The Gift of Time

My eye is 99% better and I am wearing contacts once again! A big thank you to everyone who expressed concern and sent well wishes. Time was the key to allowing my eye to heal properly.

Speaking of time, in our day and culture, have you noticed that time is a valuable commodity that is always in demand? There never seems to be enough of it on any given day for me to accomplish all my goals or to clear my to-do list. Whether I want to admit it or not, my students have extremely busy lives also. After sports practice, dinner and maybe a community event to attend, sometimes my students don’t get home until 8 or 9 o’clock in the evening. They are exhausted, as would be expected. How can I expect my pre-algebra students to spend another hour working on math homework?

I can rant and rave about how our country doesn’t value education, or how other countries are light years ahead of us in the fields of science and math, but it won’t change the reality of American students’ lives. For those students who do arrive home before 5:00 pm, many of them do not have adult supervision. Or worse, they are the adult supervision for their younger siblings.

The best present I can give my students is the gift of time. Time to process math concepts. Time with me during tutorials working together in smaller groups. Time to start assignments in class to help cement new information.

To encourage students to maximum the little precious time given in class, I took Kasey’s advice and removed my classroom clock. Believe me; I was hesitant that this little act would make any noticeable difference. It did! It still does! For the most part, for a majority of the days, students will busily work up to the bell that signals teachers to dismiss class.

The one of many things I appreciate about Carnegie’s curriculum is the lengths of their assignments. Extremely reasonable. The right number of problems for students to practice a new skill and concept. So a family’s evening is not held hostage by their child’s math homework.

OK – I have to confess. I didn’t totally get rid of my clock. I replaced my big, clinical looking black-and- white clock with a smaller, wooden clock and placed it below my window behind my desk area.

I am not a watch wearer and therefore, still needed a way to know the time of day. It was amusing to overhear students tell each other that Mrs. Park did really have a clock. It was hidden! Students acted like they were giving away the secrets of Fort Knox! If my student only that the time they are given is worth so much more than all the gold Fort Knox could ever hold.

Student Discourse

Today I attended a professional development workshop for a State Wide project called Algebra For All. During the workshop we did a lot of discussion about what classroom discourse should look like in order to be effective. The Algebra For All focus for this year is for teachers to implement a "Math Talk Community". We discussed four components of Math Talk that came from an article called "Math Talk Community" by K. Huffered-Ackles et. al. in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education dated 2004 Volume 35. The four components were Questioning, Explaining Mathematical Thinking, Source of Mathematical Ideas, and Responsibility for Learning. Immediately I started to think about the session on discourse that I attended at the Carnegie National Math Institute this summer.

I soon realized that the ideas we were talking about need to be a natural part of a Carnegie Classroom. Students should be explaining their mathematical thinking, be a source of mathematical ideas, both the students and I should be asking questions, and we're both responsible for their learning. While I thought I was doing a decent job at this (there is always room for improvement) I realized today that I was leaving out an important piece.

Part of sharing the responsibility for learning should be students evaluating themselves and others. Now I don't mean that students should be grading each others tests, but that they should be evaluating ideas for reasonableness without my help. I've never thought of this before. However, if I'm always the one saying if the answer is correct than I'm still the knowledge keeper instead of a true facilitator.

This week my students will be completing 1.8 and 1.9 from the Algebra 1 text. Since the lessons are very similar I usually have half of the groups do 1.8 and the other half do 1.9. Each group makes a poster to summarize their project that includes the graph, table, equation, and a few other examples from their problem. Students usually present their posters and I grade them on both the presentation and the poster.

After today's professional development I've decided that students will do a gallery walk where they will write comments on sticky notes and place them on the posters of other groups. Students will have to decide what they like about the other posters and include any questions they have for the group. Then when each group presents their poster I want them to answer the questions that the other students had for them as part of their presentation. This will give students a chance to reflect on their own learning and give them a chance to question others ideas.

Lab work

Wow this week flew by! I cannot believe the weekend is already here (although I'm glad it is). Now that I've gotten to know my students and introduced them to all my rules and procedures, this week was time to introduce the Cognitive Tutor.

The lab schedule at our school gives each teacher 1.5 periods a week in the lab (a total of 2.25 hours a week). It's not the ideal 40%, but it is all we can do with the lab space we have. So Monday I'm in class for 45 minutes and then in the lab for the 2nd 45. Wednesdays we stay in the lab for a whole 90 minutes.

Monday I spent the first 1/2 of class introducing students to the lab. I used screen captures of 2 carefully selected problems to make a hand out for students. I hooked my laptop to my projector and then showed students how to log into the tutor. Next, I used the curriculum browser to find the problems on the handout. We went through the example problem together while I pointed out the features of the software. Then students took turns being the "teacher" and typing the answers on my computer while other students volunteered to give answers.

This really helped my students prepare for going into the lab. Everyone had an idea of what they would be doing and many students soared through the first section of unit one. This left me free to help the students who really needed it.

By the way, did you know that you can now change the font size within the tutor? Just go to view while logged into the tutor and click change font size. This made the projected problems we did in class much easier for students to read. Also, I was surprised how many of my students changed the font on their computer while we were in the lab. I'm loving this new feature!!!

The Apple

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and last night I was able to meet all the “trees” of my classes. Last night was AMCMS Open House. Meeting parents is always a nerve-racking experience for me; I’ve become comfortable standing in front of a room full of 14-year-olds, but when it comes to speaking to 44 year-olds, I’m a nervous wreck. When I’m nervous, I become tongue-tied and unintelligible. I also tend to speak too rapidly, as well as not smiling.

Despite my nerves, Open House has given me the opportunity to introduce Carnegie Learning and Cognitive Tutor to the parents. Ever since I have implemented these methods, they have been receptive to and supportive of the innovative curriculum that I apply to my classroom. As a parent myself, I believe that they appreciate my honesty in providing the best math experiences possible for their child.

I had to chuckle to myself as the parents walked out my classroom door. I thought, “Wow! That’s Suzy or Bob 25 – 35 years from now!” The resemblance in my students to their parents is uncanny – not only in the physical sense, but especially in their mannerisms and senses of humor; the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Following Directions

I made it through my first week back to school! So far things are going great. I've almost learned all of my new students names and we (my students and I) have learned a lot about each other. Now it's time to jump into the math!

When I first started using Carnegie one thing I noticed was that students do not read the directions (or the whole problem) given to them. Sometimes they are being lazy and do not write their answer in a complete sentence or explain how they got the answer. But I find that often when I show a student that they didn't finish the problem they say, "Oh, I didn't see that".

To try to convince students that reading is important (without me lecturing about it) I gave my students a quiz on following directions. When they walked into class on Friday and saw QUIZ on the agenda some of them freaked out. "You didn't tell us we were having a quiz" was the reaction I got every hour. I told them that they were taking the easiest quiz ever and that I would explain more after our warm up activity. Before passing out the quiz I stressed that this was testing their ability to follow directions. I passed out the 19 question quiz face down and set a timer for 5 minutes. Once I said go they started racing through the questions that had them do things such as write their name on the paper, punch a whole in the top with a pencil, write the name of the first president on the back side, etc. No one was able to finish in the five minutes and they all begged for more time. I gave in and reset the timer for another two minutes.

By the time the timer went off a second time, a few students had reached problem 19 and had figured out my trick. You see even though I stressed that the quiz was testing how well they could follow the directions no one bothered to actually read the directions. The directions read "This is a timed test. You will have 5 minutes to complete all parts. You may write directly on this sheet. Read all parts carefully before doing anything". Once they reached problem 19 the question read "Now that you have read everything without actually doing any of the work, do number 1 only and turn your paper over". Of course all they had to do for number 1 was write their name on their paper, so students were not happy when they realized they did a lot of silly work for no reason.

Some students did not get to the last problem even with the extra time. So I asked a student to read the directions and then another student to read problem 19. Afterwards we discussed why reading the directions is important and why they thought I might give them this kind of quiz.

Now my students do not know this, but I continue with this theme through out the year by putting extra credit opportunities in the directions of some of my tests and quizzes. For example on the first test the last part of the directions will tell them to put a star by their name to get 1 point extra credit. One point won't make a huge difference in their grade, but it rewards those who read the directions. I do not do it on every test or quiz and the extra credit is always something different.

I'm sure I'm still going to have to fight the battle of having students writing sentences and explaining their answers. But at least I made my point in a fun way.

The Twilight Zone

Do you feel that sometimes you’re living in another dimension that’s not of this world? I have been for the past couple of weeks. No, I haven’t been captured by aliens, and they’re not controlling my mind. (I was born this weird!) Let’s rewind the film and start from the beginning.

It was a typical, blistering-hot Texas summer day. August 17, 2010, to be exact. I wasn’t at the pool, relaxing with a nice cold beverage and a steamy, hot romance novel. Instead there I sat, in an uncomfortable, hard chair in the middle of a cold lecture room, pretending to listen to the now forgotten speaker. I noticed some teachers texting on their iPhones. Several were doodling or day-dreaming. I swear a coach was taking a siesta while sitting upright with eyes wide open! In our defense, the presentation was running into its second hour, without a break in sight. We were like shaken up bottles of Coke, bubbling underneath, ready to explode at any moment. I made a promise to myself right then and there that I would try my best not to subject my students to such torture.

In my mind, I have always been able to logically reason out why group work was the more effective pedagogy for learning and retaining information. Sadly my heart didn’t believe in it. I didn’t have faith. I had been scarred by bad experiences: Below par grade based on the work, or lack thereof, from slacking group members, wasted time that didn’t contribute to the students’ intellectual growth or well-being. In short, a classroom management nightmare.

However, this year I bit the bullet and dived right in to group work. To my very pleasant surprise, it went without a hitch. Student stayed on task, encouraging and supporting one another. Learning from each other. I was most proud of my 7th period pre-algebra class. I used a collaborative method referred to as ‘the jigsaw’ where each table studied a specific algebraic property. The groups would rotate from station to station, leaving one member from each group behind to stay at their initial table, thus becoming the “expert” while the other group members traveled to the other tables to learn about the rest of the properties. At the end, these travelers returned to home base and were charged with teaching the expert the properties he/she missed out on.

One of my students, let’s call him “Danny”, blew my socks away! He’s your typical passive student who won’t cause trouble, but won’t participate or turn in any assignments either. On this particular day, Danny was the expert on the Multiplicative Property of Zero. He knew it backwards and forwards, could recite it in his dreams, and was able to perfectly articulate its defining attributes. I saw a sparkle in his eyes that wasn’t there before. Danny has since starting sitting up with pride and has even occasionally turned in an assignment or two. (Old habits are hard to break.)

That same day Becky emailed me and asked how my classes were going. Bursting with enthusiasm, I told Becky all about the day’s little treasures. As soon as I pressed the SEND button to my email reply, I immediately feared that the day’s events were all a fluke, something too good to be true. I didn’t tell another soul about my miraculous experience, not even my husband. A few days later, my Pre-Algebra classes participated in yet another collaborative group effort. Again, it played out as I had envisioned it. My confidence was slowly building.

My Algebra students were starting to get jealous that they didn’t have as many hands-on, out-of-your seat activities. Noticing the supplies neatly laid out, “Jerry” excitedly bounced into class and asked if they were for today’s lesson. I had to burst his bubble and tell him that they were for the Pre-Algebra classes. I am now more mindful to try to set up more discovery lessons for all my courses. Today the Algebra students did a gallery walk where each group contributed to solving consecutive integer word problems. I am happy to report that “Jerry” was pleased.

As for Danny, he chose to write his essay last Friday on the Multiplicative Property of Zero. He continues to amaze me. I can’t wait to see what he has to offer next.

I don’t know if this is all real, whether I’m going to wake-up soon and realize that it’s been a dream. Whatever the case may be, I’m going to enjoy the show while it lasts!

And We're Off...

Today was the first full day of classes at the school where I teach. There was so much excitement in the air! Most of the teachers spend the first day going over their syllabus, rules, procedures and other important information. I wait to pass out my syllabus, but quickly talk about supplies and class structure (1.5 periods in lab, 3.5 periods in class, etc.). Since I have freshmen I also give them an opportunity to ask questions about their new school (They usually have a lot). I try to mix it up so that students are not sitting and listening for the whole 90 minute period. I know I would get restless sitting and listening for that long and it isn't fair to expect them to do so.

One of the activities I started with today was a "snowball fight". I have students write three things about themselves on a piece of paper without putting their name on it (I do one too!). Once everyone has their list we each crumble our paper into a ball and spread out around the classroom. Next I set the timer (for about 1 minute) and the students and myself have a paper snowball fight. They are usually pretty reluctant to actually throw paper in the beginning. I tell them it is the only time they will be allowed to throw paper in my class and that it is the only time they can throw anything at me! :) After a little encouragement everyone gets involved and starts having fun. Once the timer goes off everyone finds a snowball (not their own) and walks around the room to figure out who's paper they have. Each student must introduce the class to the person who's paper they picked up. This is a fun way for students to get to know a little bit about each other and a little bit about me.

Each day this week we'll talk about the rules and procedures as they come up in class. This keeps students from being bombarded with nothing but me talking and allows me to do activities to get to know them.

Out of Order

I woke up early Thursday morning at 3 o’clock with my left eye watering profusely. I knew that I hadn’t fallen asleep with my contacts in. Nonetheless, something the size of a sand grain was irritating it. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to flush the foreign object out of my eye but to no avail. By then I was fully awake for the rest of the day with a very, scary-looking red eye.

I spent all day at work reassuring the students that I wasn’t upset and crying. They’re pretty caring kids when they want to be. Even my teenage age son must have felt sorry for me because he volunteered to do all my typing for me.

Anyways, my algebra students spent Wednesday and Thursday trying to get started on Cognitive Tutor for the first time. Technical difficulty prevented them from being able to login. Remember to have alternative plans, esp. when it comes to computers and technology.

By dinnertime that evening my eye had swollen itself shut. As much as I hated to admit it, I had to start preparing for a sub and take Friday off to go see an ophthalmologist before the long Labor Day weekend started. Otherwise I would end up spending my whole weekend either at Urgent Care or the Emergency Room.

I had designated this past Friday as the day that I would try to get my pre-algebra students started on Cognitive Tutor. There is no way that I should expect a substitute teacher to take on this task, particularly considering the trouble I was experiencing the previous two days with the laptops. Again I had to fall back on my alternative plans.

Luckily the doctor’s office took me as an emergency walk-in Friday morning. Who knew that eyes could get an ulcer? Mine has one 0.4 mm long as well as several abrasions on the cornea. A prescription of antibiotic eye drops should do the trick and make everything better. Dr. Perkins forewarned me that the healing was going to be a slow process and not to expect an instantaneous miracle. Within the hour, though, my eye was 75% better and I began to tackle my 100-items to-do list. Boy, have I been paying for it ever since!

The health of my left eye reverted to its painful, swollen condition. I have spent the last 48 hours sleeping. It’s my body’s way of making me stop so that my eye could heal properly. Much to my husband’s chagrin, I plan to return to work tomorrow. Yes, we have school on Labor Day. Preparing for a sub is way too much work. Plus I am so far behind!

Back Into the Swing of Things...

Wow this week flew by! I had four days of professional development at my school . We received a grant that allowed the district to provide additional professional development before starting back with the students. One of the topics that was discussed this week was using data to enhance instruction. It made me think about how important the Teacher's Tool Kit Reports are. The data from those reports can be used to identify skills that your whole class or maybe individual students need more help with. What a great way to identify problem areas so that you can adjust your instruction. While the Tool Kit data is not the only data I use to make decisions, it is probably the one that I look at the most.

It was so refreshing to see all the teachers that I haven't seen all summer long! I was able to get my classroom set up and meet our new principal. All of that preparing has me exhausted and school hasn't even really started yet!

Tuesday is my first day with students. We have a half day and will only meet with our advisory group of students. I'm really looking forward to Wednesday when I'll get to meet all of my new 9th graders.

Whether you're like me and just starting your school year or have been back at it for a few weeks, enjoy the long weekend!