This is my 3rd year using the Carnegie Curriculum. At my initial implementation training I completed a poster project for one of the problems and participated in a gallery walk to view others posters once they were completed.
In my haste to move through the curriculum I never took the time to actually have my students do the gallery walk. They created posters which I always displayed in class, but I'm not sure how much the other students ever really looked at them. There really was a lack of closure to the entire project.
As I mentioned before I'm part of a state wide project called Algebra for All. The project reminded me that students should be evaluating each others ideas. Inspired by attending the workshop I had my students create posters for 1.8 and 1.9 from the Algebra 1 text. It took a few days, but they really turned out great (I plan to post photos soon but forgot my camera at home today :( ). Today each group placed their posters on their tables. I had the groups move around the room getting 1.5 minutes to look at each poster. Not only did students have to look at the posters but they also had to write 1 thing they liked about the poster and 1 way that the poster was different than their own on a sticky note. Each group left a different colored note on each poster and once they finished the groups had a chance to look at the comments their peers left for them.
This lead to a great discussion of the two problem scenarios. We talked about how the problems from 1.8 and 1.9 were different and how they were the same. Students commented about differences in the equations, tables, and graphs. This discussion led us right into the 1.10 lesson where the two scenarios are compared. I now realized that although it did take some time, the gallery walk was a great way to spark conversation and a great way for students to take pride in their own work.
The posters are now displayed in my classroom for all to see. I plan on trying out different variations of this activity through out the year hopefully it wil continue to lead to great class discussions.
A blog written BY teachers FOR other teachers. Learn more about the Carnegie Learning curricula: best practices, pacing, classroom management, and more!
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Note: The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer(s), and do not represent those of Carnegie Learning, Inc.
3 comments:
Hi, Brandy!
I'm glad that you mentioned how a lot of time we, the teachers, forget how important closure is to a lesson, an activity, or a project. As much as we fight it sometimes, we have to make time for closure. It will pay off tremendously in the end.
I was made aware of an important point recently. If you want a program to work, you must implement it in the full fidelity the program was designed to accomplish. So, yes, having your students create the posters in the first place was a good start. You then realized that they must also evaluate and analyze each other's work. I am guilty of having good intentions but not fully following through. Thank you for keeping me accountable to my classroom practices! I look forward to reading your next post.
Thanks Thuc-Khahn! I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to realize what the students were missing out on!
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