Tag: homework

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Back. Also, Lesson Sketch: Learning Strategies

So, that happened.

If, we define ‘that’ to mean life, a slight case of overwhelm, and an unplanned 5 month break.

 

But, it’s summer. I’ve been to the ocean, I’m off from teaching, and I now have the bandwidth to come back to this.

And, with my newly cleared head, I’m thinking about one of my favorite lessons.

 

Lesson Sketch: Learning Strategies

Why: 

I preach and plead for my adult students to study outside of class (see , por ejemplo: homework, more homework and planning for homework)

But —  I know the research: most students don’t use particularly efficient strategies to study. I think this doubly applies to my adults who didn’t have great success in the school the first time. And, they have even less time to waste on inefficient studying, this time around.

So, I’ve added preaching and pleading to study effectively. 

Also, this is one of a set of first class of the term exercises I use to ease people into doing math and being a student again. (Other examples: Stuck Strategies, Retrieval Practice)

 

What: Introducing research-backed strategies for effective learning + simple data and analysis.

The Learning Scientists have summarized lots of cognitive research to highlight 6 strategies. I rarely have enough students or time that it makes sense to do all 6, but they’re there if you do. For my class, I generally prioritize: Spaced Practice,  Interleaving, Retrieval Practice and Elaboration. 

 

How: 

I introduce the topic. I might talk about how scientists do experiments to see what works (I might add that if I had known you could do experiments about learning, not just chemistry or physics, I might have liked science better in high school)  I might talk about making the best use of our time, or about shaking things up/experimenting with new techniques, I might remind them how frustrating it is to forget what they’ve learned.

 

Then, I split the class into groups, and assign each group a strategy. One time I gave out these posters, more recently it’s been the bookmarks, because less is more. If tech wasn’t a headache, I’d try the videos. The group is in charge of working together until everyone understands the strategy.  (This can take some coaching) Then we jigsaw, and they teach it to their peers. (More coaching)

 

Once everyone understands the strategies, we take a poll:

Do you already do this?

Will you try it this term?

 

Then I have students analyze the data for the strategy they started with. Depending on the class and the time of year, they might find the percent, ratio and/or fraction of the class who gave each answer.  If I have more time, we might make graphs of the results. In a way less time pressured world, we might make a bulletin board display with the strategies and our data and study tips for other students at school.

 

Results:

Spaced practice is a hit. (at least in theory) Whether it happens or not, in the day to day of busy lives, they get this idea. In the great division between tortoises and hares, many of my students are tortoises. Slow and steady sounds good.

Interleaving, on the other hand,  is a hard sell. It just sounds so much harder and more confusing, and math is hard and confusing enough, thankyouverymuch.  (Although I make them do interleaved practice every week and they tell me it helps, so maybe someday…)

 

Next Steps:

Truth… this is the first class of the term and by the second we’re off and running, and it’s hard to get back to this. But, yeah, one-off’s are not all that helpful.

So, I’m currently pondering ways to fit a follow up in.  I’d love to collect a post- round of data later in the term to see if anyone is actually rying them out.

 

 

Free Resource: I fancied up my tally sheets a bit (ahem, data collection tools) and I’m making them available for free in my TPT Store

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Scaffolding Homework and Asynchronous Work

Originally published Oct. 2018, updated Nov. 2020

Working at home is hard for my students. They’re mostly working parents, so they’ve already juggled shifts and childcare to get to class a couple of nights a week.

And then we ask them to find more time for homework.

It doesn’t always work.

But we want it to, because once a week math classes are not enough.

It is painfully easy to work hard in class, make progress, grasp a challenging concept, and then leave, think about everything except math, and come back a week later, feeling like you’ve forgotten everything you learned.

My homework system is intentionally flexible, but still.

To work independently you have to find the time, and the motivation, and the materials, and the focus, and get everyone else to let you focus. And you have to know where to start, and not give up when you get stuck.

This year, I’m experimenting with really planning for it.

Text "Scaffolding Asynchronous Learning" Image shows a desk with computer, notebook, pen, scissors and other supplies.

Week 1: Plan

We brainstormed times they might fit work into their lives. Things like: on my lunch break, after the kids go to bed, in the waiting room. I made a point to frame the conversation as small bits of time, that did not have to look like homework at the kitchen table for an hour after dinner.  They thought about their schedules and made plans, and back up plans. I made copies: one for them, one for me.

Week 2: Check in

I returned their plans and asked them to write one of two notes on the back. If the plan worked, what about it worked? OR If the plan didn’t work, what would they do differently next week?

Week 3: Repeat

Return the plans, write another note. This time, I added a list of some of the best tips from their Week 2 check ins and asked them to think about adopting some of their classmates’ ideas.

Three weeks in a row is about as much time as I feel like I can devote to this right now, but I kept their twice annotated plans, and they’ll make a reappearance later in the semester (especially if homework starts to lag)

And, can I take a minute to brag about a student who has embraced this?

This student is back in school for the first time in years, a single mom working in  the kind of entry level health care job that’s lots of hands on work, for little money.  She downloaded Kahn Academy, tried it, and came in discouraged a few weeks ago that she was working at a lower level than her young son.

This week, she came in beaming and eager to show me how her scores had gone up.

She was proud of the score.

I was proud of how she made it happen: Studying on her half-hour lunch breaks four days in a row, plus a few random times when she had a few free minutes.

I wanted to get up on a soap box and point her dedication out as an example to everyone in the class. She wouldn’t have appreciated that, though, so I just told her I was proud of her. (And then told you all about it….)

<3

Fall 2020: Expanded and updated tools to scaffold independent and asynchronous work.

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Leveling Up Homework

My homework system challenges students to be independent learners

I like this. But many of my students don’t know how to study particularly effectively. Most students, period, don’t know how to study particularly effectively, but it’s particularly challenging to do it as an adult with competing responsibilities.

This year, I challenged them to try some different study goals and formats. I gave out a list, added it to their homework folder, and asked them to initial/date when they achieved each.

(In the future, I might find a way to integrate my  homework log and this list, but I’m not there yet)

Here’s the current version of our ‘Level Up’ Homework Challenge

(The title was inspired by the power of ‘leveling up’ in Chip and Dan Heath’s The Power of Moments) 

The goal was to encourage them to work more at home, in general. But in particular, to help them become better independent learners by experimenting with different formats (to see which worked for them and/or do something new)

My impression as we went along was that students’ mostly forgot about the list, and certainly weren’t challenged or inspired by it.

Yet.

(that powerful word)

There are some advantages to our frequent first days. Lots of fresh starts and chances to improve.

As we change terms, I’m asking students to review their progress and set some goals for the next trimester.

And I’ve already made a note on my term plan: in a few weeks, we’ll be checking in on our progress, and I’ll be returning a copy of their goals to them as a reminder.

Here’s the check in we used (PDF)

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Homework | Reflection Folders

My homework routine is thoroughly a product of my student body: adults with wildly diverging math preparation/skills, who are motivate by a test/goal with real implications for their lives, but who also lead full adult lives that leave little time for math homework.

I have decided that, in this context, assigning problems x through y, and expecting them all to be done next Thursday is a fool’s errand. (Some adult ed teachers incorporate more traditional homework assignments into their class. But for me/my classes, it just didn’t seem to work.)

We’ve evolved a more choose your own adventure version: I give practice work at the end of each lesson, and we have a lively and well-packed set of milk crates that house materials covering our full curriculum. Students do what they can of what they think they need.

I doubt the choose your own homework system is transferable to many classes (although that’s a shame) What’s more transferable, and where I want to spend more time, is the folder it goes in.

How it works:

Each of my students gets a homework folder. There’s nothing special except a bright color, chosen to cut down on the chance it gets lost in the piles of papers. Inside is a log.

Each week, I collect this folder, and and I ask students to complete their log. Whether they’ve done pages and pages of math, or worked double shifts and done no math beyond tallying their hours, I ask for a note: What did you do? How’d it go? Anything else do you want me to know?

I look at their log, note whether or not math happened, and respond to their comments before returning their folders.

Here’s a version of the no-frills homework log I’ve been using. And the more elaborate log I’m planning to switch to next year.

What I love:

  • It allows a private dialogue for the shy ones, or the ones who are struggling, or out of sync with the class.

(I occasionally get profound comments here that I can’t imagine hearing out loud in class, especially the quiet confessions of ‘I think I’m starting get/like/learn math…’)

  • Answering what ‘did I do?’ is a nice level of accountability. I am not scolding them about homework, but they are looking in black and white and their own handwriting at the results of the week. Every week.
  • But really, I think the crucial element is facing that “how’d it go?” question every time. Even if they give me a one word answer, they’ve had to think back over that work and decide between “good”, “ok” and “hard”. I want to foster this habit of reflection in and out of class, and this is the best means I’ve found so far (it’s also the third leg of the metacognition stool we’re building each week)

The results:

  • The good: I usually have a student or two at a time who winds up with a bit of a correspondence course on some math skills they need, but that is separate (and often ahead of) the regular class. They try X, learn most of it, identify a need to learn Y, I give it to them and we repeat.
  • The bad: The student who decided to take algebra from the crates way before she was ready and came to class the next time on the edge of tears because she had convinced herself she was hopeless.
  • The usual: Some weeks homework happens, some weeks life happens instead. When homework does happen, it’s usually a mix of class topics and review.  The comments are short, mostly prosaic, but they’re there. They get consistent encouragement to work at home, and to reflect on their learning.

Adapting

  • Perhaps you take the folder and log procedure, and use it to reflect on more traditional assignments. (What did you do to complete the problem set? How did that go?…)
  • For my class, there’s no distinction between ‘homework’ and ‘preparing for the test’. I can imagine adapting this to focus on “studying” to encourage good habits; and/or blending the two. (Which might be a great conversation to have with students – ie, that ‘homework’ and ‘studying’ have the same purpose, to promote learning)
  • If your homework routine involves more collecting than mine, perhaps it’s not a folder, but something like a wrapper that gets attached to the assignment
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Classroom routines (aka: You will metacognate)

My first tries at incorporating metacognition were, umm, less than fully successful. I asked new students about their knowledge, their preferences, their goals. I asked the class to reflect at the end of the term. It was one-off, well intentioned, added in when I thought the calendar called for it.

Or, I’d drop in soapbox speeches about study skills, or lessons that included information about learning.

And they did their best, but mostly my students looked at me like I was a little odd. Their faces read: I don’t know? Why are you even asking?  or How should I know about learning? We didn’t do this in high school. My other teachers don’t make me do this.  or How will this help me get my HiSET?  or Aren’t you the expert, teacher?

They still think I’m a little odd that I keep asking about their thinking. But they’re no longer surprised.

Because, routines.

I love routines.  For many reasons. One reason: routines make sure my students get asked to think about their thinking at least three times every single class.  And practice makes, if not perfect, at least progress.

(Context reminder, my adult students have math one evening a week. If you meet every day, you might spread these out)

 

  • We start with a quick cumulative review (Every.Single.Week. Because I and my students are tired of them forgetting what they’ve worked hard to learn) They put it in a folder, and they write a comment. (Metacognition #1) [Updated: Here’s a description of our review system]
  • We end with an exit ticket. Not an assessment, a quick reflection. A sentence or so about what worked or didn’t work for them during class. (Metacognition #3) [Updated: Here’s a description of our exit tickets]

I’ll be honest. None of these metacognitive moments are guaranteed to be particularly reflective or deep. I get a lot of “It was good.” or “It was hard.” comments still.  And I content myself with building habits, and self-awareness, remembering slow and steady progress.

But, sometimes I get gold.

I get “It was hard but I kept going and I figured it out by doing X”.  Or I get the comments that keep me going, as much as the students, the ‘I think I’m starting to get it’ and the ‘math isn’t as hard as I thought’  and sometimes even ‘math is becoming fun’

Student writing: "taking what I know from what you've taught me and previous notes, math is becoming fun when you know how to do it :) thanks

Coming attractions:  I’ll be back with  more detailed descriptions of each of these routines