence.  (Referencing last week's #eduread article, instead of using the Mastery or Understanding styles, require students to solve a problem as a Self-Expressive or Interpersonal learner.)  Another idea, tell students that "Today is a GRIT day," and the tasks, instructions, or the final product will be intentionally challenging.  Seeley called it constructive struggling, which I loved!  In math, create problems that are complex and require more than just a rote procedure.
5. Monitor the experience.  Watch your students and their emotions.  Solicit feedback during the gritty experience, either using non-verbal signals or a Likert scale on the work and frustration level.  We don't want students to feel pointless frustration.
6. Reflect and learn.  Ask the students to share why they didn't give up on a particular task.  What did they do that will help them in the future when they're frustrated again?  

Hoerr also provided a few steps for how to teach students to keep persevering, and this is something that I will start at the beginning of the year:

• "Anticipate the level of difficulty."  Ask student to self-assess and guess how difficult they think today's work will be.
• Before beginning the work, ask students to reflect on a time where they have succeeded on something (in academics or outside of school).
• During the task, require students to give 5 full minutes of full-force effort.
• Remind students of the power of a "good failure."

So teaching (and learning more) about growth mindset, grit, and good failures are back at the top of my priority list; what else can I do to help my students learn about grit and perseverance?  How do I incorporate those "gritty" problems into my curriculum?  (One per day?  Once per week?  One on each assessment?)  I also need to start planning now to create tasks and problems that are complex and will create those glorious struggles and good failures for my students!

Again, so much to think about...looking forward to the upcoming #eduread to help reflect on these questions!

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Jumping to the top of my to read list: Paul Tough's book How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character
(Side note--his recent NYT article was another great commercial for teaching grit and perseverance as a "2nd curriculum," and sounds like AVID for college!)

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Made4Math - Graffiti Boards

I have had so much fun finding new blogs, looking at classroom and project pictures, and reflecting on all of the contributions for #made4math!  I am so fortunate that I stumbled into this amazing community of math teachers and bloggers.

Today's idea is an easy strategy that can be implemented on day #1: using a "Graffiti Board" in your classroom.  (I am a floater teacher and share board space in my classrooms, so my personal examples are not Pinterest-worthy; however, I have included one example of a semi-permanent board, and I'm certain there is a lot of creative potential.)  

This strategy came from a differentiation institute, and the session presenter suggested graffiti boards for two purposes: assessment and building class culture.  I have tried this tool for a few months, and I have used boards for both purposes, and it is a strategy that I will implement next year.  (And my HS students seemed to respond well, or at least they enjoyed writing on the board!)

Making your own graffiti board is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. Write any question (or word, thought, quote, etc.) on your board before class begins.
2. Get students to respond (as they enter or leave the room, or at another designated time).
3. Comment or somehow use the results.

Graffiti Boards as a Quick Assessment
My first graffiti board was a pre-assessment, and I asked my students what they remembered about logarithms.  I wrote the question on the board before class, and hoped students would respond.  Obviously, only a few did, so I needed to work on step #2.   (Resolved: I left more markers out, and as students entered, I simply asked them to answer the question on the board.  After a few mornings of "graffiti time," most kids entered the class hoping to be able to write on the board.)

The second board is an example from the middle of a unit.  Several of my boards asked, "How are you feeling about ______?" which also led to conversations about problem solving, confidence, study skills, and growth mindset.  (From the board results, I allowed AM to move on to the next lesson, I talked to the "1's" individually about tutoring, and I changed the pacing of the lesson a bit.)  

After using a number-line graffiti board every week or so, we even created another type of language in our class. "Work with your partner until you both feel closer to a 4," or "Ms. L, I'm feeling about a 2 on solving log equations, so when are you available for tutoring?"


One of our chemistry teachers created a much prettier example of a graffiti board to use with a week-long project.  Each of her students made a "marker" using a popsicle stick with a magnet glued to the back and his name written on the front of the stick.  As the project evolved and as students uncovered research, they moved their names along the scale to answer the posted question.  ("In order to combat dependence on fossil fuels, the US should build more nuclear fission reactors."  Do you agree, disagree, or are neutral?)  I loved that she was able to create a single, permanent board for 4 of her class periods, and it was great to see her board change after each day of research.

Graffiti Boards to Encourage Participation
The other use of graffiti boards is to encourage participation, create a positive classroom culture, and build rapport.  At the differentiation institute, I learned if students write or speak at the very beginning of class, they are more likely to participate throughout the class. 

I started my class blog in February, and I offered the first post as a tiny extra credit--just to see how the commenting worked, who would participate, how did we like the idea of blogging, etc.  I used a graffiti board to remind the kids about this bonus opportunity and to see if they were willing to comment on our class blog.  (Results: yes, I would write another blog entry, and I would expect many student comments for the first post.)

On occasion, I asked a non-math question on the graffiti board, just to get everyone to write something as they entered the room.  The questions were usually silly so I don't have pictures, but I would write the question and students wrote their answers all over the board.  Example questions are as follows:

• Who's your favorite character on Glee?  
• Before the release of Hunger Games: would you rather live in District 12 or live in the Capitol? 
• What are you looking forward to this summer?
• To ask the first week of school: what is the best part about starting a new school year?

I would always share my answer, we would discuss the question for 1-2 minutes, and students found similarities in the responses, which helped build class relationships.  The kids loved the "Would you rather...?" questions and wanted that type of board more than any other. :)

Other Ideas
Graffiti Boards in a Flipped Class
An idea for a teacher who flips his class is to write a problem on the board that relates to the previous night's video, and ask students to rank their understanding of the problem AND sit at a table corresponding to that number.  For example, students who are completely lost (or who didn't watch the assigned video) would be "1's" and sit at table #1.  As the teacher works the groups, he knows whether to provide a lesson intervention or an enrichment, simply based on their table number.

Graffiti Boards in Staff Development
In a small group meeting, we used the board below to assess our knowledge about mindset.  "Growth Mindset" was written in the middle of the board, and we all went to the board and wrote our definition or ideas about the main topic.

Student Responses and Technology Thoughts
Last year, we allowed students to use their cell phones for instructional purposes, so I tried Poll Everywhere and GoSoapBox (when it was free).  Our district is now moving to BYOD, so this summer, I have been playing with Socrative and Wiffiti (especially now that I am working on tweeting) and we have several sets of "clickers" floating around the school.  I definitely love the idea of using technology to help assess my students, but for the quickest, easiest, last-minute set-up, nothing beats a graffiti board--writing a question on the board and asking students to respond.

Would a graffiti board work your classroom?  I would love any suggestions or examples of how you have used the boards in your room!

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Made4Math - Mathography

Like several others, I was inspired by #made4math, so I started this blog as a place to share.  It didn't take me long to decide on the first thing to share, and I hope others will be able to adapt and use this assignment.

I always tell my students that if I didn't teach math, I would teach English because I love to read, and I try to find as many opportunities as possible to get them to write.  On the first day of school, instead of completing a getting to know you form, I ask my students to complete a "Mathography," which is an autobiography with some math questions thrown in for fun.

For (at least) the past 15 years I have given this "essay" to every one of my math students (8th grade through AP Calculus) and I couldn't ask for a better first day of school assignment.   The students are not too happy about such an assignment on the first day of school, but their papers are always honest, revealing, and oh-so-insightful, and I read their essays several times throughout the year.

I change the questions a bit each year, depending on the course, but I have included most of my past prompts, and I usually ask 5-6 questions each year.  When I have repeater students (when I have taught Algebra 2 one year and Pre-Calculus the next year, for example) I change the questions quite a bit to reflect already knowing some of the kids' background information.  When I teach seniors, I add a few more questions about future plans, colleges, etc., and I can use their essays when I write recommendation letters.

The students are (almost) always so positive and excited during the first week of school, and they all have great goals.  After reading their papers, I know all of the "getting to know you" information, plus the students reveal how they feel about school and math in general.  They often give me personal information as well, such as family information (dealing with illness, divorce, death) or personal struggles.  For the question "Is there anything else I should know about you?" I give these examples: one student wrote she always forgot her glasses so she needed to sit in front, and another wrote her best friend was in the class and they talk too much, so please don't seat them next to each other.  (Sage advice from a teen, right?)

One new addition for this year will be for my juniors to comment with a sentence or two to our class blog.  I'm still tweaking the post, but I envision the post as an introduction to me, our class, our class culture and expectations.

Math-Ography


For my ESL students, I provide a fill-in-the-blank version.  For the past several years, I have taught a "newcomer" class, and most of my students are refugees.  If a student cannot answer any of the questions on the first page, I know to immediately begin as many interventions as possible!
ESL intro

I "stole" the Mathography idea from Julie H., one of my first math department chairs.  (She posted the papers outside of her classroom, but I treat them as confidential documents.)  I have also seen something similar in one of the AVID "Write-Path" books.  Could this assignment work for you?  Any suggestions?  I hope you'll be able to incorporate at least parts of a Mathography in your classroom--it is such a great way to get to know your students. Enjoy!

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