I was pretty frustrated at the end of last week and actually sent my students home with quite a large mandatory practice assignment to complete in order to prepare for their test on Tuesday. This isn't something I usually do, but my students are having a hard time understanding that a certain amount of practice really is needed/required in order to make sure they master and grasp the concepts.
So, I was crossing my fingers that the results of the Unit K test would be good and I could use this as a learning experience for my students... and thankfully, they were good! One class got double the length of assignment the other two classes did, and that class pretty much scored identically to the class that is usually 5-10% higher on class average for the tests. That made me very proud since they were the class that has been frustrating me to no end the last couple of weeks with their effort and performance.
Other than that, it's been a pretty good week. It was great to get some good student feedback via one of the online WSQ questions they had. Sometimes it's hard to see that your students really are learning the non-math stuff you hope they learn in your class, and it was really encouraging to read what they had to say.
One thing I really am glad we have the time for in my flipped class is posing really tough and challenging problems to students and having them actually tackle them and work through them rather than just giving up. On Friday, we evaluated the difference quotient of higher-powered polynomials using the binomial theorem. (Sound fun, non-math people? Oh, it's a blast :)). For their WSQ the night before, I only showed them how to do it with a monomial and then a monomial with a coefficient (with powers of 4 and 5, respectively). For their intro problem, I put up a four-termed polynomial with powers of 7,5,3,and 1 all in one problem. I asked them how they would set up and organize that problem. We talked through it a little, and in the later classes I gave them a little visual guidance. Then I put up another four-term problem with high powers and had them take a crack at it as a group. Really awesome stuff. I figure if they can tackle the hard stuff, when it comes to their quizzes and tests, the problems will be a breeze!
Another thing I had the time for this week was to just sit down and work through some of the practice problems with about 2-4 students per period at my "U" area in the classroom. We just wrote a problem on the small whiteboard and they talked me through how to do it, and I clarified and asked questions along the way. It was really great and something I would never have time for in a non-flipped class.
I have a Masters-level student doing his research on aspects of the flipped classroom and he will be using one of my classes as his focus class. He came in for the first time this last week and will be doing most of the study at the beginning of the new year. I am excited to see what he has to say and will definitely share it as he allows in the spring.
We have a 4 1/2 day week and then 3 weeks off for Winter Break. I am SOOOOO excited for some time off to rest, relax, and enjoy the holidays. I hope all of you are enjoying the Christmas season!
Showing posts with label 13-14 weekly reflections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 13-14 weekly reflections. Show all posts
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Friday, November 15, 2013
Week 12 Reflections - AND lots of student blog samples!
Another great week!
WSQ chats -
Giving students more structure is definitely working. This week, they were given a different handout every day to discuss and work on in their "small groups" of three students each. What I think is best is having a handout gives students more accountability and it gives me proof of what they have talked about. Here is what we did this week (see all the handouts here):
For more details on any of the blog posts I talk about below, go to bit.ly/blogpostdetails.
Tuesday - Matrices day 4 (handout 3-4d) - The goal of this discussion was for students to understand what "infinitely many solutions" really means - that it's not just any numbers, but any ordered triples that follow the qualifications of the solution formulas.
Students also made sure their Student Video #5 was done and good. See student samples at any of the links below:
Wednesday - Matrices day 5 (handout 3-4e) - I had students do this activity in their small groups and spent the period meeting with each table to discuss their answers. They had been working on matrices for a week and now I wanted them to know exactly what their solutions looked like visually. Each table is made up of two groups of three, so I looked at both group's answers and we talked through them. I used the app QuickGraph to show them a 3-D visual of the graphs (you could move it around and look at it from all angles). It was awesome to see students so engaged and interested in seeing the 3 dimensional graph.
It took me about 30 minutes of the class to meet with each table, so that means I spent about 5 minutes per table discussing their answers, what they thought, clarifying misunderstandings, and showing them the visual.
Thursday - Partial Fraction Decomposition Day 1 (handout 5) - The actual discussion part was purposely short (about 2 minutes) because I wanted students to focus on working through their Student Problem 4 (see video directions here). However, it was a good quick check to see if students understood and could explain the main point from the video lesson the night before.
I thought the student problem day was awesome. I purposely made this one pretty tough for them, because I wanted them to show me that they understand the forwards ("composing") and backwards ("decomposing") of the partial fractions. I really wanted them to see that what we were learning was just the reverse of what they learned in Algebra 1 and Algebra 2.
It was also great because every student was working on a different problem (since they wrote it themselves), and so they all had to work individually yet support and help each other with their different problems. They couldn't just rely on someone else to do the work and then "get help" by copying them - they actually had to do it.
Want to see some student examples? Of course you do! Here are the 24 that have already been turned in. I haven't seen them yet, so I'm sure there are awesome and not-so-awesome examples. But, take a look, and feel free to comment!
Setting up and solving this Student Problem took about 30-40 minutes of the period. However, I have started to become more of a fan of students working longer on really hard, conceptual problems rather than spending a shorter amount of time on easier, procedural problems. Well, I still do see the benefit of both but this week I have had them do the big conceptual one first even though it's more time consuming and then they can follow that up with as much practice as they feel they need.
Friday - Partial Fraction Decomposition Day 2 (handout 6) - Same as yesterday, the actual discussion time was short, just to make sure they knew what I meant when I say "count up the powers" for repeated linear factors. The focus was on choosing one of the three problems to do for their Student Problem 5. #1 on the worksheet was "hard", #2 was "medium" and #3 was "easy". They had to choose their difficulty level. I had about half of every class choose #1 and the other half choose #2. It was interesting to see most of my D/F students choose #1 because 3 bonus points were offered for doing the hardest one! However, after discussing with some of them, they also just really wanted the challenge. I love that! I hope they aren't in the D/F range much longer...
This isn't due until the end of the period Monday, so I only have four turned in so far... but here they are! The first 3 are all the "medium" problem and the last one is the "hard" problem.
Ask your questions!
We did have an issue this week with students asking questions. Every night on their WSQ, they type their HOT question into the google form. They are supposed to label their question as one of three things:
Then, they jot the question in their SSS packet so they can remember it the next day.
On Tuesday, I knew there were a lot of good questions from skimming through the WSQ submissions before class. As I went around from group to group, I asked the students what questions they had. In my first class period, I made it all the way around to all 33 students and I had ONE student tell me they had a question. I then projected the WSQ submission spreadsheet on the screen and counted down the question column for period 1, and counted NINETEEN actual "confusion" questions. We had a little discussion in class about the need to ask questions and clarify confusions. I then made my way around the classroom again, group by group, and got to answer and explain about 15 or so questions. They were great questions, and good things to ask and discuss - but I think it really is easier for students to say, "Oh I get it, no problem". I need to continue to work on encouraging and reminding them to ask their questions.
Grade Improvement!
This is the end of the 2nd grading period. 29 of my 105 math analysis students raised their grade by at least one letter in the last 6 weeks, which is awesome! Students have been re-assessing, learning material they didn't understand before, and showing so much improvement. Right now, the only students who are failing the class are ones who haven't showed up to re-assess on anything consistently. However, I hope in the next 6 weeks even more pull through and come show me what they've learned!
I am SO PROUD of so many of my students who started the year struggling with both the content and the technology and have persevered, asked for help, and are now succeeding greatly in the class. I hope they realize that hard work and dedication do pay off!!! Now, I just have figure out how to help the students transition better/faster at the beginning of the year so it doesn't take some of them 3 months to come around :)
WSQ chats -
Giving students more structure is definitely working. This week, they were given a different handout every day to discuss and work on in their "small groups" of three students each. What I think is best is having a handout gives students more accountability and it gives me proof of what they have talked about. Here is what we did this week (see all the handouts here):
For more details on any of the blog posts I talk about below, go to bit.ly/blogpostdetails.
Tuesday - Matrices day 4 (handout 3-4d) - The goal of this discussion was for students to understand what "infinitely many solutions" really means - that it's not just any numbers, but any ordered triples that follow the qualifications of the solution formulas.
Students also made sure their Student Video #5 was done and good. See student samples at any of the links below:
Wednesday - Matrices day 5 (handout 3-4e) - I had students do this activity in their small groups and spent the period meeting with each table to discuss their answers. They had been working on matrices for a week and now I wanted them to know exactly what their solutions looked like visually. Each table is made up of two groups of three, so I looked at both group's answers and we talked through them. I used the app QuickGraph to show them a 3-D visual of the graphs (you could move it around and look at it from all angles). It was awesome to see students so engaged and interested in seeing the 3 dimensional graph.
It took me about 30 minutes of the class to meet with each table, so that means I spent about 5 minutes per table discussing their answers, what they thought, clarifying misunderstandings, and showing them the visual.
Thursday - Partial Fraction Decomposition Day 1 (handout 5) - The actual discussion part was purposely short (about 2 minutes) because I wanted students to focus on working through their Student Problem 4 (see video directions here). However, it was a good quick check to see if students understood and could explain the main point from the video lesson the night before.
I thought the student problem day was awesome. I purposely made this one pretty tough for them, because I wanted them to show me that they understand the forwards ("composing") and backwards ("decomposing") of the partial fractions. I really wanted them to see that what we were learning was just the reverse of what they learned in Algebra 1 and Algebra 2.
It was also great because every student was working on a different problem (since they wrote it themselves), and so they all had to work individually yet support and help each other with their different problems. They couldn't just rely on someone else to do the work and then "get help" by copying them - they actually had to do it.
Want to see some student examples? Of course you do! Here are the 24 that have already been turned in. I haven't seen them yet, so I'm sure there are awesome and not-so-awesome examples. But, take a look, and feel free to comment!
Setting up and solving this Student Problem took about 30-40 minutes of the period. However, I have started to become more of a fan of students working longer on really hard, conceptual problems rather than spending a shorter amount of time on easier, procedural problems. Well, I still do see the benefit of both but this week I have had them do the big conceptual one first even though it's more time consuming and then they can follow that up with as much practice as they feel they need.
Friday - Partial Fraction Decomposition Day 2 (handout 6) - Same as yesterday, the actual discussion time was short, just to make sure they knew what I meant when I say "count up the powers" for repeated linear factors. The focus was on choosing one of the three problems to do for their Student Problem 5. #1 on the worksheet was "hard", #2 was "medium" and #3 was "easy". They had to choose their difficulty level. I had about half of every class choose #1 and the other half choose #2. It was interesting to see most of my D/F students choose #1 because 3 bonus points were offered for doing the hardest one! However, after discussing with some of them, they also just really wanted the challenge. I love that! I hope they aren't in the D/F range much longer...
This isn't due until the end of the period Monday, so I only have four turned in so far... but here they are! The first 3 are all the "medium" problem and the last one is the "hard" problem.
Ask your questions!
We did have an issue this week with students asking questions. Every night on their WSQ, they type their HOT question into the google form. They are supposed to label their question as one of three things:
"Confusion" - they ask a question about something they are actually confused about
"Discussion" - they ask a good discussion question (and they are supposed to provide the answer as well)
"Example" - they make up their own example (and they are supposed to solve it as well).
Then, they jot the question in their SSS packet so they can remember it the next day.
On Tuesday, I knew there were a lot of good questions from skimming through the WSQ submissions before class. As I went around from group to group, I asked the students what questions they had. In my first class period, I made it all the way around to all 33 students and I had ONE student tell me they had a question. I then projected the WSQ submission spreadsheet on the screen and counted down the question column for period 1, and counted NINETEEN actual "confusion" questions. We had a little discussion in class about the need to ask questions and clarify confusions. I then made my way around the classroom again, group by group, and got to answer and explain about 15 or so questions. They were great questions, and good things to ask and discuss - but I think it really is easier for students to say, "Oh I get it, no problem". I need to continue to work on encouraging and reminding them to ask their questions.
Grade Improvement!
This is the end of the 2nd grading period. 29 of my 105 math analysis students raised their grade by at least one letter in the last 6 weeks, which is awesome! Students have been re-assessing, learning material they didn't understand before, and showing so much improvement. Right now, the only students who are failing the class are ones who haven't showed up to re-assess on anything consistently. However, I hope in the next 6 weeks even more pull through and come show me what they've learned!
I am SO PROUD of so many of my students who started the year struggling with both the content and the technology and have persevered, asked for help, and are now succeeding greatly in the class. I hope they realize that hard work and dedication do pay off!!! Now, I just have figure out how to help the students transition better/faster at the beginning of the year so it doesn't take some of them 3 months to come around :)
Monday, November 11, 2013
Week 11 reflections
Two weeks until Thanksgiving Break!
Let's see, this week we worked on Unit J, which is solving three-variable systems of equations with matrices. Students have a love/hate relationship with matrices. I try to constantly remind the students that the only way to get better at them is with time and practice. So, we still have two days of matrices left and then applying those skills to partial fraction decomposition. Sound fun? (I'm sure to my non-math readers you are thrilled right now!).
I did something a little different with the first day of matrices. It's how I've done it the last 2 years as well, but I'm not sure I'm happy with it. Students watch the intro video at home, which basically goes over the vocabulary, set-up, general process, etc for matrices. It does work through one example while explaining that, but it's really just background info. (On another note, this is I think the only video I left as one long chunk of 15 minutes, because it's not really a pause/take notes type of video. I asked my students for feedback and while many of them said it was just fine the way it was, the general consensus was to split it up into three parts based on the three pages of the SSS packet it goes over. That will be an easy fix for next year. I appreciate the student feedback!).
So, what I then do in class is go over two matrix examples (yes it takes 50 minutes to do 2 examples whole class). Like I said, this is the way I've done it the last several years. I figure as one perk it does give those students who really want that traditional classroom one day of normalcy. However, I really wasn't happy with it this year. At the end of the day, besides having a headache from talking more in one day than I have all year to a large group, I just didn't feel it was the best use of the face to face time I had with my kids. Now, I still believe the vocab/background video was important... and they definitely aren't ready to work on matrices on their own that first day. But, why not record those two examples on video and let the students use their devices or our class iPods to watch them by themselves or in small groups at their own pace? With me walking around to clarify, students would still be able to get their questions on a very tough concept answered immediately, but those students who "got it" don't have to wait around and sit there bored.
I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before, but I really think that is what I'm going to do next year. My philosophy of how class time should be spent is continuing to shift and whole-class teacher-directed lecture is definitely not my way to go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm continuing to work on the WSQ chat time of class and am really happy with how they are going this year compared to last year. Now, as I've mentioned previously, Peer Instruction has become one of my best friends. As one of my students said in their weekly reflection,
The beloved peer instructions
I<3peerinstructions4ever
However, we don't do that every day. On other days, students have some sort of "task" to complete for their discussion to hold them accountable. This week, it was as simple as:
- Mon - Concept 1 - linear systems. Peer Instruction
- Tues - Concept 2 - non-linear systems. Peer Instruction
- Wed - 1st day of matrices. I gave them a system in row-echelon form and with no other instructions, told them to solve for the ordered triple answer and describe their process using as many vocabulary words as possible from the previous night.
- Thurs - 2nd day of matrices - Students were given a system and told to solve it using RREF in their calculator. The purpose of this discussion was to make sure students knew how to use their graphing calculator to solve systems.
- Fri - 3rd day of matrices - Students were given a system to solve and the timer started. Answer key was at the U and students saw how quickly they could correctly solve a matrix. This was less a WSQ chat as a warm-up activity/formative assessment for individual students.
The second grading period ends Friday (we have 6 week grading periods), and I have seen tremendous progress in my students with re-assessments and simply turning in missing work! I finally had to resort to consequences for missing work (our school has a progressive discipline program in place for missing assignments) and that sure motivated the students. Red (missing) assignments and 0's in the gradebook started disappearing very quickly! This also means students' grades went up a lot. I guess they just didn't understand how much little assignments can affect their grade.
I am happy to say that I have 1/2 the number of F's in my struggling 5th period class as I did the first grading period. Yay for them!
I sent home "Good news texts" to any parents who had given me their number (from my teaching Google Voice number). That was fun for me and fun for them. I wish I had all the parents, but not everyone texts and not everyone said it was okay... One student's favorite part of the week?
Reassessing on Unit I and getting an A. My mom was so proud when she told me about the good news text!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I still send out the weekly survey for reflection and feedback. I only get between 3-5 responses (out of 105) a week, but it's still good. I'll send out a more formal one come the end of the semester.
One of the questions I asked this week was about which activities help them the most in class and why. Here was one student's response:
Video lessons: I can pause, rewatch, skip ahead to see if I got the correct answers.
SSS packets: goes hand in hand with video lessons, very helpful tool.
PQ problems: they help me see if I truly understood the concept and if I didn't, I could always ask for help since the PQ problems are on the quiz, and those problems are going to be on test.
WSQ chat activities: allows a chance to clear things up
"U" small groups: if there's something little you need help with like how to properly use your calculator you can get a quick little tutorial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a side note, I tried a little peer instruction with my 6th period Algebra 1 class on Thursday. It actually went (fairly) well. It helped to get students out of their seats and helping each other. A lot more monitoring for off task behavior and a much tighter timeline between questions is needed since they are much more immature and unfocused, but still a positive activity to try again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We've got a 4 day week, a 5 day week, and then a week off for Thanksgiving!
I'm thankful for the opportunity to share, and for my PLN, especially the CheeseBucket Posse of Cheryl, Andrew, and Karl, who have been there for me through thick and thin, especially right around this time last year. Love you guys!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Week 10 reflections
It's Sunday night and I just remembered I haven't blogged about this week yet. And I'm really trying to commit to it every week, so even though I'm exhausted (yes it's only 7:44 pm, but this momma needs her sleep!), I'm going to try to put something together...
- Unit I Test - tough test with lots of stuff to memorize (compound interest formulas, exponential and logarithmic graphs). Students took this on Thursday. About 60% got As and Bs; 25% got F's. I'm having mandatory tutoring and retake for those 25 students this week. The hard part about this unit was there was only 3 main concepts and if you messed up on one part early on, the rest of the problem was screwed up. I'm hoping a little revisiting will help these students do great on the reassessment.
- It was neat to talk to students about saving, investing, bank accounts, etc. Every year I'm surprised by how little they know and am glad to be able to play a small part in educating them.
- I'm really happy with the way my students are able to articulate themselves on their student videos on their blogs. Students who are quieter in class and who I would never have the chance to sit down and hear a full explanation of a concept, I can go to their blog and listen to them explain through it. It's really awesome. I highly suggest it!
This week we start matrices, which students either love or hate. They are very tough at first, I admit it. But, we are spending 5 days on them so hopefully by the end students will feel confident.
I have some (what I think are) pretty cool WSQ chat activities planned for Unit J. I'll post them up and talk about them in the next 2 weeks as we do them in class.
7:49. 5 minutes tired-er. Good night everyone! Thanks for reading and being a part of my PLN!
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Week 9 reflections - Proud of my students
Every week is just flying by - are we seriously 1/4 of the way through the school year already?
This was a crazy week; I took Wednesday off to present two webinars, which split the week nicely in half. It was also really nice to have more time to spend with Grayson in the middle of the week.
If you want to check out the archives for both free webinars, please see the following links:
This was a crazy week; I took Wednesday off to present two webinars, which split the week nicely in half. It was also really nice to have more time to spend with Grayson in the middle of the week.
If you want to check out the archives for both free webinars, please see the following links:
- Sophia.org Webinar: "Flipping with Kirch". Archive here.
- EdWeb.net Webinar: Flipped Learning and the Common Core State Standards: Flipping the Math Classroom. Archive here
I am really happy with the progress I am seeing in my Math Analysis class. Students took their Unit H Test this week and did super well. Here are the results from 104 of my 106 students.
My students' blogs are coming along quite well, and I am really happy with their Student Problems and Student Videos. They have to come up with their own problems given specific requirements. Here are some recent ones, for you math teachers out there (you can see all the instructions at bit.ly/blogpostdetails)
Hmmm not much else this week. It was Homecoming Week so Friday we had an assembly and it was just a catchup day. Monday we reviewed, Tuesday we took the test, Wednesday I was out (but class continued on like normal without me!!! I <3 Flipped Class!), Thursday was really our only normal day, we did some Peer Instruction on exponential graphs and their parts, and then just worked on practicing graphing.
Next week we will finish Unit I and the students have Friday off (day after Halloween, go figure!) while teachers have a half-day PD.
Looking forward to another great week!
Something new I am doing this year is keeping track of student mastery on unit tests with a "Green and Yellow" chart. Green means they have either an A or a B on the test, Yellow means they have a C. It's nice to just have around so I can easily talk to students daily who need to be studying to re-assess on a certain unit. I tell them that by the end of the semester, they have to have green or yellow for everything, so it's a modified version of mastery. The only difference is they still move on with the class, but have to be working back on reviewing and studying old material to learn it and re-assess.
Students like it because they can check easily without having to go online the gradebook which units they need to go back to. It's interesting also to have a quick comparison between classes (can you tell which class is my top class?). I also like to make sure to congratulate students who got their first "green" of the semester, or even their first "yellow" for some of them.
Speaking of congratulating students, I also have "Club 95", which is for students who get a 95% or higher on any unit test (including reassessments). They get a certificate that goes on the wall, and just gets stapled on top of each other as they gather more through the year. I had a student who got her first Club 95 this week and she cried... it was seriously so awesome!
I also have a student who has gone from a 40% to a 64% (almost passing - 65% is passing for us) in just about 2-3 weeks of focused work getting her missing work in and re-assessing on tests. I am so darn proud of her!
One more thing about the green and yellow charts above. Units A-D were the units students covered over the summer as "let's review Algebra 2 to get you ready". They had about a week of review and then took a test. Unit E was the first "flipped" unit of the year. You can see that students struggled on Unit E, but check out how F,G, and H have been. I really feel like a lot of that is due to them being adjusted to the flipped classroom and to the expectations and flow of the class. Far from perfect, that's for sure, but it's a neat thing to see!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My students' blogs are coming along quite well, and I am really happy with their Student Problems and Student Videos. They have to come up with their own problems given specific requirements. Here are some recent ones, for you math teachers out there (you can see all the instructions at bit.ly/blogpostdetails)
- Solving logs given approximations - Write a logarithmic expression that can be expanded using all three properties (product, power, quotient) of logs (they have to understand how using those properties comes about and what there needs to be in order to use them)
- Graphing exponential equations - Write and graph an exponential equation that does NOT have an x-intercept (they have to understand how to appropriately place the asymptote and how to choose the value of "a" in the equation to make this happen)
- Graphing logarithmic equations - Write and graph a log equation that has BOTH an x- and y-intercept. (they have to understand the asymptote of a log graph and where to place it so the graph touches both axes)
Please check out my students' blogs, and feel free to comment on their posts! We haven't done much with commenting this year, but I'm sure they'd love to get comments!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next week we will finish Unit I and the students have Friday off (day after Halloween, go figure!) while teachers have a half-day PD.
Looking forward to another great week!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Week 8 - I love Peer Instruction!
Seriously, I do! It really has made the WSQ chat time of class so much more valuable and focused than anything I've done in years past. (I posted about it a few weeks ago here). The students really seem to enjoy it as well, and find it very beneficial.
One thing I tried out this week (we did Peer Instruction on Thursday and Friday this week) was purposely picking problems that went one step beyond what I taught on the video. This helped to challenge every student and provided for some great conversation both as a class and in groups.
I also feel it provides a little bit of that teacher-instruction that some of my students are still craving as I'm weaning them off the traditional classroom. (Even though in peer instruction, I am really not doing any instruction myself, I'm simply putting the problem on the screen, timing them, and asking for votes... but for some reason just having me lead the activity makes them feel like "old times") Keep them happy = they work harder for you!
When I put a problem up on the screen, I always give between 2-3 minutes for students to answer them individually. When I ask for answers, there are several options, and what I do with each option. The second part of this peer instruction time takes another 2-4 minutes, depending on the problem.
~~~~~
One thing I tried out this week (we did Peer Instruction on Thursday and Friday this week) was purposely picking problems that went one step beyond what I taught on the video. This helped to challenge every student and provided for some great conversation both as a class and in groups.
I also feel it provides a little bit of that teacher-instruction that some of my students are still craving as I'm weaning them off the traditional classroom. (Even though in peer instruction, I am really not doing any instruction myself, I'm simply putting the problem on the screen, timing them, and asking for votes... but for some reason just having me lead the activity makes them feel like "old times") Keep them happy = they work harder for you!
When I put a problem up on the screen, I always give between 2-3 minutes for students to answer them individually. When I ask for answers, there are several options, and what I do with each option. The second part of this peer instruction time takes another 2-4 minutes, depending on the problem.
- All the students (or all but 2-3) get it right - I tell the students who still don't quite get it to put a * by it, and when the WSQ chat is over they will come to the U and I will go over it with them.
- 10 or so kids don't get it right - We review the problem orally as a class, which provides those kids a little more time to finish (sometimes they don't have it right because they need more time), and gives them that hint they need. If they still don't quite get it, they will come to the U after the WSQ chat time.
- 1/2 the class doesn't get it right - All the students who get it right stand up, and go help somebody who is sitting. Once that student understands, they also stand up and go find somebody to help. Once everyone, or all but 2-3 students, are standing, I ask them to return to their seats. Same as before, if a student still doesn't quite get it, they are asked to put a * and come to the U.
- Only 6-10 kids get it right - The students who got it right stand up and each of them go to a table or 1/2 of a table and work with a small group of students. Once students get the right answer, they stand up and join in on the helping.
- Nobody gets it right - I begin the problem on the board and clarify some misunderstandings or misconceptions that I sense they are having. I don't solve it all the way, but give them another minute or two after I've done the first few steps. We then "vote" again and see where we are at.
~~~~~
- I did have a student who wanted to try the "flipped" "flipped classroom". Meaning, because of her schedule, she wanted to watch the videos in class and do the practice at home. I was more than willing to have her try it out if she thought it would help. She did for a couple of days and then I noticed her working back with the group. She said that she found it to actually be more time consuming and would rather do it the "real" flipped classroom way. I'm glad she had the opportunity to experience that, sometimes I think our students need to experience both ways so they can see the benefits of the flipped classroom.
- I took one of my class periods to the Mac Lab this week to do some guided instruction on watching videos. Yes, we are over 2 months into the school year, but this class period still seems to be struggling. I have half the class with A's and B's, and the other half with D's and F's. Never had a Math Analysis class like this before, but I needed to find a way to help support them. After a conversation with our principal, I thought a day in the lab might help them with some of their struggles. Thankfully, Wednesday was the PSAT day and a "catchup" day in class so they didn't actually miss out on a day of something new.
- I projected the video on the big screen and had all the students open up the Sophia tutorial and WSQ form on their computer. We talked about a few things:
- Be "FIT" when watching videos (see my FAQ page for details on that)
- Preview the WSQ questions before watching the video. The guiding questions I choose are supposed to be the "Big Idea" behind the lesson. I was greatly surprised to find only about 5 of my 36 students actually look at the questions before watching, which means they spend a great deal of time after the video trying to think back through what they learned and don't watch with a purpose.
- With that, answering the questions/writing the summary throughout watching the lesson as they pull together key ideas and see the "Big Idea"
- How to appropriately pause, rewind, and take notes. I have structured times for them to pause, "Just Pause It" comes on, but there are also times when a big callout comes on the screen, or when I say a key phrase from one of the guiding WSQ questions... again, I was surprised to find so many of my students did not actively pay attention or pause during those times.
- How to attempt the secret questions. The WSQ we did together had two parts, so we watch the first part together, and then they watched the second part on their own computers. In between, they were to attempt one of the secret questions. I was surprised to find a student working on the first secret question TWENTY MINUTES after we ended the video!! I reminded the students that the secret questions were to measure their progress and let them know what sort of questions they needed to ask the next day. If they don't understand it, they are to write how far they got, where they got stuck, etc (NOT "IDK" THOUGH!!). Then, they are to MOVE ON! Again, I was surprised that even though I've mentioned this many times, students were making their lives harder by not following my instructions.
- Students responded well to the activity. Here is what they said:
- The lab idea was awesome but I doubt we will be doing that often. I still liked doing my homework there, I didn't need the extra help but I'm sure the other kids appreciated it.
- Hello Mrs. Kirch :) Today went good. I liked being in the computer lab and it was beneficial because I saw if the way I watched the wsq's was correct or not.
- Hi, Mrs. Kirch. I think today's class was actually very helpful. Before, i would just watch the videos without knowing what the summary questions were. So, i would often have to refer back to the videos while doing my summary questions. This will save me some time. :) Also, I think being in the computer lab is good every now and then because we can go over the material together.
- I liked it! It felt really productive, and it helped me notice the "important" things in the videos the first time watching them.
- i thought today's class was pretty decent but i still prefer to going at my pace (sorry children) in class. Being in the computer lab once in a while is fine though to get people caught up (???) in how to understand WSQ's and how to watch your videos.
- I did find it interesting that two students directly told me in person that they liked the lab activity better because they like it when I teach them myself in person. I was really confused because I purposely DID NOT do any teaching beyond the video that day. I was just there to pause it, remind them to write things down, rewind the video, and model good viewing habits for them. But somehow, just my presence in the room seems to make it feel different for some students. I talked about that with them, and told them that when they are watching it on their own, they just need to act like I am there with them in the room telling them when to pause it and think about things. I'm not sure what else to say though...
- Since the PSAT took all the juniors outside of class, my 1st period class had ten students (seniors and sophomores). They just had a work day, and then I chatted with them for about 10 minutes about how the class is going. I mainly asked them the big question: "Am I asking too much of you? Am I making this class too difficult for you?". That is the complaint I hear the most because I require the students to do concept quizzes, blog posts, use technology, etc - all things the other Math Analysis classes don't have to do. But, I do them because I feel that they help students to learn and master the material, and to go deeper with it in terms of understanding the content and seeing the connections among the material throughout the year.
- The answer that those students overwhelmingly had was that yes, my class is tough - but it helps them to learn and they've gotten used to it now. That was encouraging to hear on my end :)
- I asked them what they most time consuming part was, and they said it was typing up the WSQ after watching the lesson. This led me to talk about guided summaries vs. open summaries and why I made the change to mostly guided summaries. They agreed that the guided summaries help them to focus on what the important ideas are.
- One change I made based on that conversation was for their blog posts, they usually have to write 2 paragraphs - "What is this problem about" and "What is the trickiest part of this problem?". I took away the first paragraph because they basically answer that question in the course of solving the problem on video or in their picture worked out step by step, so it was just one extra task for them to do. I figure, if it's not hugely important to me and it relieves a little stress on their side, I don't mind modifying or adjusting it.
- Reflection and feedback from this week (I send out this weekly survey, and get about 4-5 responses a week)
- I am now more used to the flipped classroom and not as frustrated as I was in the beginning of the year.
- It's better, but I'm still bad at the material even when I give my effort. It gets frustrating, but it's definitely easier to get used to even though I tend to fall behind in retaining all the concepts.
- The Mac room. It was mostly simply because most of us had already been finished with one of the concepts and as a student I know most people don't like watching educational videos at home but correct me if I'm wrong. It was interesting and a good day. I just love it when a teacher just explains everything to us orally and as a group like a regular class would.
- Thank you Mrs. Kirch for all the patience and understanding you demonstrate towards us cheesebuckets. I think this kind of classroom and atmosphere is just what I needed this year.
- Material is extremely easy for me and I easily learn it. The computer
lab activity helped me greatly by allowing me more fun time at my house.
- On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say 7. The peer learning? I think it's called helps me best because it provides that one-on-one teaching and if you don't understand how to work out a problem, there are usually several others who also don't understand it and it isn't as embarrassing to admit. And then the U sessions right after if you still don't completely understand are very helpful.
- It's still hard for me, but I like doing the WSQ chats because I know on the spot what I'm doing wrong or right
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Week 7 - students seem to be adjusted; good results continuing!
This was an insane but really good week.
This was the first full unit after my "integrity" speech with my Math Analysis students, and I continually tried to emphasize "Do the work to learn and master the material, not to get the signature and the points." I think it went fairly well. I'm obviously concerned that students won't be able to self-evaluate very well at this point and will end up doing poorly on the test. But, I think that lesson is best learned through experience.
They did have another test this week (Unit G) and did AMAZING! See pie charts of my class results here. It was a pretty tough test on analyzing the parts of rational functions, but students all said they thought it was easier than they expected because of the practice they did.
Looking at how my students have been performing this year, the last two units (F and G) have been VERY good. Units A-D were review units that they did over the summer, and E was our first "real" unit. I chatted with one of my classes about it and they made a conjecture that F and G have been better because they were more adjusted to the flipped classroom at that point. E was tough because it was the first real unit and they were still trying to figure out what to expect in my class. Hopefully that conjecture is true and it will continue!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Wednesday I had the privilege of presenting at Chapman University in one of their Teacher Ed classes about Flipped Learning. It was awesome to see so many passionate and excited teachers with so many great questions about the flipped classroom and its implementation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking of presentations, I've got a lot coming up! Please feel free to sign up and join me (both are FREE!):
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wrote in a previous post about my explorations with Peer Instruction as a part of my WSQ chats (thanks to Troy Faulkner for commenting about his recent appearance on Jon Bergmann's podcast "The Flip Side" talking about Peer Instruction, find it here!). I also tried a modified version of what I described on Friday. Instead of doing it whole-class, each student was given a half-sheet of paper with 7 problems on it (w/ multiple choice answers). They were given 2 minutes to solve them all (they were quick and easy log problems). At the end of the two minutes, they all had to put their pencils down. I had each group choose a group leader, whose basic role was to lead the group in going over the answers and then explaining the right answers to anyone who did not get it right. I then went around and checked their "scores" and checked in with any student who didn't get 7/7. I thought it was a nice change to the whole-class peer instruction method I've been using.
I came up with a tentative could-be inquiry activity for using the properties of logs to develop the properties for expanding and condensing logs. It's too late to use as an inquiry this year (students are watching the video this weekend going over the laws), but I'm going to use it as a WSQ chat activity on Monday instead. You can see the worksheet I made here. We'll see how it goes. I want students to see that using the properties they already know (converting from logarithmic to exponential form, change of base formula, etc) they can actual derive the product, quotient, and power properties used in expanding and condensing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've talked over my ideas for flipping my "Course 1" (algebra 1) Common Core course with another teacher and think I have some better ideas for what I want to do. Now I just have to find the time to record the videos! Basically, I want to take any of the mini direct instruction lessons that are needed and put those on videos for students to watch during class time on our iPods or laptops. I have enough devices for students to do this in partners (which I would pick for them, of course). Then, instead of spending 15-25 minutes going over the instructions, directions, basics, etc, students could watch a 5 minute video which they could speed up or slow down to meet their needs. I just feel like it is not effective at all standing up front delivering that instruction, even though I have smaller classes this year (35 and 28, respectively). It goes against everything in my teaching philosophy. However, there is still some instruction needed so I have to find a better way. I will definitely blog as I am able to get started with it, which I really hope is soon...
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some student comments from this week's reflection and feedback survey:
- The year so far is going great and I have adapted well to the flipped classroom. I even think I like it better than a traditional classroom.
- It is starting to get easier for me, know that I have gotten use to the flipped classroom.
- The year in the beginning was hard because I wasn't used to the flipped classroom but since I now have adjusted it really does help.
- The best part of the week was being able to work on the assignments in class and being able to not only ask others for help, but give them help and answering their questions because it helps both of us.
- My favorite part was taking the test and knowing that I was prepared for it.
- The best part of the week was learning the chants for unit G which really helped for the test.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
