#MTBoSBlaugust Day 18: Good Signs

Today I finally got a chance to get into my classroom and start setting up. My mind has been spinning since orientation with questions and ideas, especially since my husband was able to get into his classroom weeks ago since it wasn't being used for summer school. We spent last week hearing a lot about admin's stance on education and I genuinely felt like this was a group of educators who, at least in intention, were there for the kids. There was encouragement to take risks, to try new things, to innovate, and to advocate for the students. It all sounds so good in theory, but you never know what things look like in day-to-day practice. I hoped I would be meeting other colleagues who wanted to challenge themselves, innovate, and bring a positive attitude to collaboration.

While I was puttering around in my room today trying to figure out where to start, a smiling face popped her head in my door to introduce herself. She was a veteran teacher, someone who had been there for a while and offered to help in any way she could. She assured me that I should ask for help and that it was a math department norm to be asking questions of each other to make our teaching better. We began to talk about sharing classrooms since she hadn't met the other new teacher yet with whom she'd be sharing and then she said something that obviously piqued my interest: that she wanted to talk to the other teacher since she was trying something "new and crazy" this year. Knowing that she wanted to better her strategies in classroom management, she had spent a large part of her summer researching ways to facilitate that through classroom design. She was going to start differentiating her seating options by creating zones: individual desks, groups and pairs, big comfy folding chairs, etc. This way students could work in the most appropriate situation for them, even if that wasn't what everyone else was doing. The craziest part? She doesn't even have her own classroom. She thought this was going to be good for kids, so she was willing to spend the time setting up and taking down the room before she floated to another room. She was working to negotiate the obviously unique scenario with the other teacher using the room.

I haven't been to a staff meeting yet and I haven't even met most of my PLC, but knowing that there are people who are pushing themselves every day to break out of their comfort zone to benefit a student is nothing but a good sign to me.

And obviously, I had to hang my first posters. 

#MTBoSBlaugust Day 17: The Power of Yet Poster

A while ago, I saved this poster on Pinterest because I loved the sentiment! I knew I wanted something like this to go into my classroom this year, but when I found out I'd be floating I figured it would be a nice idea for the future. (The pin was a dead link, so not sure where this originated. I'm happy to give credit if it was yours- let me know!!)

Since I just found out that I do in fact have a classroom and was reminded of the poster by this tweet tonight:

When kids ask for something, we expect them to say "please."

When they say they can't do something, we should expect them to say "yet."

— Justin (@JustinAion) August 26, 2016

I decided it was time for me to make one of my own! 

Printable Poster:  The Power of Yet Printable Poster

I am playing around with how I like it laid out best and if I want to back them with another color or not, but here is what they're looking like right now (shoutout to my toes in picture #1 and 3):

I will post pictures once I get into my classroom and get decorating....naturally it's the last hallway to be waxed! 

#MTBoSBlaugust Day 16: Designing for Growth Mindset

I just finished a few days of New Teacher Orientation and it was invigorating, albeit a little overwhelming. We talked about so much that it's hard to keep track, but one of things that stuck with me is a word that came up over and over today in our discussion of the district vision: intentionality. 

This has been a huge focus for me over the past year and one that I never quite had a word to describe. I like to think that I always try to do what's best for kids with the knowledge I have at that moment and that takes a lot of intentional design. This was a huge factor in piloting my blended learning course, my STEM courses, and will remain a huge factor as I move forward. 

I've done a lot of work on mindset this summer and I'm trying to question my own practices as much as possible, always with "What is best for kids?" at the center. I feel like I have wrapped my head around how I want to present my belief in my students and in growth mindset in the opening days and I'm regularly stealing things from around the MTBoS to hang in my room (SINCE I JUST FOUND OUT I'M NOT FLOATING ANYMORE! #yassss). I have spent the last 3 years designing problem-based experiences for my students through STEM and my pedagogical approach tends towards these open-ended tasks and encouraging student collaboration. Of course I have room for improvement, but it's an area I'm more comfortable. 

But with growth mindset, I am starting to feel like the devil is in the details. We convey messages to kids through the instructional choices we make every day and these messages are often stronger than anything we say out loud.  These are my next 2 devils to tackle right now:

1) Homework

I am particularly not proud of my homework setup. Sure, I give considerably less homework than a lot of teachers and try to select meaningful problems that are worth my students' time. But in general, my students check their answers against a key that is projected and I check for effort. It's plain and it is beneficial to students who choose to use it appropriately, but not to everyone. And I'm going to be totally honest....I'm haven't worked with my whole PLC yet, but I am highly doubting they would be jumping on board to eliminating or drastically changing the nature of homework as defined by Jo Boaler in Mathematical Mindsets. I know the issues that would occur if 1 teacher decided to totally eliminate homework if others didn't also get on board. And I am still working my way towards being 100% comfortable with it. I want to make some changes that will benefit my kids and create more equity, but I need to take some baby steps to do this. 

I also want to build metacognitive skills in my class and I know that self-reflection about homework can be a vital place to infuse that.

This NCTM blog got me thinking more about my homework practice:

Grading Homework for Accuracy or Completion? Yes!  

I totally agree that neither system promotes analysis of mistakes and I like the author's proposal to use those mistakes as teaching tools. I like the idea of student ownership over their own work and assessment, but I know there are loopholes here for students who want to take any easy way out. 

I am sooooooo open to suggestions on this. Please share your homework grading practices and why you love them. I want to be inspired, #MTBoS! 

2) Assessment

Let's be real....kids dread assessments. Any assessment. Ask them to take out a piece of blank paper and write their name and you'll see the anxiety on their faces. We need to build a different relationship for our kids, so they can start to use assessments as a tool for growth instead of a judgement of their character. 

I have high hopes that someday I can find a beautiful standards-based assessment routine where my kids will see assessment as a tool for learning instead of a judgement. This is a new road for me, as I've started to focus more and more on my assessment practices as I have gone further in my career. But SBG seems daunting to take on, especially in a public school setting where many other people are teaching the same course as you. I'm taking baby steps and I hope these are things I can build on as time goes on:

• Writing "I can" learning targets for each unit so students can self-assess regularly
• Instituting a retake/corrections policy for all formative assessments
• Offering a instant messaging office hours to give students another outlet to ask for help

I know the arguments....that kids need to learn responsibility and shouldn't ever be allowed to do corrections or take retakes. I don't disagree on summative assessments- there has to be some type of deadline in our 180 day calendar. However, that doesn't mean I can't help my kids see their learning as fluid (and growing) along the way. 

I know there are tons of resources on this out there, but this is the one that got me thinking:

Promoting Growth Mindset Through Assessment

Again, give me your suggestions!! How do you use assessment to send a growth mindset message to your kids? And how do you do this in a PLC environment if others don't necessarily agree? 

TL;DR

Thinking about growth mindset...want your best ideas! 

• How do you use homework as a growth mindset learning tool?
• How do you use assessment to promote growth mindset?

#MTBoSBlaugust Day 15: #ObserveMe Goals

Here are my #observeme goals for this year! 

I am still picking out a rubric I like and I'm not sure where I'll actually put this (maybe attach it to my back as I masterfully and gracefully float between classrooms? attach it to some currently unpurchased cart I wheel back and forth? get a tattoo of them?), but I love this idea so much. It is not only good for us as teachers to seek the feedback, but it models for our students that we should always been looking for ways to improve! 

My district orientation starts tomorrow and I can't wait! Wish me luck! 

#MTBoSBlaugust Day 14: Balloon Geometry

Time for a fun Friday post and a break from a lot of heavy curriculum lately! 

Every year my former STEM program put together a giant kickoff for our students. These events were designed to promote collaboration, trust, and community while getting to explore some awesome STEM ideas. One year we themed the entire kickoff around sustainability as our students would be engineering with repurposed materials in their design class. Another year, we had groups design boats out of cardboard and then we tested them out in a pool at the end of the day. 

SEAFARING STEM! from justin pierce on Vimeo.

Last year, we decided to go with a more diverse plan. Each teacher designed their own mini-PBL and students were able to select which they wanted to attend. It reminded me of the excitement of going to a big state or national conference- the hardest part was deciding what you should skip! This gave us all a chance to nerd out a little in our respective subject areas and do things we might not normally have time for with a diverse collection of grades and ability levels. 

I settled on using the time to have my kids explore Balloon Geometry. Besides spending two hours before school blowing up balloons and having incessant popping sounds coming from your classroom, it was fun & a great engineering challenge. I saw groups work together to problem solve, play to each other's strengths, and just have fun thinking critically about geometry. 

Here are my slides: Balloon Geometry

You could make this way more structured to ensure that kids are building "pretty looking" polyhedra, but this was only an hour activity and I liked seeing the kids work together to decide what figures would work the best. 

There are TONS of great resources online for this, but here are a fun of the ones I used:

• Ballon Polyhedra
• Mathematical Balloon Twisting for Education 
• Balloon Numbers
• And this video:

#MTBoSBlaugust Day 13: Geometry Learning Targets

Here is my draft of Common Core Geometry Learning Targets for this year. This is largely designed from the previous work of my PLC to unpack standards, so I want to spend some time going back and cross-referencing. And I tried to write these from scratch....exhausting (and impossible to focus on while you're immersed in the newest episode of The Night Of). 

Geometry Learning Targets

My Calculus Learning Targets had me like:

With these, I'm feeling more: 

I'm still adjusting to seeing myself as a geometry teacher again- it's been almost 5 years. I love it, but it has a unique mindset from more algebra-based classes. I do, however, feel much more familiar with the curriculum as my PLC has interpreted it, which makes me feel more ready to be a team player. I'm ready to start working with some other teachers on this stuff....I always feed on that collaborative energy.

Under 3 weeks until Day 1!  

#MTBoSBlaugust Day 12: Mathematical Mindsets Norms Video

Somehow in my stream of consciousness Google clicking this week, I ended up on Cathy Yenca's (@mathycathy) blog post from 2013 on First Day Favorites. I loved the professional and engaging look of her video and it dawned on me that I could use this to convey a message I wanted kids to hear from me clearly and consistently.

Thinking back to my readings about math class norms from Mathematical Mindsets, I decided to create a video to summarize what I want my students to walk away from the Post It Activity knowing I believe about them. It's brief and will ensure that all my classes are hearing a consistent message from me. Once we wrap up our class discussion, I'm planning on playing this for them and having them reflect as an exit ticket.

I have the file saved if anyone wants me to send it so it can be tweaked! Like Cathy, I used the free trial of VideoScribe to create this! It's super user-friendly!