This week marks my 2-year anniversary at my "new" job, and I continue to learn, grow, and connect, thanks in part to opportunities provided by my work. Attending last week's ISTE conference was one awesome job perk, and what an incredible learning experience! I attended ISTE last year too, but this year, I tried to be better prepared.
Inspired by advice on Twitter and blogs, I created a few ISTE goals and even sketchnoted my priorities:
I feel I really succeeded at goal #1, and I've decided connections and collaboration will be a priority as I begin year 3 on my job. I know (especially) at tech-focused events, participants are often engrossed in their devices, so at this conference, I was determined to be intentional about striking up conversations, really listening to people, and looking for ways to connect with others. (Such a stretch for me, but it was only for 3 days!) Since ISTE was held in San Antonio, which was a tiny flight or a manageable drive from DFW, I kept running into people from our region, which was so fun! And when I started asking what people were learning and really listening to what they were looking for, I started making connections and started thinking about building bridges, like these...
The past several months, I worked to connect departments and to breach a few silos in the office. It's now time for me to move beyond the workplace and be on the lookout for building those bridges across the region. "You're rural district X and you're just getting into Google? Let me connect you with some leaders in a similar district Y, and they just finished their first year of implementation..." "You're starting a district-wide digital citizenship plan? Let me introduce you to Z who is doing the same thing!" With two years of meeting people and working with more districts and teams, making connections should be a priority!
Bottom line, it always goes back to building relationships, doesn't it?!
After a lengthy absence from the blogging world, I'm making attempt number ?? to return. Inspired this summer by conference keynotes, other bloggers, and my own desire to be a more reflective educator, I thought I would try, try again.
I started the alphabet journey in 2015, and it's a happy coincidence that I'm at letter H because this week I have the privilege of attending #ISTE17, and I know I can create a post for letter I.
During one of my sessions in Dallas ISD this week, a teacher shared this nugget (thanks, Ed!) and I thought it was an awesome school policy. Would this procedure work for your campus?
As we were reflecting on the day's learning, a few participants expressed some hesitation to try new strategies/tools, mainly because of the stress of an evaluation or an unexpected walk-through. Ed shared his agreement with his principal to have a sign on his door that said, "Teacher Learning in Progress," or "Technical Learning in Progress," which indicated he was trying something new. The administrator was welcome to observe and learn, but that class period would not be used as an evaluation. I love this idea, and what a wonderful way to nurture a culture of #growthmindset. (Actually, I'm sad that some of our schools do not establish a culture of risk-taking and failing forward...but that's another conversation.)
I also simply love the phrase Teacher Learning in Progress because that's what our journey is all about, right? When I started this blog several years ago, my focus was math, and I taught calculus at the time, so the "No Limits on Learning" title was fun (for math nerds) and appropriate, but I love how the blog title is still a perfect fit today.
Last week, I found this blog post from Imagine Easy Solutions that encouraged educators to blog during their conference sessions...but I forgot about it until now, so I will start tomorrow. I didn't arrive in Austin until almost noon today, and I only attended a couple sessions, so perhaps an end-of-day reflection is OK for today!
Take-Aways:
#TCEA16 will probably trend all week. I was almost overwhelmed yesterday (before I even arrived at the conference) trying to keep up with the flood of ideas, posts, and resources. Following giant conference hashtags is now at the top of my to-do list. I can't believe how much I'm learning through Twitter.
TCEA organizers have their conference down to a fine science, and I appreciate all of the time and work it must take to pull off an event of this magnitude! Check-in was a breeze, the conference app is constantly updated, and there are signs, marquees, and volunteers everywhere, so my questions are already answered!
Presenters: thank you for providing access to your handouts! If we cannot get into your session, your notes, sites, or presentations are giant birthday gifts, waiting to be unwrapped and explored. (I just need more time to look at the 500+ links!)
It is hard to attend a ginormous conference by yourself. This year is so much better, though, because I have made so many connections during my time at my new job, so I keep running into people I know (or who know me!) Whether it's in the hallway or in the fast-moving Twitter stream, it's awesome to be a bit more connected this year.
...but attending a ginormous conference can also be overwhelming, so quiet time at the end of the day is a must for me!
I didn't put in a proposal to present this year, and I kind of miss presenting, but I must admit, it is more relaxing to "just" be a learner and participant.
At a technology conference, so many people are glued to their devices, so I always appreciate when the presenter prompts us to "turn to your neighbor and share..." In my opinion, one of the best parts of a conference is making connections, and that's a bit difficult when you're constantly looking at a screen.
I am such a math-person (linear, concrete-sequential, etc.) and I have planned PD sessions for many years, so I prefer presentations that are super-organized, purposeful, and thoughtful. Your slides don't have to be designed by a graphic artist, but please follow some kind of outline, provide an essential question, or explain the session goals.
I caught a Google Hangout (on Air) reflection session from one of our district partners, and I thought that was an awesome way to end the day! The tech leader had several of his teachers tell one or two of their favorite take-aways from the day, and it looks like he plans to follow this model all week. How awesome is that, to model the tool, get the teachers reflecting, and document their learning!?
In other news, I helped moderate the very first Twitter chat for our service center, so that was an accomplishment for the evening. I worked with a science consultant, and we have the next several months of topics planned. (#R10chat) It was a small group, but we know we had lurkers and a few who were new to Twitter, so to get more people excited about connecting is exciting!
Looking forward to another day at #TCEA16.
Always learning.
Several years ago, I started to up my formative assessment "game," so I wanted to share a few things I learned. I slowed a bit on my alphabet journey for #ReflectiveTeacher, but I'm back on track with formative assessments.
One of the key components of differentiated instruction is continual assessment "that informs teaching and learning," and I have written several posts about DI and assessment. During our DI trainings, one of my favorite analogies about assessment is the medical one:
Summative assessments are like autoposies, and formative assessments are wellness check-ups.
If I start assessing my students' learning on the day of the major test, then I am too late. I need to conduct frequent formative assessments throughout the class/day/unit, and adjust my teaching as a result of these check-ups.
The other big point (that only took a year or so to get) is the last part of the previous sentence: adjust my teaching. Oh yes, I jumped in on the exit ticket bandwagon, but sadly, I didn't always look at the students' responses until days after the assessment. [sad face!] That was too late! I needed to immediately take actions on the students' questions, comments, and (mis)understandings.
I love that technology helps with the efficiency of these quick formative assessments. Whether it's a Google form, a game-based tool (like Kahoot) or a more low-tech tool like Plickers, these resources make it so quick for teachers to get real-time results and feedback on their students' learning. I found this great blog post by @mpilakow, who created a very informative chart to compare several student-response systems.
One of my new favorite tools on the scene is Formative. As a math teacher with a few iPads and smart phones, this tool was an awesome addition to the growing list of student-response systems. I LOVE that students can respond by writing their responses to show all of their work on the screen! I LOVE that I can import an image of a coordinate plane and have students graph their answers on the grid! When I've demonstrated this tool to teachers, they have all oohed and ahhed about its functionality.
Because of the positive responses from so many teachers, I created a short how-to video about using Formative, and it illustrates writing a question and responding. (Their playlist of videos is excellent, by the way!)
My favorite non-tech tool is the good ol' hand gesture fist-to-five strategy. "If you have no idea what I'm talking about, show me a fist. If you could teach this concept to another person, show me a five." I can't remember where I heard the tweak of 5 = teach to another person, but that really helps make the distinction about giving yourself a five.
I could tell this strategy became the norm in our class when students started using phrases such as, "I'm only feeling about a three on this concept, so can I come see you for tutoring in the morning?" During class when I started having "workshops" (small tutoring groups) on a particular concept, I let the students know, "If you feel like you're still a two or three on this objective, I'll be at the table in the back of the room in 10 minutes to answer your questions."
This strategy works with adults too, and I ask the same type of question on a pre-assessment or as an intro to the session. In Google Forms, I can use the linear scale question type, or I revert to the hand gestures, just like with the students.
At the end of class (or a presentation for teachers) I ask students to reflect: "If you felt like you were a fist or one at the beginning of class, did you move to at least a three? If you were a three when we started, are you now a four?"
If you're really into assessments and use Flipboard, I've curated an entire magazine on Assessments, and I share my favorite blog posts, tools, and other resources.
So now on the more reflective side: I hesitated to write this post (guess that's why there was such a delay) because there are so many great things already written about formative assessments and feedback, whether you want to know the brain research, the strategies that impact learning, or the newest tech tools to help...so what does this post add to the plethora of information already out there?
I know, I know...blogging should be about reflecting, learning, and growing as an educator, and writing this post certainly helped with that idea. Now when I'm training teachers, I will go into a tad more depth about the purpose of the pre-assessment, the first-to-five, and any other assessment we try during the session. Make the strategies more transparent. Good lesson for me.
The other good thought: I work with teachers who have such a wide range of levels of "tech expertise," so these resources for formative assessments are great entry points for teachers who are trying to introduce technology into their classrooms...and used thoughtfully, these tools can impact teaching and leraning. The tools are easy to set-up, they are mostly device agnostic, and they definitely help with the efficiency part of collecting information to inform the teaching decisions.
So OK, the time spent writing this post was worth it. :)
Always learning.
I considered at least 5 different E words for my alphabet #ReflectiveTeacher blogging challenge, but when I read these reflections on one of my favorite math blogs, Algebra's Friend, her quote and a resolution to "Enjoy the Ride" struck me as a great goal for the year...so Beth, thanks for the inspiration!
2015 was a sine wave for me, and it was full of ups and downs. Since starting the new job in July, however, I have been on the "up" side of everything, and I must remember to keep this positivity and gratitude in the forefront of my mind! I am grateful for so many aspects of my new job, so whenever I have a bit of doubt creep into my head, I must remember all of the blessings of my new career. The biggest change for me: I used to be the person who knew all of the answers and who was involved in everything...but now I am the new person who has all of the questions! It didn't take me long to realize that there is so much that I do not know. But that leads me to the great slogan because I love learning (as we all do) so I just need to enjoy the ride.
Enjoy learning about new web resources, apps, and other technologies.
Enjoy working solely with adult learners.
Enjoy understanding the hierarchies of a region of educators, rather than a single district.
Enjoy meeting new people, but also enjoy keeping up with old friends.
(Continue) to enjoy learning from others.
I'm excited about the new year, new adventures, and a lot of new learning. By the way, I couldn't decide on #oneword for this year, so I have two other mottos to go with "Enjoy the Ride."
First, my dad is a huge fan of the Life is Good t-shirts and company, so I'm borrowing that phrase for one theme of the year. My other idea is a theme song, "A New Day for You," the 1987 Basia version. (Anyone else know that song? I'm definitely showing my age!)
Here's to a very happy 2016!
It's a new day for you, and life is good, so enjoy the ride.
Always learning.
As I continue the ABCs for my #ReflectiveTeacher journey, I had so many "D" words that it was hard to decide on the topic for today's post. The final toss-up was between differentiation and digital "something," but because my new job is all about technology, and I'm working to reflect on that, I went with digital. (I already posted quite a bit about differentiation, and I know there will be a way to include that again, too.)
In my new job, one of my favorite (so far) sessions we provide is called a Digital Fluency Academy. I cannot take credit for this wonderful concept, but I was able to help update the session, so I feel my fingerprints are on today's version. The Academy is a 4-day offering where we introduce participants to the ISTE student standards, we help them understand the idea of what seamless tech integration really looks like, and we help them realize how they can accomplish tech integration in their own classroom or school.
I feel we're about to reach a key threshold in education, which is why I loved the image I found for today's post. As more teachers and students gain access to devices, I often see the deer-in-the-headlights look of "Now what?" There are demands from admin/district/community to jump in to use the devices, but some teachers receive little or no training on the why, how, and what of the device. (I feel that's precisely the purpose of my new job!)
In our Digital Fluency Academy, we first ask the participants to create a definition of digital fluency by describing differences between being digitally literate and digitally fluent. One participant used the analogy of learning a new language and being literate vs. being fluent in Spanish, which I thought was a great comparison.
Next, we direct the educators to this fabulous sketchnote and article by Tim Clark and the BYOT Network. At this point, we hear a lot of "oops!" and "a-ha!" as some people realize they are working on the digitized side of the chart. It reminds me of when I received technology "credit" on my teacher evaluation for using the overhead and calculators. :)
In our Academy, one of our first slides is "Pedagogy first, then technology," which often brings a sigh of relief. As we go through the ISTE standards, we get to model creativity and collaboration, and we find ways to help others develop information literacy. We challenge the participants to embed digitalcitizenship in all aspects of their classrooms. Actually, my work partner insists we now use the phrase "Citizenship in the digital age," which I feel is more appropriate. (We also use "Learning in the digital age," rather than "21st-century learning.")
We sometimes overwhelm the participants with information, resources, and tools, but we also provide the most valuable resource--time--for educators to think, process, and share what they've learned.
I am thrilled that more teachers and students have access to devices, and that we now see more examples of how the technology can help us learn and grow...but I also need to remember to take it slow, to realize that we're all in different places on the journey, and we all have different needs, entry points, and experiences as learners. (Oh, there we go: I did get to include my why for differentiation in this post! "We all have different entry points into the learning.")
Many years ago, a grad school assignment was to compose a teaching philosophy. Over the next few years, I fine-tuned some of my reflections, and I ended up modeling my thoughts after H. Jackson Brown's book Live and Learn and Pass It On, starting each key point with "I have learned..."
When I changed jobs this summer, I revisited my philosophy, and as I'm working to reflect on the new path of my career, I'm happy to see that most of my original thoughts are still relevant today. The point that is especially poignant this week (with the end of the semester chaos) is my belief that educators must take of each other. In 2004 as part of my philosophy assignment, I wrote the following:
I have learned teachers need to take care of each other. Teaching is a difficult job, so it is crucial to help others whenever you can, whether it is helping someone with his/her computer, teaming with other teachers to create lesson plans, or just listening when someone needs an ear.
As I adjust to new people, places, and responsibilities, I constantly see reminders that educators are some of the most dedicated, hard-working people (on the planet?). With pressures of school and district mandates, testing, and societal expectations, I think it's time for extra doses of caring and kindness. These posts share ideas about creating a culture of kindness and caring, and I found something wonderful in each of the articles.
In Visser's Voice, Be the Reason Someone Smiles Today, she shares a Ted Talk about how lunch ladies are super-heroes. (I shared this video with our cafeteria manager last year, and it was a big hit!)
Most of these ideas are simple: compliment a colleague's class, send a note of appreciation, tell an adminstrator thank you, take a break from work and have lunch with your colleagues... but all were fabulous reminders for me. I'm working to use these ideas to model a community of caring with the people I work with and with the educators I serve. Always learning.
I'm incredibly impressed with educators who make blogging a habit. (What are their secrets to a regular posting schedule?!?) I understand the importance of reflection, and I learn so much from others through their blogs and social media, so I feel obligated to reciprocate and share...but in the past, the time commitment overwhelmed me.
With my new job, my time structure is different, so blogging is on my priority list, first as a tool for self-reflection. I know all pro-bloggers say write for yourself, and I need to figure out my new place and roles. But because my job is about serving educators, I also want my blog to include my best finds.
To continue my #ReflectiveTeacher ABC journey, I'm sharing what I recently discovered about blogging, reflection, and habits.
When I first started exploring blogs, I used Google Reader to keep up with posts. I now use Feedly and the Mr. Reader app to access my subscriptions. In the past, I followed blogs via RSS feeds and rarely looked at actual blog pages, so when I started this blog, I wasn't too concerned about the theme, background, widgets, etc. I personalized this blog a bit, but it wasn't a huge concern.
Fast forward just 3 years, and now I discover many resources on Twitter and other places. When I click a link, I now get to see the actual blog...along with all kinds of creativity and more information! As Larry Ferlazzo points out in this post, if you plan to share your work, you must consider a myriad of social media outlets--not just RSS feeds.
Blogging Logistics
In an effort to update my blog, make it more personal, and add functionality, I explored the resources listed below. FYI, some of these updates required a bit of coding, so I'm glad I felt comfortable playing with a bit of HTML!
I first updated my template (after downloading and trying about 5 others, plus changing all kinds of options in Blogger.) Personalizing the social media icons, updating the widgets, and changing the header took more work than I expected, but I'm pretty happy with it now.
Emily LaGrange shares how to create a custom signature, and I've seen many cute ones on other blogs, but this is still on my "maybe" list. This post from Code It Pretty is a bit older, but I followed these steps, and I have a signature that I can also use elsewhere.
I never even considered updating an error page until I read this post from Hello Brio Studio.
Blogging Reflections - WHY and HOW
A few resources about the importance of reflection for growth and improvement:
Finally, I am working to change my habits for reflecting (thus blogging). I am currently reading Gretchen Rubin's book Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives to learn more about habits and tendencies. I learned that I am an upholder, so by adding external accountability, I am more likely to keep a habit. I've started by adding "Update Blog" to my weekly calendar, but I may need even more external "pressure." We'll see. :)
Shout out to #MTBoS and "Made4Math" Mondays, which inspired me to start enter the world of educational blogging. I'm now open to any ideas to keep me in the habit of blogging, reflecting, and sharing!
Update Blog has been on my to-do list for over a year, which is not a good feeling for a person who likes to check off everything on a list.
In August, I caught a Tweet from #ReflectiveTeacher that suggested blog posts with themes that corresponded to letters of the alphabet, and I immediately started working on topics, so I am happy to finally get some thoughts on paper! It is has been quite a year, so I definitely need some time and space to reflect. Today's post is sponsored by the letter A: alwayslearning
After spending 25 years in a school district, I have a new job...and it is my dream job, but it is definitely hard to start over and leave the comforts of everything you know! I went from being the person who has all of the answers to being one with all of the questions. I knew every single adult on our campus, and I had many connections throughout the district, and now I know about 10 people in our building. This experience reminds me of some of the struggles of new teachers, but I have loved every minute of the new job, and I know I've made the right decision to change.
I am now a "Digital Learning Consultant" at an Education Service Center, which means I provide professional development about technology integration for educators in multiple schools and districts. For the past 7 years, I planned our campus staff development, which I truly enjoyed. I also worked diligently to incorporate meaningful technology into my own math classes (and model tech integration into all professional development) so this new job combines two of my favorite things!
The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.
The quote exemplifies my "theme" from the last few months, and I'm really trying to wrap my head around my purpose, my speciality, and my (new?) WHY. I continue to learn about what meaningful tech integration really looks like, but I know that will evolve. I also now know more about working with administrators, vendors, and adult learners, and I know I'm at the tip of the iceberg with that knowledge. I plan to use this blog to continue my reflections and to share the things I've learned. Maybe by the time I get to Z, I'll have everything straight in my head! In the mean time, I plan to reflect about technology and topics such as...
differentiated instruction,
formative assessments,
best teaching practices,
presentation reflections,
digital learning and digital fluency,
citizenship in the digital age,
and (I can't leave out) math!
The last few months have been an incredible journey, but I have a long way to go.
I'm attending a calculus AP Summer Institute this week (thank you RISD for sending us to APSI every 4 years!) and even though I'm not teaching calculus next year, I enjoy working math problems, and I have a few great take-aways from day one:
To remind students that it's not just about the answer, our instructor said she has a poster of "WHY?" on her front board. I would love to display a giant WHY poster to remind my students and to remind me to always look beyond the answer. During our sessions, I bet we'll be asked "WHY?" many, many times over the course of the week. (And since WHY has been part of our instructional journey, the question has even more meaning for me...start with why!)
One of our first activities was to explore limits numerically, using problems like the one below. Instead of simply having us fill in the table together, each person in class received a different card with a problem and the instructions "one hundredth to the left" or "one thousandth to the right." She told the entire class the magic number was -3, and then we evaluated our function at those particular points, i.e. one hundredth to the left of -3 = -3.01. She then collected all of our answers and we filled in the tables to find the limits.
Creating the table with the class was fine, but the cool part was our debrief. We shared out how we found our answers, and we had so many different methods of evaluating the functions--tables, graphs + trace key, "plug and chug." We were using the TI-89 calculators, which were new to a lot of us, so the activity was primarily an exploration of the calculator. Our instructor said she uses this activity with complex functions, and students first have an opportunity to practice their calculator typing skills, and then she challenges the students to find the answer in as many ways as possible. Since we're always trying to explore functions using multiple representations, I loved the flexibility we had in finding our answers, plus it was so interesting to hear how others solved the problem. Check plus, this strategy can be used in any math class!
One other thing to ponder: our instructor said she does not give her students formal notes; instead, she jots things down on a side board, points out key terms, and creates lists of items. It is the student's responsibility to learn how to process the information in a way that is meaningful to him/her, and then take the notes using their best method. She said students often take pictures of her side board of information, and they return to class the next day with their notes organized.
On the ride home, this novel idea of note-taking was a big discussion in my carpool. No "structure" for note-taking? Gasp! Would that work? I know the left side of INB is for reflection and can be more unstructured and creative, but seriously, no structure? We plan to ask more questions tomorrow to see if our instructor presents skills-based lessons in this manner. We did think this idea would work well for concept-based lessons, and that was our model lesson today--the idea of a limit--but we thought skills needed some steps, procedures, and algorithms. Our entire vertical team is pretty standard ("old school") in the note-taking world, and a math class with no set note-routine might be a bit scandalous! ;)
One last note: I'm in the middle of planning our before school site-based staff development, and 7 hours is a long time to sit and learn. The first morning of APSI is typically procedural (going over the AP audit, introductions, structure of the week, etc.) but the material was important and had to be covered. Hmmm...Reminder to self: just like the stuff we have to cover at the beginning of the year, whether in staff development or in our classrooms, chunk information, break up the tasks, provide time for interaction, provide variety, take stretch breaks, talk to your neighbor, pair-share, etc...
Last spring, I discovered a new web resource called geddit, and after playing with it just a little bit, I'm determined to figure out how to make this resource an integral part of my class this year. (When a website mentions "formative assessment" and "differentiation," I know I have to investigate!)
Teachers prepare a lesson, topics, and questions (mostly in advance) and students "check in" and provide answers and self-assessments as the lessons progresses. During the lesson, students can change their assessment about the topic and material, and teachers can monitor the class' progress.
Teacher perspective, lesson & question planning
One great thing about the advance preparation is that it really makes me think of the questions I want to ask in class. (And now, I know I want a variety of Mastery, Understanding, Self-Expressive, and Interpersonal questions.)
Teacher perspective, topic addressed and student feedback
Once you start the lesson, you ask a question and give students an opportunity to check-in. I created this lesson in May, but I didn't get a chance to use it with my classes, so I used myself as a student to get these screen shots.
I used my iPad and the geddit app for students to demonstrate the student responses.
Student perspective, answered question and check-ins
Student perspective, topics addressed and check-ins
Student perspective, changing self assessment from low to high
Student perspective, hand raised
During class, you can quickly assess how your students are doing, based on their self-assessments.
After the lesson ends, you get all kinds of reports and data of all of the students' responses, including how many times students checked-in, who specifically might be struggling, and their questions, responses, and any comments to you.
It was also easy to upload pictures to use as part of the lesson or a "quiz." For this image, I used my iPad and a note-taking app, took a screen shot, and opened geddit on my iPad to upload the image.
Teacher considerations: as I mentioned earlier, this resource requires quite a bit of pre-planning and work on your end, but I want to prepare my questions in advance, so that's good! (You also have the option of a "quick question," so it doesn't all have to be advanced work.) You now have the option of stopping and resuming a lesson, so you can prepare work that spans several days to get ongoing assessments from your students, so that's a plus.
One other issue: I like to write notes using my iPad, but I needed to see the student feedback, so I needed two devices to make this work for me. Since I am a floater teacher, it was a bit of a pain to lug around an extra device, and I had to figure out in each room how to set up my space to be able to see the students' responses as we moved through the lesson.
Another good thing: taking time to stop and assess was a great reminder to "chunk" information and to slow down to allow students time to process. I think I'll have a student volunteer be my geddit assistant--someone who stops me and reminds the class to check-in.
Classroom management considerations: our school is BYOD, and I have a few iPads to use during class, but this resource is definitely an individual student response system. With some of the other apps, I allow students to work in pairs or with tables, but for geddit, I wanted individual assessments, so I wanted everyone to have a device.
Students must log in and join your class, so there are always the "I can't remember my password" issues, plus the "I can't get on the network" kind of days. Because I expected students to have logins to several websites and apps, I plan to have them create some kind of reminder (a Google doc, perhaps?) with all of their passwords listed.
I started using geddit prior to spring break, and students were always itching to be on their device. I think for next year, I will have the stipulation that if I see your device out, I must see multiple check-ins throughout the class. If you're not checking in (and using your device for educational purposes, such as formative assessments) I'll pick up your device!
I think if I start using geddit at the beginning of the year, and if we work out all of the classroom management issues, this resource will be a terrific addition for my class and for my quest for ongoing formative assessments. The developers continue to update the program, and they are quick to respond to any questions. The students found the app easy to use, and once they got over their silliness of comments and of virtually raising their hands, they appreciated the feedback.
Has anyone else used geddit? Any other suggestions for class management and questioning issues? Features that you love?
On my journey to differentiated instruction, I know one non-negotiable of DI is strategic flexible grouping. During the past few years, I have worked diligently on grouping my students, but I know I need to improve the strategic part of my grouping process.
(By the way, I use the "Touch Blur" app to blur students' faces.)
I also learned that differentiation doesn't always mean group work, nor does it mean that groups are based solely on ability levels. Some lessons require "whole group" instruction, and then we can move into individual, partner, or small group work as necessary.
Types of Groups:
And groups may be based on...
Whole Class
Readiness
Small Groups
Interest
Pairs
Similar Learning Profiles
Individual Work
Random Selection
Choice
In addition, I learned you must establish a community in your classroom to make the different groups most effective. Students must be willing to talk with each other, take risks together, and know how to truly collaborate on their work. To help with the community building in class, as soon as I change my groups, I ask students to introduce themselves and answer a question that requires collaboration. (Rate yourself from 1-10 on how you're feeling today, and average all of your ratings. Come to a consensus about the best thing to eat in the cafeteria.) I love Sarah's idea for establishing group norms, and you can download her posters from her blog. And finally, let's not forgot about the classroom management aspect of the group process. When working on building community and flexible grouping, it's so important to have those procedures in place about moving desks, turning in work, getting materials, ...
To help students understand that grouping is a norm in our class, at the beginning of last year (and I will repeat) we did a quick "line up" activity. I had huge classes, so the students actually remained seated, but I participated, too. I projected the list shown here, and we went through the items one by one. It is more effective when you can demonstrate a line up and have your kids move from one end of the spectrum to the other, but they got the point by their self-assessments. After we went through the entire list, I asked questions such as who had a chance to rate themselves as a 4 or 5? And who rated themselves a 1 or 2 at least once? The final reflection: in our class this year, there will be times when you will be an expert and times when you will be a novice. You may sometimes be grouped with like team members, but sometimes, I will want you to "stretch," and you may be grouped outside of your comfort zone. (Here's an opportunity to share a bit about making mistakes, grit, and growth mindset!)
The line-up activity is great for establishing the understanding of groups based on readiness, but since I'm on a quest this year to group by learning profile, I think (hope!) it will work for the idea of any changing groups.
Unfortunately, I only strategically grouped a few times last year, but it was a great victory for me when a student walked in and asked, "Do you want us to sit in our CAP groups or our random groups?" So at least I'm getting the grouping thing down a bit better. Another bit of great feedback--an end of year note included the comment, "I learned to collaborate with my peers, some of whom I had never talked to before."
Unsolicited advice: if you want to start changing up your class, try random groups, but make certain you include the aspects of community, group norms, and class procedures. If you're looking for ways to try random grouping, there are so many available resources. Our science teachers recommended this site to create random groups, and I found a collection of sites to create groups here. On this post, Beth at Algebra's Friend also suggested Super Teacher Tools to generate groups, and this site provides no-tech options for grouping students.
So now I have the grouping component ready to try again, and I really want to focus on differentiating by learning profile...next steps: put the two together and work on specific lesson components!
Any suggestions for creating a community of learners in your classroom? How do you create groups?
Based on this #eduread and after exploring my new book Math Tools, here's a very tiny bit of what I have so far for week one of school. (Eeek, it's only early July!)
Since in the first week we will be in the getting to know you stage, I'm opting for a very quick assessment to determine students' learning profiles as Mastery, Understanding, Self-Expressive, and Interpersonal. At my recent ASCD conference, the presenter used these images to analyze our style as instructional coaches, and the simple images created such rich discussions, so I hope that will happen in our class, too...but since it's week one, I may be overly optimistic!
I'll show them this slide, have them share out a few ideas, discuss a few more specifics from this document, and have students record their responses on this Google form so that I will have a record of their preferences. I plan to seat students according to this learning preference during the first couple weeks of school.
I teach pre-calculus, and we start our year using a unit circle approach to trigonometry. I looked over my unit objectives, and I knew in the past, my students really struggled with understanding coterminal angles, determining which quadrant an angle lies, finding reference angles, and (when it's first introduced) finding exact trig values using the unit circle...so that's where I wanted to start my differentiation. (I know differentiation is a proactive approach to teaching. I already know where kids will struggle, so I need to plan ahead to anticipate their difficulties.)
For today's post, I am just sharing one small formative assessment idea, but it's a start, and I bet it will get easier as I keep practicing. (#growthmindset!) After receiving my Math Tools book, I skimmed through the ideas and jotted down the ones that I already used or the ones that appealed to me. The book provides tools for each category of Mastery, Understanding, Interpersonal, and Self-Expressive, and the final chapter uses a combination of all four of the learning profiles.
Because I know the kids usually struggle with coterminal angles, I want a more thorough check for understanding after that lesson. For the last 5-7 minutes of class, I plan to use these questions as an exit ticket. Students will choose the one question that appeals to their learning profile and turn in their responses for me to check and plan for the next lesson. If students finish early, they may try another question, or they may share their responses with their group members. For this assessment, I want to see their level of understanding of coterminal angles and learn where they are still struggling.
Since this will be our first "experiment" with these learning profiles, I will make certain we have time to reflect about the students' choices of question and how I will use their work to inform my teaching decisions. I want the students to be comfortable with their first groups, we'll be practicing procedures, and the first week is so hectic, so I think this will be a safe formal assessment.
It took me less time to create this small assessment than to write this blog post, so I am hopeful that I will be able to eventually have a collection of questions, assessments, and tasks...but for now, I'm starting with asking where do the kids struggle, and what I can I do to check their level of understanding and deepen their level of understanding. If I can start by creating two-three "things" per unit, I'll be a happy camper.
Update: I knew I rarely included Self-Expressive type tasks, so I wanted to focus on creating those types of questions. Going back to Math Tools, I wrote these questions to use at some point during the unit.
Have you found ways to incorporate these learning profiles into your lessons? What do you think?
