Learning Celebration Reflections: Part Deux (It's not just for AP!)

by Dan Saken

Last week I wrote a blog about how I've changed "test days" into "Learning Celebrations" and how I reflect on them with students, specifically in my AP Psychology classes.  I received a comment to my post asking if perhaps my experiences and results would be different in non-AP classes that might not be as cumulative or "academic."  Thankful for the feedback, I wrote the following reply about how I've implemented the same procedures and ideology in mainstream classes I teach as I have to my AP classes.  Similar to the AP classes, these mainstream classes have experienced positive outcomes in terms of assessment results and a change in overall classroom culture and student mindsets.

My Reply
Thanks for the questions! I also taught mainstream US History classes last year and now a Criminal Law class this year that are not AP level. I used the "Learning Celebration" concept with those classes as well with the same success in terms of developing a positive culture in the classroom and improved results on assessments from previous years. I take a day after the Learning Celebration to reflect in those classes too using team tests, individual test corrections, self-reflections, or other activities to be able to identify what they knew and what they didn't.  

The pictures below are of my most recent Learning Celebration Reflection Day in my Criminal Law classes where students worked to not just identify what questions they answer incorrectly, but why.  By doing this kind of reflection, students would better understand what they need to work on for the next Learning Celebration: Did they get the wrong answer because they misread the question? Didn't read all the answer choices? Didn't study that content? Etc.  I got this idea from a colleague (Mark Heintz, AP World History and Human Geo teacher) to get students to not just care about the score they received, but the thinking process involved in recalling information and answering those questions.
 

While those classes are not as cumulative as an AP class (though they will need to know the content for the Final Learning Celebration at the end of each semester), I still want to stress the importance of filling in the gaps of knowledge so they won't get wider over time. I always like to make connections to previously learned material as I go through the course, so if the students never learned that content in the first place and didn't get a chance to realize that through our reflection, then it hurts their ability to learn the new information later on as well.  

Finally, more than any other year I have taught before, I took a great deal of class time in the first week of school to hammer home the idea of the Growth Mindset with all of my classes, both AP and mainstream. I have a bunch of posters in my room dedicated to the idea that failure is not an end result, but rather every time you fail is simply an opportunity to learn. I refer to Thomas Edison "learning" 1000 different ways of how NOT to make a light bulb before his final success. I talk about the importance of simply trying your best, being willing to try and be wrong, and when all else fails, just keep trying. That an error does not become a mistake unless you refuse to correct it. That you never fail until you stop trying. That you shouldn't do something until you get it right, you should do something until you can't get it wrong (I use a basketball analogy for that one). That "whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." I refer to these concepts constantly throughout the year as reminders as we go.  It's not just a one-day, "rah-rah" kind of thing in our class...it's about building a positive culture and mindset throughout the school year.
 

 

It definitely is difficult to convince teenagers to care more about and focus more on the process than the end result (grade), but just getting them to think a little bit differently about the importance of the process is extraordinarily helpful. I've seen a TED Talk about how the greatest predictor of success is Grit and read articles about how failure can be our best teacher. I communicate those ideas so that when students do hit a road block in their learning or don't do well on an assessment, they are ready, willing, and able to continue on and just keep trying.

 
I hope this helps you think about how it can apply to other classes. Obviously the "Statistics" part of the reflection I do with my AP Psych is more specific because it connects with content we learn, but I still look at the averages and most missed with my mainstream classes on our reflection days. Thanks again for your questions and good luck with your classes!

Using Metacognitive Strategies to Increase Student Reading Engagement

By Jackie Figliulo 

Whether asking students to engage with class-assigned texts or books of their choosing during independent reading, I’ve always struggled to get students interested in being readers.  And why should they be interested?  Because-the-teacher-said-so works for very few students.  Then when a text challenges students, its subject matter is “boring,” or their cell phones are mere inches from their itching finger tips, because-the-teacher-said-so just simply won’t cut it.  

Enter metacognitive strategies.

Telling students to think about their thinking piques their interest as we start our class each year.  Showing them that we all approach and experience a variety of texts in our own way allows them to understand there is no one way to be a reader and a thinker. Showing students it’s ok to not know everything and to ask questions is a valuable part of being a reader.  Promoting metacognitive strategies in class also tells students that their individual experiences matter and are valuable.  
     

In my English classes, I most intentionally employ metacognitive strategies during independent reading.  Students bring a book of their choosing to class on Fridays and are instructed to read for a given amount of time (25 minutes in quarter one, 30 minutes in quarter two, etc).  Once they’ve read, they complete a metacognitive reflection, answering five out of seven questions that applied to their reading experience that day.  Each quarter we make improvements to the reflection sheets so that students can use them in ways that make most sense to them as critical thinkers.

Now, how can I assess students’ thinking and reflections in a meaningful way? The metacognitive conversation.  

Each quarter, I return the students’ reading reflections all at once.  They get to look through their reading experiences from the last ten weeks and reflect on their progress, problems, and evolving thinking.  Using their own reflections as evidence, students prepare for our summative assessment:  the metacognitive conversation.  

Students must prepare for the metacognitive conversation by answering six to seven questions about their reading for the quarter.  They must reflect on what they did throughout the quarter and then set goals or propose solutions to their reading road blocks for the following quarter.  The day before our formal conversation, we review the procedure, expectations, and evaluation [see assignment sheet], then choose two student facilitators to guide the discussion the next day.  In order to participate, students must have their reflections and admittance slip (completed questions).  During the conversation, students discuss their thinking, approaches to the text, problems they encountered, and make recommendations to each other about text choices or methods.  At the close of the conversation, students complete a self assessment of their performance during the discussion.  Their reading reflections, admittance slips, self assessments, and my notes make up their final grades.  
The metacognitive conversation is a valuable, focused evaluation of one of my overarching quarter learning targets: students will be critical thinkers of texts and their own thinking.  It allows students of all reading levels to show growth and be measured on their own personal progress.

Another benefit of using metacognitive strategies and this method of assessment is the community it builds in our classroom.  I come to know how my students think as individuals and can use that to inform and differentiate my instruction.  Additionally, students get the chance to relate to one another as academics, not just as peers sharing the same space each day.  

I continue to struggle with intentionally embedding metacognitive strategies in all parts of our curriculum.  I hope to create a classroom where individual, critical thinking becomes the class norm, not just something we do on certain days.  However, the metacognitive conversation days give me hope that my students and I are at least on our way!

Please feel free to come observe a metacognitive conversation at the end of May (exact date, TBD) periods 2, 3, 6, 7, 8! :)

Student Voice: Models of Student Work

By Mark Heintz

I have been going around school stopping students at random to hear what they feel teacher's do that impacts their learning.  It is so important to continually ask the population we serve to get their feedback on what helps them master the content and skills we are trying to teach.  The responses have been so insightful into what works for each of the unique learners that enter our classroom and can continue to drive the methods we use to instruct them.  Once I captured the student's voice, I tracked down the teacher to share and get their input on the practice that was highlighted. 

The student I asked in the video highlights the way Mr. Asmussen uses different levels of student samples to improve students writing ability. 

Here is Mr. Asmussen explaining the impact and process of using student samples in his instruction.  

Grading Practices and Student Engagement

By Kristen Gierman 

As teachers, we are constantly reflecting.  But as the semester winds down, we devote a particular attention to grades.  That’s not to say we do not notice the successes and less than of our students throughout the semester, but we are more in tune with the trends within the grading system as the semester nears its end.

This year I noticed a striking oddity when it came to my particular gradebook for World History.  The lowest category across all of my classes was reading.  Now that’s not to say that my students cannot read, dislike reading, or just avoid it altogether.  But perhaps there was a flaw in the way we were assessing it OR in the strategies students were using to be successful.

Put simply, the reading of our World History sophomores is elevated compared to that of the Human Geography freshmen.  While most would argue that this would seem or should be a natural progression in a school setting, what I mean by this is that the stakes are raised tremendously.  As a member of both the Human Geography and World History teams the past three years, I have noticed that students generally succeed or find reading in Human Geography “easy” because the curriculum is about the world that they live in and in doing so help create.  For instance, analyzing the impact the media has on stereotypes is a normal process because the students live it, feel it, and perhaps have strong opinions on the matter.  World History, on the other hand, asks students to take a trip to the past, analyze verbiage from a different time, and find interest in the unfamiliar.  Comparatively speaking, for a student the task of reading becomes more complex or daunting than ever.  


As a result, I have made it a personal goal to incorporate more document-based work in the classroom this semester.  I am doing so in the hopes that students experience growth in their reading skills and confidence.  Furthermore, it will also require that they become engaged in historical inquiry.  The usage of documents forces students to ask questions, collect evidence, and produce claims about the past.  The difficulty with document-based work is that it can be extremely complex and time consuming.  The benefit, as I have already seen, is that the students have become more engaged in the process and their learning has become more authentic as we continue to practice this skill regularly.  

Argumentation Skills Using Current Events & Gatsby

By Kim Miklusak

This year I have decided to flip the order of how we access The Great Gatsby.  In the past we have read texts that center around the idea of whether The American Dream is accessible to all people at all time and have used supporting text as analysis and comparison.  This year I have decided to start with prior knowledge of The American Dream and wait until the end of the unit to analyze whether it exists today and for all people, using this information to analyze Gatsby rather than applying it to Gatsby as we go.  To begin the unit, students brainstormed and wrote a 1-page response that I hung up on the walls for them to read now and return to later.

Then for 3 weeks (3 days each week) students will work in groups of 3-4 to analyze an article about a given "right."  Some of the rights are more "traditional" such as the right to arms, freedom of religion, freedom of speech.  Other topics are less traditional like the right to select your own gender label, the right to clean drinking water, and the right to quality literacy education.  Each group pulls a random envelope with an article--all recent, all from various political leanings and sources.  The students read and annotate and look up any other information they may need.  They then state the author's argument and analyze the limitations, applications, and implications using sentence starters and guiding questions.


Finally, students randomly drew defend/challenge as their stance.  Their task was to respond to the argument and provide convincing evidence and analysis as support in a 1-page written argument.  I was pleasantly surprised at how engaged students were in these discussions: some partners separated their groups to work in secret before sharing their work with "the other side."  Some groups worked together with "the other side" to talk about complexities as they worked.  At times students argued stances other than their own beliefs to respectfully challenge their peers verbally and in writing.  We pushed each other to look at other implications such as states' rights, identity, laws, etc. They also discussed the best ways to frame the argument and how to be most convincing in a short amount of space and time.

We will be broadcasting this lesson via Periscope on Tuesday, February 7th.  Check out our @EGCollabLab Twitter account if you're interested in tuning in.  I will write more about the assessment for the unit and reflections later!

Critical Thinking to Prepare for the SAT

By: Rachel Barry

In Illinois, we switched from the ACT to the SAT as our standardized test.  The math department's digital curricula were originally developed based on the ACT College Readiness Standards, however, we made some changes this summer to also prepare our students for the ACT.  You can read more about these changes here.  

One of the document templates of our regular math courses was an ACT10.  We have one of these documents developed for each skill that we teach our students.  The front side of the template presents students with approximately 5 ways that the ACT would question students on the current skill they were learning in class.  The back side of the template gives students a mix of 5 ACT-type questions of topics that students have already learned to reenforce their understanding.  Here is a sample of an ACT10 that was used in my regular level Algebra I class.  

These documents can still be used as warm-up problems and to help students gain an understanding of ACT-style questions, however, the SAT questions are set-up much differently.  The ACT focuses on one mathematical skill per question, while the SAT merges multiple skills into a question.  Therefore, we need to strengthen our students' critical thinking skills in order to perform better on the SAT.

Therefore, I started brainstorming and came up with a new template.  We have been doing a lot of work at Elk Grove High School to find commonalities throughout content areas, so I thought it was fitting to model this template after a science lab report.  Students are already accustomed to the process of writing a lab reports, and this format would help break down the SAT question for students.

Here is a sample of this SAT template:








This document helps in two ways: 1) forces students to slow down when solving the problem and 2) gives students who may be lost a place to start.  Students who benefit the most from the first way are those that know what to do, but make silly mistakes.  The conclusion part of checking their work helps force these students to double check their answers.  The students who benefit from the second way are those who defeat themselves before they start the problem.  These students may read the problem and immediately give up because they don't know what to do.  This step-by-step process helps students to break down the problem to show them that they may know how to do part of the problem.  Then, if they can find confidence in understanding part of the problem, they can try to critically solve the rest of it.  

Comparing Essay Types in AP English Language

By Kim Miklusak

This year my co-worker Matt Snow and I decided to try something different when it comes to how we attack the different essay types in AP English Language.  We wanted the students to see the bigger picture, how each essay type was related rather than seeing them as three different essays.  The planning and instruction didn't change for us that much, thankfully, but the payoffs, we believe, are going to be huge.

We have grouped our first few texts under a common theme of knowing one's self--specifically learning to read and write alongside identity.  For this we used three excerpts from the textbook 50 Essays, which included Sherman Alexie's "Superman and Me" and Frederick Douglass's and Malcolm X's "Learning to Read and Write" from their autobiographies.  For each text, students worked with individual writing skills alongside comprehension and active reading strategies.  For example, we worked with thesis writing, paragraph-level evidence and analysis practice, as well as ethos/pathos/logos from our textbook Everything's an Argument.  Additionally students have practiced paragraph-level and verbal argumentation practice using professional, self, and peer samples.

Now we were ready to put all of the practice together.  The students brainstormed and planned an argumentative writing prompt on the value and function of grades in schools when it comes to learning (building from a summer reading excerpt from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance).  Students used the dry erase tables to plan their thoughts and then walked around to give each other feedback.  We then worked to plan out argumentative thesis statements, brainstorm evidence, and plan out outlines--not 5-paragraph papers, but the best way to convince someone in the argument.

After writing their essays, students then set them aside, which was strange to them.  This week we began a rhetorical analysis prompt on the same topic.  In fact, most of the prompt was word-for-word the same as the argumentation prompt.  We used Rebecca Schuman's article "I Give Up, You're All Exceptional" and analyzed her writing for strategies and purpose.  Again, students brainstormed and outlined together and then wrote a draft on their own.

Next week we will put the essays side-by-side.  Students will look at the similarities and differences in argumentative and analytical writing and what specific elements change for which task.  We also are challenging the students to look at themselves as writers: what did the author do in her writing that they could try in theirs? They will then peer edit and revise both essays before submitting.

The last task will be a synthesis/DBQ prompt in 2 week using all of the texts we have dealt with this quarter--so, again, on the same topic.  I will report back after that with how it all went!

A Year In Review

By Mark Heintz

A year ago I wrote about the changes that were going to be implemented for the 2015-2016 school year for human geography.  You can read about that here. Not all of those changes were implemented and some changed along the way due to feedback from instruction and assessments.  A year later, I can tell you it has been a great year from my perspective.  One of the best takeaways of documenting my curriculum and focusing on mastery was that I know what I wanted from the beginning.

I have loved knowing what my course is.  This year, students have been challenged by readings at or above their level.  Students have become better at making a claim and providing specific pieces of evidence that support that claim to support their argument.  Students are writing more, and it is better than ever. There is still a lot of progress to make, but it is pretty amazing.

Since I documented what I wanted and clearly stated the content objectives- clear writing, reading and interpreting charts, graphs, and map skills people can engage in specific things about what my course isn't.  My learning targets that are assessed through multiple choice are low level.  One of the standard objectives for each unit is to define a few vocabulary words.  So, on the test, that is what is being assessed.  That assessment is used to see if the students understand the basics.  The content objectives allow students to explore charts, maps, graphs, and texts around each concept or objective.  There are very few content objectives, but the students made incredible progress towards them and the skills.

A final note, I only put assessments into the grade book.  We had three assessments second semester with four parts each.  There are twelve grades in my grade book.  I have not had behavioral issues because everything we do is centered around the major skills and the clear content objectives.  Students stopped asking, "Is this for points?" I have not been asked if there is anything they can turn in to raise their grade and only have a week left in the school year.  When students ask is there anything they can do to raise their grade, I respond by saying, "Show me you can read, write, or interpret charts, maps, and graphs."  I feel very confident that a student's grade reflects their ability level and knowledge of the content objectives.  That is a good way to end to the year for my as a teacher and for my students who have learned more, and became better readers, writers, and interpreters of charts, maps, and graphs.

A Way to Review

By Mark Heintz

I have tried many different ways to make reviewing effective.  In the last few weeks in AP World I try to give as many practice exams as I can to the students. One of the best ways to review is looking through old tests. The questions are challenging and going through them can really impact their ability to perform on the exam.  However, it takes a lot of time to complete the practice example, and then it takes minimally a day to go over the exam.

So, I broke the exam into five parts.  While this may seem incredibly simple to many of you who already do it, it really changed the effectiveness of the use of the practice exam.  Last week I gave one part in class each day.  I gave the students the same amount of time each day.  I gave them test taking strategies each day to focus on.  While going over the answers, the class discussed how effective each strategy worked.  The next day continued to reinforce the strategy.

It was a great way to get the students to "buy-in" to taking a short test every day.  Especially since the questions are so complicated, going over 12 questions a day is much more manageable to go into the complexities than spending the entire period.  Since the process only took 20 minutes, the rest of the day was free to work on other deficits.  Students who missed a day did not miss all of the test prep.  Students who were there every day did not get burnt out.  It was very positive and led to great discussions about the test.

Relative Deprivation: Student Examples

By Mark Heintz

Over the summer, I read David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell. One of the things that struck me was the concept of relative deprivation. Relative deprivation is when people compare themselves to others and feel they are inferior based on other's ability. I see this clearly in coaching running. Many students will not even come out to the sport because they can very visibly compare their mile time to other students. They do not see they can improve and therefore, do not come out for the sport.

 

I then read an article about using student work and examples to help students achieve.  You can read the overview of the article here.  The article contends that using only exemplary student examples can lead to very negative consequences.  I believe the student examples I have used led to negative consequences.  At first, I felt I was a good teacher because I used students examples.  I showed low, mid, and high examples.  However, I spent most of the time on the best examples.  I feel and students love to see what a 100% looks like.

  

The problem with the A, the best, and the 100%, is it is unrealistic.  One of the classes I teach is AP World.  The highest score a student can get on an essay is a nine.  I have been to the AP reading and I graded somewhere around one-thousand essays.  I graded only one nine. One nine out of a thousand.  Furthermore, a student can get a five out of nine on the essays and still be on their way to getting the highest score on the AP exam.  

It is hard to be perfect.  I think it is harder to show kids an essay at their ability that is below the best and be okay with it. Sometimes it feels we are lowering the bar.  Last year in AP, I showed more of the five out of nine essays and my scores went up.  Kids were not confused or looking at an unobtainable writing sample.  

One of the best changes the Human Geography PLT made this semester was norming the average writing.  It took time and discussions about what we thought the average student's writing should be. We started with the average and worked up.  The result is being able to show more student samples at the average level. The process helped me guide students to better writing and meet them where they are. 

Graphic Novels: Teaching Shakespeare in Prep English

By Sandra Lee

It’s definitely challenging teaching a Shakespeare text to a class with such diverse needs and demands. The graphic novel (with its fascinating illustrations) helps students visualize the scenes in the story; since there are so many characters and plot twists, the illustrations help them understand the plot and tone. However, don ’t be fooled by the vivid images; the graphic novel follows the original Shakespearean language, which makes the text that much more complex.

Despite the barriers of Shakespeare’s language and a Middle Ages setting, my co-teacher and I try to create a means for students to apply self-monitoring skills as we read the graphic novel. Nonetheless, we did feel overwhelmed with how much we had to build a schema for our students; some of them had never even heard of Shakespeare. After immense pre-reading and previewing the text, students began to come up with questions, predictions, and comments that reveal their thinking and learning. They have two colored post-its: one is to answer the questions we ask during each scene and the other is used for their own thoughts and observations.

My favorite comment is when a student stated, “Macbeth is so annoying.” Immediately, I became ready to explain once again the importance of reading the story, but then she continued by saying, “He keeps changing his mind. Like one minute he feels guilty, and the next minute he doesn’t.” This comment was a game-changer. The fact that a student was able to make a critical comment with his/her own evaluations about the character made us feel like there was value in this process.

We try to engage our students even if the language itself is unattainable to them. In the end, we are finding that students are still working on the literacy skills that are important and that they critically thinking about the text.

Here are some examples of their work:

 




For an additional blog post about teaching Shakespeare through standards-based learning, check out this post!

Introducing new vocabulary, concepts

by Kirsten Fletcher

Where would we be in this profession if we didn't have colleagues who shared great ideas? I saw this on Twitter the other day, and it made me feel a little more justified in sharing ideas that weren't mine.

So in the spirit of collaboration, here are two fun ideas that I implemented recently to "hook" students into new material.



I started with a word wall. I saw a word wall hanging in Anna Izzo's classroom a few weeks ago and really liked the visual reminder of advanced vocabulary that her Italian students could use as a reference. When I asked her about it, she said the idea actually came from Mark Heintz. Who knows where he got it? Collaboration!

At any rate, Anna had students brainstorm vocabulary on a topic, look up words they thought would be useful for discussing the topic in Italian, then write them on butcher paper that she posted in the classroom. Sounds simple, right? So last week when I started my new AP theme on science and technology, we began by brainstorming, looking up words that students found useful, and making our class list. The process of writing the list generated some good discussion (and spelling practice for our class secretary).


From here we moved on to the quote activity. I learned this from Dawn Samples, an amazing world language educator and administrator who recently led a workshop at the Fall ICTFL (Illinois Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Conference. Basically, the quote activity works like this.

• I searched for quotes in French pertaining to science and technology. 
• I printed out enough that I had at least two quotes per student. 
• I seated students in a circle, and each student started with two quotes. 
• They read both, then kept the one they liked best / agreed with and passed the other. They continued reading and passing for several minutes. 
• Next, students paired up and read their quote to their partner. They had to justify why they chose it and make a connection. 
• They did this with several partners before reporting out to the class. 

I feel like the quote activity allows students to interact with material in so many ways. The reading step not only exposes them to new vocabulary in context, but also encourages them to think critically. You could even use pictures, infographics, cartoons, etc. instead of quotes. The partner sharing gives them the opportunity to articulate their ideas and demonstrate comprehension. It enhances both listening and speaking skills.

On this day, we ended the activity by adding any new words we learned from the quotes to our word wall. Since then, we have continued to refer back to the word wall with any new reading or listening activity to keep the vocabulary relevant. We have added many useful words that I would never have thought to put on a vocab list. Since the word wall is hanging in the room, I have referred to it in lower levels as well. It's never too early to expand our vocabulary!

Teaching Purpose & Audience in AP Language

By: Kim Miklusak & Rachel Barry

This blog is written by both Kim (who was observed) and Rachel (who observed Kim) in an AP Language class.  Students have just read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and supporting nonfiction written/visual texts and are practicing rhetorical analysis focusing on audience and purpose.  The focus of this specific lesson was for students to demonstrate understanding of how to use strategies to convince an audience of a clear purpose.  Students were to write a letter to a designated audience from a designated perspective regarding whether or not The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be banned from schools.

To begin, students selected a partner.  One partner was asked to raise a finger of 1 or 2.  This randomly determined which purpose they were arguing for in their paper: 1) ban the book or 2) do not ban the book.  Then students raised another number of 1, 2, or 3 fingers.  They then found out their audience based on 1) those who want the book banned, 2) those who are against banning the book or 3) those who are indifferent.

Students worked in pairs to brainstorm what strategies would best convince their audience of their purpose (for example, emotion, logic, specific examples, metaphors, etc.).  They then wrote a letter to their assigned audience.  Finally, the students anonymously swapped letters and provided clear feedback on what strategies they saw the authors using and what worked/didn't work from their assigned perspective.  Students will then use this to reflect upon their own rhetorical analysis essays in class tomorrow as they work to revise.

Rachel's Reflection: As a math teacher, I am always amazed at how teachers bring controversial issues to light without creating arguments in class.  I am both intimidated by and excited at the thought of having discussions with students on topics of race, gender inequality, sexuality, etc. due to the various perspectives and knowledge of students.  Also, people may be ill-informed or not informed enough on some topics, which could potentially lead to building warped opinions.  Through this observation, I learned how Kim is using the controversial issue of book banning to open students' eyes to multiple sides of an argument.  This activity taught students the importance of gaining pertinent information to support their claim.  Since students were not able to choose their side, some may have even written from a perspective different from their own, which I think is a significantly valuable lesson.  Because of this activity, her class will eventually be able to discuss social issues that are more pertinent to today and her students in an objective manner.  This was truly eye-opening.  I would've loved to have been in this class in high school! 

Using Error Analysis to Think Critically

By: Rachel Barry

I believe that the most important skill to be taught in any mathematics curricula is critical thinking.  A student should leave my class knowing how to work through difficult problems, using a variety of strategies to develop solutions to these given problems.  If a student has left my class, without learning various methods to process through challenging situations, then I feel that I have failed them.  Critical thinking is crucial for students going out into the real world.

There are many approaches to develop critical thinking skills.  This comes more naturally to some students than others, and for some students the context is important to dig into those critical thinking skills.  In most cases, seeing a problem from a different perspective helps students realize a bigger picture that there may be more than one way to solve a problem.   This is a hard concept for some students to grasp because in math there is one correct answer, however, there may be more than one way to get to that answer.

In this blog post, I am going to share with you a couple ways that I use error analysis to build critical thinking skills.

Example 1: Where is the Error?

About once a week, I use error analysis in warm-ups for students to decipher what another student did incorrectly.  They have to look through a student's work, circle or explain the error that the student made, and then correct the work from where the error was made.  This process helps students in two ways.  First, I am able to address common mistakes that students make before they make the errors themselves.  Secondly, this builds students confidence because they are made aware that other students make mistakes as well. 

For the attached warm-up, I shared this with students as a note (instead of the .pdf that you see) in Notability.  This allows students to manipulate the work, instead of write over it.  You can learn more about this Notability feature in this earlier blog post. 

Example 2: Who is correct?

In this example, the work of two students is displayed.  One is correct and the other is wrong.  My students need to figure out who solved the problem correctly and what the other student did wrong.  Again, this process allows students to see common mistakes that students make and forces them to explain why something is wrong, which builds critical thinking skills.

Examples 3 & 4: Why is this wrong?

Another great method to get students to think outside of the norm is to ask students why an answer is incorrect.  In a standardized test warm-up activity, I ask why an answer choice is incorrect.  Students then have to work backwards from the answer to figure out what error the student made.  Then, they provide the correct answer.  The extra step on the front end ideally prevents students from making that same mistake when they are taking a standardized test. 

Analyzing distracters in standardized test questions also can address the common student errors of misreading the question or circling the wrong answer choice.  For example, let's take a look at the problem below.

Many times students solve for “x” correctly in a problem.  The question, however, does not ask for the value of x, but instead it asks them to find the value of "2x".  Distracter analysis can be used to address students reading the problem incorrectly.

If you have any additional ways to use error analysis to build students' critical thinking skills, please share in the comments section!

Shifting the Focus of Class: which skills do we teach to which students?

By Kim Miklusak

Last year I read this blog post by Kylene Beers.  I definitely recommend taking a moment to read and reflect upon it.  In it she highlights the difference between "who is taught what?"--that is, what reading skills do we teach to "struggling" vs. "highly skilled" readers.  Not surprisingly, most teachers report that they focus on paraphrasing and comprehension with "struggling readers," yet author's purpose and logical inferences with "highly skilled readers."  While she specifically focuses on the term "readers," I believe the skill difference she highlights crosses subject areas.  See the two charts here.

I've been reflecting upon this difference in my own English class this year as we continue to revise our curriculum at the regular and AP levels and as we have interdisciplinary conversations in our school.  Our "struggling readers" are those who would thrive on these higher level conversations.  Too often (and I am grossly overgeneralizing here--obviously not everyone is like this) we bemoan the completion rate of tasks and passing rate at the regular level.  Students are bored--of course they are!  We have heard on Twitter and elsewhere, "Would you want to be a student in your own class?"  Would we be motivated to read if we focused only on vocabulary and paraphrasing?  Even we as teachers have "more fun" in our engaging classes.

How then do we have struggling readers complete the comprehension portion of activities, so they are able to move on to the higher level skills and the engaging activities?  One way I am trying to work on that this year is by moving toward a system that I discussed at length with Mark Heintz in our history department and have seen Linda Ashida do in her Spanish classes: make the comprehension a requirement instead of a grade.

Students cannot participate in the higher level portion until they complete the foundational activities.  First we must ask ourselves: are the tasks I am having students do required to help them understand the text?  Do they practice skills that we could practice in other ways?  Or are they filler?  Instead have the bulk of class time be the engaging portion, and more students will want to do the activities to move along. 

Easier said then done, perhaps. Foremost, it is easier in a less linear course like English, History, or foreign language.  Next this requires giving up some control in your class: large group work and discussions are easy for the teacher, and they are easy for the student.  But do we know where each student is in terms of skills and content?  Shifting more easily between required work, large group work, and individual work allows teachers more flexibility in shifting the learning into the students' hands.  In a large group there are students who are not participating; those same students may not be following along in small and individual work, but in this case we know who they are, where they are, and we can remediate to help move them along.  And, ideally, the motivation is beyond the grade to move more students forward.

I will post more again another time on the actual practice of this once we are moving through our next full unit, and I will provide screen shots and student samples to let you know how it's going!  Right now it's slightly more theory than practice!

Curriculum Changes-Mastery of Learning

By Mark Heintz


The Elk Grove freshmen human geography team added a document based question curriculum to achieve higher level thinking skills.  Over the last month of school, the team has been testing new ideas through student-centered document based instruction in hopes to get a great understanding of how to move forward next year.  The concepts and skills are driving a focus for next year in human geography centered around four main categories.

Content	Writing	Interpreting Texts	Interpreting Charts, Maps, Graphs
·        See each unit plan.	·        Write main ideas to examine and convey complex ideas. ·        Through writing, provide examples to support main ideas. ·        Through writing, analyze details.	·   State the main idea from texts. ·   Draw evidence from texts to support main ideas.	·   State the main idea of charts, maps, and graphs. ·   Provide evidence from charts, maps or graphs to support the main idea.
One summative multiple choice test per unit.	One summative writing per unit.  Each unit the skills will build upon each other.  The grade will reflect the students overall writing ability at the end of the semester.	One summative interpreting portion per unit as measured by providing the main idea and supporting details for the number of documents listed.  The overall category grade will be reflective of the student’s ability at the end of the semester.	One summative interpreting portion per unit as measured by a multiple-choice test.  The test will cover charts, maps and graphs.  The overall category grade will be reflective of the student’s ability at the end of the semester.
30% of the overall grade	30% of the overall grade	20% of the overall grade	20% of the overall grade

The team came to agreements that the semester grade would reflect student's current ability levels.  From the "testing" period, came a greater understanding of what students were capable of and what we as teachers could do to improve the student's mastery.  Over the semester, the skills would advance, requiring higher level thought processes.  Additionally as the year progresses, increasingly complex passages will be used as their abilities hopefully improve.

The work that we are doing is has been so rejuvenating for me as a teacher as we move towards a place where students are rewarded for mastering content and skills over time.  The students' learning is centered around interpreting texts, charts, maps, and graphs to learn content.  And then writing to express their understanding of content.  It is very powerful and the impact in the classroom leaves students tired from thinking so much.  

Another change is the instruction.  Since the team's focus is centered around a blend of skills and content, the instruction must mirror that.  That subject is for another post.