Help Students Take Responsibility and Ownership of Their Learning
As with others in the MTBoS, I am trying to help shift my students towards a growth mindset. I really going to harp on the language they use regarding their learning and hopefully kill the phrase "I don't get it" from their vocabulary.
I have some great tracking methods for SBG, but I need to actually use them! I just continually feel the pressure of time and that is what gets cut but I believe students need to see their growth and how they are doing on topics over time.
I also want to start giving more of a schedule of assignments, topics we are covering, important dates, etc to my students. Once again I shy away from it because things change and writing it down makes it more permanent. But the truth is I am generally good at staying on track with pacing and don't often get far off. So why not give students an opportunity to start managing their time better?
Any other suggestions please leave in comments!
Work on Management
The bane of my teaching existence. I need to work on communicating my expectations for classroom behavior early on. Things I let slide this past semester were keeping my supplies orderly, no food/drink, etc. I want to do a lot of interactive activities which requires some good boundaries. I just struggle with implementation.
I'm also planning on incorporating MissCalcul8's "Two Nice Things" where students must say two nice things about someone whenever they say anything negative. I am also looking for something to do with foul language. School policy is to write up but I would rather do something "in house".
Please offer advice - especially on the management piece!
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Hello again (Reflections on Fall Semester)
Goodness, I guess it has been a while. Now, to start off I am coming to the conclusion of a crazy semester of three different all new preps on block schedule. The good news? The semester ends next week and I have survived! Next semester I am teaching two Math II's and one Math III Honors.
I feel like after two and a half years I am finally realizing and embracing who I am as a teacher. I have always been one to want to do things right and be perfect but I am realizing that there is not one right way to be a teacher and no book or specific advice that will be bestowed upon me that I need to conform to. All of us are on our journey of growing as educators and we all need to embrace what we can contribute and learn from each other. It is unrealistic and even undesirable to have each of our classrooms look the same.
Anyway, I am loving my job. It is crazy, frustrating and some days I want to bang my head on a wall or rip my hair out...especially if I have to try to explain triangle congruence one more time. But it is also so deeply rewarding. I've been learning to cherish the sweet moments, the moments where students are honest and vulnerable about how they feel about you and their class. Those moments when students say I'm the most organized teacher they've had even if I have personally felt totally disorganized. When they say I give a lot of work, but it is because they know I care. When they ask if I'm teaching their next math class, because they want to have me again. When they email they appreciate my videos and the things I do to help them above and beyond what I have to.
At the end of the day I am starting to see the difference I am making and that the days of frustration (and sometimes tears) are worth helping some students not hate math, others grow to like or love math and overall connecting with students to let them know I care.
One thing I've learned this semester is that being vulnerable matters. I have truly been myself this semester -embracing as I wanted to this summer - my totally nerdy, enthusiastic, math obsessed, tea-loving, organization-crazed self...and students have responded. My classroom environment is more positive and I feel like even those students who are often hard to reach have had more moments of vulnerability with me.
Last Saturday I led a review session for exams. I had about a third of one my classes attend which I thought was great for being on a weekend. We started wrapping up and my students were begging for me to actually sing for them (not just the quadratic formula to "Pop Goes the Weasel"). At the end I relented and did "On My Own" from Les Miserables. It was a great experience. Apparently I am now booked to sing for their weddings in several years ;-). They were so excited for me (and couldn't understand why I wasn't on American Idol...oh youth's naivete). As they were leaving chatting excitedly about it one of my students yelled back "We love you Mrs. Hester!!!" and that was a moment I will always treasure.
I'm in a reflective mood so this might result in a flurry of reflective posts. Enjoy =)
I feel like after two and a half years I am finally realizing and embracing who I am as a teacher. I have always been one to want to do things right and be perfect but I am realizing that there is not one right way to be a teacher and no book or specific advice that will be bestowed upon me that I need to conform to. All of us are on our journey of growing as educators and we all need to embrace what we can contribute and learn from each other. It is unrealistic and even undesirable to have each of our classrooms look the same.
Anyway, I am loving my job. It is crazy, frustrating and some days I want to bang my head on a wall or rip my hair out...especially if I have to try to explain triangle congruence one more time. But it is also so deeply rewarding. I've been learning to cherish the sweet moments, the moments where students are honest and vulnerable about how they feel about you and their class. Those moments when students say I'm the most organized teacher they've had even if I have personally felt totally disorganized. When they say I give a lot of work, but it is because they know I care. When they ask if I'm teaching their next math class, because they want to have me again. When they email they appreciate my videos and the things I do to help them above and beyond what I have to.
At the end of the day I am starting to see the difference I am making and that the days of frustration (and sometimes tears) are worth helping some students not hate math, others grow to like or love math and overall connecting with students to let them know I care.
One thing I've learned this semester is that being vulnerable matters. I have truly been myself this semester -embracing as I wanted to this summer - my totally nerdy, enthusiastic, math obsessed, tea-loving, organization-crazed self...and students have responded. My classroom environment is more positive and I feel like even those students who are often hard to reach have had more moments of vulnerability with me.
Last Saturday I led a review session for exams. I had about a third of one my classes attend which I thought was great for being on a weekend. We started wrapping up and my students were begging for me to actually sing for them (not just the quadratic formula to "Pop Goes the Weasel"). At the end I relented and did "On My Own" from Les Miserables. It was a great experience. Apparently I am now booked to sing for their weddings in several years ;-). They were so excited for me (and couldn't understand why I wasn't on American Idol...oh youth's naivete). As they were leaving chatting excitedly about it one of my students yelled back "We love you Mrs. Hester!!!" and that was a moment I will always treasure.
I'm in a reflective mood so this might result in a flurry of reflective posts. Enjoy =)
Friday, August 1, 2014
TMC14 - General Reflection
Now that I have mostly recovered from the complete awesomeness that was TMC14 I thought I would do a couple posts about my experience.
First of all, I was honestly slightly terrified about going. I thought I would be the only relative "newbie" and would feel like a total outsider. Instead, from the time I arrived it was like being welcomed in to this fabulous, quirky family.
I came away with a few major things:
1) There are people like me! This was something I heard over and over and repeatedly reminded me of the quote:" Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself.." CS Lewis. To be surrounded by other people just as passionate about math and teach was, to say the least, incredible. After feeling like the "weird" one at various meetings and schools, it was so sweet to be with people who understood that part of me and didn't have to feel ashamed for my passions...Which leads to my second revelation...
2) I should stop apologizing for who I am. I would like to thank Edmund Harris for a stimulating discussion over lunch one day. I was talking about how I feel like I really hold back my passion for math/teaching, especially among my lower students who are probably the ones who need to see that the most. He reflected that I shouldn't be ashamed. In fact (please imagine a fabulous British accent here)..."if you were a literature professor - teacher - you wouldn't apologize about going home and reading Dickens or Austen - even if it wasn't for your curriculum". Seriously! This was such a light bulb moment for me. It is ok, no it is great, that I am passionate and love what I do - I don't need to hide that or try to pass it off as being weird.
3) I have something unique to contribute. There have been a lot of talks about inadequacy after and during the conference. I think for me I realized that there were things about my personality/teaching that people were curious about and I could share. Maybe it is my rough start with teaching my first year and feeling like my ideas weren't supported locally, but now I see that there is a great group of teachers who want to learn from each other and I can be part of that.
4) I have new friends. Now these blogs I follow aren't blogs, they are people with names and faces and great personalities. There is such a difference now reading the same blogs knowing the lovely people behind it!
And as I watch Les Mis right now...let's say "Another story must begin"
Here's to a fabulous new school year, dear friends!
First of all, I was honestly slightly terrified about going. I thought I would be the only relative "newbie" and would feel like a total outsider. Instead, from the time I arrived it was like being welcomed in to this fabulous, quirky family.
I came away with a few major things:
1) There are people like me! This was something I heard over and over and repeatedly reminded me of the quote:" Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself.." CS Lewis. To be surrounded by other people just as passionate about math and teach was, to say the least, incredible. After feeling like the "weird" one at various meetings and schools, it was so sweet to be with people who understood that part of me and didn't have to feel ashamed for my passions...Which leads to my second revelation...
2) I should stop apologizing for who I am. I would like to thank Edmund Harris for a stimulating discussion over lunch one day. I was talking about how I feel like I really hold back my passion for math/teaching, especially among my lower students who are probably the ones who need to see that the most. He reflected that I shouldn't be ashamed. In fact (please imagine a fabulous British accent here)..."if you were a literature professor - teacher - you wouldn't apologize about going home and reading Dickens or Austen - even if it wasn't for your curriculum". Seriously! This was such a light bulb moment for me. It is ok, no it is great, that I am passionate and love what I do - I don't need to hide that or try to pass it off as being weird.
3) I have something unique to contribute. There have been a lot of talks about inadequacy after and during the conference. I think for me I realized that there were things about my personality/teaching that people were curious about and I could share. Maybe it is my rough start with teaching my first year and feeling like my ideas weren't supported locally, but now I see that there is a great group of teachers who want to learn from each other and I can be part of that.
4) I have new friends. Now these blogs I follow aren't blogs, they are people with names and faces and great personalities. There is such a difference now reading the same blogs knowing the lovely people behind it!
And as I watch Les Mis right now...let's say "Another story must begin"
Here's to a fabulous new school year, dear friends!
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Management Monday (1): What Type of Manager Are You?
To start off, I know that a lot of us are relatively new teachers. I know I do well with planning and designing lessons, but struggle a lot of classroom management. This is where my assistant principal wants me to focus on growing next year. He gave me a bunch of books to read so I will be reviewing and reflecting on them here.
My first read of the summer for Management Monday was "Setting Limits in the Classroom: A Complete Guide to Effective Classroom Management " .
I randomly chose this one to start with, and I'm glad I did. The first part of the book helps you diagnose the "dance" style you do with students that isn't working. Usually you are either "permissive" or "punitive". Sometimes you are a combination. Reading the chapters I definitely fall into the permissive category. Teachers in this area often ignore smaller issues (hoping they will go away), try reasoning with students (instead of giving direct guidance), are very verbal with little action, and end up wasting a lot of class time. Punitive managers personalize attacks and over-react.
I think the biggest thing I learned from this book is that my attempts to help students think about their situations by getting into lots of dialogues, lectures, and appealing to reason actually prevents them from learning to make choices. Instead, I need to react to the first misbehavior, give a set of limited choices, and then follow through with consequences. Instead of saying "Johnny, I don't appreciate it when you waste my tape." I should say "Johnny, you can either put the tape down and use it properly, or you will not be able to use it the rest of the week" or "Ladies, you can either sit quietly and work together or you can work quietly sitting apart, which would you like?"
I also like the two-tiered "time out" (of course I wouldn't call it that in high school). Especially since I use a lot of groups, this would help. "Bob you can either work in your group or you can move to the back and work by yourself", if he doesn't behave there "you can either work by yourself here, or you can go to Ms.C's classroom to do your work". Then follow through with the action step on the next occurrence.
The other thing this book made me realize is that I give a lot of empty threats, multiple chances, etc...and that the kids know this. While I think this is me being gracious and kind, they are interpreting that my words don't mean anything -they are paying attention to what I actually DO. I am not sending clear signals to what is important to me and that they need to obey. Instead I should give them limited choices about their options, let them choose, and then follow through. These simple steps will help prevent a lot of the major issues by helping my students see I mean what I say.
Overall I really enjoyed the book and thought it served as a great eye-opener to what is actually going on in my classroom and the simple things I can do to help create a more positive atmosphere.
What tips do you have for conquering your permissive or punitive tendencies?
My first read of the summer for Management Monday was "Setting Limits in the Classroom: A Complete Guide to Effective Classroom Management " .
I randomly chose this one to start with, and I'm glad I did. The first part of the book helps you diagnose the "dance" style you do with students that isn't working. Usually you are either "permissive" or "punitive". Sometimes you are a combination. Reading the chapters I definitely fall into the permissive category. Teachers in this area often ignore smaller issues (hoping they will go away), try reasoning with students (instead of giving direct guidance), are very verbal with little action, and end up wasting a lot of class time. Punitive managers personalize attacks and over-react.
I think the biggest thing I learned from this book is that my attempts to help students think about their situations by getting into lots of dialogues, lectures, and appealing to reason actually prevents them from learning to make choices. Instead, I need to react to the first misbehavior, give a set of limited choices, and then follow through with consequences. Instead of saying "Johnny, I don't appreciate it when you waste my tape." I should say "Johnny, you can either put the tape down and use it properly, or you will not be able to use it the rest of the week" or "Ladies, you can either sit quietly and work together or you can work quietly sitting apart, which would you like?"
I also like the two-tiered "time out" (of course I wouldn't call it that in high school). Especially since I use a lot of groups, this would help. "Bob you can either work in your group or you can move to the back and work by yourself", if he doesn't behave there "you can either work by yourself here, or you can go to Ms.C's classroom to do your work". Then follow through with the action step on the next occurrence.
The other thing this book made me realize is that I give a lot of empty threats, multiple chances, etc...and that the kids know this. While I think this is me being gracious and kind, they are interpreting that my words don't mean anything -they are paying attention to what I actually DO. I am not sending clear signals to what is important to me and that they need to obey. Instead I should give them limited choices about their options, let them choose, and then follow through. These simple steps will help prevent a lot of the major issues by helping my students see I mean what I say.
Overall I really enjoyed the book and thought it served as a great eye-opener to what is actually going on in my classroom and the simple things I can do to help create a more positive atmosphere.
What tips do you have for conquering your permissive or punitive tendencies?
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
I'm Alive!
Hello,
Sorry things went crazy for a while. I will be picking up the blogging baton this summer. I had a crazy end to my school year complete with trying a flipped classroom for the past nine weeks. Most of my energy has been directed towards that!
Here's what I'm thinking for the summer:
Management Monday- My main goal next year is to grow in classroom management. My boss gave me a ton of great books on it, so this is when I will review them and reflect on how to incorporate their ideas next year.
Technology Tuesday - I've done a lot this past quarter to incorporate technology into my classroom. I'll be covering: Flipping the Classroom, Google Forms for Assessment, Excel for Feedback, Excel for Projects, Incorporating Clickers and more.
Want It (Love it) Wednesday - I'm going to highlight products I'm drooling over, or have, love and want to share!
Thrifty Thursday - More ideas to save money and use things in a creative way.
Fun Friday - Collections of fun or creative ideas.
Sharing Saturday - I hope to post pictures of my INB units and share any of my own resources.
Sorry things went crazy for a while. I will be picking up the blogging baton this summer. I had a crazy end to my school year complete with trying a flipped classroom for the past nine weeks. Most of my energy has been directed towards that!
Here's what I'm thinking for the summer:
Management Monday- My main goal next year is to grow in classroom management. My boss gave me a ton of great books on it, so this is when I will review them and reflect on how to incorporate their ideas next year.
Technology Tuesday - I've done a lot this past quarter to incorporate technology into my classroom. I'll be covering: Flipping the Classroom, Google Forms for Assessment, Excel for Feedback, Excel for Projects, Incorporating Clickers and more.
Want It (Love it) Wednesday - I'm going to highlight products I'm drooling over, or have, love and want to share!
Thrifty Thursday - More ideas to save money and use things in a creative way.
Fun Friday - Collections of fun or creative ideas.
Sharing Saturday - I hope to post pictures of my INB units and share any of my own resources.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Grading
I know as a new teacher I like to see how other teachers grade and break down their grades, so I thought I would share what is currently working for me.
Grading Policy:
40% Tests
20% Quizzes
20% Classwork/Notebook
20% Homework\
Tests
I grade tests using Standards Based Grading, read about it here. I'm loving it for many reasons, but one I haven't mentioned yet is that I'm much less likely to put off grading. I don't know about you, but I spend a ridiculous amount of time deliberating over how many points to count off for this and SBG has really helped that.
Policies: Students can study and prove they have practiced using my resource website and then I will give them new problems. I am still working on the mechanics of this and would love suggestions on what you do!
Quizzes
Every regular schedule day with no tests we do a daily quiz. I get all my quizzes from Math-Aids. This makes it fast for me and I can also link to the quizzes for my students to practice at home since the problems are randomly generated and they provide answer keys. This is when I can focus on remedial skills like operations with fractions, changing percents to decimals, and operations with decimals that are assumed to be known by our kids but are often forgotten. They are usually 10 questions, 10 points each out of a 100. Sometimes I'll do half credit, but usually it is all or nothing.
These, like test, can be studied and retested. I also will requiz as a class certain quizzes that everyone did poorly.
Once I am in the second half of the course, these quizzes will shift to being review from the previous quarter.
Classwork/Notebook
I have a place on the back of their TOC to record classwork. It is my first time trying this and I am still ironing out the kinks. The last two units I have ended up going around and stamping the classwork the day before a test. I would really like to be more consistent in doing it every day.
Notebooks I am grading at unit tests using a quick rubric of 1 to 4 on 5 items:
- TOC is updated
- Page numbers present
- Pages are titled
- Homework has been corrected
- Everything is attached
I only spend a couple minutes on each notebook. I am already seeing a big change with only the second notebook check with students keeping up with it. My goal is for this to become and awesome resource for them, and I know for some of them it just isn't going to happen unless there is a grade attached. My principal says we "incent what we value". So I am incentivizing keeping the notebook in order.
So far I only have a couple students who aren't keeping up with it well. And now the others are pretty much on autopilot and that can just be a nice grade to help their classwork average.
Homework
I've decided to not accept any late homework this semester and it is making things so much easier. I wrote a post about my homework process here.
I'm also trying to incorporate one project per unit this year. Projects will be worth two homework grades. Mostly they are going to be on matching multiple representations of the functions we are studying, since that is a huge emphasis in CCSS.
Do you have any grading policies or tips that have really paid off? Share in the comments!
Grading Policy:
40% Tests
20% Quizzes
20% Classwork/Notebook
20% Homework\
Tests
I grade tests using Standards Based Grading, read about it here. I'm loving it for many reasons, but one I haven't mentioned yet is that I'm much less likely to put off grading. I don't know about you, but I spend a ridiculous amount of time deliberating over how many points to count off for this and SBG has really helped that.
Policies: Students can study and prove they have practiced using my resource website and then I will give them new problems. I am still working on the mechanics of this and would love suggestions on what you do!
Quizzes
Every regular schedule day with no tests we do a daily quiz. I get all my quizzes from Math-Aids. This makes it fast for me and I can also link to the quizzes for my students to practice at home since the problems are randomly generated and they provide answer keys. This is when I can focus on remedial skills like operations with fractions, changing percents to decimals, and operations with decimals that are assumed to be known by our kids but are often forgotten. They are usually 10 questions, 10 points each out of a 100. Sometimes I'll do half credit, but usually it is all or nothing.
These, like test, can be studied and retested. I also will requiz as a class certain quizzes that everyone did poorly.
Once I am in the second half of the course, these quizzes will shift to being review from the previous quarter.
Classwork/Notebook
I have a place on the back of their TOC to record classwork. It is my first time trying this and I am still ironing out the kinks. The last two units I have ended up going around and stamping the classwork the day before a test. I would really like to be more consistent in doing it every day.
Notebooks I am grading at unit tests using a quick rubric of 1 to 4 on 5 items:
- TOC is updated
- Page numbers present
- Pages are titled
- Homework has been corrected
- Everything is attached
I only spend a couple minutes on each notebook. I am already seeing a big change with only the second notebook check with students keeping up with it. My goal is for this to become and awesome resource for them, and I know for some of them it just isn't going to happen unless there is a grade attached. My principal says we "incent what we value". So I am incentivizing keeping the notebook in order.
So far I only have a couple students who aren't keeping up with it well. And now the others are pretty much on autopilot and that can just be a nice grade to help their classwork average.
Homework
I've decided to not accept any late homework this semester and it is making things so much easier. I wrote a post about my homework process here.
I'm also trying to incorporate one project per unit this year. Projects will be worth two homework grades. Mostly they are going to be on matching multiple representations of the functions we are studying, since that is a huge emphasis in CCSS.
Do you have any grading policies or tips that have really paid off? Share in the comments!
Standards Based Grading - Mechanics
In this post I'd like to show you how I am currently assessing using SBG and then how I'm having the students record it.
Scores
I'm using a scale from 5 to 10 to record, since I feel like those scores translate in a gradebook to the typical letter grade I think each level deserves. I do use half points if I feel like they are squarely between two levels.
To me:
10 - Perfect performance
9 - Making minor errors either in mechanics or notation
8 - Making a significant mistake repeatedly that shows a gap in knowledge
7 - Making progress, but has many gaps
6- At least knows how to start a problem
5 - Blank or unrelated answers
What I really like about scoring this way is that my lower students can see that they are making progress in some areas, instead of just marking things wrong or doing partial credit - I can summarize what their main errors are and work with them to fix it. But, I also love what it does for my higher students. I teach 9th graders and a lot of them are used to coasting in middle school and always getting A's on tests because they were at the top of the curve and got extra credit. However, this method of grading forces them to see where they need to improve (and that these areas do exist - they aren't perfect!). And, many of them are committed to getting the higher score they are used to - so I think this challenges and helps all levels of students.
Test Structure and Grade Reporting
Usually my tests have around 5 objectives I am assessing. At the top of the test I have a place to record all of the scores for each section. I also indicate the score for the section at the top of the page with the respective problems
This is my first semester doing the whole course's tests with SBG so I am definitely still in the experimenting stage!
Scores
I'm using a scale from 5 to 10 to record, since I feel like those scores translate in a gradebook to the typical letter grade I think each level deserves. I do use half points if I feel like they are squarely between two levels.
To me:
10 - Perfect performance
9 - Making minor errors either in mechanics or notation
8 - Making a significant mistake repeatedly that shows a gap in knowledge
7 - Making progress, but has many gaps
6- At least knows how to start a problem
5 - Blank or unrelated answers
What I really like about scoring this way is that my lower students can see that they are making progress in some areas, instead of just marking things wrong or doing partial credit - I can summarize what their main errors are and work with them to fix it. But, I also love what it does for my higher students. I teach 9th graders and a lot of them are used to coasting in middle school and always getting A's on tests because they were at the top of the curve and got extra credit. However, this method of grading forces them to see where they need to improve (and that these areas do exist - they aren't perfect!). And, many of them are committed to getting the higher score they are used to - so I think this challenges and helps all levels of students.
Test Structure and Grade Reporting
Usually my tests have around 5 objectives I am assessing. At the top of the test I have a place to record all of the scores for each section. I also indicate the score for the section at the top of the page with the respective problems
Recording Scores in the INB
When I return the tests to students, I've created a recording sheet in excel. I have them color in red from a 5-7.5, yellow from 7.5-8.5 and green from 8.5-10.
Students then graph their results as a line. There is room for them to graph at least three assessments of each objective. I'm hoping this will be a tool for them to see how they are improving. I like the colors since it helps them know if they really need to kick it into gear or if they are doing ok both overall and for each objective.
Remediation
Check out my post on how I re-mediate students and provide them with targeted practice.
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