Wednesday, September 27, 2017

3 Things You Gain When You Lose Your Desk

Let me give you a little bit of background.  I have never been one to sit at my desk.  I have a small cart with my projector, laptop, and document camera at the front of the room and this is where I station myself when I'm not walking around the room.  Apparently my students thought it was so strange to never see their teacher use her desk that my they used to have a sort of competition to try to "catch" me sitting at my desk!  Oh, the fascinating lives of middle schoolers...!

Then last year I shared my room with the Spanish teacher (weird, besides Math Education, I was also a Spanish major in college).  She was part-time at our middle school and part-time at the high school.  She taught in my classroom for the first two periods of the day when I had my preps.  I didn't know until I was almost finished setting up my room at the end of August that we would be sharing a room, so I didn't have much space to give her.  My filing cabinet was full.  My wall locker was full.  Instead, I gave her my desk, because at least that had a few drawers and I didn't really use it anyway.  I was under the impression that I still needed to have my own desk, so I created a make-shift desk out of a table and a couple of student desks.  It was actually quite cozy.


This year Spanish is full-time at the middle school.  So we both get our own classrooms!  And I was going to get my real desk back.  I had it all set up in the corner of my room, looking quite cozy yet again.  But then I thought to myself, Why do I need this?  I never sit here.  This is such a waste of space!  So I got rid of it.  And here is what I gained.

1.  Space
Okay, this one seems obvious.  You remove furniture from a room and suddenly there is more space!  Shocking, I know.  For me, this space was really important.  My favorite addition to my room this year is the Play Table.  If you haven't read about the Play Table from Sara VanDerWerf, read this now!  I set up my Play Table in the back corner of my room where my desk used to be.



2.  Organization Skills
When you don't have a desk to pile your papers on, you simply can't end up with piles of papers.  I mean, where are you going to put them?  On the floor?  (No judgement here, I've actually done that.)  I have a small rolling cart with In and Out trays for each class.  Ungraded work goes in the In Tray and graded work goes in the Out Tray.


I also have a bookcase where I keep my binders with hard-copies of worksheets and INB pages.  Student supplies are organized on the wall (idea stolen from Sara Buck at Miss Buck Teaches) with replacements on a back shelf.  My wall locker is now super organized as that is where I keep my Teacher-Only supplies (sharpies, specialty tape, post-its, paperclips, and extra hall passes).


3.   Flexibility
And I mean physically!  I used to take work home to grade where the biggest space to spread out was on the floor.  I now do almost all of my grading at school (trying to pretend I have some semblance of a work-life balance).  Without the larger surface of a desk at school, I stretch out on the floor there too (after school, of course, when the students have left and the custodians have already come through to sweep).  There's some great stretching you can do on the floor and I have my yoga frogs curtain for inspiration when I need it!

Yes, you can also be more flexible with the way you arrange your room.  But that didn't seem nearly as interesting; plus I already covered it in having more space.

To Sum It All Up
Okay, I kind of joked around a bit in this post, but in all seriousness, I'm so happy with my decision to take the Teacher Desk out of my classroom.  I do still have a small table in the back corner with the desktop computer, but it's used as a student work station.  I figure if I'm out, a substitute teacher can use that as Home Base since I don't have a chair by my projector cart at the front of the room.


Sunday, September 24, 2017

A Weekly Do Now Template

This week's #SundayFunday topic is Warm-Ups and Closures.  I know firsthand the chaos that ensues when you don't have well-established start-of-class procedures.  Something I have found helpful is to give my students the same type of warm-up on certain days each week.

Do Now
I pick a topic that is usually a review of material related to what we are currently studying.  I've also considered spiraling.

Monday: Brainstorm
    • Students write, draw a picture, give an example, list common misconceptions, and make observations about the topic on the "My Ideas" side.
    • Sometimes I write questions to help guide their thinking for those reluctant to write anything down.
    • We take a few minutes to share as a class and students add to the "Class Ideas" side.
 
Tuesday: Solve
    •  Students practice the skill on 3-6 problems.

Wednesday: Explain
    • We Write on Wednesdays!
    • Students are given a prompt and are required to answer in complete sentences.
    • Examples of questions include: explaining how, explaining the difference, giving step-by-step directions to solving one of Tuesday's problems, etc.

Thursday: Wild Card
    • The type of question changes every week.
    • Examples include: find and fix the error, compare and contrast, solve/write a word problem, which one doesn't belong, reflect on your understanding, etc.

Friday: Reflect
    • I recently edited the file to no longer include Friday's reflection; I include reflection on Thursdays every so often.
    • I like to use Estimation180 or Which One Doesn't Belong? on Fridays or use the end of the week as a make-up day for the times we don't have a full week of school.

Sample topics include: operations with fractions, decimals, integer operations, LCM, GCF, equivalence, solving equations, area, perimeter, volume, squares and square roots, powers of ten, exponents, rate of change, slope, linear vs. nonlinear, coordinate plane, etc.

First Do Now of the year
First Do Now of the year
 At some point during the year (I typically do it the last month of school), we do character-driven Do Now's.  So we cover mindfulness, identity, challenges, and sharing successes over the course of four weeks.
There is also a behavior management self-check for each day on the Do Now paper.  I have posters in my room that ask students, "Were you up to PAR in class today?"  PAR stands for Prepared, Attentive, and Respectful & Responsible.   The posters list examples of expected behaviors in each category.  These expectations are also listed on the Do Now divider tab in students' notebooks.  At the end of class, students check off "yes" or "no" for each category.  I don't grade this self-assessment; I just want students to be aware of their own behaviors and start to recognize patterns in their behavior.


The Do Now sheets are sized to fit in an INB pocket.  I used to have students tape their Do Now's in their notebook, but then I had to collect nearly 100 notebooks every week to grade.  This year there are double-sided pockets for each quarter in the Do Now section of students' notebooks.  We keep our current Do Now in the front pocket and graded Do Now's in the back pocket.  This year students just take the sheet out of the pocket at the end of the week to pass it in, instead of the entire notebook.


Depending on the day, I aim to spend 5-10 minutes on the Do Now.  This doesn't always go as planned, and I have had classes that were so dependent on me to answer the Do Now questions that I had to scrap this routine entirely and give them basic math facts to start class so that I could take attendance without stopping every two names to tell students to stop talking, sit in their seat, and begin the Do Now.  Establishing routines is something I am still working on.

I have a Do Now template that I print out and then hand-write the topic and questions for each week before making copies.  If you are interested in using my file, be sure to set your printer to "Top Bind" or "Flip on Long Edge" when you print double-sided so that both sides appear right-side up and on the same half of the paper.

UPDATE 10/21/2017: Since our department is focusing on students using Think-Pair-Share this year, I have updated Monday's Brainstorm boxes to include space for students to document ideas during each stage of that thought process.  Both the original and updated files are available below.



View/Download: Do Now Template


Saturday, September 23, 2017

A Cross-Curricular Practice Structure

I call it Self-Checking Advanced Color by Number, because instead of coloring certain areas of a picture based on your answer, you are labeling certain areas of a diagram based on your answer.  It was inspired by this tweet from Nathan Kraft:


And the wheels were turning.  Imagine the possibilities for this!  It could be used to practice any math skill and tied to any other subject that lends itself to labeling diagrams: maps in Social Studies (states, capitals, countries, world landmarks), other body systems, the periodic table, or the order of planets in Science, sentence diagramming in Language Arts (okay, this one might be a stretch, but maybe matching vocab and definitions?).

I haven't tried this out yet, but this is what I envision.  I'm imagining a set of math problems - one for each blank in the diagram.  All of the math answers are paired with the corresponding answer in the answer bank.  For example, say students are learning about the periodic table in science.  The first math question corresponds to labeling the first element in the periodic table.  If students know the first element is hydrogen, then they will be able to check that their math answer is paired with hydrogen in the answer bank.  If students don't know that the first element is hydrogen, but they are confident in their math, then they will learn that the first element is hydrogen.

This is not using math in another subject, which is typically what I think of when I hear "cross-curricular."  However, it is a chance to practice both math and another subject at the same time.  I'll write more once I've tried this in class!


Friday, September 22, 2017

Incredible

A Week After Starting My Blog...
This is a thank you post.  Like, a huge thank you to the #MTBoS and #iteachmath community.  It is incredible to me that people I don't even know take the time to read my barely-yet-established blog (although, I guess that's what people do, myself included).  And to see comments and tweets of encouragement and congratulations from some of my blogging idols is incredible.  Upon reading a few comments, I literally jumped up and ran into the other room, only to discover that my apartment is quite small and I ended up right back at my computer, grinning from ear to ear and containing shrieks of joy so as to not concern my neighbors.

One Month Later...
The support and encouragement both here and on Twitter is still unreal to me.  I get so excited to connect with all these other math teachers I've never even met.  I mean, I'm chatting with people I consider to be celebrities!  In just a month, I feel like I have learned so much, and all I want is to keep sharing and growing and learning from all of you.

I feel so included, and that's an incredible feeling.
 


Thursday, September 21, 2017

Properties of Numbers Foldable

I recently reviewed properties of numbers with my students.  We completed a foldable with definitions and examples (both numerical and algebraic). 


Then I had my students complete a Two Truths and a Lie activity.  The premise is the same as the popular game: make two true statements and one false one; let someone else figure out which statement was the lie.  To make it "math-y," the statements were all about properties of numbers.  For homework, my students wrote their own Two Truths and a Lie about the properties.  The next day, volunteers shared theirs, and the class decided which statement was the lie.


This was my first time implementing Two Truths and a Lie in class.  I figured the examples I showed first would help students write their own.  I was a little disappointed by the quality of examples students wrote for homework, but I think most of that can be remedied with better directions.  Many of my students wrote correct examples of the properties, but did not specify which property each statement was an example of, so we had no way of knowing which was the lie.  Other students missed entirely that the statements were supposed to be about properties of numbers and not random math equations.  I'm excited to try this activity again with clearer instructions next time!

The documents are available to download if you'd like.  I've included two versions of the foldable: one that is completely blank and one with the definitions (but not examples) filled in.

View/Download: Properties of Numbers Foldable and Two Truths and a Lie Example


Sunday, September 17, 2017

Favorite Math Tasks - #SundayFunday

This week's #SundayFunday topic is favorite math activities.  There are so many great tasks out there that people have shared and that's part of what makes the MTBoS so great!  Here are just a few of my favorites.

Generic Activities Adaptable to Any Topic:
I love doing Dan Meyer's 3-Act Math Tasks.  Engaging students in asking questions and determining what information they need to know to answer THEIR questions is so important.  I have used several of the lessons found here, and have also tried creating my own (I hope to blog about one of mine soon that I call the kayak story - ultimately it's a volume of composite figures problem, but I have used it successfully with students in 7th grade up through Geometry and Algebra 2 by changing the information I share with them in Act 2).

Andrew Stadel's Estimation180 questions are a big hit with my students.  I usually use them as the Do Now when we don't have a full week of school to complete our regular weekly questions.

One of my favorite activities for rote practice is question stacks.  I first heard about question stacks from Sarah Carter.  This is a great self-checking activity as students cycle through the questions; if they don't complete the loop or can't find their answer, they know that they made a mistake somewhere.  I recently blogged about my Evaluating Expressions Question Stack here.

Always, Sometimes, Never (I've seen quite a few examples from multiple sources) is another activity I like.  Students really have to be able to clarify what they know in order to sort statements into always true, sometimes true, or never true.  I created a version with statements about negative exponents to use with my eighth graders a few years ago that usually makes an appearance every year.

Lesson-Specific Activities:
I love playing Slope Dude Says from Sarah Carter with my students when we first learn about slope and how to classify it.  This is one of those activities that my students ask to do repeatedly!

I tried Dance, Dance, Transversal from Jessica for the first time with my students last year to practice angle pair relationships.  I didn't execute the activity as well as I would have liked, but I do think it has the potential to be a great activity in my room.  I'm looking forward to trying it again this year.  Here's another post about how to implement it.

Basically, any lesson/activity that gets kids up and moving is a win in my book!


Saturday, September 16, 2017

Evaluating Expressions Question Stack Activity

I'm piggybacking here off of a post from Sarah Carter.  I loved the question stack cards Sarah created for her students to practice evaluating expressions.  However, my eighth graders hadn't reviewed operations with integers yet, so I wanted a more basic set of cards that didn't include negative numbers so that I could check that my students had the process down for substitution and following the order of operations to evaluate.


Sarah does a great job explaining how the question stack works.  If you've never done a question stack before, what's important to note is that these are not flashcards!  The answer is NOT on the back of the question card.  You start by laying out all the cards answer-side up (this is your answer bank).  Flip one card over to reveal a question to start.  Find the answer somewhere in your answer bank and place that card question-side up on top of the last question card to create the "stack."  Answer this question next, flipping the next answer card on top of the stack to reveal another question.  This process continues until all the cards are question-side up in the stack.  The answer to the top question should be on the bottom of the stack if you flip it over.  If at any point you can't find an answer in your answer bank or you loop back to the first card in your stack without using all of the cards, you made a mistake somewhere.  As Sarah says, it's a great self-checking activity for students.

Basic Stack
These cards contain expressions that require one or two substitutions to evaluate.  There are no negative numbers and only basic operations (no absolute value, square roots, exponents, etc.).

 




Moderate Stack
These cards contain expressions that require more than two substitutions and/or are longer with more steps when evaluating.  This level contains exponents, but still no negatives, absolute value, or square roots.
 




Challenging Stack
I called Sarah's stack the challenging stack.  This stack requires students to evaluate expressions with negative numbers.  It also includes operations such as absolute value and square roots.  I hadn't yet reviewed this with my eighth graders this year, and I knew that I would have some students who remembered how to do this, but not all of them would.  Some students who were comfortable working with integers and other operations actually found this question stack easier than the moderate one because it didn't require as many steps to evaluate.



When I did this activity this year, I told my students that they would need to finish two question stacks in the class period.  I let them choose if they wanted to start with the basic or moderate stack, but I required that they complete at least one of those before attempting the challenging stack.  This was our first question stack of the year, so I wanted to make sure that at as they were getting started, I was available to answer questions about how the question stack works, rather than how to evaluate a more challenging expression.


Timing & Logistics
By the time I explained the activity and we got started, students had about 35-40 minutes left in class.  Most of my students were able to finish two question stacks (some even started the third) in that time.  Sometimes I have my students use whiteboards to complete the problems, but this time I had them show all their work on a separate piece of paper to turn in.  My classes are so big this year and I figured I would be answering a lot of questions about how the question stack works that I wasn't sure I'd be able to go around and see every student's work if I let them do it on whiteboards.

I also had my students work individually this time.  Sometimes I have them work with a partner, but evaluating expressions that don't contain negative numbers is definitely something my eighth graders should have learned before this year and I wanted to check that every student felt comfortable doing this.  As I told my students, part of what we do in eighth grade is work on notation, so even though I know you can do many of these problems in your head, I need to see that you know how to write down your work and show each step.

For this activity, I printed each level on a different color paper.  Other times when I have made question stacks, I'll print each set on a different color so that if students drop a card on the floor, they know who it belongs to based on the color of the card.

If you want to make your own question stack, definitely check out the template that Sarah shared in her post.  I can't tell you how many times I printed my own stack only to realize that my answers were in an order that did not create a loop!


View/Download: Evaluating Expression Question Stacks - Basic & Moderate Versions
(I reformatted these to make them easier to cut apart which is why they look slightly different than my pictures.)


Sunday, September 10, 2017

Year 4 Week 1

Mission complete!  There were so many activities I wanted to try this year, but you can't do them all.  Here are some we did do.  Thanks so much to the Sara(h)s (Sara VanDerWerf and Sarah Carter, that is) for their fantastic first week ideas!

Name Tents
These Name Tents from Sara VanDerWerf were a fantastic communication tool.  I loved that I got to hear from every single student already!  Some students left generic comments ("You seem nice.  I think this class will be fun."), while others told me things they think I should know about them ("I have anxiety and don't raise my hand much.") or asked me questions to get to know me better ("Do you have any kids?").

 

 

  

 




One comment that really stuck out to me that I was asked by a few students was the following: "What do you think of me?" 




I'm not exactly sure why this comment hit me so hard.  I think it's because it reminds me that these eighth graders - the ones going through all the harsh and confusing changes of adolescence - are still just people who want to be liked, respected, and appreciated.
 
Getting to Know You Quizzes
The Getting to Know You Quiz comes from Sarah Carter.  After taking a quiz about me, students wrote their own multiple choice quiz for me to take about them.  They were really excited to grade them the next day.  Some kids got a kick out of being able to tell their teacher that she failed; a few others were in disbelief when I managed to answer all five questions correctly.  Many of my students circled the correct answers and gave me back the quizzes so that I could study!

100 Numbers Task
Another activity from Sara VanDerWerf is the 100 Numbers Task.  I've used this before with great success and this year was no exception!  One modification that I made related to the taking of pictures while students were working.  I've never been clear on whether or not I'm allowed to take pictures/recordings of students for use in our class if a student's video/photo release form says that they are not to be photographed.  So instead, I made a fool of myself walking around the room while the students were circling their numbers!  I did lunges, patted myself on the head, did a few jumping jacks, spun around in circles - you get the idea.  When time was up and groups shared out how many numbers they circled, I then asked them if they noticed the weird things I was doing as I walked around the room.  A few students did, but the majority did not.  I asked them why and they concluded that it was because they were so focused on the task.  Bingo!  I do wish they could have seen themselves all huddled together though.

Mathematical Autobiographies
After completing a district-required pre-assessment, I had my student complete Mathematical Autobiographies from Sarah Carter.  This was another great tool for learning about my students.  I've got some really talented kids this year!





Play Table
I think the Play Table from Sara VanDerWerf is going to be one of my favorite things this year!  I love that it gives students something to do if they finish their work early that is not asking to go on their phone.  It's been a huge hit with both my functional math class and my general eighth grade math classes.  Here are a couple of this week's creations.

 



Plus a Name Tent comment from a student who used the table.


Which One Doesn't Belong?
WODB served as a warm-up for each of my classes.  I love the puzzles posted on the website and the book is now on my reading list!

On the first day, I used it as a four corners activity.  It was interesting to me that in my first class, every student chose 16 as the number that did not belong.  My second class had students split between three corners and by the end of the day, I had students in each of the four corners of the room.

One of my students came up with a fascinating reason as to why the number 9 did not belong.  He explained that the difference between 16 and 25 is a multiple of 9, the difference between 16 and 43 is a multiple of 9, and the difference between 25 and 43 is a multiple of 9.  However the difference between 9 and any of those numbers is NOT a multiple of 9; therefore 9 does not belong.  I love hearing the way my students think!

Still to come?  I really want to try the Growth Mindset Paper Folding Challenge, but overall I'd say it was a pretty successful week!


Emergency Sub Plan Notes to Students

Being new to blogging, I underestimated how difficult it can be to make time for writing once the school year starts up again.  I like that #SundayFunday gives me a topic to focus on so that I continue to write at least weekly.  When I read last week's posts and saw the topic for this week - emergency sub plans - I thought, I need to read these - I'm not qualified to write about it!  I have a binder with attendance lists and emergency response procedures, but I have such a hard time figuring out what to leave for meaningful work.  I need HELP!!   But here I am Saturday night, wanting to participate anyways.

This is an idea that I've had, but have not yet implemented.  If you've ever done anything like it, I'd love your feedback!

This year, if orange juice doesn't save me from getting sick, I plan to leave notes for my guest teacher to hand to certain students as needed.  I have drafted the following notes and plan to seal them in envelopes highlighted with a different color for each situation.

Thank You
I will instruct the guest teacher to give this note to one or two particularly helpful students in each class.  It reads,
Our Guest Teacher gave you this note because you were so helpful today.  Thank you for being a good role model.  I'm happy to know that I can count on you when I'm out.  -Ms. Ess

Not Sitting in Assigned Seat
I will instruct the guest teacher to give this note to any students who refuse to sit in their assigned seat after being asked to move.  It reads,
Although I'm not here today, the rules still apply.  Please sit in your assigned seat.  I appreciate your cooperation.  -Ms. Ess

Refusal to Work/General Disruptive Behavior
I will instruct the guest teacher to give this note to any students who refuse to complete the classwork and/or continue to disrupt the class after being asked to behave.  It reads,
What's going on?  Remember that even though I am not here today, I expect you to act respectfully and responsibly.  Please work on today's assignment and if there's an issue you want to talk about, I will be happy to meet with you when I return.  -Ms. Ess

My hope is that these notes will encourage students to get back on track before their behavior escalates to the point of needing an office referral.

I'm still playing around with the phrasing of some of these notes, but once I have the message down, I plan to make a dozen or so copies of each to leave in my Emergency Sub Plan Binder.  I plan to include a chart at the bottom of my sub plans for the guest teacher to write the names of students who received each type of note.  In the past, if a student's name is left with a positive comment, I've always contacted the student's parents to share the message and my appreciation, and I would like to continue that as well.


Saturday, September 9, 2017

A Useful Tech Tool

I always hated needing to crop a screenshot.  Why couldn't I just select the part of my screen I wanted to take a picture of in the first place?  You may already have a tool to do this, but if not, check out Jing from TechSmith.  It's super easy to use - just click and drag to select the area you want.  You can even adjust the selection after letting go of the mouse, but before taking the picture (very helpful when your cat comes over and rubs against your arm just as you're about to let go...).  You can also use Jing to capture video of your screen.  Best of all?  It's free!


Download Jing for Windows or Mac.


Monday, September 4, 2017

'Twas the Night Before

Although this will be my fourth year teaching, tomorrow will be my seventh first day of school as a teacher when I include first days as a summer school teacher.  And it's a strange feeling this year.  The nervousness and anxiousness are certainly there, but there's more excitement this year.  More anticipation.  It makes me uneasy to even think the words, "I'm ready," but I definitely want to go back!  It's like I'm not feeling completely new at this anymore.

Maybe it's because this is the first year that a new-hire is younger than me.  Maybe it's because I've got a collection of activities that I know I can pull out if we have awkward amounts of time left in class.  Maybe it's because this is the first year that my team of teachers is staying completely intact.  I'm not sure what the difference is, but I think back to my first year teaching - the year that I told myself I would do my best, but I was still testing out if this teaching thing was really for me - and I am SO GRATEFUL that this is where I ended up.

Happy First Day Back!


Friday, September 1, 2017

Practicing Transformation Vocabulary with Lightbot

I was first introduced to Lightbot through the Hour of Code initiative.  If you've never participated in the Hour of Code, you seriously need to check it out!  I used Lightbot with students in my Functional Math class during Computer Science Education Week (this year it's December 4-10), but wanted to add more of a challenge and curriculum tie-in for my on-level eighth graders.


It seemed natural to me to fit Lightbot into our unit on geometry transformations.  Besides getting an introduction to programming, my students would also get to practice some of the vocabulary associated with transformations - in particular, translations and rotations.

I created an assignment to accompany each task in the first level of the Lightbot Hour of Code Demo.  In addition to completing the task onscreen, students also wrote out the transformations in words, using mathematical vocabulary, in their packet.  We completed the first two tasks as a class.

It was interesting to see which pairs of students attempted to write out the transformations before testing them on the computer and which pairs perfected the computer programming online before writing out the steps.  While I required students to write out transformation words such as "translate" each time they were used (no abbreviations), students soon used shorthand such as "Translate 2 units" instead of "Translate.  Translate," the latter being a direct translation of the symbols used on the screen.

Once students finished the 8 tasks in the first level, I allowed them to explore the second and third levels without writing out the transformations.  At these levels, students are introduced to procedures and loops.

Finally, I had students work alone to write out three more transformation paths for a lightbot on a crossword puzzle grid.  Some students interpreted the black boxes as lights they needed to light up when they passed over them; others avoided crossing them altogether.  This last activity tested students' spatial reasoning, and many found it more challenging because the computer program wasn't there to animate their proposed pathways.  I found that the students who drew symbols and traced the path their lightbot would follow on the crossword puzzle grid were the most successful.


It was great to see students share and compare their transformation paths.  Some found more direct routes than others, but they realized that there was no one right answer.  This lesson also led to so many great discussions about efficiency, patterns, functions, and debugging. 

View/download: Lightbot Transformations Activity Guide