The Writing Blues

Okay, so I haven’t written in a long time. I think about it a lot. I sit down with my computer and then this headache comes over me and the thought of sitting at my computer writing something just makes me feel…..well, ill. I’m not sure why. I love to write. I love to share my ideas. And yet, I just can’t do it. I can’t get there. I can’t get past that block in my head, no matter how imaginary it might be.

It’s made me think, though. Does this happen to my students? Do they sit down and intend to work on something for class, during class, in class and think, “I just can’t do it.” Does this go through their minds when they come into my room? Am I aware of how they are feeling as they sit and face the task that I have set before them? Do I need to be? Should this matter?

Yes. The answer, I think, is yes. It should matter. But how do I help them? How do I get my students to face the task they feel like they can’t do (even they probably can, much like what I’m finding right now as I write this)?  I can talk to them. I can model perseverance. I can encourage them. But how many times do we, as educators say, “It’s okay. Take a break. Work on something else. Work on nothing. Just be.”  I wonder how many students would breathe a collective sigh of relief?

(Organized) Chaos in my classroom

Right now, my students are in the midst of a ‘Choose your own adventure’ assignment. We’re wrapping up our unit on Angles and I wanted them to have a chance to show me what they’ve learned in a way that is meaningful to them. Earlier in the unit, we walked around the school and took pictures on the iPads, posting them to a Linoit board.  At the end of the unit, we came back to them to give us some context for thinking about our curriculum expectations. 

I wrote out the expectation for them. I talked to them about context, connections and using  ‘what they are good at.’ And then I said, “Go. Show me what you’ve learned.” I confess, for a few days they sort of looked puzzled. They brainstormed some ideas, but weren’t really sure what to do. I could tell that they were waiting for direction from me about what to do next. 

I said, “I don’t think it’s my job to stand at the front, while you sit and listen and write stuff down.” #mindblown.  I talked to them about being present and accountable for their learning. I talked about them working collaboratively to investigate what they know and what they have learned. I told them, “Do whatever you want to show me what you have learned.”

And so, if you visit my class during math right now, you’ll see a group researching construction practices and buliding nets. You’ll see groups writing songs about angles. Kids will be outside filming clips for a short film.  Kids are in the hall with a ukelele and a board game design. It’s chaos. Kids are all over the place. Everyone is doing different things. I’ll probably have to write like, 6 rubrics. That’s okay. The kids are engaged. They are focused. They are discussing their learning. They are doing it in a way that makes sense to them. 

 

My Evernote Project: Anecdotal Records

I am always looking for new ways to organize my anecdotals on my kids. I’ve tried a million things. (Perhaps exaggerated…..). I’ve tried word files, sticky notes, mailing labels and clipboards, graphic organizers…..the list goes on.

I do really love my mailing labels as a way to keep track of observations (I just take a sheet of labels, put each kid’s number in the top corner and keep the clipboard on my desk. Then at the end of the day or week, I transfer them to a page in my teacher’s notebook.) The problem I find, at times, is that: a) sometimes I need more space!  b) they are difficult to keep organized by subject area, without having a separate clipboard for each subject. 

Enter: Evernote. 

One of the things I love about Evernote in my professional life is that it’s super easy to organize ideas. Now, I have a notebook for anecdotal notes. I keep my laptop open while kids are working. I wander. I make observations. I write things down. And then, I go to my computer and write up some notes, tagging entries, if I feel it’s needed. I have a running record of notes on my students, categorized by student, subject and day. I can print it off to put in a student’s file, or to share with parents. It’s easy. It’s organized. It’s accessible.  I can add notes to it with my phone in other rooms (like the music room). 

This is technology tool that I’m just learning about. Experimenting with, really.  It’s a tool that I feel helps me, as an educator, keep better records on my kids, which is the key. For a web-based tool to make it in the day-to-day grind of a classroom. It has to be easy. This is easy. And it informs my teaching practice. That makes me a better educator. 

My new Constant Companion: My Evernote Moleskin Notebook

 

There are a few things I carry with me at all times:

1. My wallet

2. My keys

3. Whatever volume of Harry Potter I’m currently reading.

4. My phone

5. My current version of my ‘favourite pen’

Recently, I have added a new item to my list:

It’s my Evernote Moleskin Notebook.  I came across this lovely little gem through some wonderful people that I follow on Twitter. I have recently started doing two things: 1. Using Evernote in my classroom and 2. Started doing some writing.  I have a new constant companion. Every time I have an idea, I bust out my notebook and write it down. I don’t worry about ideas being all over the place, because I know that I can organize them in Evernote later. It means I can get ideas down at 2am, without having to get out my  phone or turn on my laptop; I can write them down in my notebook and go back to sleep.  It’s like my Penseive: my place to store all my thoughts until I’m ready to deal with them.  I love it.

Math Journal Strategy 1: Scratch Pad

In my language class, my students write in their Writer’s Notebook each day. It is a place for them to record their ideas, makes notes, develop characters and ideas, and share their thoughts. It’s a place to work things out. 

I have this dream of my students using their math journals in the same way. To this end, we are going to embark on some daily ‘math journal’ strategies–ways to use their journal to collect their ideas and thoughts in math class, much the same way as they do in Writing. 

Math Journal Strategy 1: Scratch Pad

The first strategy I’m going to introduce is one that I’m going to call “Scratch Pad”. Students will have their notebook with them as we work on and experience different curriculum material. Their notebook can be a place for them to collect ideas, write down questions and work on figuring out steps and concepts. Ideas will be recorded in pen, and the idea is not necessarily that we’re going for neatness, but rather, a collection of ideas and thoughts. Think of all the evidence of learning that gets lost when kids write in pencil and erase things because they think it’s wrong!  It’s always hard for kids at first (and some of my colleagues are horrified!), but in the end, it shows what they have learned and their grasp of concepts.  The Scratch Pad is a place to work out mathematical questions. 

15 short minutes: how a random student conversation changed my perspective

So, I haven’t written much lately. Truth be told, I haven’t really felt like it. I’ve felt like I’ve lost my drive. I’ve wondered if I’d left some of my passion for my job on March Break. I’ve wondered if I’ve been connecting with and engaging my students through my pedagogical choices. 

And then today, while I was sitting at my desk doing some marking on our lunch break, a student walked in and begin discussing a short story we’d read in Language class. And then this student moved on to talk about the math challenges we’d be doing. And he said, “You know, I never knew WHY a triangle had 180 degrees. I just accepted it. How many times do we do that? Just accept things without thinking about them?”  

It was 15 minutes. It was a random, unexpected conversation. 

And I remembered why I love my job. 

Open ended problem: Dots and lines

So, one of the things I’m doing with my class right now is a monthly math challenge. This month we are working on the Five Room House Problem. We spent some time working on the problem as a class, and then I posted it in the room, leaving space for students to add ideas. I plan to use some of this information in the development of their Math Journal Notebooks. I think that this problem will be next months.

Math Thinking

In this video James Grime examines the “challenging” math problem given in the movie Good Will Hunting and points out that it is not actually all that challenging. Unfortunately he is pressed by the person interviewing him to give all of the solutions to the dots and lines problem given.

This problem could easily be extended to be more open-ended simply by leaving the number of dots open. Are there any patterns when you generate diagrams with 2 dots, 3 dots, 4 dots, 5 dots, and so on? What kinds of diagrams are essentially the same (homeomorphic)? What kinds of diagrams cannot be made more simple without changing the character of the diagram (irreducible)?

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Teaching + Learning = Indivisible

A few weeks ago, I was challenged by a post on Twitter about the connection between teaching and learning. To paraphrase, it was the idea that if my students didn’t learn something, could I really say that I had taught them?  My initial response was, “Yes. Just because they didn’t learn it, that doesn’t negate the fact that I taught it to them.”

But does it? Can I say that I taught it but they didn’t learn it? For awhile, I’ve held to this idea. Students need to be responsible for their learning, just as much as I do. It’s the old, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink” idea. I can teach, and if they choose not to learn, that’s their problem. 

Or is it?

I’m not so sure anymore. If I taught, but they didn’t learn, did I really teach? Or did I just tell, and hope that they would pick up something. I’m a firm believer that students need to be accountable for themselves, but I also think we, as teachers, need to be accountable too.  We can’t just teach and hope that someone will learn. Teaching and Learning are intertwined. They are indivisible. This means that our teaching practice must be reflective. We must engage in professional development. We must know our students, know where they were, where they are and where they need to go. We must be concerned with learning, and not just making sure that we get through the curriculum. I need to care less about what my mark book says, and more about what my students actually know. 

In other words, I need to be a teacher/learner. And I need to recognize that my students are also teacher/learners. We learn together. 

The one where I talk about math tests

Okay, so this is just my opinion. Feel free to disagree entirely. More importantly, feel free to comment and get a debate going. 

Let me start by saying, I think math tests are important.  There.  For the record, I think that they are important. But, and here’s where some people might disagree with me, I don’t that they are the MOST important assessment tool that we have in our bag of ‘tricks’ as math educators. 

I fully recognize that my students need to know how to write a math test. They need to know how to study and prepare. They need to answer questions under ‘pressure’. They need to know how to manage their time to complete a test in a set period of time, be that forty, sixty or seventy-five minutes. 

What bothers me about math tests is how much emphasis we put on them. What bothers me about them is that my students seem to have this mindset that it doesn’t really matter what they do during the unit, as long as they pull it all together for the test at the end of the unit. They don’t see the daily work, be it a class problem, an inquiry investigation, or a simple “Do Now” on the board as important. They don’t always ‘get’ that EVERYTHING we do in class is important. 

Why is that? Why do they think that all that matters is the unit test?  I mean, are they wrong? Did they pick that up from me? From their parents? From TV? Would they care more about the day to day stuff if I marked all of it? Egads, I sure hope not. I don’t have time for that!  I do, however, have time to talk to them, to write notes to share with them later, to work and learn alongside them. 

How do I change this culture in my classroom? 

And, even then, if I do change it, (because I think it’s important and needed….), will they be prepared for what comes next? 

5 ways to avoid ‘math phobia’

So, I’ve been doing a lot of active listening in my classroom lately. I’m trying to be aware of what my students are saying, even when they think I’m not listening. (Stalker-ish? Perhaps. But also part of my job).

I’m  hearing a lot of interesting things. Things about Justin Bieber. Things about Science Class. Things about how to more efficiently twirl your pen.

One of the things I hear a lot of is students saying, “I have a math phobia”. Admittedly, as a student, I probably would have said the same thing. My parents get a big chuckle over the fact that I have become a passionate math teacher, even to the point of blogging about it.  I want all of my students to be able to come to grips with math in their life. I don’t expect them all to love it. I don’t expect them all to be amazing at it. I do expect them all, however, to become successful ‘mathematicians’ within their own context.

I have to avoid math phobia.

5 Ways to avoid Math Phobia.

1. Be passionate, and yet, realistic as the math teacher. Talk to the kids about your experiences. Let them know how you feel. Encourage them to talk about how they feel about it.

2. Connect your math to what they know, and to who they are.  Design your problems and projects around their world, their context. Use their names in the problems. As you develop different problem solving scenarios, put it in a context that students can understand and relate to.

3. Do math that matters. Endless worksheets of random problems may reinforce the steps to complete a computation, but I don’t know any kids who get fired up about worksheets. Let them walk around and take pictures and then report back. Tie your math into other curriculum areas.

4. Let them see your mistakes. I used to be paranoid that I’d do something wrong on the board when I was teaching. And now, if it happens, we learn from it. I admit it. I use it as a teachable moment.

5. Don’t give everything a mark. Provide feedback to your students, orally, or in writing. Show them where they have been successful, and then let them learn from that assessment. A mark on a top of a page doesn’t show a student what they need to work on.  I was never more embarrassed in a classroom than when I had to pass my paper over my head to the kid behind me for them to mark. I was mortified. And then, I didn’t really know what I had done wrong. Use realistic and descriptive feedback to help your students grow as mathematicians. Use their work to develop guided math groups to then help them where they are at. 

Teaching math can’t just be about the numbers.