Critical Thinking on the First Day of School

By: Rachel Barry

Following up on yesterday's post on the ways teachers build relationships with and among students on the first day of school, I wanted to share a more in-depth look at my first day of classes.  

This past spring and summer, numerous math teachers around the district embarked on an opportunity to take a massive open online course (MOOC) from Stanford University called How to Learn Math for Teachers.  This course focused on how to change student mindsets towards mathematics, pedagogical strategies to promote active learning, and build critical thinking skills.  (Small plug...there were about 80 teachers across the district - math, science, special education - who took this course, and it was AWESOME!).  Prior to taking the class, I felt that I had a strong understanding of how to change the focus in class from grades to learning, however, this class gave me numerous more strategies to emphasize this more through how I communicate and how I create effective classroom activities.  Here are some activities that I did on the first day of classes to both build relationships as well as challenge students to think critically.

Would You Rather...?
In groups, I had students develop a "Would You Rather...? statement, one per group, and wrote it on their tables (see whiteboard tables here).  Then, the students rotated around the groups and voted at each table.  

In my AP Statistics class, I took this a step further and had students discuss the expected outcome prior to voting.  This is a key concept of statistics, so I loved being able to bring it up on the first day.  In this class, we continued the first day by performing a simulation where they worked in groups, getting to know one another, and getting introduced to statistics.

In my regular Algebra classes, I had the students calculate the percentages of tallies for each.  It was interesting to see the various methods that students used (proportions, decimals, etc) and whether or not the set up two equations or if they calculated one and then subtracted that from 100 to get the other.  We then had a class discussion on how many math problems can be solved using different steps or methods.  

This lead perfectly into my next activity...

Number Sense Activity
For this activity, I put this problem on the board and showed students how to solve this using traditional methods.  Then I challenged them in their groups to come up with FOUR other ways to solve this problem.  

Some students hit the ground running, while others sat back.  It was interesting when most groups got two right away (15 + 15 + 15 + 15 and 4 + ... + 4), and then they hit a road block.  Some students immediately started drawing (a grid of 15 x 4, four circles with 15 dots in each), and others sat back and observed.  Many students also separated or broke down the numbers (10 x 4 = 40, 5 x 4 = 20, 40 + 20 = 60 or 15 x 2 = 30, 15 x 2 = 30, 30 + 30 = 60).  The last method, though only two of my three classes saw it, was time.  

As groups were finishing up, I was having students share at the front of the board.  I have always struggled getting students (probably me coming up with excuses as to why it may not work) to do this regularly in class, so I decided to just start it on the first day, as a class norm.

I repeated this method with 25 x 7, and the students were much quicker, using other groups' methods.  Many students then saw the connection to money.

Rectangle Activity

For the next activity, I drew this figure on the board and asked students "How many rectangles are in this figure?"

Now that students were acquainted with one another, the brainstorming started much quicker.  In each class, after about a minute or two had passed, a student asked "Is a square a rectangle?"  YES!  Exactly what I'd hoped!  We then had a (short) discussion about the importance of asking questions and challenging me throughout the course by asking "Why?"  Then students continued working.  It was very cool to see students using colors, breaking down the figure, etc.  (If you want to know, there are 18!)

Fractions Activity

The last activity was for me to formatively assess students' prior knowledge of fractions.  Our first unit focuses on simplifying exponents and radicals, and if students do not fully understand the basics of fractions, they will struggle when we throw in variables, exponents, and square roots.  

I wrote random fractions on a bunch of notecards.  Each student was given a notecard and a partner.  Each pair was given a die.  Students were to roll the die, and if the die landed on an odd number, they added the fractions, while if it landed on an even number, they subtracted the two fractions.  Once they solved for the correct answer, one person traded their notecard with one of another group.  They repeated the process.  Next, they used the same notecards and rolled the die with an odd number meaning that they would multiply the fractions, and an even number would mean dividing the fractions.  They switched cards, and repeated.  

Survey

Finally, students opened their iPads, logged into Schoology and pulled up a Google Form survey.  In this survey, I ask them both routine questions (when is your lunch/study hall, who is your counselor, when is your birthday, etc.) and getting to you know questions (what are your future career goals, is there anything that I should know that would help me better teach you?)

#214EdPrep: Spark Sessions on Grouping Strategies & Using Manipulatives

This is the sixth in a series of blog posts discussing the collaboration of the Collab Lab and our EG Ed Prep students.  Please follow along on our journey using the hashtag #214EdPrep or clicking on the label #214EdPrep in the word cloud!

In continuation of our Spark Sessions (read more here and here) with our District 214 Ed Prep students, Kim Miklusak and Mark Heintz presented different methods of grouping students and how to use manipulatives to activate prior knowledge.

Spark Session #5: Learning Various Grouping Strategies from Mrs. Miklusak

Kim passed out a worksheet of the various grouping strategies with each group, who, as it turns out, were all set up in self-selected groups.  

She walked the students through each type of grouping style, describing the definition of each and making connections to times in other classes that the students would have participated in such groups.  They briefly discussed the positives and negatives to each type of group so that the students would be able to apply different strategies depending on what lessons they are using with their own students in the coming weeks.

Spark Session #6:  Using Manipulatives to Build Background Knowledge with Mr. Heintz

Mark passed out envelopes to each group.  He had both big and little rectangles cut out in each envelope.  First, he had students look at the big rectangles.  There are words and definitions on various edges of the rectangles, and students are to match them up to eventually form a large rectangle.  Students worked through to match the words with the proper definition.  Then, he discussed other uses of this activity, as well as discussing methods to make this more differentiated (i.e.: providing different students with different "cubes", adding distractors to the outside rectangles, adding a time constraint, etc.)

Next, he had students move to a new group, creating groups of 3-4 consisting of no students from their original table.  They now were going to play an activity called "Word Grab" using the small rectangle pieces from the envelopes.  For this game, he says a definition, and the students have to grab the correct word.  Each word was a reason to use the activity.  For instance a few of the words were background knowledge, prior learning, and movement. 

Mark and Kim ended the session by looping back to Kim's lesson to show the class how they used different student grouping strategies to complete Mark's lesson!

Social Media
Following the Spark Sessions, Linda Ashida reminded students about the benefits of using social media for professional learning as well as reflection.  She also showcased Hannah Irizarri's blog post, in which she shares how she used a strategy from last week's Spark Sessions in her own field placement.


More blog posts to come.  Follow #214EdPrep and @EGCollabLab for more!

Making Pre-Test Review Interactive and Cooperative

Written by Quinn Loch

A couple weeks ago I was inspired by a review activity that AP environmental science (APES) students did at Prospect High School. In the activity, students were split into groups and assigned a topic in which they had to visually represent the most important concepts, diagrams, and terms within their topic. Students used neon-colored wet-erase markers on the black science lab tables and had great results. A lab table one day, and a make-shift "whiteboard" table the next. Time to get some markers!

Neon wet-erase markers on science lab tables.

I decided to try my own spin on it and have groups of students rotate around the room answering one of six questions for one of six topics. After six rounds, each group will have answered one question per topic. I used big pieces of butcher paper for this unit - going to give wet-erase markers a try the next time.

This jigsaw strategy is nothing new, however technology can lend a hand in making the end products accessible for students outside of class. After each poster's topic was finished, one student from the group took a picture and uploaded it to a Schoology Media Album. This media album provided another resource for my students before their first big test.

Our Unit 1 Review Media Album

I asked my APES students at the end of the jigsaw activity if they liked it and I got an overwhelming "Yes." I told them that I had seen this done another way, where each group was in charge of single topic and on student responded, "Oh yeah, that'd be cool too"!

My goal is to pool these resources both on paper and on schoology throughout the year, so that when the AP review starts in April, we'll have lots of resources to draw from.

Effective Grouping Strategies

By Rachel Barry

As part of my yearlong goal of building relationships, I am constantly having students switch seats to get to know one another and not just work with their friends. This should help students get to know one another, foster collaboration, feel comfortable asking questions to peers and myself, learn to use their resources, and ultimately stay engaged. My classroom is now made up of whiteboard tables, which was part of a four classroom remodel of innovative furniture to engage students in their learning.  My room is setup in the following formation:

With this new furniture, I am exploring new ways to group students.

Randomized Seating

To start each skill, students are randomized in groups using the Team Shake app.  I randomize students because most of our skills are new to all students, so everyone is starting from the same base of knowledge. Some students may have some additional prior knowledge, which will only enhance the discussions and support in those groups.

Students will typically stay in these groups for 2 days, to build on their connections from the start of the topic. Sometimes during these two days, students need to be redirected or maybe I find that a group or two do not work well together. This moves me into the next grouping...

Pairs

To switch things up, I use Team Shake again to create pairs. The first person listed stays where he/she is currently seated, and the second person listed goes to find their partner. Now there are new groups of 3-4 students.

"Achievement"

This is a loose term here, because some students work harder on the front end of a skill, while others procrastinate and finish right before the assessment. This seating chart is not as a "dig" at any student but as a clear statement of "this is where you are currently achieving".  To have a better understanding of the curriculum of our math department, here is a previous post explaining our leveling system of individualized learning.  Below on the left is what I show over AppleTV to the students, and on the left is the description of how I group these students.



This method helps me to best address each students individual needs. I can focus students who are struggling with the same problems, instead of repeating myself in each of the different groups with individual students. I can also give notes to the students ready to move onto the next part without confusing the rest of the class. The key is that this maximizes and targets my time in class.


No Grouping - Constant Movement

The last method is utilized as a class activity.  Often, I have problems posted on the walls around the room (though now written on the whiteboard tables).  Students move around solving these problems, one at a time, and then move on to the next. Depending upon the class dynamic, I may set up partners or I may allow them to choose their partners.

I'm still exploring new methods of grouping. Please let me know any successful methods that you have found to work - I'd love to steal them!

Peer Editing: When You Don't Know What You Don't Know

By Kim Miklusak

A few weeks ago, as my students were heavily working on sample analysis, writing, and peer analysis in preparation for our AP English exam, I was listening to an episode of This American Life.  The topic was “In Defense of Ignorance."  One of the acts focused on what is called the Dunning-Kruger Effect, a cognitive bias that says that someone with low skills frequently mistakenly over-evaluates themselves in certain areas (which is basically all of us at some time).  Conversely, people with high skills frequently under-evaluate themselves because they assume they can't be that much stronger than everyone else.

This made me think about how my students were doing in their peer- and self-evaluations.  Peer editing circles, for example, are sometimes only as effective as the peers’ ability to provide reliable, valuable, specific, skills-based feedback.  Each year my students focus on using rubric skills to give this feedback to their peers.  As the year comes to a close and we look at more AP holistic scoring guide anchor papers, I ask them to put a 1-9 score on the top of the peer’s page, so each student will have 3 scores.  I then ask them to score their own paper: either by circling the score they agree with or by disagreeing with their peers and writing their own scores.  I also ask them to resolve among their group any essay for which a score differs by more than 2 points, asking them to return to the anchor papers as their guide.

But that got me thinking: there will always be those of us who don’t know what we don’t know.  In this setting, in addition to what we already do, how can we refine our instruction or provide different experiences to help all students more accurately self-assess and then take clear steps to improve, reflecting upon how and why they did so, so they can write a better paper next time.  I know, million dollar teacher question, right?

As it turns out, when you’re in the CollabLab, these are things your peers either jump in to help discuss with you, or, in this case, were already working through as well!  In the next couple of days we share Quinn’s pen-and-paper take on it in Biology and Mark Heintz’s digital ideas via Schoology

Please share any ideas you have in how to have students be better at self-assessing their skill ability level!

Writing Workshops with AP samples

By Kim Miklusak

As we approach AP testing, I wanted to do one last series of activities with my students to bring together all of the individual skills we have been practicing.  Because we have three different essay types--argumentative, analytical, and synthesis--I planned out 3-day sequences once a week that dig into the details of each type of prompt.

My goals were many, but the main ones included
1.  To have students analyze and plan additional examples of AP prompts for each type
2.  To have students read, analyze, and score AP-provided and peer samples of essays types
3.  To have groups analyze documents and planning in a small, like-group settling in order to facilitate additional ways to think about planning and answer more questions

On the first day of the sequence, students read, annotated, and planned an AP sample on their own.  They then discussed their thinking with a small group and planned out their thesis, main ideas, and evidence.  They reviewed the three AP samples in small groups and scored them using the 1-9 holistic scoring guide.  We finally came together as a large group to discuss why each was scored the way it was and to work through any confusion if their scores were more than one point off.

On the second day they started class by writing on a giant sticky note on the front of the board: "What do I need to do to be successful on this essay type?"  We discussed the key points to focus on meta cognition and goal setting and to clear up any last minute misunderstandings.  For example, one thing I've really been working on with them this year is to do the best essay they can do in 40 minutes.  Too often I think they focus on wanting to do the best essay they can possibly do and either don't finish in time or over-think, causing a sort of brain-lock.

Using holistic scoring guide to peer- and self-assess

On the third day students returned to their groups.  They reviewed and analyzed the AP samples to set anchor papers followed by three of their peers' essays, providing a 1-9 score and rationale.  Again, if any paper was scored more than 1 point off from the others, they were asked to discuss and come to an agreed upon score.  Finally, the students re-read their own paper, making notes, and determining if they believed they got a 6 or above, in which case I should review it, or if they wanted an additional--third unseen prompt--that they can return to me by next week.  Although this doesn't have the benefit of a timed setting (I certainly encouraged them to do so), it does provide them with a third and final samples in addition to a set of anchor papers to continue to receive feedback on their work.

Active Learning through a Scavenger Hunt

By: Rachel Barry

I don't know about you, but I have a few students who get frustrated in their seats.  I can't blame them.  I love that I get to spend each class period walking around while facilitating instruction in my classroom.  This is why every once and a while I create activities that have students move around.  One activity that I have found to be successful is a scavenger hunt.

Here is a Scavenger Hunt that I made for my freshmen to review angle properties and relationships.  I print these pages on cardstock paper and randomly tape them up around the room.  The bottom half of each page is the math problem that the students solve.  Once they have an answer, they look around the room at the top half of each cardstock paper to match their answer with one that is up on the walls.  If they find their answer, they solved the problem correctly, and their next problem is the bottom half of the page with their previous answer.  If their answer is not on another cardstock paper, they check over their work to see where they went wrong.

Typically I assign partners based on student understanding and ability of the topic.  I have found that working in partners gives each student a voice, and also allows me to help struggling students in smaller settings.  To pair up students, I use formative assessment scores to rank the kids highest to lowest.  Then I cut the list in half and match the top student with the student at the top of the second half of the class.  I keep working down the list to create partners, adjusting if I don't feel the personalities of the students will work well together.  I find that this process pairs students that are within a reasonable Zone of Proximal Development from one another.  

Students record their work and answers on this worksheet.  I used to do this prior to students having iPads, and it worked fine.  However, with the integration of technology, students are able to take pictures of the problems graphics and write on the diagram to solve the problem.  I actually observed a pair of students doing this, and now encourage all of my students to do the same.  

So much of our math curriculum is structured.  Bringing in an activity like a Scavenger Hunt fosters learning in an active and engaging way.  I get to see students teaching one another how to solve a problem, thorough discussions on whether or not the answer is positive or negative, and many other enticing conversations amongst my students.  I find it incredibly beneficial in classes that tend to get off task because they focus more on each individual problem in front of them instead of getting overwhelmed with a whole page or packet of practice problems.