Category: Links & Resources

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High quality teacher professional development (PD)

I am in a season where I am spending a lot of time in PD. (or I was, before we all started practicing social distancing, more on that below)

I’ve been (and will be) a participant in some, lead some and planned a few more, talked with colleagues, friends, family about it all. 

And, the good and the less-good of it has got me thinking about what makes good teacher PD good.

Short answer: Pretty much the same things that make for good teaching with our students: belief in them, flexibility, engagement, a holistic approach.

The long answer (or at least, my long answer)

Good PD believes in teachers:

Coming from frustration about what teachers aren’t doing, even if you’re right that the X you want is better than the Y they are doing? That shows. And it makes people not want to come to PD and/or check out once they’re there. I believe teachers want to do well by their students, and they’re doing the best they can with what they’ve got, and it’s my job as a facilitator to encourage and inspire and provide resources until the best they can is better. 

Good PD is reality based

Evidence based and research based get a lot of play. They’re important, and probably deserve their own bullet, but it hardly seems necessary since its on so many other lists. But I would argue for reality based, too. If I’m going to deliver something that is helpful, I need to have accounted for the reality that teachers and students are working in. Can this idea adapt and flex if students are frequently absent, and the supply budget has been spent, and class hours are limited (and prep hours even more so)? If not, I’m not ready to share it, because that’s the reality where teachers will be trying to implement it. 

Good PD engages teachers as learners and professionals

Partly, this is basic active-learning pedagogy. Lets not spend 3 hours with a powerpoint and a passive audience. But even if we spend 3 hours in small groups and pair-shares and poster sessions, but the point is merely to deliver the answers that someone has already figured out… I’m missing out. A room full of teachers is a powerful problem-solving resource: lets engage them.   My job is to ask good questions, to bring new resources, ideas and information, to share what I know and move the conversation forward; not to make pronouncements

Good PD supports the whole-person

I’m pretty businesslike, by default. But, I know that when I go to PD, I definitely want the information — but I might also want a break from the minutia and stress of the day to day, and a chance to stretch my brain and feel like I’m growing, and to connect with colleagues.  This is why face to face still beats a webinar or a series of online modules. As a facilitator, it’s helpful for me to remember that it’s not all about me, and it’s not even all about my content.

4 Elements of High Quality Teacher Professional Development Believes in teachers Is reality based Engages teachers Is holistic

And, yet.

As I write, events and institutions all around are declaring temporary closures for public health reasons and we’re all trying to figure out digital. ASAP. (myself included)

And, so, I’m looking at my list with a different focus. How can I translate these?

The first two, I’ve got. I still believe in teachers, I still want to share reality-based solutions. Engagement, I’m working on. A chat box is not as rich as a pair-share, but there are tools, and we can figure out how to use them.

It’s the last one that’s got me stumped. (And that makes me hope we’re all healthy and able to gather again soon.) I’ve had webinars that were informative, or interesting, or useful. But screen time, even informative, interesting screen time, is rarely refreshing or rejuvenating. (I think the folks doing extended online learning might have more tools than one-time events…?)

I’m pondering and googling (it’s what I do).

Also, seeking suggestions, if anyone has cracked the code.

Also, wishing everyone good health and a quick return to normalcy.

Also, sharing a few links to ideas I’m finding helpful in crafting human-scale digital professional development

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“When I feel stuck in math, I can ____” (Lesson Sketch)

April 2020 Update. Distance learning versions now available: Stuck Strategies: Data and Reflection and Stuck Strategies: Complete Bundle

I am starting a new class, with a new group of students soon. I’m excited. And nervous. And all the conflicting things that change makes me feel.

There are many things to figure out in any new teaching situation. But this is also when I am most-glad for old-favorite classics. My new class and I are starting with an old favorite lesson  about productive struggle in math class.

I particularly like this one to start with a new group.

It’s powerful to start by saying “Yep, we all feel stuck sometimes. “

It’s even more powerful to start the year by saying “But ‘stuck’ isn’t the end of the story”

Feeling Stuck in Math Class? Reread the question Look at a previous question Re-read the directions draw a picture or diagram check your work think about it differently check your notes check the book work with a peer ask for help ... Keep trying!

Originally published Feb. 2018, updated spring 2020

These hint cards floated across my teacher-media radar. And I was intrigued.

I see too many students hit a roadblock and stare at it helplessly, unsure of how to get around it, and that’s the end of that study session/class/learning until someone comes around to get them unstuck.

I liked the idea of a resource that they could access when they hit those roadblocks, that wasn’t just waiting for me.

I work hard to convince my students that it’s great to ask questions, so I wanted to be sure I didn’t discourage that, just to broaden the options to include resources and strategies that they have or can implement themselves.

(Because self-directed learning, but also, homework.)

((And ultimately, for my students, a high stakes test when I’m not around to help.))

Also, I didn’t want to make a different set of cards for each lesson.

(Because in the reality of my prep time, I couldn’t be sure they’d actually happen every week, and I needed something reliable if students were going to use it.)

So, the idea rattled around in my head for weeks until it was ready to come out.

What emerged: have a discussion about strategies, and combine it with a math lesson so students don’t revolt about losing math time.  (Because, #reasonstoloveadultlearners, they would be upset to miss out of math time)

So, after the introductions and the homework policies and the other start of the term business, we brainstorm responses to the stem “When I feel stuck in math, I can ____”.

Some of my students were far better than others at this, and one class ran out of ideas after ‘keep trying’ and ‘ask for help’.  This says much about the struggles of that particular group of students.

But it also says, come prepared, teacher, with some ideas of your own.

Once we had a list, we collected data about my students’ current habits. (I had my students come to the board and make tally marks, you could use a printable ballot, hands, four corners etc.)

Then we analyzed our results. One class made bar graphs, one wrote statements with ratios. Since that first time, I’ve done percents and a few other math skills.

And, now their strategies (and the bar graphs) are on the wall, right next to my white board. A reminder – I hope! – for the rest of the trimester.

A full version of my lesson is  available on Teachers Pay Teachers

The lesson plan includes the plan (with standards and procedures), extension ideas, multiple data collection variations, and student handouts for fractions, ratios, percents, and bar graphs.

Free! I’ve also shared our answers as a printable handout that could be added to a binder/notebook

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Math about {Anything} Lessons

My favorite recipes, aren’t really recipes. Or at least, they’re not fixed recipes, they’re a format you can riff on. Sometimes I make that pasta with broccoli and lemon and chickpeas; and sometimes the broccoli is kale, or spinach. And sometimes the lemon is Parmesan, or sun-dried tomatoes, or left out and the chickpeas are veggie sausage…. You know those recipes, right?

Some of my favorite math lessons are what I call “math about learning.” I love them because I love learning, and love talking about learning. But, really, they’re that pasta recipe. I use broccoli and learning, but you could swap in whatever you and/or your students love.

The basic idea is to conduct a mini-survey about SOMETHING and analyze your data.

Why I love these lessons

It shows students math as a useful tool for understanding the real world. Especially if they’re invested in the topic or questions.

I love talking about learning, so I do. But, for the multi-subject ABE teachers who are passionate about something other than math, it lets them connect that passion to the classroom.

Math about ___ Lesson Planner. Preview Only.

Here’s the recipe:

(Here’s a 2-page Google Doc to help you plan your lesson)

Introduce your topic: Share your content, have a discussion, get your students interested in the thing, whatever your thing is.

I do learning. You do you. Science, or music, or sneakers, or social issues, or sports, or dogs, or whatever your thing is.

Write some survey questions (or get your students to write them with you) and collect some data. A show of hands, a secret ballot, peer interviews, standing in corners of the room. Take your pick, or make your own.

Pro tip: Spectrum or rating questions translate nicely to number lines (perhaps with decimals or fractions or signed numbers)

Analyze your data. Give your students a task and math skill: Find the percent of the class who said ____; make a bar graph of responses to question __; calculate the median rating of ___.

In short, simple stats are your friend. Depending on how you structure your questions and your task, this can be decimals, fractions, percents (and/or converting between them), ratios/proportions, signed numbers, mean/median/mode, charts, tables, graphs (or work your graphs right and you can fit some geometry in) or probably other things I haven’t thought about yet.

Extend, maybe.

Make a display of your data, or write a ‘statistical analysis’ and feel fancy (and get some great learning/ELA connections).

Connect it to statistics. Talk about samples, and population, and bias. Can we make predictions based on our data about the school/town/state?

( PS. This post was inspired by a workshop I planned for the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education Network Conference in April.

NETWORK has been cancelled for public health reasons. I respect the decision, wish everyone good health… and am going to be offering a digital version. )

Sign up to receive information about a digital workshop from mathacognitive: “The Struggle is Real: Self Care and Balance

PPS. I don’t believe in math people and non math people. I do believe in helping all teachers — including multi-subject ABE teachers who don’t love math (yet!) — achieve.

Here’s the workshop description: Anyone can learn math … but for teachers who did not have positive math education experiences themselves, teaching math can be stressful. Still, it’s part of the job for many multi-subject adult educators. We’ll explore some of the research on math and learning and discuss how people who don’t identify with math can use their unique strengths to help their students succeed

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Comparison Cards

When I rounded up all my various links about some of my favorite, go to activities I made a discovery.

I had posts about equivalence cards, and error correction, and my write/shuffle/share routine (although it could use expanding, tbh)

I had two different activities with comparison cards in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop. (Scientific notation, and probability for the curious)

But, somehow I had never written about how I actually use them.

Oops.

Clearly, I have been taking Comparison Card activities for granted. Also, clearly, I am attempting to rectify the situation

Why: 

They make for natural pair or group activities, so students are talking and figuring together (*cough* Mathematical Practice 3*cough*) 

They ask students to stop and think and reason about the meaning and values of the numbers, instead of jumping straight into computation.

Content:

Super-flexible, but they’re particularly well suited for formats that students tend to struggle to read/understand. So decimal values with multiple places, or scientific notation, in my class.

Materials:

Make cards by hand (half of a 3×5 index card works well) or use my Google slides tutorial.

Each card should have a single value, but mixing the number formats raises the critical thinking level (For example: my exponents set uses whole numbers, exponent notation, expanded notation, and words) 

Make enough for each student to have a set.

Facilitation options: 

Number line: Sort the values from smallest to largest, arranging in a line on the table.

Further option: Give students benchmarks to compare their number line, or construct parallel numberlines with two formats (one line with fractions, for example, and another with decimals)

War: Each student gets a set of cards, shuffled and face down. Play the classic card game, War, where the player who turns over the card with the higher value takes both

Inequalities | Number Sentences: Add inequality cards to the mix. (I have a full on set in my store, or make your own). Students should arrange two value cards and a comparison symbol to create sentences

(Note: If students are comfortable with inequalities, this is a less challenging activity since students can pick values that are easy to compare) 

Extensions: 

Add reflection/discussion questions (I always like to start by asking which were hard? which were easy? and why?)

Students create their own cards to add to the mix. This might be open or more structured (e.g. add a card that is smaller, larger, in the middle…) 

Subscribe to access my PDF Comparison Card Planning Tips (and other subscriber-only resources!)

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4 Go-To Math Activities

As I’ve shared, I’m so grateful at this point in my career to have a set of flexible activities that I know work for me and my students, that I can swap new content in when I need to.

And, in the past, I’ve been so grateful to learn from other teachers, I thought I’d round up some information on a few of my favorite activities.

Equivalence Cards

Possibly my most gone-to go to. Format changes mess with my students’ tenuous sense that they understand math, so this feels key.

A question and answer, two forms of the same value, a term and a definition. Pairs on small cards are easily shuffled. Students can match equivalents, or play Concentration to build fluency.

Comparison Cards

Note to self: Write a post about comparison cards

Key question: Which decimal? Signed number? Exponent? Algebraic expression? etc. is larger? Values on small cards can be ordered or play “War” to compare

I love to make both types of cards using google slides (click for my free tips)

Error Correction

Transform a worksheet or text book activity, and seriously level up the critical thinking.

Teacher does the worksheet … with all of the common errors that students might make make. Hand out red pens, and let students find and correct them. 

Extension: Have students write you a note about what you need to remember (They’re such encouraging teachers)

Write Shuffle Share

Have *students* write examples or questions on index cards. Check the answers, shuffle and re-distribute. Repeat. 

Infographic: 4 go to math activities... that aren't worksheets. 1. Equivalence cards 2. Comparison cards 3. Error correction 4. Write, shuffle, share
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Pre-Exam Wrappers, or Reconciling Goals

One of my struggles is goals.

Not coming up with goals (if anything I’ve got too many: see goals, and more goals, and one more for the road) Its not even, really, about carrying them out.

The challenge is DIFFERENT goals in the same classroom. My goal is to help students become confident skilled, self directed learners. Their goal is to pass a high stakes test as quickly as possible.

These aren’t necessarily in conflict, but they certainly aren’t the same, so a class that meets both takes some thought. I’ve written about this before. I’m always looking for new ways to square the circle.

My latest attempt: pre exam wrappers.

Exam wrappers make so much sense to me. Except, I don’t give exams. (yay for ungraded classes!)  On the other hand, ETS gives one heck of a summative assessment.

So, my new pre exam wrappers plan: when students do HiSET practice problems (their goal) we follow it up with some reflection (my goal)  

I’m asking them about how prepared/confident they felt, which questions are harder or easier for them, what makes those questions harder or easier and what they’ll need to do to feel prepared.

I tried it out for the first time in not quite ideal circumstances: with some of my middle level folks (so students who are a ways from the exam) with not quite enough time left in class.

And some faces started out with expressions that said something like “How would I know?”,… but then they settled in and started to do the thinking.

So, I’m hopeful.

And, also thinking this will be a skill we have to build through repetition. But then, most skills are like that.

If you’d like to join me, I’m sharing a free PDF of my questions with email subscribers. Click to sign up

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ABE Teacher Licensure aka Doing All the Things

Teaching licenses in adult ed. are different from K-12. At least here (Massachusetts), it’s not required for one thing. And there are no college and university programs arranging student teaching and observations and all the things.

Instead, it’s a more DIY endeavor, by teachers who already have the skills, but want or need the credential to back them up. It takes tests, and transcripts, and a binder full of lesson plans and statements about assessments and differentiation and learning objectives. It’s not for the faint of heart.

But (you know you’re a teaching geek when…) I actually kind of like the process. I understand and respect the reasons of the people who don’t, but it’s mostly a process of writing about teaching, and I can talk or write about teaching all day.

And, all that writing gets me a gold star at the end. And writing essays to get gold stars was my favorite childhood sport. We’re playing my game again.

And, I’m mostly doing it on a Friday afternoon, with a group of other teachers (and snacks), helping each other out. And a roomful of helpful teachers is a good thing.

So, writing and gold stars and peers, this I like.

On the other hand, Massachusetts requires two 4-hour standardized tests (MTELs) on a computer screen in a windowless room (with optional sound muffling earmuffs).

Infographic: Adult Basic Education (ABE) MTEL Prep Resources. 1) Learn about the test. 100 multiple choice, 2 open response. 4 hours. Costs $139. Llink to MTEL test information booklet) 2) Learn about the testing process. Compouter based, at Peason VUE center. Receive scores electronically. Limited testing and score windows. Link to Computer Based Testing Demo and Testing Center Tour. 3) Review test content. Content knowledge test. ESOL + Math make up half. Link to ABE Math Study Guide. Link to Common ELL Terms
Resources to prepare for the Adult Basic Education (ABE) MTEL exam. Click for linked resources

I am grateful that my brain and standardized tests formats are mostly ok with each other. But still. 4 hours. And not everyone’s brain likes multiple choice. Or test pressure.

And, the ABE MTEL is a content test.

Covering ALL the subjects one might teach in adult ed.

I answered questions about maps of the middle east and volume of a 3D shape and verb tenses and photosynthesis. And wrote an essay about something.

I am no expert on maps or verbs or photosynthesis. But math, I’ve got.

Which is good, because it’s a quarter of the test, and that’s a stressful thing for some of the talented teachers who’ve been focusing on verb tenses and maps since college.

Massachusetts ABE teachers: you’ve got this. Math is learnable.

And there are more tools today than ever. You could look up the objectives here. You could find the lessons on Khan Academy. Or IXL. Or borrow a book from a math teaching colleague. Or google all the things.

.

But, if you want more structure, like guidance, don’t want to sort through all the tutorials, don’t want to spend more time that you have to, just feel stressed at the thought of studying math, whatever your reason …. I wrote a study guide. And, I’m throwing in the link to my round up of resources pointing you to specific videos, exercises, explanations for each topic.

(You can get it on Teachers Pay Teachers, or download it directly for less)

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6 Tips to incorporate Learning about Learning

Ages and ages ago (erm, July) I wrote about a goal for this year: incorporate a little bit of learning about learning in every class.

(Why? Because, I’m with Gretchen Rubin: what you do every day matters more than once in a while)

For me learning about learning encompasses:

  • Information about brains, neuroscience, what happens when we learn
  • Addressing math anxiety, limiting beliefs about learning, growth mindset etc.
  • Study and learning skills (note taking, effective study strategies etc.)
  • Self reflection/exploration/assessment: learning how I in particular learn best

And, halfway through the year, I’m reflecting and happy to report: we’re pulling it off. Some days it’s a little bit, some days it’s the full lesson; some days it really resonates with my students, some days not so much, but every week we’ve done something.

I knew I was having an impact when I did my end of the term evaluation, and without special prompting from me, students wrote about their brains and what works for them.

What’s helping:

Add it to my lesson plan template. I use a google doc, with our routines pre-filled. This year, every time I open it to write a new plan, I see a blank spot labeled “Learning about Learning”. It’s an effective nudge and reminder.

Gather resources ahead. I am so glad I spent some time this summer finding videos. It’s the teaching equivalent of freezer meals: on the busy days, I reach into my playlist, and pull out something good, but easy.

((My playlist of videos))

Explain WHY I am also glad I took time at the start of the term to head off the “Is this on the test, miss?” questions. Explaining to students that this brain science and reflecting in math class will pay off in better and (key for my busy adults!) more efficient learning, was a good use of a few minutes.

Use it as a brain break. Brain breaks make sense, but my students are busy adults. They are not interested in the kinds of fun breaks that work for elementary classes — but a few minutes of switching topics and talking about something other than math. (especially on the video-watching days) That works. It helps break up the class and lets them catch their mental breath.

Short reflections. I’ve already got teeny reflections after our spiral review and on homework, but a couple of times a term, I ask students to do some more reflecting. Early in the term it’s planning for homework, late in the term it’s reflections on progress.

((All my reflection tools bundled together))

Do math about it. (aka, data is your friend.) These are my favorite lessons, when the whole night blends learning about learning with practicing math. The basic formula is: introduce a learning topic (growth mindset, brain based study strategies etc.), collect some data , do math about it (make a numberline, a graph, find a percent, or a ratio, or a fraction, calculate a simple statistic)

((My favorite lessons on this theme))

Infographic: 6 tips to incorporate metacognition & learning about learning. Lesson Plan Reminder; Explain Why; Gather Resources Ahead; Brain Break; Do math about learning.
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What I’m emailing myself (Thanksgiving Catch Up Edition)

Friends,

There are things I emailed myself in September that are still in my inbox.  It’s the end of November.

It’s been a fall.

But, on this too brief, carb-filled holiday break, I’m doing a bit of catching up.

Last, last, last review (from Stephanie Minor) ((I’ve got my standard spiral review, but I’m still intrigued))

Retrieval Practice Materials

A Desmos take, on an exponents puzzle (From Cathy Yenca)

 

And, bonus, I caught up on my TPT work. An idea I tried out in September is finally together and posted. A card sort based on percent word problems, and using my (and my students) favorite proportion method.

percents 1