How to...Planning Docs

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm continuing a category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

Last year I started using Google Docs for the first time for lesson planning. My lesson plans are fairly simply but I have four preps. So basically I make a table and type brief descriptions. 

I like that on Google Docs I can share it with my principal and also create a table of contents so he can click ahead to the correct week. Link here.

This year I also decided to create a spreadsheet that I'm calling a 'daily log'. I plan to specifically list what I did in class each day. I'm curious to see how it actually lines up with my lesson 'plans'. Link here.

Now tonight I just realized that I should start uploading resources to Google Drive and linking them. Then I will have built in plans for next year! Which reminds me of another idea where someone mentioned saving their INB pages as pdfs so the formatting doesn't get messed up. I haven't noticed that happening but it has happened with some of my INB answer keys.

What documents do you use to help you plan?

How To...Work Life Balance (A Story)

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm continuing a category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

For years 1-7 of my teaching career, I had no work life balance.

I was fresh off the university stage and they handed me a textbook series. That's it.

I had spent the previous 6-8 months reading blogs from Dan Meyer, Sam Shah, and Kate Nowak. Sam's was the first edublogger I ever read and I was hooked. I read all their posts and comments and anything they linked to and eventually to Twitter.

During my first year of teaching, I got on Twitter, and asked everyone to share whatever they had for what I needed the next day. I did that every night of my first year.

In years 2-5, my school won a huge school improvement grant and with it came a math coach. In year 2 I was able to see how horrible I was in year 1 and actually have a mentor type teacher to help me fix it. Then it became almost a rush of 'how much can I actually suck out of this person while I have them'?

Year 6 was my slump. My most depressing year. My worst classroom management. My first year teaching trig. The year where I went to school every day thinking my job is pointless and what's they use in trying.

Year 7 was a little better but about halfway through, a basketball player was suspended and received 0's. When he came back, he was able to improve his grade in every class but one other and mine. This was two weeks before Christmas break. I had a parent/principal/superintendent meeting where the mom didn't understand why I couldn't fit in another unit test before exams and the end of the semester. The superintendent really made me feel bad by comparing how many points I had in the gradebook compared to another teacher and that I was not giving enough points for students to pull up their grade. I almost had a break down in the meeting and asked them what they wanted me to do. They wanted me to give another test right away. So I did. In the middle of a unit. I talked to the superintendent later and with the help of a colleague explained that I felt attacked and stuck and overwhelmed. All this to say, I ended up asking them to buy me curriculum because I couldn't keep doing what I was doing night after night. 

I promise I'm getting to the point.

After receiving my curriculum, I was determined to make my life easier. I committed to working every Saturday in year 8 but not working any nights. So every Saturday I spent time basically just reformatting and relabeling my curriculum to fit into interactive notebooks and taking apart multi skill quizzes into single skill quizzes. I would make two lessons, two practice activities, and two quizzes for all four preps. 

That led to my year 9- it was a breeze! By already having my materials created and organized and ready to copy, my brain cells were freed up to think about cool introductory activities or how to improve sucky lessons. It was the first year I was not in survival mode.

This summer I have worked more than all other previous summers combined- but I've enjoyed it. I think all my previous summers were spent recovering. But this year I spent revising and improving and that carried over into my free time- I actually had ideas and the energy to do them.

From here on out, I am working on incrementally improving- by creating systems I can organize and implement change quicker and more efficiently.

So here are my tips (I promised after all):

• Get you a curriculum, in some way, shape, or form! Teaching and curriculum writing are two different professions.
• Commit to one time a week that you can work uninterrupted for a few hours. You can achieve more when you are in a state of 'flow' than spreading it out at random times.
• I do not bring grading home. Grading does not bring me joy. Grading brings me procrastinating. If there are things on my list to do, I keep grading at school and whatever else is on the list goes home with me. I would much rather spend time at home creating or planning (if I have to). Also, I owe my body more than 32 years before I start having back and shoulder pain. 
• Prioritize- My plan period is the last period of the day. My first priority is grading all the things. Second, copies and an e-mailed list to myself of what I'm doing in each period for the next day. If it takes me all period to grade, I don't mind staying after school to make some copies. But the other way around makes me want to put it off.
• Use up every minute of your contracted time as efficiently as possible. If students are working on a study guide or taking a test, I am either grading or planning or printing things to be copied. If a class is gone on a field trip or testing or whatever, I am either grading or planning or printing things to be copied. On in-service days, I do not wander around chatting with people and such, I go straight to my room and I am either grading or planning or printing things to be copied. Do you see a common theme yet?
• Excel To Do List- I keep a spreadsheet with five different tabs- Alg I, Geo, Alg 2, Trig, and General. For the first four, I list all the units and skills in each unit. As we go through the curriculum, if something needs to be fixed or changed, I do it immediately or add it to the list. The general tab can be anything- ideas I want to try, things to change overall, resources, supplies etc. This makes a different because anytime I have free time, I already have a built in to-do list. It also helps me focus over breaks because there are tangible things to accomplish instead of an overwhelming sense of obligation and then guilt.
• Pick your day off. Mine is Sunday and I try not to think about school at all and I definitely don't do anything school related. 
• Prepare before bed. Every night I pack my lunch, fill up my water bottles, and lay out my outfit. I set out as much stuff as possible: jewelry, shoes, teacher bag, etc so I don't have to think in the mornings.
• Structure- In addition to teaching four preps, I am the cheerleading coach, Student Council sponsor, Prom sponsor, and recently EEA Union president. Structure is the only way I can do all this and still live. For each of those jobs, I created a handbook/binder. I have forms. I have lists. I have structure. It doesn't matter if you start out crappy. As soon as you create a structure, it becomes that much easier to improve it. Structure gives you a focus for finding solutions. It holds everything together and makes everything stronger. There's nothing a list can't fix!
• Focus on one big change per year. There's something out there about you can only change 10% a year of your teaching....I don't know how it goes. But take it from someone who tried redoing everything every year. Someone who every time she heard a good idea, thought that meant it must be implemented 100% in every prep right away. While I may try cute little Pinterest ideas, management tweaks, teacher hacks; I'm only going to choose one big thing that affects my teaching. This year is whiteboarding. If you change everything every year, you have no structure. You can't get good at anything that way. By changing one thing and keeping everything the same, you can see what works and what doesn't. You can slowly make changes that build.
• Say no. You have to know the things that light your fire. While one extra job could be the straw that broke the camel's back, if it's your fire then you want to do it and you know it will motivate you. If not, say no. Time is not your most valuable resource, it's energy. You have to know yourself well enough to be self-sustaining. Trust me, I am the worst about thinking "If I don't do it, who will?" But I usually say that when it's something I want to do. The world is not on your shoulders.
• Take naps and baths. I've never met a problem yet that those two didn't solve.

Disclaimer: I don't have friends, I don't go out, and my mom still cooks family dinner for us every night. I have no significant other and no children and no pets. I have a lot of free time. Take this whole post with a grain of salt. 

How To...Be On Brand 100% Of The Time

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm continuing a category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

First off, you should know by now that I love chevron. I have chevron in every room of my house, all over my classroom, my teacher bags, even my clothes. Because I love chevron so much, students will let me know when they see something chevron that I should get. Sometimes they even buy me stuff. They think of places for me to put chevron in places I don't even think of putting it. My favorite colors are ocean colors: teal, mint, aqua, seafoam. They are also part of my classroom. Students associate those two things with me and that's part of my brand.

Now as a perfect transition:

Powerpoint Templates- I make chevron borders for the top and bottom of my powerpoint templates from a chevron background on google. I save this to my 2018-2019 school year folder names as "Chevron Template". 

Anytime I make a new powerpoint, I start with this template and duplicate the slides. If I need more room, I just delete the bottom border and keep the top. My SMART board won't let me write on my powerpoints so I print them to the SMART Notebook Writer and it coverts them all to notebook files. I spent a RIDICULOUS amount of time this summer changing ALL of my powerpoints for ALL four preps and printing them all to Notebook. I doubt anyone will even notice that I changed from teal and green chevron to teal and gray chevron but...it makes me happy. And matches my classroom. Somehow I slowly phased out the lime green from my classroom without even realizing it?

Worksheet headers and footers- I call my worksheets 'handouts' instead and I don't know why but somehow it helps. My goal every year is to use less handouts than the previous year. How would you even know that, you ask? Because I label them! At the bottom of worksheets and study guides I put a footer that says Handout #. I just number them throughout the year and this is also how the students keep them organized correctly.

For handout headers, I put the skill number and the title of the skill underneath the course title.

Quizzes and tests have separate sections in their binder. I put quiz or test in the header with the matching skill number instead of the Handout footer.

  

Binders- Students have three sections in their binders: handouts, quizzes, and tests. All papers go in their binder and stay there all year. Interactive notebooks (composition notebooks) go in the left binder pocket. I pass out zip pencil bags with binder ring holes in them. I also give them a dry erase marker and mechanical pencil to store inside. All of these materials stay on a bookshelf in my room. Rarely, students will take these home to 'study' and they always ask me for permission, very seriously.

Bell Ringers- From day one, there is something on the SMART board screen for them to do. The first couple days are actual instructions, then we jump right into daily Bell Ringers. I have a giant powerpoint (that I update annually) for the entire year for every prep. I save it to my desktop and it stays open basically everyday. When class ends I just open it up for the next period and freeze the screen.

VRG- I use http://flippity.net to change seating charts every two weeks. Every other Monday, instead of the bell ringer, they will see their seating chart. My chairs are in groups of 2-3 and labeled with numbers. I use the team option. This year I am working on using whiteboarding more often and I will use this to send students to the board in partners. All of this switching helps students get comfortable working and sitting with anyone since it's only for a short period of time.

What Did You Do This Weekend?- Every Monday I ask this question. Every. Sometimes I get no answer and sometimes I can't get everyone to stop answering. If I forget for even a few minutes, they remind me. This is my #2 recommended strategy for building classroom culture (#1 is the two nice things rule). Some people individually ask every student; I've done that some but mostly just a free for all.

Supplies- I am also the keeper of all the random supplies. Students have come to me to borrow plastic silverware, tinfoil, fingernail clippers, lint rollers, tweezers, air freshener, scissors, glitter, markers. I have clorox wipes and baby wipes. plates, cups, paper, walmart bags, etc. Why do I have all this? I don't know, somehow it just happened...but if you need something random, my classroom is the place to be.

I do the same routines with every course so they are pretty well trained after ninth grade with me.

I feel like anything that you do consistently becomes your 'brand'. Other things that students 'expect' from my 'brand':

• Dry erase everything
• Using technology somehow
• Everything is organized
• Bright colored paper will be involved
• No free days, finishing something means there's something else to start
• Probably going to color code something
• I never sit down
• I'm never absent
• I'm always overdressed
• I never forget two nice things
• I make a big deal out of birthdays
• I decorate for holidays

To sum it up,

I'm extra.

I do too much.

100% of the time.

And that's my brand.

How To...Self and Peer Assessment

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

Thanks to mathbythemountain for suggesting this post; after my last post, she asked me to explain each activity.

So here goes! Let me first say....I haven't done any of these and some of them I just learned about this summer.

Self-Assessment:

• Brain dump: link here; although it's pretty self-explanatory. I'm thinking of doing this for the first five minutes of study guide day
• Circle Graph Reflection: blogged about here with an INB download
• End of unit summary INB sheet: blogged about here with an INB download
• Reflection question on quiz/test: inspired by Pam Wilson and mentioned in my "Make it Stick" post, I also read about this in Mathematical Mindsets. Seems really easy to implement and useful for both students and me, and apparently students can be very accurate at it.
• Rubric: this is pretty generic and I don't have any examples to share but it could be used for any assessment or project

Peer-Assessment:

• Nominations: link here
• Rubric: same as above
• Two Stars and a Wish: link here

I'm obviously weak in both of these areas. Do you have ideas to add to this?

How To...Teacher Assessment

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

Again, let me just say that assessment is not something I claim to be any type of expert at. I steal most of my assessments/questions, I don't feel great about the way I grade, etc etc.

But the least I can do is try new things and talk about them.

So here goes!

• Class Discussion: This doesn't happen often or well in my classes, tbh. Mostly students asking me questions and me asking them questions- not much 'discussing'. I really like the idea of using controversial words like always, sometimes, never, best, and worst to spark debate among students. That feels like something I can try.
• Desmos: So far I've only used activity builder for some investigations but it's great for formative assessment because I can see all student responses at the same time or individually.
• Feedback Quiz: link here 
• Kahoot: Students LOVE Kahoot but unfortunately iPads don't. I've only used them for formative assessment, more like practice but they definitely inspire the kids to try harder. Time limits are the only drawback for me but I like that there are so many public Kahoots that I can use and that creating my own is easy. 
• Participation Quiz: link here 
• Plickers: The students also LOVE plickers and they always point out to me that we didn't used them enough...like once or twice a year. But behold, thanks to Jonathan Schoolcraft, we will now use them EVERY Friday for Which One Doesn't Belong. Hooray!
• Quiz: Just your standard quiz. I quiz over every concept but considering combining 2-3 concepts per quiz. Although I always have less grades in the gradebook than anyone else considering I only grade quizzes and tests. Hmm...
• Self-Check Quiz: link here; I read about this years ago and it seems to fit feek with self-quizzing concepts mentioned in Make It Stick.
• Unit Test: enough said
• Whiteboard Practice: I mostly use this in my smaller classes which is not awesome but there is something magical about it; students just automatically teach each other or self-correct which is great formative assessment

How To...Self and Peer Assessment

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

Thanks to mathbythemountain for suggesting this post; after my last post, she asked me to explain each activity.

So here goes! Let me first say....I haven't done any of these and some of them I just learned about this summer.

Self-Assessment:

• Brain dump: link here; although it's pretty self-explanatory. I'm thinking of doing this for the first five minutes of study guide day
• Circle Graph Reflection: blogged about here with an INB download
• End of unit summary INB sheet: blogged about here with an INB download
• Reflection question on quiz/test: inspired by Pam Wilson and mentioned in my "Make it Stick" post, I also read about this in Mathematical Mindsets. Seems really easy to implement and useful for both students and me, and apparently students can be very accurate at it.
• Rubric: this is pretty generic and I don't have any examples to share but it could be used for any assessment or project

Peer-Assessment:

• Nominations: link here
• Rubric: same as above
• Two Stars and a Wish: link here

I'm obviously weak in both of these areas. Do you have ideas to add to this?

How To...Self and Peer Assessment

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

Thanks to mathbythemountain for suggesting this post; after my last post, she asked me to explain each activity.

So here goes! Let me first say....I haven't done any of these and some of them I just learned about this summer.

Self-Assessment:

• Brain dump: link here; although it's pretty self-explanatory. I'm thinking of doing this for the first five minutes of study guide day
• Circle Graph Reflection: blogged about here with an INB download
• End of unit summary INB sheet: blogged about here with an INB download
• Reflection question on quiz/test: inspired by Pam Wilson and mentioned in my "Make it Stick" post, I also read about this in Mathematical Mindsets. Seems really easy to implement and useful for both students and me, and apparently students can be very accurate at it.
• Rubric: this is pretty generic and I don't have any examples to share but it could be used for any assessment or project
  

Peer-Assessment:

• Nominations: link here
• Rubric: same as above
• Two Stars and a Wish: link here

I'm obviously weak in both of these areas. Do you have ideas to add to this?

How To...Implement Activities

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

Thanks to mathbythemountain for suggesting this post; after my last post, she asked me to explain each activity.

So here goes!

Activities:

• Dry Erase Practice: my students can write on their desks with dry erase markers so I guess you could just call this desk practice. If I have problems prepared, then they work it on the desk and I show the answer. If I don't, then I walk around and look at their work, Or both.
• Task Cards: these are kind of popular now but basically they are problems printed individually on cardstock. I set them on the whiteboard ledge and students or groups come get one card and work it and then return it. Each group should only have one card. Sometimes the cards have answers on them so they can self-check. Sometimes I walk around with an answer key.
• Investigation: for me, this is basically a scaffolded activity that leads them through new instruction. It usually involves a lot of questions, maybe some color coding, maybe some matching, sorting, or calculator directions.
• Desmos: So far I have only used Activity Builder, which is amazing, but over the summer they introduced marble slides and card sorts so I can't wait to use those. Desmos is also great for verifying things with graphs, showing visuals, and introducing transformations.
• Card Sort: these are my favorite of all time and I plan on blogging a 'how to' post about creating them. Basically, if there is something you know students mix up or something they never notice, make a card sort out of it. Ask them to sort the pieces into groups and explain how they sorted. Then give them hints until they find it such as: you should have four groups, each group should have the same amount, etc. SO much more meaningful than you just telling students to look for or pay attention to something- let them discover it on their own.
• Grudge Ball: link here 
• Row Game: link here 
• Four in a Row: link here
• Triples: usually a set of 15 problems, students in pairs/groups work them out and then at the end they sort into 5 groups of 3 that have the same answer. If they can't find three cards with the same answer, they work together to find their mistakes

Activities that Involve Movement:

• Chalk Talk: link here
• Centers/Stations: students rotate to stations that focus on different topics; answer key to previous station provided after rotating; usually used to review.
• Cornhole Review: link here 
• Gallery Walk: link here
• Hedbanz: link here  
• Pong Review: link here
• Scavenger Hunt: link here 
• Speed Dating: link here
• Trashketball: tape a line on the floor some distance away from the trash can and set out a ream of paper. Students work in groups, everyone works the problem, the group answer that is correct sends one person to shoot. Make up your own rules. I put tape for 2 and 3 pointers. If they don't get the problem correct then they don't get to shoot.
• Vertical Whiteboards: link here

Next up I will explain the assessments mentioned in my previous post. Thanks again Audrey!

How To...Create a Pacing Guide

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

I'm not going to claim to be an expert in any of these 'how to' posts but I've made quite a few pacing guides and I can at least explain my thinking behind it.

Here is my Algebra I rough draft. Look at it first so that I can break down each decision.



First of all, I want a clear list of topics that I plan on teaching. I want those nestled inside cozy little units. I want a specific number of units that spans the course of a year.

I want these things so I can break them down into small, manageable chunks. I will be starting my eighth year of teaching and to be honest, I usually get about halfway through my pacing guide. That's pretty terrible.

I've just decided: no more starting over!!! I want to focus on adding.

I've started with Algebra I. There are 12 units...which means 3 units per quarter which means 3 weeks per unit. I have 6 or less skills per unit which means 2 skills per week. This is the goal I'm shooting for while knowing that some units will go faster or slower than I predict, the weather will mess up my good intentions several times, and instead of getting upset, I will focus on getting farther and farther along in my pacing guide each year.

I also align my pacing guide to the final exam or end of course exam. This means that next to each skill, I put the question number from the exam that corresponds to that skill. This way at the end of the year, I have a list of each question that students *should* be able to do (since I never get through everything).

This year I added activity structures to check off, mainly because I want to see how often I use certain activities and I want to make sure I include movement more often.

I also included the mathematical practices because I've never done a good job at focusing on them.

Reflection, seld-assessment, and peer-assessment came up a lot in my reading and at TMC this year so I added those sections as well. As you can see, this is a weakness of mine since I have very few ideas to attempt.

I put a 'notes' section at the bottom because I'm trying to get better at reflecting.

For next year, I would like to add vocabulary words, good questions, and prerequisite skills. I will try to add those things along the way so that next year: no more starting over! Hopefully I will remember to update this post in the next month or so with *this year's* final draft.

Oh, and the color strip at the top of each page will be color coded for each course and to that course's INB...of course.

This will also be a great tool to include in my teacher evaluation binder!

What else would you include in a pacing guide that will help you focus? What are some of your favorite strategies for self and peer assessment?

How To...Mathematical Mindsets: How Do I Start?

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

If you're like me, the last five posts were probably overwhelming.

Part 1 {here}
Part 2 {here}
Part 3{here}
Part 4 {here}
Part 5 {here}

Mathematical Mindsets: Unleashing Students' Potential through Creative Math, Inspiring Messages and Innovative Teaching
Jo Boaler

There's a lot of things to change, fixm and improve. I tried to break this massive shift to my brain into categories of practical things to do.

Easy: things I can do from day one this school year with no prep
Medium: things I can do in the next couple of months or with some prep
Hard: things to think about this year and plan to do over next summer

Easy

• Ask students to think visually first
• Ask students for the different ways they see and solve problems
• Ask students to look for patterns, similarities, and differences
• In every math conversation, ask students to reason, to explain why they chose particular methods and why they made sense.
• Honor hard work and the struggle over effortless achievement
• Think of all the ways to be mathematical. No one is good at all of these ways of working, but everyone is good at some of them.
• Classroom mantra/poster: Always give help when needed, always ask for help when you need it.
• Do not include early assignments {review?} from math class in the end-of-class grade .
• Do not include homework, if given, as any part of grading.
• Honor student thinking- say, "incorrect but helpful"-there is always some logic there.
• When students want me to tell them how to do a problem say, "Do you want my brain to grow or do you want to grow your brain today?”
• Praise people for having good thinking and for being accomplished, learned, hard working, and persistent; not being smart or fast or for effortless achievement
• To take student thinking deeper say, "You may know a rule for solving this question, but the rule doesn't matter today, I want you to make sense of your answer, to explain why your solution makes sense."
• Teachers can encourage students to use intuition with any math problem simply by asking them what they think would work, before they are taught a method.
• Tell students, "I am not concerned about you finishing math problems quickly; what I really like to see is an interesting representation of ideas, or a creative method or solution."
• Ask students to draw connections between concepts in mathematics when working on problems. Encourage students to propose different methods to solve problems and then ask them to draw connections between methods, discussing for example, how they are similar and different
• Ask students to play the role of being the skeptic; explain that they need to demand to be fully convinced. Students really enjoy challenging each other for convincing reasons, and this helps them learn mathematical reasoning and proof. When students act as a skeptic, they get an opportunity to question other students without having to take on the role of someone who doesn't understand.
• Offer all students high-level math content and believe they can do it
• "One of the greatest gifts you can give to your students is your knowledge, ideas, and feedback on their mathematical development, when phrased positively and with growth messages".

Medium

• For definitions, give nonexamples and barely examples instead of perfect examples
• Introduce and build a growth mindset!
• Introduce the headache before the aspirin
• Replace class lectures with instructing reporters who go back and instruct their group.
• Participation quizzes! {Yay Sam!}
• Put student questions on posters,
• Always allow students to resubmit any work or test for a higher grade {I already do quiz retakes but I let students use their notes on tests. Should still allow them to redo tests as well?}
• Take students' ideas and make incorrect statements for the students to challenge
• Instead of asking students to simplify ask students to find all the ways they can represent that are equivalent.
• Tell students what they should know and let them reflect on how much of it they know. Frequently.
• Self and peer-assessment {"Questions that ask students to think about errors or confusions are particularly helpful in encouraging students' self-reflection, and they will often result in the students' understanding the mathematics for the first time."}
• Number Talks
• Ask students to compare and choose methods to problem solve

Hard

• Grade multidimensionally
• Give group tests and randomly choose one paper from the group to grade.
• Learn more about Assessment for Learning, A4L
• Do not use a 100-point scale.
• Give diagnoistic comments instead of grades. "The students receiving comments learned twice as fast as the control group, the achievement gap between male and female students disappeared, and student attitudes improved."
• Study after study shows that grading reduces the achievement of students. Share grades with school administrators but not with the students.
• Give students rich mathematical tasks that are low floor, high ceiling
• Open up the task so that there are multiple methods, pathways, and representations. 
• Include inquiry opportunities.

Do you feel better now, seeing that the easy section has the most things to do?

Did you notice that most of them include the verbs ask, tell, show, say, show, think, honor, encourage? Those are all forms of talking and I don't know about you, but I am pretty dang good at that.

Look how we can make great change with small changes in our words and demeanor. I am encouraged that there are so many positive things I can do for my students RIGHT AWAY.

Hooray.

All day.

How To...Teacher Moves

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

This is a collection of ideas and resources that I've read and wanted to use or have already used.

Get presenter’s to the front. One can only speak and the other can only point. They explain their thinking for one pair. Keep this light, safe and fun. If a student does not explain clearly enough or missing key elements, just let it go, they will most likely come out in later explanations.

Ask a student in the class to re-explain the presenter’s thinking.

"Get low" in the classroom so students don't look to you as the answer keeper.

Students write two truths and a lie about a function or math problem; see here for variations; include these type of questions on assessments.

Grade or give feedback with two or more highlighters.

When students say:

• "What do I do next?" reply with "What do you think?"
• "What do I do next?" reply with "How did you start?"
• "Is this right?" reply with "What did you do?"
• "Can you help me?" reply with "What should you do first?"
• "I got the wrong answer." reply with "Can you find a mistake in your work?"

When asking students to share their responses with the class, say "Thank you" to acknowledge their answers without confirming if it's right or wrong. Practice that poker face!

Put self-assessment questions on quizzes and tests for students to reflect on what they think they know.

Include quadratic equations when teaching solving systems by substitution. {Great idea Meg!}

Help address gaps, spiral content, self-test, study, or review by giving students index card problems as they enter the room. You can make an answer key or have students line up or sit down based on the answers they get. {Thanks Nora!}

You can jump a few DOK levels by reversing the question....give students math problems and ask them what they solve instead of asking them to do the calculation. {Learn more from Fawn}

Here are three quick games to play when you have extra time in class that involve some strategy and logic. Always be prepared; this is a great back up. {Thanks to Julie!}

Sarah Carter shares four of her favorite review games. I know I always have my default games so it's great to mix it up with some new ideas. Here's another collection from Kim that I really loved and have gotten away from.

I am a huge fan of card sorts but this post really inspired me to kick mine up a notch. These ideas work great for INBs, individual studying, and pair practice. {Love these Brigid!}

How To...Ask Better Questions

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

Learning is not a process of absorbing others' ideas, thoughts, or practices but involves uncovering one's own ideas, connecting new ideas to one's own thinking.

Questions that drive learning don't come from a list, they arise in response to student contributions.

But listing is my jam and I have to start somewhere!

Uncover Student Thinking

• What do you notice?
• What do you wonder?
• What do you see?
• What evidence do you have?
• What is common?
• What relationship do they have?
• Can you convince me that...?
• Can you clarify...?
• What is the best way to graph this?
• Which number would you change to change the graph the most?
• Does it make sense?
• If someone else sits down and looks at your work, will they be able to understand it?
• Did you go back into the context?
• Where is the proof?
• Can you show your thinking another way?
• What equation could you write that would represent your work?
• What does _____ have to do with ____?
• How are ____ and ____  alike? Different?
• What makes you say that?
• How did you get your answer to number,,,?
• What should you be doing right now?
• What should you be working on?

Student Voice/Reflection

• Is this working?
• What can we do better tomorrow?
• What did we like about the lesson?
• If there was one component to keep from this lesson, what would it be?
• If we could change something in the lesson, what would it be?
• Where could we have done better?

Student Conferences

• How do you think you’ve been doing in class?  
• What areas do you think need improvement? 
• Why do you think that? 
• How has your homework been going? 
• Can you explain why you haven’t been doing it? 
• What about class time—can you show your mom your notes? 
• I see very few notes—would you tell us what’s happening with that? 
• How is all of this affecting your grades? 
• What do you think will happen if your grades don’t improve? 
• What needs to change in order for you to do better? 
• How can your teachers help you be more successful? 
• How can mom and dad help? 
• What is our plan moving forward, starting today, to help you improve?

Teacher Reflection

• What can I do to make this lesson more powerful?
• How am I going to engage my students?
• What am I missing?
• How can I make this better?

How To...Build Relationship

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

"The kids have to be your greatest source of enjoyment as an educator." -Angela Watson 

If nothing else, I can say this is true for me. I really enjoy my students. I love getting to know them, asking them questions, hanging out with them all day, making them laugh, listening to their stories, having inside jokes, and just watching them grow into good humans. I think building relationship with students is one of my strong points.

Just don't judge me by my facial expressions, especially before 10:00 AM.

I have kind of a unique situation I guess. I went to the same school my entire life and then came back to teach here. My dad went here, my aunts, uncles, and cousins, and my grandpa even helped build the school. When I started my first year of teaching, my sisters were still in high school. Our numbers have dropped from around 250 when I graduated to about half that now. We are a small school in a small community. I am the only math teacher. So I have every student for three years in a row and some four. I pretty much know them before I meet them and have probably taught someone related to them or I went to school with someone related to them. I also have an excellent memory so I have no problem learning and remembering names.

But I still think I'm pretty good at getting students to like me.

I may not be good at building morale with my colleagues but I think I have some great routines with students {Thanks to Christie for inspiring me back with her latest post}:

• I have names memorized on day one and I go out of my way to pronounce/spell them correctly and never call them the name of a relative.
• I let my personality shine through in my powerpoint slides and worksheets and directions. I say please and thank you in my directions, I use smiley faces, sarcasm, and I anticipate their thinking..."Press Enter 3 times. Yes, you have to actually do it three times." "Read the directions below. This is all based on reading so you do have to actually read this time."
• I have a school Instagram account for all students and I post pictures of classroom activities, group photos, photos from dance and spirit week and prom, announcements, etc.
• My classroom is clean, colorful, organized, decorated, and always smells good. I know that most teachers don't go to my extreme with decorating but the students really appreciate seeing your personality and likes come out in classroom decorations. I'm looking at you, dude teachers. I have three air fresheners going at all times and I eliminate clutter as much as possible. I have whiteboards all around the room which also helps brighten the room. Students appreciate that I'm one of the few who care what my classroom looks and feels like.
• My favorite thing to do is buy students their favorite candy for their birthday. I have 85 students but it works out to only be a couple dollars a week or so. I've also used a "Happy Birthday" chair cover from Dollar Tree and written a dry erase birthday message on their desk. I'm going to try to remember to do all three this year.
• I also have a 'two nice things' rule. Anytime a students says something rude/mean about someone, they have to immediately say two nice things. This applies anytime I hear the rudeness (hallway, ball game, class) and regardless of who the person is or if they are in the room.
• I dress cute. This may seem random but when the majority of the teachers wear khakis, tennis shoes, and t-shirts every single day, the teacher who wears an actual outfit stands out to students. Dress for the job you want, not the job you have,
• I keep up with current trends, sort of. Language is one of my gifts so I pick up pretty easily on slang, abbreviations, etc. I'm not a big music person but I try to know popular stuff so that I can relate when students bring it up. Or even better, if they say a song lyric or movie quote and I can finish it. They are always impressed by that. Find students that have the same favorite TV shows so you can talk about them through the year. Have answers ready to go for your favorite everything because it will come up at some point. Also be prepared to discuss tattoos, drinking, piercings, parties, drugs, etc They want to know ALL THE THINGS.
• Go to their stuff. I'm the cheer coach so obviously I go to every basketball game but even before I coached I did that too. Also I like basketball and we were really good. But I also try to hit up volleyball games and stuff too. The more kids that ask you about an event, the more likely you should go.
• Ask them questions and then actually remember the answers. I love to talk to students about what they want to be when they grow up and come back to that throughout the year. Also, most kids are known for something...a hobby, talent, music obsession, book nerd, athlete, etc. It's really easy to find something to connect with them about. But remembering and building on that are what sets you apart. Which, if they matter to you, is pretty easy to do.
• Have a sense of humor. I've really got to pull back on my sarcasm but making people laugh is the easiest way to connect. You do you!
• Show excellence in your job. I never miss a day of school. {I have an amazing immune system, no husband, and and no kids} I plan out every period, all period long. I try to learn new technology. I try to find cool things on Pinterest. Students know that I'm actively working to be better at my job and they know I really want them to learn.
• Listen to their stories. Our gut reaction is to give adulty advice, and I do that too, but really listen and try to ask questions before giving answers.
• I always have a small amount of seniors 5-9 in class, on my Student Council, or on my cheer squad. I make little goody bags for each one. They are almost always girls so they usually consist of ponytails, bobby pins, safety pins, hand sanitizer, mints, flossers, travel toothbrushes, tissues, etc. This year I even made a little real life meaning to go along with each item. Now do not be overwhelmed by this because gift giving is my love language, Dollar Tree is my love language, and like I said, I have very small class sizes.
• Every Monday I ask students about their weekend. Sometimes I ask every person in class or sometimes a few students monopolize the whole conversation. I don't mind and I think it's a nice way to start the week. Now students often ask me about my weekend and they know my usual routine is groceries, clean, church, tv, and naps. If I actually do anything interesting, I make sure to tell them.
• I used the Remind app as often as possible: quizzes, tests, any sort of deadline, dress up days, assemblies, early dismissals, money due, things for sale, scholarship deadlines, school events, picture day, when I am out for PD, to tell them good luck on ACT day, to tell them to drive safely home from prom, to wish them happy holidays throughout the year etc.
• I started high fiving every student at the door last year but it fell to the wayside. I still always greet them at the door in some way though.
• Give students compliments but only when you mean them. This is just something personal for me but I try to give students compliments as often as I can. But not if I don't mean it. If someone gets a drastic haircut that I don't like, I make sure to notice it without complimenting. "I see you got a haircut. Do you like it?" I want them to feel noticed but I'm not going to lie. I get a lot of compliments from students and I sure wouldn't want to feel like they were lying to me either.
• Dress up for those silly spirit week days. I am the Student Council advisor so it would be pretty bad if I didn't participate. But I am 1 of 2 teachers who actually do. Two. How do we expect students to have school spirit and pride when we don't? Students love to see you look silly- it makes you human. So let them teach you that new dance move or try to rap that song. Let them know you can let your guard down and have a good time.
• And my number one tip.....don't be a teacher if you don't like teaching, if you don't like students, or if you don't think students will ever amount to anything. I don't know why this has to be said but just don't. You're making everything worse and you should just go find yourself a cubicle somewhere and sit down.

New Ideas

• I'm wanting to send out good news postcards this year! I've thought about it for a couple years, maybe I will actually do it.
• Use Remind to wish students Happy Birthday!

Basically it comes down to this...I try. I make an effort to care and show that I care.

And that's pretty cool.