Tag: systems

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Interleaving

Tonight, my students are working on math. I’m working on interleaving.

It makes sense as a strategy, I buy the research.

And, it’s sometimes hard to actually do. (For me and my students)

So, I’m teaching my students about it tonight, for the sake of accountability.  (And, so that they are less inclined to grumble when I mix topics, because interleaving is hard)

 

The plan:

Warm up: We’re reading about interleaving as a strategy they can do  (It’s an excerpt from this guide on retrievalpractice.org)

(edited to add: The general consensus on reading this one was “My head would hurt…“)

Activity: Converting with Celsius/Fahrenheit temperature formulas. We’ve been working on formulas and expressions, so this feels continuous….until the activity slips in some graphs.

Follow Up: Instead of more temperature formulas, their practice and homework options are more temperatures (Negative numbers on a thermometer, using charts to calculate windchills) Or, more graphs. Or some different formulas. Or a review from last week.  Also, reminders that interleaving helps their brains.

(Independent practice always has options in my class. It’s my favorite way to differentiate.)

 

I like the lesson. I think it will be good for everyone’s brains/learning.

(Also, the previously-planned negative temperatures and wind chills feel a a little too appropriate for the first SUPER COLD night of the year)

 

But, truth: it’s one night. 

And, things don’t really change in my practice until I find ways to systematize them.  :\

I do spiral reviews  so that’s a start.

And, I have a set of milk crates full of review materials, so the stuff is available. That helps.

And, I have plans, a first-steps goals (read: will you be my accountability buddy?)  Once a unit, in each class, for the rest of this year, their homework options will include one random review topic from a previous unit.

But, I’m going to need a spreadsheet or something if I’m going to scale that (I love charts, they fix so many things).

But also, I could use some more ideas.

My more conscientious students said they couldn’t imagine leaving a worksheet half done to switch to something else, so they were going to need some mixed up worksheets if I wanted them to try this. (Oof, more materials to design.)

 

 

 

 

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Student Choices

No offense to professional development facilitators, but most of my best PD is sitting around a table talking with other teachers. I had that conversation recently at the end of  a workshop, and the conversation turned to giving students more choice in the classroom.

 

Truth: I have a personality that is more inclined than is really optimal to operate on the basis of ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself’.

And, truth: my students don’t get much say in the curriculum – either the content or the method to learn it. I used to try surveys and reflections to get input, but it takes more foundation-laying time than I gave it/wanted to put in.  I now take a lot of feedback (exit tickets, lots of metacognitive comments, wish my teacher knew’s) but, truth, it’s mostly after the fact/indirect.

So, there are no genius hours, PBL, makerspaces or many other cool student-driven things. Maybe someday, but not yet.

 

But — pleasant surprise of my PD conversation — I realized we do have  multiple points of student choice in to our classroom culture.

  • Each class when they finish their spiral review they have 0-25 minutes (depending on their speed) to work on anything they want.
  • Unless an activity specifically needs group or solo work, I typically give the option of working independently or with classmates of their choice.
  • I mostly differentiate by starting everyone with the same activity, letting them work at their own pace, and giving different follow up as students finish the first task. Unless a student really needs challenge or review, I mostly let them pick from 2 or 3 related tasks.
  • I’m on my soapbox about homework but they get to choose what work they do.

 

Since ‘naturally flexible teacher’ is clearly not the foundation, I’ve been thinking about what it takes to make these choices work.

It’s not really the logistics. Mostly these choices means making copies of a few different worksheets.  It’s different to implement a homework system where they pick, but I don’t think it’s harder (honestly, now that I’m in it, I’m exhausted by the thought of keeping track of who did page 74, instead of my “did they do something” routine)

 

Mostly, it’s a mindset thing

 

Partly, that’s reminding myself that I neither want nor need to control this particular thing.

Because decision fatigue is real.

Because I really do believe in a democratic classroom.

Because they’re adults and they are perfectly capable of, say, figuring out who to work with.

It helps when I remember that one of my core goals is that they learn how to be strong learners – and they can’t do that if they’re never in control of their learning.

 

AND THEN once I’ve wrapped my mind around this idea, I have to help them wrap theirs around it.

Students who end up in my classes do not have a lot of experience with teachers asking them to make choices about their learning.

Every time I get new students, I go through the same conversation

“Great, you’re done with the review early, what do you want to work on?”

“I don’t know” OR “Anything” (or some variant, usually with a confused look that says the real answer is “Why are you asking me?” and “How would I know?”)

And then my job is to teach them how to figure out what they want/need to work on. Was there something on the review that was hard? Something from a previous class they missed or want to practice? …

Odds are good, we’ll repeat the conversation the next week.

And maybe the next.

But eventually they figure out how to choose something to work on, and that’s a great moment.

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Constant Cumulative Review: Pt 4 Implementation Considerations

Read: Part 1: Start with Why , Part 2: Making Materials without Going Insane, Part 3: Putting it into Practice and/or Classroom Routines: You will metacognate for background

Consideration 1: Why I love it…

  • Having a routine buffers the chaos at the start of class, and buys me a few minutes to deal with whatever needs dealing with that day (a student back from an absence, a message from the counselor, laying out materials for an activity) while students are getting to the work of learning. If it were not this, I am now sold on some consistent ‘do now’ activity.
  • Retention – My students’ learning never gets more than a week or two from the top of their minds, and this really does seem to help them retain what they’ve learned. (yay!) This has the side benefit of dramatically reducing frustration, and boosting their sense of competence as math learners. (double and triple yay!)
  • It makes me feel better when a student doesn’t totally grasp something in class. We’re not moving on and leaving them in the dust, they’ll see and try it (and get to ask questions about it) again and again and again until they get it.
  • The metacognitive elements, but especially students taking ownership – correcting, commenting, choosing independent work
  • All the good brain science (more on that below)

 

Consideration 2: But, the time!

I love this system, but, nothing is without trade-off’s. And the big trade-off here is that I devote a lot of class time to this.

The whole routine takes about 30 minutes (out of a two hour class) It could be less, but a) the hazards of teaching adults with jobs/kids/broken down cars  include someone straggling in late b) I time it by watching my slowest students  c) we’re doing a lot during this time.

(Although, also, I imagine that a K12 class might need less time)

For me, the returns in the form of learning are high enough that I’d do it anyways, but I have also learned that we do get some of that time back at a few points:

-Those all-review days– before the test, at the end of the year, at the end of the term etc. – because we’re reviewing as we go, I can have a ‘real’ lesson on those days.

-Some of the time I’d spend on “Ok class, who remembers what we did last time…?”  *crickets* Because we’ve just done a review, I can get to the new stuff faster. (Having the review at the start of class is also a great activator)

-Some of the time I’d spend catching up lost students, or those who take longer, or who had it but forgot, or who just haven’t grasped that one. specific. thing.  They’ll get to work on whatever that stuck point is, as part of the regular flow of class, so we’re not doing (as much) time away from class to address their confusion.

 

Consideration 3: High impact practices

Yes, time intensive, but worth it to me in part because it folds in so many high impact learning practices.

Retrieval practice (remembering what you learned by quizzing etc. )

 (My open notes decision undercuts this a bit but, frankly, most students are not taking great notes so I’m not sure who much help they get and they need the encouragement to take any notes.)

(I’m currently experimenting with a ‘purer’ retrieval practice, adding a question at the end asking them to put away the notes and free write what they remember from the previous class. My template includes versions with and without this) 

  Spaced repetition (aka distributed practice, the opposite of cramming)

Metacognitive Reflection

Interleaving (Studying a mix of topics)

Differentiation/ Student Choice work

Activating Prior Knowledge

(I also have a hunch that this is a sort of informal exposure therapy for the math and text anxiety that run rampant through my classroom. Face a well-supported, low stakes version every week and eventually it gets normal enough to be a little less scary….? I don’t have the research, except a suggestion in this study, if you know more than me, please comment!)

 

 

Consideration 4: Adapting it

Spacing – Perhaps a monthly or bi weekly schedule makes more sense for your class, or maybe you do a (more extensive?) version as a transition between each unit?

Correcting – My classes are ungraded (except for the minor matter of the ultra high stakes high school equivalency exam) Perhaps having students correct themselves wouldn’t work in your school culture. Perhaps you grade them, but maybe pairs exchange papers to correct, or the class reviews results together, or you beat me to the technological punch and use a self-grading quiz program.

Timing – A half hour suits my class, but perhaps you reduce the number of questions, or cut back on the folder comment writing and student choice work to make it quicker. Or, extend it to an occasional full-period activity with more questions and review stations.

Structure – Perhaps this is not your starter, but your end of Friday routine. Perhaps the review sheets go home as homework.  Perhaps pairs or teams work together, instead of solo.  Maybe the process of reviewing is what matters and you drop the folder writing and/or independent work elements altogether.

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Constant Cumulative Review: Pt. 3 Putting it into Practice

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.

  1. 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).
  1. 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).
  1. 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

  1. 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.

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Constant Cumulative Review: Pt. 2 Making Materials without Going Insane

Read: Part 1: Start with Why and/or Classroom Routines: You will metacognate for background

When my student asked for cumulative reviews the first, highest barrier was figuring out how I could possibly make custom materials, at a scale that would be useful, without going insane or putting in more hours than I had to give.

There was a learning curve, but with practice, and a system, it now fits into my weekly prep routine without too much fuss.

 

Essential Supplies: One of those accordion folders with multiple pockets, scissors, glue stick, paper.

(I have dreams of one day getting organized enough to do this electronically, but I’m not there yet)

The Process:

Round 1:  New school year, I stock the first section of my accordion folder with a few worksheets worth of review skills that students should know coming in. I cut out 1 or two problems from 3 or 4 sheets and glue stick them to a piece of scrap paper.   I make copies and answer keys, the class does them, then moves on to learn some new math. At the end of our learning, I put some of the leftover materials in a new pocket of the folder.

Round 2: One or two problems from 2 or three review skills, plus a problem or two of the newly learned skill. Glue stick. Copies. Answer key. Class. New math. Extra materials to the accordion folder. (Each unit or major skill gets a pocket in my folder)

Round 3: A few review problems, one or two of the skill we learned two weeks ago, and one or two more of the skill we learned last week.  Glue stick. Copies. Answer key. Class. New math, extras to the accordion folder.

Rounds 4 to n: 6 or 8 or 10 (if I’m feeling ambitious, mostly 8ish) problems cut from increasingly scrappy looking worksheets.

As the year goes on and we’ve learned more than 6 or 8 or 10 skills, I select quickly, without getting too bogged down. There’s always the last thing we learned, a selection of previous skills, and usually some basic number sense item that I want to drive into their brains through the power of repeated practice.

Most weeks, it takes me about half an hour to make review sheets, answer keys  and copies for two levels of classes. (My classes change just enough each year that I haven’t found it worth it to try to reuse them from year to year, but maybe you’re consistent enough to pull it off)

I’ve created a template (although you hardly need it) 

 

The essential elements:

Organization. For me, the accordion folder (perhaps for you another easy-organization binder-ish alternative)  If I had to find 6 or 8 or 10 types of math questions every week, I wouldn’t do it, but I can cut and glue 6 or 8 or 10.

Letting go of any perfectionist impulses. I move quickly and don’t agonize too much over which items to include (or how DIY it looks). This is the power of doing it regularly – anything I don’t cover sufficiently this week, will certainly be covered in other weeks.

 

Stay tuned for Part 3: Putting it into Practice and Part 4: Implementation Considerations

 

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Constant Cumulative Review (pt.1)

As I’ve mentioned, my two primary math classes start every week with a cumulative review. It is a bigger commitment than most of the practices I describe here, but I think the impact is worth it.

In brief, my system is a short mixed review sheet that I make each week. I pick problems from a folder full of worksheets from the whole year, so that it is a constantly expanding cumulative review. Students know to work on the review when they first get to class, then correct it themselves and log their results. If they have extra time they work independently on any weak points the review sheet turned up.

I’ll be back with more details, in three parts

  • How to stay sane while making weekly cumulative reviews
  • Review sheets in action
  • Implementation considerations

But for today, start with why. 

We do it because…

  1. Retaining what you’ve learned is maddeningly difficult when you only have a few hours of math a week, and you spend the rest of your time thinking about other pressing non math things.

And because I got tired of students working hard in class to learn something, only to get to an end of term review or high stakes test (or the next weeks’ class) and realize they had forgotten it. This is discouraging for everyone.

 

  1. The brain science/pedagogy: recall practice and interleaving, low stakes formative assessments, the way it set up student-lead differentiated review.  All good, research-backed pedagogical reasons.

 

  1. But really, because a student asked for it.

This student, D–, was one of my sweetest, favorite students. The kind who cheerfully worked away at a subject that baffled her, who kept at it despite setbacks, who’s going to make a great early childhood educator someday, and who paid attention to her own learning enough to know that she didn’t always retain what she had studied.

So, when she asked for review materials that combined of all of the math we’d covered, I paid attention. It was a good request, but not one I could easily answer.

The textbooks had a cumulative review at the end, but we hadn’t done every unit, so that wasn’t so helpful. And I didn’t have a custom one ready for her. Making a custom one would require digging back through all of the units we’d done over the last six months, and that would take time (which is always limited)  I think/hope we did a review day soon after, but mostly I kept thinking about her request.

  1. And I do it because systems solve things.  (personal philosophies…)

No, I didn’t have a stack of perfectly aligned cumulative reviews when she asked for them, but by September, I had figured out a system. We could have them going forward.