Connected Educators Month: Why bother?

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The value of being a connected educator are many. First-hand experience taught me that connections could help me with lessons, ideas for activities, and resources and experts to get even more wisdom. Leveraging the ideas of many helped me realize that I am part of an extended community, and collaborating is a world-wide effort.

adobe-sparkSometimes it seems like a teacher is alone in their classroom, struggling to connect with students over difficult topics. Recently, I saw a post from an AP Calculus teacher on a Facebook group that illustrated one value of being connected. “I muffed the lesson on derivatives of inverse functions”, it read, “does anyone have a great suggestion for me when I redo it?” At last count, nearly 20 other educators weighed in with activities, exercises and encouragement. Yesterday, a tweet came across my twitter feed about a blog post concerning the use of document cameras in the classroom. Intrigued, I followed the thread to the post; although the blog was from 2012, it rang true for today as well. I gained insights from someone I was not connected to, yet I felt connected through the person on Twitter whom I follow.

Most of the time, when asked about being connected, teachers will talk about robust conversations on social media outlets like Twitter, Voxer, Slack, Instagram, Snapchat, Padlet, Pinterest, and many more. That is a great value, to be sure; however, developing one’s personal learning network (PLN) is the raison d’être for connected educators. Teachers can put together an idea for the classroom, and send it out via their PLNs for feedback and constructive criticism. For example, Grove City College recruited in-service teachers to connect in virtual mentoring relationships with preservice teachers for advice, feedback on course projects, and encouragement about what really happens in classrooms. Through those relationships, in-service teachers can see what is being taught in the college methods course, and the preservice teacher can see what works in an actual classroom. Further, in-service teachers share connections with college students, giving them a leg up in developing their own PLNs. If we want teachers to see being connected professionally as vital to their growth, this is a great way to accomplish it.

ISTE has a variety of PLNs with which to connect. Perhaps you already see the values of being connected – collaboration, creative ideas, constructive feedback, developing ties to the educational community – and you are using your connectivity to develop your voice. Join other communities, be they with ISTE, or any other organization to which you belong. Join in twitter chats (#isteten, for example, on October 17th) or a wide variety of others. Follow some people you know on twitter, then see who they follow. Identify thought leaders and see what they post. I have learned a lot from doing this, and I believe anyone would! When you go to conferences, ask for twitter handles or other media sign-ons. First, make sure you have your own!

Here, thanks to Jerry Blumengarten (aka @cybraryman1) is a link to a calendar of twitter chats: https://sites.google.com/site/twittereducationchats/education-chat-calendar . There’s plenty here to get started!

How Can I Create Reflective Scholars?

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Chip Helps StudentAs you might’ve read in a previous post (https://njcashman.edublogs.org/?p=72), I attended the ECET2 conference in Seattle, Washington (Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teachers and Teaching) in the middle of July. While there, I attended a session entitled “Creating Reflective Scholars”, presented by Amanda Yoshida, which was all about encouraging and facilitating self-monitoring in students. Because I believe that students should take responsibility for their learning (see earlier post about grading), this appealed to me greatly. I took some notes and set them aside for awhile, just to let the ideas settle a bit, but with school starting in just a few weeks (gulp!) I needed to flesh this out a little.

What are reflective scholars? A quick search brings no solid answers, unfortunately. Currently, my students spend a lot of time attempting tasks I give them to do (the idea that they should originate these tasks is perhaps the subject of a future post?). They dutifully work the problems, do the project, etc. and then rely on me to tell me how they did. Once I do, they move on to the next task. This reminds me like what I read on a shampoo bottle (you read them, right?) wash, rinse, repeat! In this way, I am not encouraging my students to be reflective scholars. They are not thinking about how they are progressing as they work, they’re just trying to get things done. Ms. Yoshida defined them this way: “Reflective Scholars assume responsibility of their learning through reflection; they reflect on their progress toward the learning objective academically, and scholars are able to identify appropriate next steps in their learning.”

Considering my own thoughts and the ideas raised in this session, I considered how my students already kept track of their progress, but that progress was summative. The open gradebooks in Schoology (see www.schoology.com), our learning management system, (LMS) allows students to monitor grades. I know I can immediately improve this practice if what the students receive centers more on formative feedback, but that is still me reflecting to the students, not the students reflecting on their own learning. Here are some things I have used, and intend to use this year. Some I gleaned from this session, some I have used before.

Reflective responses after summative assessments

As a mathematics teacher, I give summative assessments. After each one, I ask students to respond to these questions:

1: List the questions you did correctly, and the accompanying standards or concepts. What did this test demonstrate about mastery in these areas, and what evidence is shown?

2: Toward which standards or concepts did the work on this test show progression, and how did the work show this?

3: What strategies did you use to be successful with the standards mastered? What preparation or test strategies did not work?

4: What is your plan of action (being specific here) that you will use to fully master the standards that are in progress?

While this practice seems to both fit the definition of developing reflective scholars and be effective for some of my students in helping them shape learning strategies, other students derived little benefit because they were not accustomed to thinking this way. To help, I’ve employed other strategies such as using polling through my LMS (in this case, Schoology)bbba10ce0e6d47ea1097f020d9415a66 asking students to simply rate their confidence with the topic at the end of class; using Socrative (see www.socrative.com) to ask a couple of key exit questions (can also use googleforms for this); and using journaling or discussion questions on the LMS to find out what students are thinking about their learning. There are simpler versions of this, of course, including ‘fist to five’ rating system of comfort or self-assessment of progress (see, for example,  http://tinyurl.com/pslbn23).

This school year, I intend to try some ideas I learned from the session (or the thinking it inspired).

Thank you, Missbresources.comPut a ‘learning thermometer’ in the classroom and ask students to put sticker or post-it note on it at the beginning and again at the end of class; (see missbresources.com for this thermometer)

 

Have students share their biggest or favorite ‘fail’ of the day and what they learned from it (remembering that fail is an acronym for ‘first attempt in learning’)

Use something like futureme.org, or some other email scheduler, to have students create goals for the next class, next assessment or next term;

Incorporating a technique like ‘My Favorite No” as seen in this Teaching Channel Video (https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/class-warm-up-routine) to have students reflect on what they learn from their errors.

 

CL Society 09: Photocopies

Francisco Osorio via Compfight

Possible pitfalls If students do not see me reflecting on my progress and acknowledging my challenges they will not either. I have to walk, not just talk. Second, until students get comfortable ‘going public’ with their reflections, I need to give them opportunities to be publicly anonymous (e.g. post-it notes without names first) but privately transparent (journaling, reflective paragraphs, voxer messages, etc.) Additionally, incorporating growth mindset language in my own reflections and asking for it from students should help reinforce that success in learning mathematics requires work, perseverance, frustration and challenge. How great, though, would it be for a student to look back over their reflections to see their own journey of growth? That would be awesome!

I’d love to hear your plans for helping develop reflective scholars in your classroom, especially from other high school teachers. What has worked? What didn’t? Better yet, I’d love to connect on twitter or voxer to share those thoughts!

Shout out to Amanda Yoshida for leading this session and for widely sharing her ideas and resources! Follow her on twitter @ayoshida22.

5 standards-aligned lesson plans for the new school year

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(Recent post, written for ISTE’s Project ReimaginEd! JOIN the community at http://connect.iste.org/communities/community-home?CommunityKey=cab064c9-11bd-4e9f-a89c-1cda5754da9a)
By Chip Cash 8/24/2015

In June, I wrote about five fabulous lessons you could “steal” from Project ReimaginED, a Gates Foundation-supported online community where educators discuss and share resources that are aligned with both the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the ISTE Standards.

With the 2015-16 school year upon us, I want to share more lessons from the Project ReimaginED library. So pull up a chair and listen to A Tale of Electricity, go to Europe to Discover French Regions, join forces on a Collaborative Habitat Project, sharpen your quills on Modern Julius Caesar and end by programing 3D nightlights with Project Nightlight.

You can use all of the lessons right out of the box or easily adapt them to fit your needs. Once you’ve read about them — and hopefully incorporated some of them into your curriculum — why not share a few of your own lessons on the Project Reimagined resource library?

Tale of Electricity. Fourth graders from Hardin County Schools in Kentucky researched, solved, engineered and presented solutions to electricity-related problems in this engaging, multidimensional project created by Jamie Chenault.

To set the tone, Chenault began by holding inspiring “kitchen table discussions” using prompts, such as the Thomas Edison quote, “I haven’t failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that do not work.”

Then students got to work, using Instagrok, a tool that creates interactive concept maps to research the principles of electricity. When they type in a topic, Instagrok creates a mind map to help them organize and make sense of the vast information available.

Next, Chenault gave students a collection of materials, including some that wouldn’t work, and asked them to complete as many circuits as they could. Students solved problems related to circuits, static electricity and switches.

Bearing in mind the Edison quote about perseverance, students recorded their successes and troubles and documented the process with photos and videos. Later, groups publish their results using Storyjumper, a tool that creates illustrated books that can be printed or shared online.

Chenault evaluated students using a rubric that measured individual progress as well as group contributions.

This project clearly addresses standards across multiple disciplines, including literacy, science and engineering, language arts, and potentially mathematics. It also clearly addresses the ISTE Standards for Students, as students collaborate on creative solutions to problems as well as presentation strategies.

I like that this project involves a rigorous approach to hands-on learning and is accessible to all levels of learners. You can expand the connectivity by challenging other classes from other schools, states or countries to solve electricity problems your students present and vice-versa.

Discover French Regions. This project, which combines French language learning with research and presentation skills, was a collaboration between French teacher Laura Rouse and library specialist Tina Laramie from Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School in New York.

Students navigated Moodle to find and organize information, used multiple languages to create an advertisement for a specific region in France, and learned to find, evaluate and critique digital resources related to their region.

For example, students learned not to be “DUPED” by the internet, an acronym that reminds them to check the date, URL and purpose of a site and then evaluate whether it meets their purpose. After learning to evaluate websites, students examined four sites related to the project according to the criteria.

Rouse and Laramie assessed their students based on a rubric that measured student progress during the project as well as overall mastery of specific goals.

This project addresses multiple standards in both language arts and literacy, including:

  • Determining central ideas or themes of a text and analyzing their development (CCSS).
  • Summarizing key supporting details and ideas and assessing how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text (CCSS).
  • Creativity and Innovation (ISTE Standards for Students).
  • Research and Information Fluency (ISTE Standards for Students).
  • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving (ISTE Standards for Students).

This project goes a long way toward teaching students how to find and evaluate the information they need to solve problems.  It is also wonderfully versatile in that it can be adapted for just about any discipline. You can bring mathematics in by having students investigate and report on the geometry of certain landmarks in a country connected to a world language they are studying. They could take it a step further by producing multi-language presentations to exchange with students in those countries for feedback.

Collaborate 21 Amazing Animals. This group project involved having second graders read, research, write and publish what they learned about habitats and animals. It was designed by tech integration specialist Jana Gudmundsen, teacher Sarah Kastner, library media specialist Rochelle Kovarik and principal Brenda Nilson from Park River Area Elementary School in North Dakota.

Students began by researching an animal’s habitat study, followed by doing a book study of an established author to build background for exploration of habitats and animals. They learned the research and writing process before compiling and presenting their findings.

The students worked in small groups using Padlet, a virtual bulletin board, to communicate how their animal interacts in its habitat and with other animals. Then they created a Puppet Pals video that highlighted their animals’ interactions within its habitat.

This well-researched and designed project addresses multiple standards:

  • Reading for understanding, writing, speaking and listening (CCSS).
  • Observing plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats forms the backbone of the specific content (Next Generation Science Standards).
  • Creativity and Innovation (ISTE Standards for Students).
  • Research and Information Fluency (ISTE Standards for Students).
  • Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility (ISTE Standards for Teachers).

This is another fantastically flexible project. The reading, writing and publishing aspects could be a template for projects across disciplines and grade levels.

Modern Julius Caesar. Beth Crawford from Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield, Ohio, immersed her students in the language and culture of Julius Caesar by connecting the famous play to current world events.

She began by flipping her classroom. She had students watch a video at home in which she drew connections between Julius Caesar and modern-day real and fictional characters, such as Harry Potter, Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama. In the video she poses thought-provoking questions and then asks her students to answer in a shared Google Doc.

Students then created a modern version of one scene using Touchcast. The project received an international audience because Touchcast published the student work in the “educreations” section of its newsletter.

Although this project was created for advanced 10th grade students, the process of connecting a classic work to modern life can be applied to just about any work in any grade.

This project addressed many standards, including:

  • Exploring written text for deeper meaning, analyzing characters in a work, and producing clear and coherent writing (CCSS).
  • Creativity and Innovation (ISTE Standards for Students).

If your students are studying Julius Caesar, wouldn’t it be awesome to join forces with Crawford’s class and do a different scene? In fact, what if enough readers reimagined the entire play? Picture classes all over the world seeing Julius Caesar through the lens of their own world and combining their revisions with others. Come on, give it a try. Reach out to Beth Crawford on Twitter.

Programmable Night Light. Need a good night’s sleep? Maybe all you need is your own nightlight. David Held created a project that had his students designing 3D nightlights, printing them on 3D printers and then programming them. The project teaches design principles, programming, electronics and engineering.

Students used a free 3D design software, such as Tinkercad, 123D Design orProject Shapeshifter, to create their design, produce it on a 3D printer and install electronic components.

Students created their nightlights for a “proposed user,” which prompted them to imagine how to meet the needs of that specific client. They also demonstrated knowledge of hardware, software and design, using mathematics and technology skills in the process.

This project addresses a wide range of standards, including:

  • Modeling (CCSS).
  • Solving algebraic equations (CCSS).
  • Representing vector and matrix quantities (CCSS).
  • Solving real-life problems using algebraic structures (CCSS).
  • Integrating and presenting knowledge and ideas (CCSS).
  • Creativity and Innovation (ISTE Standards for Students).
  • Communication and Collaboration (ISTE Standards for Students).
  • Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making (ISTE Standards for Students).

If ever there was a clear project that put the A in STEAM, this is it!

I’ve barely scratched the surface of what these amazing projects hold for your students. And there are more where these came from on the Project ReimaginED community!

If you have your own exemplary lesson, consider sharing it! Join the free community, then take some time to browse the Project ReimaginED library and submit your own lesson or project. Students all over the world will be glad you did!

Submit your standards-aligned resources for a chance to win a major discount on ISTE 2016 registration! Find out how easy it is!

Chip Cash is a veteran high school math teacher who has worked to bring tech integration and high-level programming into mathematics for 30 years. He teaches at Princeton Day School and is a network leader for ISTE’s Project ReimaginED.

5 Geometry Construction Videos You’ll ‘Flip’ for

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Years ago, when I was teaching Geometry using Discovering Geometry (probably edition 2), I found there were zero videos on how to do constructions. Using a tripod and video camera (state of the art then) I made these videos for students to watch at home to practice. As Comcast is eliminating personal websites, I found my old (2002!) site with these videos. Feel free to use, copy and post with credit! (Caveat: These are not new videos. Visual quality is not HD!)

 

 

Why Not Celebrate? My ECET2 Experience

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On June 23rd, I received an email from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation inviting me to the fifth convening of Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers (ECET²). I had never heard of this, and to be honest, thought the email was either a mistake or a hoax. What, I asked myself, had I accomplished in my teaching that would make me worthy of such an invitation? I know that I have a lot of experience, but I am the kind of person and teacher that looks with awe and wonder at what others can do without giving my own work much credit. After three intense days with the ECET2 community,that is now changed!

The goal of the convening is to “celebrate effective teachers and to build a strong network of teacher leaders working together to elevate the practice and profession”, and the experience did not disappoint. I was led to think of myself at various points as a superhero, a time-traveler, and someone who makes a difference in kids’ lives. We were treated like royalty, and that was something that does not happen very often. You see, it is easy to get dragged down by the frustration of  struggling students, failed lessons, unhappy parents, and the pressure everyone feels about college admissions and opportunities. ECET2 showed me to flip the script, and start thinking of the lives of the students first.

One of the powerful lessons was “lead with love”; show students how much I care about them, and that act alone will pave the way to powerful learning! I heard amazing stories of why other teachers were drawn to the profession through short keynote “cultivating a calling” speeches. All were inspiring; one such speech was delivered entirely in sign language by Lauren Maucere. She advocated for the needs of her students in the deaf community to learn in a way that serves their needs best. Lauren stood on stage and signed her message, while it was interpreted for the hearing community in a powerful flip of the usual delivery. The room of 500-plus was pin-drop quiet, and all eyes were on Lauren. Thanks to her, I will never forget how important it is to advocate for my students.whyiteach

There were excellent breakout sessions as well, where I learned other teacher’s perspectives on promoting student self-monitoring, developing my teacher-leader voice, and developing individual and team goals for mathematics instruction using data and rubrics. These sessions were presented by teachers, and represented success stories for the presenters. However, each session also sought to leave us with practical takeaways, and helped me see not only how I can improve in those areas, but also to celebrate what I already knew by sharing with others. There was no greater feeling than sharing an idea in the presence of so many accomplished educators and receiving a ‘shout out!’ in return. (Stay tuned for upcoming post on developing students’ self-monitoring.)

The most compelling part of the entire experience was the Colleague Circle. All of the participants were organized ahead of time into groups of 8 or 9, led by a member of ECET2’s trained volunteers. Ours, led by Derek Long, consisted of teachers from all over the country (Florida, Tennessee, Washington (state), Washington, D.C., to name a few) and varied experience levels. The goal was to connect us in professional problem solving to find solutions to problems of practice. We wrote down what was on our minds, and then as a group chose two problems to address. The process was well-defined, and designed to give the person whose problem was addressed practical and actionable solutions to employ right away. This was a powerful reminder of how teachers, if put together to address problems, can bring to bear their experience and skill to impact the overall practice of teaching.

You would think that a dinner/reception at the Seattle Aquarium, complete with awesome goodies and chances to see the otters and seals would top the list of highlights, but you’d be wrong. My highlight was seeing Melinda Gates herself, who was a surprise guest at our Thursday keynote. She expressed her passion for teachers, students and the teaching profession that did not do justice to her reputation. Moreover, she spent the rest of the day circulating to breakout sessions (sadly, not mine) and speaking with teachers. I could not help but be inspired by her words and energy!

Why not celebrate? Teachers should recognize what they accomplish in their classrooms, and understand that is where the magic happens. In the recent past, I introduced myself to students and parents by stating that my 30 years of experience is just code for “I’m old”. Now, I will say that my 30-years of experience means that I am traveling farther into the future than I ever have before, by making a difference in the lives of my students!

Post Script: I was moved during this experience to participate in #thankateacher.  My shout out goes to Mr. Hal Blocksom, my 4th grade Social Studies teacher (Red Clay Creek School District, Delaware). He not only made me laugh through his comedic style, but taught me that I had to work to learn. He held my feet to the fire, denying me recess to finish my country report (on Ethiopia), but praised me for my level of understanding and knowledge. I am forever in his debt.

If you are on twitter, send a shout-out today to that teacher that made a difference in your life, and helped you get where you are today.Who inspired your success? Write their name on a piece of paper, and take a selfie with it. Post with #thankateacher. You’ll be glad you did! Better yet, write an actual letter. Trust me when I tell you that your former teacher will treasure it forever. I still have letters from 30 years ago.

Steal these ideas from Project ReimaginED!

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This is a post I wrote for ISTE’s Project ReimaginED on 6/2/2015.

Steal these ideas from Project ReimaginED!

By Chip Cash 6/2/2015  Topics: ISTE Conference & Expo, Personalized learning, Standards

Earlier this spring, we asked the most innovative teachers we know to send us great lesson plans that align to the Common Core and ISTE Standards. The goal was to populate the Project ReimaginED website with rich, tech-infused lessons so that cutting-edge educators like you could learn from each other.

We even created a contest and dangled an ISTE 2015 registration as the grand prize. The result was fantastic. Now that the contest dust has settled, it is a good time to look at the treasures in the Project ReimaginED vault.

One project combines environmental protection, engineering, design, 3D manufacturing and — with a little adaptation — data collection, curve fitting and functions. Other lessons have students creating and programming objects; investigating static electricity through engineering; delving into geopolitical issues in the Middle East; and combining literature, biology, electricity, creative writing, hands-on manufacturing, research and presentation. Among the 30+ submissions (and counting!), there’s bound to be something you could find to energize your classroom and excite your students.

Here are five highlights:

Kindergarten Store. Students research, design, advertise, market, produce, stock and potentially sell items in a store. Rich in problem-based learning, Kindergarten Store promotes language arts, mathematics, social studies, statistics, persuasive writing, and research and presentation skills. Don’t have kindergarteners? No problem. You can adapt this project, submitted by Randi Lembke, for virtually any grade or skill level. The interdisciplinary aspect as well as the maker movement potential make this a desirable project for a number of different subject areas. This addresses many Common Core standards, among them English standards about punctuation, letters and spelling, and math standards about representing operations with objects and solving addition and subtraction problems. It also addresses theISTE Standards for Students in the areas of Creativity and Innovation, as students will apply existing knowledge to create new ideas, interact with their peers employing a variety of digital media, and contribute to project teams. This is a very deep project!

Home on the Reef. This project, submitted by Christina Troxell and Melissa Follin, has fourth graders gather data to determine the best place to position oyster castles in local watersheds. Students create 3D designs and produce models that local conservation experts evaluate for actual use. Students use mathematical modeling to make sense of data, research issues affecting oyster populations, use oysters in farming and report on the plight of the oysters in Chesapeake Bay. Don’t live near the eastern shore? That’s fine. What’s great about this lesson is how easily you can adapt it to other species, environments and settings. This project addresses a long list of standards, both Common Core and ISTE. These include the ISTE Standards for Students in the categories of Creativity and Innovation, Research and Information Fluency, and Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making. They also address Next Generation Science Standards in the area of using evidence to construct explanations, Common Core English standards about reading informational text and writing research projects, as well as the math standards on creating and using line plots to represent data and solve problems.

Rise of the Frankenstuffies: The Industrial Revolution. High school students create a Frankenstein-like creature to investigate the Industrial Revolution. Students learn how biology, electricity and industry innovations drive change. This project, submitted by Petra Willemse and Bryan Hughes, integrates science, language arts and social studies, and possibly math. The assignment also covers literature, creative writing and presentation skills while challenging students to communicate research findings in nontraditional ways. Frankenstuffies addresses Common Core standards in English, namely reading literature. The ISTE Standards for students (Creativity and Innovation) and teachers (Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility) are also prominent in this charming project.

Are the Bedouins Invisible Citizens of Israel? Unleash your students on this thought-provoking contemporary question that combines social studies, research, presentation and deep analysis of current sources. What makes this project, submitted by Susan Sabella and Kristin Hayes-Leight, so interesting is not only the question it poses, but also how the process is rich with possibility. Students can investigate the question and then expand their intellectual reach to involve closer geopolitical inquiries and, in the process, involve data, modeling, statistics and problem solving for real-world issues in ways that can have a measurable impact. The authors cite many standards for this project, mostly in the arena of Common Core English standards related to reading, history and social studies, such as integrating and evaluating multiple sources of information, writing to develop claims and/or counterclaims, making strategic use of digital media, and speaking/listening standards to present information and findings. ISTE Standards for Students in Creativity and Innovation and Communication and Collaboration are addressed. Teachers meet standards too by facilitating and inspiring students to engage in real-world learning. As mentioned, with some population data, graphing and modeling, you can also involve math standards about representing data and solving problems related to data.

Go Local, Share Global: Inspiring Kids with History or Science. Students use technology to expand their understanding of their local environments and make it possible for others to follow in their footsteps. Imagine students creating a photo essay about local flora and fauna, historic buildings or even Revolutionary War battle sites. You can use this project, submitted by Louise Maine, in almost any environment because the research and technology skills (geotagging, Google Maps, wikis) are easily transferable. Feeling really adventurous? Have kids create iOS or Android apps that people can download to follow voice or text-annotated tours of local interest. This project addresses many ISTE Standards for Teachers, including Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, and Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility. This project addresses the ISTE Standards for Students for Creativity and Innovation, Communication and Collaboration, and Research and Information Fluency. Because this project is heavy on writing and production, it also meets the Common Core English standards for reading and writing (for history and science). You can easily involve other standards in science, mathematics or history, depending on the subject matter your students use for their photo essay or app!

These lessons are just a glimpse of what’s available on Project ReimaginED. It’s worth your while to peruse the variety of projects, lessons and ideas that you can try out in your own classrooms.

Like what you see? Have questions or reactions? Join the free community to engage in conversations with peers. Better yet, why not share a lesson of your own? You can get feedback and guidance from experienced professionals within the community and make your own project that much better!

Congratulations to Christina Troxell and Melissa Follin from Kemps Landing/Old Donation School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, who won first place for their submission Home on the Reef. They will present their lesson at ISTE 2015.

The Grading Conundrum, Part 1

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photo courtesy James M. Raymond

Grading – neither the heart nor the soul of teaching

So recently I was having conversations about grading, college admissions, value-added education, student effort, and the like. The central question is this – am I ‘beating up my students’ with my grading? Are the students and I using tons of effort, learning quite a bit, only to end up with C+ or B- grades? Is there something more holistic?

Basic Philosophies: In the beginning…

Once upon a time, I used to grade based on points. This drove me crazy on several fronts, from deciding how many points a problem was worth, how much to deduct for each error or type of error, to trying to make the total number of points come out right. After returning a piece of work, the discussions I had with students were all about points. “Why did you take off 2 points instead of 1?” or “Susie only got 1 point off on this, but you took 3 off of mine. Why?” or “I am only 1 point from an A…can’t you find one point to give me?” The unspoken accusations of unfairness or favoritism or being a hard-line grader were taking me further and further from my goal of teaching students mathematics, and how to communicate mathematics to demonstrate their learning. Like lots of grading schemes, this was pretty arbitrary in my mind. I did this until a conference session changed my entire outlook more than 15 years ago.

Still not Standards-based, but still pretty good

I went to a session where 10 math teachers were all handed a piece of student work, and we were asked to assign a grade to it. The grades on the paper ranged from D to B+, as people used various methods (point-based or otherwise) to evaluate. The presenter showed a rubric-method in which error were categorized by type, and grades were determined based on how many errors of how many types were made. The point was that the conversations with students now would center on why the error was conceptual or procedural, rather than why points were deducted. Less arbitrary to the student, easier to discuss or defend.

Where I am now…still unsettled

I’ve been using a rubric-based system for tests, quizzes, projects, papers and the like for a long time. Students evaluate, correct and reflect on their performances, learning to view their work objectively and recognizing that the only thing being assessed is what they wrote on test day. Their communication gets better over time, they learn to try everything, and they are really proud of not making conceptual errors. They devise plans of action based on their performance, and along the way their emotions are separated from their work. So you’d think everything is going great…but then, the B-/C+ syndrome rears its ugly head.

NEXT POST: what to do with the student who tries really hard, but isn’t making grades above C+, what to do with seniors who start a term poorly, improve steadily, but still have that C+, a killer grade for college applications?

Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Read more: “5 Obstacles to Grading Reform” from ASCD.

Hey…didja ever notice that lots of blog posts have a number in the title? Why is that?

Eight Ways to Decrease Pressure and Increase Learning

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I read a blog on philly.com, written by Faye Flam entitled “A Simple Solution to the Should We Teach Algebra Teaching Conundrum”.  She proposes a solution that got me thinking about a crucial question in mathematics teaching in general that seems to cause so much pain in both teachers and students.

Students (and teachers) seem to be under so much pressure all of the time, and, if we know that increased pressure creates an adverse learning environment, how do we decrease the pressure without sacrificing content?
Under Pressure
I am thinking that pressure comes in many forms for students, and for teachers. There is assessment pressure; a student’s fear of not knowing, of not studying the right thing, of just not being good enough. Students have a fear of low grades that comes from themselves, their parents, college counselors, and even school expectations. There is ever-present time pressure, both for them (I have so much to do) and me (they-didn’t-understand-what-I-did-today-then-homework-tonight-is-a-disaster-in-waiting). I feel pressure from within (I really want the students to succeed, and feel terrible if they don’t) and without (parents and school expectations.) So, here are some ideas I’m toying with using in my classroom this year, learned from recent workshops and conferences. My thanks, up front, to the Center for Innovative Teaching and Henri Picciotto.

  1. Paired or Group Assessment. Students assigned to pairs or groups of 3 to work out an assessment (standard test or quiz) together. Instead of trying to see if kids are cheating, I can watch (even record) their collaborative efforts. I think that students, knowing in advance that they will test together, may also study together. They will plan before the test, develop strategies, and hopefully focus on the mathematics. I think students will think less about grades, and will be less fearful.
  2. Separating homework from classwork. It was suggested that if kids are doing homework that is not entirely connected to what happened today in class, then there is a sense of relief on the student’s part that it is ok if they didn’t understand everything  in class. The way I’m going to try this is, as Henri Picciotto suggested, teach content item A (say, exponentials) in first week, and refer to that in homework in week 2 while I am teaching content item B (say, sequences). The two items don’t need to be connected, and may be better for the student if one doesn’t depend on the other.
  3. Using writing better: I have often employed writing in journals and reflections on tests; I believe that a class blog and individual shared documents can help me and the students identify issues and trouble spots. The research presented in the January 14, 2011 article in SCIENCE entitled ‘Writing About Testing Worries Boosts Exam Performance in the Classroom’ suggests that prior to an assessment, students do better if they write about their anxiety about the test they’re about to take, they will do better. Worth trying! (see Science, registration required to view article.)
  4. Test corrections/retesting. I thought of myself as being pretty progressive, given that I evaluate all of my tests using a rubric, and students write corrections, reflections, and a self-assessment. What I think is missing is giving students the opportunity to show mastery of the material. I am going to offer to student the opportunity to show mastery using other means, if they wish. This could be a verbal test/discussion with me, a video of themselves explaining how to do the math they need to learn, creating a tutorial for other students, etc. Time consuming, certainly, but perhaps more authentic then me rewriting a test and having them go at it.
  5. Giving them the answers, but not the solutions. My students tell me that they come up with all kinds of ways to figure out problems on homework by ‘reverse-engineering’ from the answers. So occasionally I will give them both the question and the answer, and see how they connect the two. 
  6. Use of techy-tools to give better feedback: I know about student-response systems (like Socrative, Nearpod, eclicker, etc.) and how I can use them to help students know what they know. I just need to use them!
  7. Backchanneling: Up to now, I have been terrified of the cellphone in my classroom. My time at ISTE12 taught me that I can use this tool that all the kids have, along with TodaysMeeting or PollEverywhere to ask students to give on-the-fly feedback to what is happening in class. The idea that I can go back through all of those questions (even the one that asks when the quiz is being returned) later and answer them relieves some pressure to answer every question during the class period.
  8. Keeping it positive. Sounds easy, but I tend to focus on what needs to be improved, rather than celebrating what was awesome. If I give them global reports about how they are ‘outlearning’ last year’s class or how much they’ve improved since the beginning of the unit, then I have to believe they will feel less pressure. I saw a youtube video about linking positivity to happiness, with the result being better performance by Shawn Achor (The Happiness Advantage: Linking Positive Brains to Performance ) This reaffirms the idea that getting students to focus on positivity through specific actions can shift their view about what they’re learning, and perhaps about mathematics as a subject.
What are things you do that relieve pressure on yourself, or on the students? I’d like to hear!