Tag: reflection

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Sticky Notes, and Reflections (updated)

Originally published September 2018, updated spring 2020.

I miss my classroom.

I imagine many of you do too.

Weeks into remote teaching, I miss the familiar rhythms and tools of classroom teaching.

As we approach the end of the school year, socially distanced, I miss the big celebrations and rituals.

And, I miss some small things, like this reflection.

But, it’s also one of the small things that’s giving me comfort:

Because I have years’ worth of good advice and touching reflections to read through. And they warm my heart every time.

Title: the best thing I learned in math class... Photo of a sticky note, handwritten: "that I'm actually smarter than I thought"

Because next year we’ll be back to sticky notes and normal, and I hope I remember this year, and appreciate what I have (Because, Joni Mitchell was right)

Because, reading these questions: What helped? What advice would I give for next year? What did I learn? helps me make my missing, productive and proactive and grateful.

What helped: Taking action, letting go of expectations.

What did I learn: How to use all the video conferencing. What’s important. What I value in teaching.

Advice: Its too soon for advice, I think, beyond ‘enjoy’ and ‘be grateful’. Maybe next year.

This reflection is available in my Metacognition Bundle (along with some of my other favorite reflective tools)

I’ve done the same reflection at the end of each of the last three years.

I post some questions (best thing I learned; what helped me this year; and always ‘advice for next year’s students’.) and give students 3, 4, 5 sticky notes each. One note per answer, on whichever questions move them.

The number of notes depends on the class (read: how willing I think they will be to participate, how long it will take them to fill their post its, my willingness to push them to be reflective)

There is a bit of confusion, and some grumbling from my resident curmudgeon, and then there are answers. Some are prosaic “the best thing I learned is fractions” some are philosophical “The love of math”  The are all stuck on the wall by the appropriate prompt, and we do a gallery walk reading and adding stars of agreement (and giving me an easy assessment of points of consensus) I think we all get a much needed boost from so much positivity.

Sometime between graduation and the arrival of new students, their post its are transformed. Typed large in a pretty font and colored paper, I tape them carefully to the wall. Three years in, I have a  happy word-cloud of student advice and wisdom hovering over us at all

Three years in, I love cycling them this way – the end of the year to the beginning, old students to new.

And, three years, in, I see themes.

The biggest, most consistent theme: grit.

“Even if you’re feeling overwhelmed, trying to call it quits. Don’t!! it will pay off in the end.”

“Keep striving and never give up”

But also, general wisdom

   “Love yourself”  and “Don’t be hard on yourself! Give yourself credit!”

And, notes to melt a teachers’ heart

  [The best thing I learned is] That I’m actually smarter than I thought.

(That one actually lives on the bulletin board right above my computer, a constant reminder of why I love this work)

So, as the new school year starts,  I’m taking energy and wisdom from last years’ students. <3

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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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Wins

We have definitely, totally, absolutely reached that time of year. The new-year energy has worn off, we’re all a little tired, feeling a little behind, maybe a little overwhelmed, and just grateful that we get a short break next week.

It’s real. I’ve given out chocolate, and tissues, and lots of deep breaths lately.

And, I am very aware of the class with the terrible attendance, and the students who struggle, and all of the things on the calendar that add stress, and all of the resources that I wish we had but we don’t.

 

And, yet, the little wins.

 

They’re there too, when I remember to breath and notice.

A few weeks ago, we did this open middle challenge.  My students were so into it, they didn’t want to move on when I told them they could. And, my college student volunteer took it home to see if she could get exactly one.

And in another class, we tried these order of operations riddles (freebie!) and one group was so into getting every. last. one. that they argued hard against showing the answer key at the end of the class. They got it, averting their eyes and solving it with seconds to spare.

I’m grateful for the people who put creative and engaging teaching out there. But, my favorite wins are just my students, working  and learning.

I showed my (struggling) middle level class a preview of Algebra equation solving when we were finding the missing side in area. Most of them thought I was nuts to do so much extra writing when they could just divide, get an answer and move on. But one student, who sits in the back and struggles with math and rarely says much, kinda liked it. And when she was done with the first task, took on some simple equations (? + 7 = 15), and then some less simple equations, and by the end of the two hour class was slowly solving two step equations (2x+6=20)

 We had one of those nights early on, where enough of the class had to take an assessment that I couldn’t do anything new. It was early, but I gave the few left in class some practice HiSET tests to look at. Mostly they looked at them, their eyes got wide, and they threw up their hands. I moved on (I’ve never seen such enthusiastic agreement to switching to word problems) But one student stuck with it. He doesn’t know more of the math, he’s just more able to sit with it. He and a tutor worked that practice test for two hours, and then for homework, and then when he had free time in another class.  A few weeks ago, he asked for another test.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Worksheet Fail

I have one class this year that’s about 40% people who just moved up from our lowest level and are still getting their feet under them, 40% who have been at this level for a while because life and learning challenges get in their way, that one woman whose math anxiety trumps her actual skills and the guy who clearly got placed wrong.

It’s a class where I need to go slow and gentle, but some how still teach all the things.

(You’ve had that class, right? They’re lovely people. It’s so gratifying when they learn. And, slow and gentle, slow and gentle, slow and gentle)

We’re working on area, and we did my compound shapes DIY, and it was great. They were in small groups, they were getting it, they were bored even it was so easy.

And then, I handed out a worksheet.

Splat.

It was one of those generic 12 questions, computer generated free worksheets.

And it did not work.

There were a few too many side measures missing, the format didn’t look friendly, it was all too much for my slow and gentle crew.  None of the confidence they’d built up on the previous activity translated.

It was awful to watch.

So, I went looking for some better options. Something that was clear. And had the sides you needed labeled. And only used quadrilaterals (because, one shape at a time with my slow and gentle folks)

And, right, worksheet hunting is always harder than I think it should be in the era of google.

I found one nice one, that wanted me to sign up for some site to download it

I found lots with the same problems as my first try.

And others that would be good down the line, but had too many moving pieces for a first step.

And the third grade ones that were a little too easy

My pinterest board is full of neat projects, but I just need some practice to solidify it.

And the perfect-looking one that lead to a 404 error.

Some nice perimeter ones.

I really did not want to make my own. I could. But I’m not that great with graphics.

But, wait!

After way too much scrolling, the perfect slow and gentle follow up from TES. (You do have to sign up, but they’re not sketchy about it. )

 

 

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That week

I was on it  to start this week. I had new, fun, interactive lessons, the classroom is organized, the power point was pretty. I thought, well, if the administrators are going to conduct surprise classroom visits, this might actually be a good time.

Except, it was also that week. The one where the make-up assessment tests, and the counselor visits and flu and the cold weather and the deaths in the families and all the rest of adult life happened, and my largest class was four students.

*Sigh*

Sometimes, this is life.

This is particularly life in adult ed, where the student body are juggling a lot with little margin for error.

So my four students played like term-ominoes, and went shopping with ratios, and got lots of individual attention. I set up a spot to distribute missed handouts next week, and looked for the good things:

  • The student with the great number sense patiently coaching a classmate through ratios (and the student who is struggling through ratios, but watching YouTube videos at home to get it)
  • I challenged one group of students to make the biggest number the could using only sevens and math symbols, and the student with lots of complicated learning struggles came up with an answer 42 places long (for the curious: (7^7)^7 is apparently something like 2 tredecillion) ((Also good: The resulting mini lesson on scientific notation, which finally seemed useful to my students))
  • The math anxious colleague I helped with some algebra, who emailed me after ‘It makes perfect sense’ now  and the new group of colleagues I’ll be meeting with all spring.
  • And, the student who reassured her classmate before an assessment test, and all the process goals I met getting ready for that week, and the student who was excited about Quizlet, and the one who showed initiative, and the one who came despite all the things, and, and, and…

Because, even those weeks, are full of those things.

 

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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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Habit Stacking: End of Term Reflections

I’m trying out a new end of term reflection.

You don’t know me well enough to know that this is not news.

I’ve tried a new end of term reflection approximately every other term of my teaching career. Obviously, I like the idea, but it rarely feels as reflective/meaningful/helpful as I hope.

This terms’ effort is motivated by three thoughts –

They need more scaffolding if they’re going to produce meaningful, helpful reflection

I need to pick something and stick to it (for my sake, and theirs)

It’s easier to stick to something by building on an existing habit, than creating new habits from scratch (aka habit stacking )

 

So, my new end of term reflection, for now and for future terms, in three steps

  1. Reread all of the metacognition they’ve already done.

I’ve been saving their exit tickets in a big pile on my desk (not sure what I’d need them for, but sure they would be good for something) + their homework folders and their review folders each contain a weekly comment about their progress or process.

Because, data helps.

And because it’s hard to hold a whole term in your head at once, and even harder to see yourself clearly.

  1. Write observations about themselves as learners this term, based on their review of the available evidence.

I’m structuring these as “I notice ____” to nudge them towards the specific, and asking for three.

  1. Give their future selves advice

I’m pointedly not taking these (although I’m taking a look) Instead, I’m asking students to put their advice someplace where they’ll notice it when they need it.

Here’s a copy of my end of term reflection

What I like about this plan:

It feels doable – for me and for them. 10 minutes of class time, I can do that. 3 sentence stems and some advice, they can do that.

It builds on what we’re already doing, so it feels connected. But also, I hope knowing they’ll be re-reading them and using them, nudges students to give more thought to the short metacognitive comments they were already writing.