Tag: adult basic education

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I Wish my Students Knew (Sharing teaching values to build classroom culture)

I am not, generally speaking, a fan of making videos. (Or, often, of slide decks)

I feel self conscious on video, and do too many takes, and I’m not even really a video-watching fan, and we’re doing zoom sessions anyways, and, well, it’s just not my favorite thing.

But, when I started planning for this year, I knew there was one video I would definitely be making: a screencast of the my “Wish my Students Knew” presentation.

I’ve been trying to figure out how we establish a classroom culture, when we don’t have an actual classroom. It’s puzzling, but core values still seem like the place to start.

Originally Published Feb. 2018, updated fall 2020

I kind of knew what I wanted in a classroom culture: support, and listening, and welcome, and a palpable belief in every student. But, I wasn’t always sure how to create it. I would not have guessed part of the answer was PowerPoint.

I had been using ‘What I wish my teacher knew….’ to start my classes. I love this. It’s beautiful, and valuable, and works at least as well for centering the teacher (and reminding me why I do this!) as it does for giving voice to the students.

So, as I pondered all of the misconceptions, and information gaps, and misunderstandings about math learning that my students started with, I added, ‘What I Wish my Students Knew…’. 

A dozen or so slides with some key ideas that I share in some form or fashion every first week. It’s my chance — before we start with the variables and the word problems, in the middle of the attendance policies and school calendars — to tell them what I think is really important to know about math class. (And to start to debunk a few things many think they know)

It doesn’t create a culture by itself, but it sets a nice foundation. They know where I stand, and what I believe.

I’ve been adding to it as I think of new wishes, and playing with the presentation format. I’ve given this as a straight-up powerpoint, a gallery walk, a read-around, had pairs look at a few slides, and now, a video.

And, if some administrator ever comes looking for a teaching philosophy, this might be what I hand them.

So, without further ado (but with commentary)

Stack of books with text "What I Wish My Students Knew.. Sharing teaching values to build classroom culture in person or online

I wish my students knew…

… Everyone can learn math. (They are often fairly certain that this is not true, at least as applied to them.) (( If they learn this, I don’t care if they learn another thing))

… But we don’t all learn the same way, or at the same pace. And that’s ok

 

 … I hated my math class in high school. (I often talk about Mr. B – -, whose teaching style combined with the difficulty but apparent irrelevancy of cosines to my life, to convince me that I wasn’t a math person) ((I hope they hear “I can empathize”))

… Turns out I don’t mind math as an adult. And I love teaching it. (I hope they hear, ‘it can change’)

…You don’t have to like math to learn it. … But it feels really good when you get something that you thought was hard. (Those moments are the reason I keep doing this job)

… Most of math looks scary… until you learn it. (I’m a big fan of exposure therapy for math anxiety  “Look at this thing we’re going to do today….” …”Hey, nice job, maybe that crazy-looking thing wasn’t so bad)

 

… You really learn math when you do math. Not when you listen to or watch me do math. (So, no, we’re not going to sit in rows facing the board)

… You’re learning the most when you’re working on something that you can just about figure out, but it’s still kind of hard.

… Mistakes happen. Even to me. And it’s no big deal (I put mine on the board for all to see)

… Being a good learner is its own skill. Everyone learns in different ways and it will make your life easier when you figure out the best ways for you (Metacognition, my personal crusade)

… Checking your answers helps you learn. If you do more than mark it right/wrong, and instead figure out how to fix your mistakes. (Answer keys are a fixture in class and a learning tool, except for all the past-teachers in their heads scolding them about cheating. )

… It’s natural, but frustrating, for your brain to have a hard time remembering something you only do once a week. The best remedy is to do math more often (Study at home!) (Our biggest challenge, my constant plea)

… Asking questions is how you take charge of your learning, and get the information you need. Also, I’m a terrible mind reader. (Phrased for those with trouble asking for help, and for those who just want to help)

… It’s ok to ask for help. Better than ok actually.  (Some things bear repeating)

I added a version of this (adapted lightly to be slightly more universal) and to my  subscriber resources. Enjoy!

(If you use it, please leave a comment telling me how it fits in your class)

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Making Answer Keys a Teaching Tool

I give out the answers. 

I tell my students that I’m going to on the first day of class. I think, they think I’m crazy. Or lying.

And then I give them work the next class with the answers on the back (or, this year, at the end of the digital file) and they think I’ve made a mistake.  (Many assume it is a strange and indecipherable worksheet, because the reality of an answer key is so unexpected)

It’s not a mistake.

It’s an intentional and powerful teaching choice. 

Note: My classes are ungraded. I love this aspect of my teaching, and it’s common in adult education, but your experience may be different depending on your context. I’d be curious to hear your experience in the comments.

Why I give out answer keys: 

More-or-less practical reasons:

  • Students get immediate feedback on their work  (especially valuable this year, when we’re dealing with remote learning and asynchronous work)
  • Sharing the task of checking work with the students frees up time for more impactful tasks. I can look briefly at their work with the goal of assessing and providing verbal feedback, not marking each item. 
  • It also lowers the barriers to differentiation and independent work.  It’s easier (for me) to imagine students working on 3 or 4 different things, when I don’t have to worry about tracking and correcting 3 or 4 different things or getting everyone finished at the same time to go over the answers as a class.
  • It helps develop independence in learning. Students’ aren’t dependent on me to provide feedback, or stuck waiting for me to give them that feedback (wasting limited class time). They can check and move on, or ask a more informed question if they got it wrong.

These are good reasons and real benefits to both me and my students. But, they are far from the most important reasons: 

Giving the answer keys conveys trust and respect. Adult ed students didn’t always have the best experiences in school, they might have felt judged. They rarely felt trusted. It’s powerful to hand them the thing their previous teachers probably kept locked away.

Even beyond that, I can think of no more powerful statement that the point is not to the answer, the point is the learning that leads to or flows from that answer. 

What answer keys don’t do: 

Provide nuance or guidance. Knowing the answer is B or 17.2, is only so helpful. This is true whether they get that information from the key, or from a hurried teacher-correction. We know this, and we all want to provide quality feedback. I ask students to check their work in class, but I also look at it as I’m conferencing and provide the guidance and nuance. Do you understand why it’s B? How did you get to C? It looks like you did ___, have you tried ___?  

Encourage cheating: I always tell students they can’t cheat. No grades means they’re only hurting themselves if they copy the answers without understanding, and few do. Also, they are adults who are choosing to participate. They know they need to learn this stuff to meet their goals, and that there’s no reward or punishment for the number of right answers on the class work. As a result, I’m more likely to get people who are afraid to use the answer keys because that seems like cheating than people who are actually just copying

How to make answer keys a teaching tool: 

In all honesty, the hard part of this is not the practical reforms, it’s the mindset shift for both teacher and students.

Except… textbook publishers don’t make the keys easy to read. You might have to help students navigate the dense paper-saving pages they provide.  When I’m on it, I draw a star or box before I photocopy, but I’m not always that on it.  We manage.

  • Change how you make copies. If you have a student version separate from the answer keys, there’s a transition period of reuniting them for each round of copies
  • The first time, take a few minutes explain to students why they have the keys, and how to use them as a learning tool. 
  • As students work and check their work, model how to engage the keys as a learning tool:  Student: “Will you check this?” Teacher:  “You’ve got the answers here. I’ll check the first couple with you…” “Ok, so your answer is different from the key, can you figure out why?” (Also, Repeat. This is a skill. It takes some practice.)

My resident curmudgeon and long time student now tells the new people how long he resisted the answer keys (boy did he) but that they’re actually kind of helpful and not cheating. If you knew him, you’d know that’s a powerful endorsement 🙂

Infographic. Title"Give the Answers: Using Answer Keys in Adult Ed Classes" Why? Immediate Feedback Teacher Time Differentiation Independence Trust & Respect Focus on learning How? Change copy routine Explain to students Model active learning
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Planning Principles : Points on the Board in the First Class

It’s been a while since I wrote, here. Honestly, it has been hard to write about teaching, while everything about my teaching has been so upended by the pandemic. After a spring of emergency remote teaching, I (really) needed the summer break. I’m coming back soon to still-remote, but better planned remote teaching, and I’m looking forward to being back here more.

2020 update:

A few weeks before COVID, I started a new class, with a new group of students, and a new context. And, then, like everyone, I started (abruptly) to figure out remote work and online learning, turning on a dime, doing our best to navigate. I’ve started a few new things, professionally in the last year. And now, again, starting a new thing: a full semester online (for me, maybe hybrid or socially distanced for you).

I’m finding it calls me to think about first principles. In times of change, what do we know to be true about teaching and learning, regardless of the other stuff.

There are undoubtedly more elegant and insightful thoughts, but also: my thought in planning for the first day, the new year, the fresh imperfect start is ‘get a win’. 

For my skeptical mandated students, who weren’t interested in my name games 

And for my students, used to our supportive classroom, abruptly plunged into online learning

For my new this term students, and for me, never great at transitions.

Get a win. 

Teach a piece of math that we can all learn. 

Provide a sense of progress in the chaos.

Start the momentum, set the tone, take the first step. 

The first step is the hardest. But there’s nothing like making it, to remind you that you can take it. 

And the next one. And the next.

Text: Points on the board. Starting a new class or a new unit right. Mathacognitive. Image of a vintage scoreboard. Planning for the first day of a new school year or new term

Originally published March 2018, revised and republished 2020

Things that are different about adult ed:

Students don’t all start in September, stay in my class through June, and then move on to the next class after summer vacation.

They start when they’re ready, place into the class that suits their skills, stop when life gets in the way or when they’re ready to take a test and succeed, move to a new class when the teaching staff thinks they’re ready for it.

There are ways that this is beautiful (learn at your own pace! Education organized around the student not the calendar!) And ways that this is challenging (So many moving pieces. And I am not great at chaos). We manage it as best we can by starting and moving bunches of students together at a few scheduled points throughout the year.

All of which is to say, I get more than your average level of practice at first classes.

At least three times a school year, a third or more of my class is new. They might be new to my class, moving from a lower level where they were cruising along comfortably – feeling like the smart kid for once – to a new more challenging class. They might be in a math classroom for the first time in five or fifteen years (and feeling ready to get their HiSET, but maybe not so ready for math class) or back to school after a break to handle whatever life threw at them.

Different reasons, but for all practical purposes a new class.

So, first days of school. Name games and homework policies. What I wish my teacher (and students) knew. All of the standard stuff.

But, also.

Principles I’ve learned through multiple first days every year of my teaching career:

Get points on the board.

Meaning: By the end of the first class – between the introductions and the policies and the questions – be able to point to some math and say  –truthfully, universally — “we learned that.”

This is a worthy goal for any class, but especially for first classes, when we’re trying to set a tone that is not “OK, we’ll pick this up next class”. For the new students, in particular, it’s much needed proof that they can handle this, the first piece of tangible evidence in the case I’m building that ‘yes, you can learn math’

And, this, I think, is a goal for all of us, whether you have one first day or seventeen.

With apologies to the standards, I don’t think it matters so much what they learn that day, just that they learn.

So, my criteria for getting points on the board:

  • A one off. Something self-contained, not requiring anyone to have been here last week, or to come back next week to learn.
  • As close to guaranteed success as teaching allows. I’ve rearranged significant parts of curriculum to teach an easy win on the first day. (A student who leaves their first class feeling lost is off to a very rough start.)
  • Bonus points: An activity that incorporates getting to know you and math in one.  (Like these) Also, group work.

I often do something on the order of gather data about our class and analyze it.  (These proportions weren’t a first-class, but it’s of a type. These strategies for getting un-stuck were a my last first class.)

I have another first-class coming up. As I write, I’m still waiting for inspiration, but I’m clear on my goal: get a win.

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Accepting help. Or, leveraging volunteers in adult ed.

Perhaps this is true for you, too?

I think I am a better version of myself when I’m teaching.

In the classroom I am comfortable and confident and welcome mistakes (even my own) as opportunities to learn. I am warm and engaging and positive. I have vast stores of patience and encouragement and optimism.

In real life, some of these, at some times, are not exactly easy.

But, in my classroom, they are.

And, in real life, I am terrible at accepting help.

I would like to be humble and gracious and grateful and not think I have to do every single thing myself.

I’m working on it.

But, in my classroom, I don’t know what I would do without help.

While I am showing up comfortable and mistake-welcoming and all the rest, I have volunteers showing up, too.

Some of them have been with the class longer than I have. They come every week and lead small groups and check work and answer questions. They help me give students the attention they each deserve.

I’m good at my job, but I’m better at it with their help.

I can take on more ambitious lessons, and differentiate, and focus on the things that only I can do. And, I show students that there are multiple ways to do math, and model my (new) help-accepting behavior.

I know I’m grateful for their help.

I hope I’m also gracious and humble. (I also hope it rubs off on the rest of my life)

How can volunteers help in the adult basic education classroom? Colorful infographic with answers including: differentiation, supporting ELLs or students with LDs, ESOL conversation, small group leader

So, I know, that classroom volunteers can make a huge impact.

And I also know that teachers are already running in 17 directions, and may not have a lot of time / bandwidth to figure out how exactly that nice person would actually be helpful.

I won’t call it help (in case you have a hard time with it to…) but I do have resources to offer:

If you teach in Massachusetts, I’m leading a (free) online workshop on Leveraging Volunteers in the Adult Ed. Classrooms May 15, 2020

Volunteers can contribute significantly to adult education classes… if we know how to use them. This teacher-focused workshop will help adult ed. practitioners craft volunteer roles that are impactful and aligned to their program and classroom goals. We’ll explore common concerns – and how to avoid them; explore specific tasks volunteers can undertake; and work through a 3 part framework for defining effective roles. We’ll conclude by designing volunteers into real lesson plans, and action planning for our own practice. 

If you don’t (or you’re busy!)

E-booklet: Leveraging Volunteers in Adult Education (20 page planning guide + printable resources)

Google Apps Tips & Templates to Streamline Volunteer Management (10 pages of text + 5 pre-made forms/sheets, ready to use)

If you need more custom support, please contact me! I’ve been a volunteer, a teacher and a volunteer coordinator in adult ed. for more than a decade. I can help you design a volunteer program that suits your organization.

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Teacher Self-Care Update: A Webinar!

If you knew me in person, you’d likely know I’m a planner. 

(Actually, you might have figured that out anyways based on the number of posts on goals and the different planning guides/planners in my shop )

I like to know what’s coming and make a color coded list of steps to prepare, and I don’t particularly like changes. And, like everyone, I had lots of plans for this spring…  but I did not plan for a pandemic and all that follows.  One of the things I did plan for was presenting at MCAE’s NETWORK Conference, which was (like many things) cancelled for public health reasons.

Check out my original post for my (occasionally cranky, overachiever) take on self care

But, like it or not, we’re all working on plan B’s (or C, or D…)  now. And the good folks at MCAE have a new plan: a webinar series.

This is a change I can get behind.

I’m super excited (and kind of humbled) that they asked me to present. The topic of self-care for teachers felt important in January when I first drafted it. It feels even more so now. 

The Struggle is Real: Teacher Self-Care and Balance

Teaching is meaningful, important, rewarding…and hard. If we are to do our best work and sustain our efforts, we must find ways to manage the challenges, amplify the positives and maintain our energy. We’ll explore practical steps busy teachers can take. 

May 11, 1-2:00 PM

Registration link

Click here to check out the full (super relevant and timely!) series. And Massachusetts folks, please register! 

If you can’t make it on the 11th, MCAE will be recording the webinar, and posting it to their website.

Or, for the DIYers, I put the self care action planning sheet we’ll be using in my TPT shop. (Free for now, not forever)

The struggle is real: teacher self care and balance. Webinar mat 11, 1-2 pm. Hosted by Massachusetts coalition for Adult Education
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Distance Learning: Independent Learning

As we switch to distance learning, there’s a lot of (good, important, helpful) thinking and talking about platforms and access to the internet and designing for digital learning; there is talk about equity for those with less robust hardware or bandwidth or technical skills; and for folks with disabilities or limited English. There is talk about priorities and expectations and taking care of ourselves.

These are real. 

I’m glad we’re having these conversations. (We need to have more of them. )

And, as I am thinking about helping my students learn remotely, I am wishing we were talking more about the ability to learn (largely) independently.  

Online learning takes screens and wifi, and it takes being able to focus (especially when all of the kids are home and everyone is stuck inside) and it takes being able to make choices and plan your time (when all the schedules have been altered) and pace yourself; and to motivate yourself (when you’re also worried about the news and your job and your kids). It takes being able to persevere when it gets hard and there’s no one around to ask for help. 

Text: Distance Learning. Building Skills for Independent Learning. A white background with colored pencils.

I’ll be honest: I’m dealing with moments of worry, and frustration, and discouragement, and worry (again) for my students and our attempts at distance learning. 

But, I’m also taking it as a lesson: this matters. 

I’ve always thought independent learning would matter for homework, or for college, but we are learning that it also matters for our resilience and flexibility in the face of the completely unexpected. 

I don’t have all the answers, but I spent some time adapting the tools I do have to online learning. I hope they help you and your students navigate this transition, and learn, and grow, and maybe emerge a little stronger on the other side. 

Distance Learning Resources

Brain based Learning: Teaching our students the research on how to learn/study effectively

Stuck Strategies: Helping our students identify strategies to respond productively to moments of struggle

Dear Me/Teacher/Classmates, Please Remember… Helping out students share and reflect on what’s important for their learning

Independent Learning Log: Helping our students track and share their progress

Traffic Light Check In: Helping our students evaluate and describe their learning progress

Psst! All of my distance learning (plus some of my favorite independent learning) resources are free or discounted April 6-9th.

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What I *AM* emailing myself, distance learning edition.

Ok.

So.

We’re doing this.

For at least the next couple of weeks (and for at least the rest of the semester for some of my classes) we’re figuring out distance learning. My inbox is full of tips and resources. It’s a little daunting. These are a few I’m actually bookmarking.

What I'm emailing myself: Social distancing edition Educational resource roundup from mathacognitive Picture of a computer on a desk with plants
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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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Teaching the Test

Teach the students, not the test.

I am quite certain that what I care most about teaching is that you, yes, you the one who never got above a C in math class, can learn anything, even math. Teaching the students.

Except that what my students care most about passing a test (HISET) that stands between them and big dreams (jobs and college and examples for their kids and a sense of pride at finally doing the thing they quit years ago) And, there’s something worthy in helping them reach those goals, and it is nice proof of my basic thesis when they do it …so, yeah, we do kind of teach the test, too.

In a perfect world it would be different, but in this world, I’ve made some peace with the idea that it’s possible to teach both.

 

I have not, however, settled on a favorite way to actually, effectively incorporate test practice into class, so I’m giving it some thought before the rush of the school year.

The challenges:

How to give enough to expose them to the breadth and challenge of the test, without sending them into overwhelm.

How to connect it to our current learning and prepare them for an exam that covers approximately 5 years of K12 math standards.  (Yes, really: 6th grade area to high school algebra)

How to fit it in an already over-stuffed curriculum.

 

Past attempts:

Give interested students practice tests to take home.  (This only really works with a subset of students who are pretty prepared and pretty self directed)

Slip questions from the practice tests in to my weekly review routine  (A keeper, I think, although probably not enough by itself)

Collect multiple questions relevant to our topic from across the stack of practice tests, make it part of the lesson (Super-laborious until we found an intern to help us organize, now only moderately laborious)

Review sessions, on those random end of term/all-the-interuptions days when you can’t teach anything new anyways.  (Not bad. Not brilliant, I don’t think, but not bad)

 

Additions for this fall:

Easy win: Bubble sheets. Apparently one student was totally thrown off by the answer sheet when she took the exam last year.  I put “use bubble sheets in class each trimester” on my goals list. *Check*

Question of the Day: One practice test question every week, slipped into the routine of the class.  I spent one distinctly not-fun afternoon sorting through tests and picking a couple dozen out. This is the exposure therapy theory of math teaching: see the test questions often enough and they’re less intimidating.

 

But, I’m still in search of structures for those random review days that make them something more than solo worksheet time. Especially, ones that don’t rely on speed, shouting out answers, or competition to make them game-y. My students have enough math anxiety already, thank you very much.

 

My favorites so far:

These 3 problems all have the same answer. What is it? Where ‘answer’ means: the same letter on the multiple choice format questions.  This let me mix in questions students were likely to get with stretch questions without inducing overwhelm. It worked particularly well in groups, where different people knew different questions and could check each other.

Test question sort When you’re being tested on 5 years worth of standards all at once, quickly identifying what math you need to use is crucial. And hard. So we say, lets not worry about the answers for a little while and focus on identifying what we’re being asked to do.  Also, my students are very, very familiar with card sorts.

 

But, really, I could use more ideas. My best googling turns up few ideas that suit my class 🙁