Read: Part 1: Start with Why , Part 2: Making Materials without Going Insane and/or Classroom Routines: You will metacognate for background
(In brief – My classes start with a cumulative review every week, it’s a process, and I love it)
Once I had figured out how I could make materials, I had to figure out how they’d fit into my classes. In the end, we built a multi step routine that works for us.
- This is my ‘do now’. The copies are waiting on the front table when students arrive, and so early or late they know to start when they get to class. It’s open notes (to encourage note taking and using), and question-asking is allowed (so confusion gets cleared up).
- When students are done they correct it themselves with an answer key. And I’m making (slow/uphill) progress at teaching them to use the key and/or questions as a tool to understand the ones they missed on the first try (instead of marking a despairing X and moving on).
- Each student has a (plain manila file) folder with a log stapled inside, where they file the corrected review sheets + their scores + a comment (my metacognition!). I keep the folders in the classroom so they don’t get lost, and so I can review periodically and see how students are progressing)
(I have ambitions of these folders working/feeling more like portfolios, but so far they remain just collection points)
Here’s a version of the score/comment log that I use
- As they finish the folders, my students know there are milk crates full of materials – and that their task is to grab something they need to brush up, and work independently until the next activity starts. (Some need more reminding of this knowledge than others, but in general, they’ve just had a good reminder of what math needs some practice)
While students are arriving/settling/working on this review, I’m also collecting and checking homework folders and finishing any set up for the rest of the lesson.
Essential elements:
Students doing most of the work. I answer questions and attend to those who are stuck, or off-course, or need a nudge to work, but after the first couple of rounds most of my students can handle most of this process.
Making it routine. My students can do much of the work because they’ve done it before. The first weeks of the term, I spend more time directing the process, but they get into the routine pretty quickly. The routine also saves my brain – I don’t have to decide how we’re starting class, or figure out how to do review because I’ve already set that up. I’m grateful to put that brain power to some other planning question.
