Homework

We all try to come up with effective ways of taming this beast. Some of us just ditch it all together because its been inconclusive about the gains that homework has. I have even considered this tactic as well because of the pain of grading and the influence it has. Since I'm at an Early College, I think the reality of doing homework for understanding is important for students in my courses. But if my students are not gaining an introspective look at their understanding of the concept, what is the point? In my class student homework grades are based on what they try (by that I mean a reasonable effort). When the students come in they either get a Homework Check Slip or a QR Code for Missing/Incomplete HW. They usually only get 10-15 questions that shouldn't occupy more than 30 minutes of their night.

Students that get the QR Code fill the google form linked and plan for turning in their homework while the rest of the class pairs up and checks homework.

First they switch papers an write their names on the Checked By, Fill in the title, and calculate the number of questions on the homework and the amount attempted by each student. These are all I use to calculate the grade, but the other part is much more telling and important to me gathering information. After they "grade" correct vs. incorrect, they switch papers and homework and note their missed questions. Then they finish the statements "I understand..." and "I struggled with..." What I gather from this process is the most valuable. Here are some student samples and what I've gained from them. Note this is the first hw check of the semester, so we haven't practiced much with the statements. 

So this student did well on the homework, but if you read the two responses, they actually mean the same thing to me as a mathematician. I struggle really knowing what they do or don't understand, but the number correct leads me to believe they understood the content for the most part, but struggle in articulating their abilities. 

This student just realizes that she didn't have any success at home and she "got it" when we did it in class. Likelihood is that she didn't really get the lesson and needs some deep remediation. This is also a student that does not volunteer in class, so putting her in the center of the class conversations may help. Since she focuses on environment rather than content, I know she also struggles with articulating her own learning. 

This student could specifically tell me that multiplying functions and evaluating functions are strengths, while subtracting is a weakness. She also has the skills to articulate this clear to me and explain what causes her weakness in subtraction. 

So while this student got majority correct, the details about their learning are a little hard for me to uncover exactly what the difficulties were. They get the "function notation thing"and what I infer is subtraction operations gave them trouble because "switching signs is confusing."

I also have done a version of this where I ask them to list the questions they get wrong. This allows me to do a quick item analysis of the homework and use those questions in lessons at a later date. 

Rube Goldberg Project

THE IDEA 

As a teacher that has been in the STEM and Engineering mindset for the last few years, I've been awkwardly obsessed with Rube Goldberg Projects. But lets be honest, doing a project for fun (the project's sake) is totally against my teaching philosophy at this point in my career. I will say that the process of building a Rube Goldberg machine would have students connect to the CCS 8 Mathematical Practices. So I did my research and found a couple very helpful videos that made me start thinking about this as a cross-curricular project. Eventually I tied this to my probability standards as well as a ridiculous amount of science standards from earth/environmental. So the new task for students was to build a Rube Goldberg Machine that represented a cycle/process in science. And the results were amazing! Here's how I did it.

PLANNING

First my brain storming about what I wanted from students (in google sheets of course).

Then I came up with a run down of how I wanted the week to go. 

And finally I called a friend that's a Earth/Environmental Science teacher. She teaches AP as well as freshmen at a high school in the system. She brainstormed a couple options for process/cycles we could use for the game. From there my science teacher from the previous year gathered a video and image resource for each one. We purposely eliminated the student's own research because the other project we gave them for english/history was very research heavy.  

MONDAY - INTRODUCTION

So I introduced the concept of a Rube Goldberg Machine on Monday. The presentation involved first introducing them to Rube and some interesting facts about his life. Then I had them look at three drawings and do a classic notice and wonder protocol. 

Students wrote their answers to these questions on chart paper with a group and any other information they gathered by looking at the comics.  I loved hearing their answers. My favorite question from a group was: "Is this supposed to be easy or complicated?" In the end I took a screen shot of urban dictionary's definition of extra and compared that with Webster's definition of Rube. Then we watched some examples of machines in action. Of course OK GO's music video was shown as an example. So this lead to me clipping down their TED Talk into an Edpuzzle video. Students completed with a partner. Within this video they went over some probability of systems of machines working. So I asked a few questions about how changing the likelihood of a machine working increases the likelihood of the whole machine. So I had students applying independent probability to Rube Goldberg on Day 1. Crazy! 

TUESDAY - EXPECTATIONS, RESEARCH & "PLAYING IN THE SANDBOX OF IDEAS"

I followed up the previous day by having some students recap the first day, particularly because some students were not there the first day. I went over the expectations for the project. Then I filled out a brainstorming document while the students threw out ideas. I did my example on the four seasons. It looked a little like this:

Then the students accessed the research document and recreated this document for their own processes or cycles that they were assigned. Once they felt confident on understanding their process and had brainstormed, they were given free-range to a number of materials (mostly recycling we stole out of bins) and a few ping-pong balls. We told them to "play in the sandbox of ideas," much like OK GO suggested for their TED Talk. Ultimately they want a plan can work with certainty, so they have to test ideas and see how reliable they are. Some students already had a great start to the project at that point.

REST OF THE WEEK

Wednesday and Thursday were build days. Not a ton of structure happening like previous days, but a lot of coaching, facilitating, and refining ideas. What impressed me the most about the work and working was that it was intentional. Every design, no matter how simple or complex had legitimate reason backing it from the research they did. On Friday we did presentations, reflections, and evaluations. During the presentations they were asked to address the following:

• What is your topic?
• Explain your cycle/process?
• How does your machine illustrate your process/cycle?
• Demonstrate your machine (3 tries max)
• What is a problem you had in your machine, and how did you fix it?

Presentations went great. Most of them were 2 min or less in length. I thought it was good practice to help them focus these to the main ideas of what this project was truly designed to do.

Something different about this project was the way we  decided to grade this first week. Our message to the kids through our grading this week said a lot. We really wanted the students to focus on mastering a minimal amount of content in this project and focus on growth mindset, perseverance, grit, and meaningful contributions to their teams. So after we had a lunch break students came back and did a self/peer evaluation and demonstration of knowledge. They completed this google form that focused on the the criteria above.

MY REFLECTION

In all reality, I want to give you a link to ALL my responses from students about the project to let you in on the depth of thinking that went on for some of these kids. Of course not all are impressive, but I'm seriously having a hard time choosing. Since I don't know them academically well (yet!), I'm not sure how hard they pushed themselves. Also, ignore the writing and spelling. We'll be working on that. Below are some of the highlights of what I want to share with you from our students.

I know that this is probably a lot of responses, but I could have kept going. Look at the power these students gained in evaluating themselves and their peers. I definitely should have forewarned about complete sentences and spelling. I just really felt like these things were what I was going for and achieved better than I thought. I tried to remain super flexible in this project and have the kids do the same. I feel as though this is my best executed Project Based Learning to date. As a first week project it was very whirlwind. If I were to grade this on a 4-point rubric, I would have had many interventions with feedback. I would definitely integrate a peer and teacher feedback component during the design process to help students refine thoughts in the future. 

First Week

The first week at the new school was like most high school teacher's first day on steroids. Since we have the luxury of only having what turned out to be 48 students (thus far). We made our own first week of school look very different from the traditional classroom work. We focused on getting to know faculty and peers, two weeklong projects (you can read about the math/science Rube Goldberg project here), and working on establishing an understanding of growth mindset. I want to emphasize the "we" here. Without 4 other colleagues this wouldn't have come together so well. Also note that there is meaningful reflection after everyday and our projects. Here is a quick look at the schedule we worked off for the week:

ICEBREAKERS

I know so many of us have strong opinions on Icebreakers. I, myself, have a complicated love-hate relationship with these awkward first encounter games. I personally hate being forced into these games and conversations. I would much prefer to make connections with people in a more sincere way the first time I talk to them, but I definitely feel more comfortable after learning a bit about people before jumping into a lengthy professional relationship. So for our kids we tried to be creative and enjoy their company in a genuine way the first week while getting to know them.

On Monday, the first thing we did was play the classic Concentric Circle Icebreaker. The link wasn't the one we used but explains the exact process. Ultimately the kids answer questions and share with one another. We used some different questions that were particularly interesting: "What's your favorite cereal?" and "What's your spirit animal?" They also had to introduce themselves before each question they answered.

The one I'm most proud of is the "Who Done It" game we played Tuesday. Basically each group was given a bag of faces on popsicle sticks of the staff at CTEC. A fact was placed placed on the board, teams of 4 guessed who they thought it was (usually given 60 sec to concur) and then we revealed the answers. Students were surprised, interested and genuinely connecting to us and our experiences. On Wednesday, students were put into groups of 5 and asked to build their own game like ours. The instructions were pretty basic. Then Thursday, the kids got to play each other's games and it was great!

On Friday, we played what we called a collaborative competition game. We broke all the kids up into 4 big groups and asked them to send up one representative in a competition. Some of the competitions were: who can stuff the most marshmallows in their mouth, best dancer, who can crab walk the fastest, who can solve a maze quickest, who can juggle the best. This one definitely got everybody super excited.

CAMPUS EXPLORATION

Another unique, but important piece of our first week was the time we spent preparing our kids for the college campus. Obviously we talked about the shared space and making sure we respect the people and buildings on campus, but we also talked about the other resources and awesome perks of an Early College. On Wednesday, the seniors at the other Early College on campus came and gave our kids an hour tour of the campus in their eyes. They took them to the library, the student union, a couple important classroom buildings and such. The Q&A session really took on some great conversations. Some of the most powerful things that caught my ears that my students also echoed:

• Don't mistaken your struggle for you not wanting to be here
• The teachers will push you and its because sometimes they believe in your ability to succeed more than you do
• If you need an example of someone who has a difficult background and did it, come talk to one of us
• Make friends and lean on those people to create success beyond petty fights
• Take pride in this opportunity

I couldn't have said it better. And it will resonate with them more from peers anyways. Then the next day we put together a quick  7 mission scavenger hunt where they sent pictures to a Remind account. Here's an example of one:

And of course, the most exciting was Friday's Lunch on campus. Because they got to eat non-school food on a college campus and hang out in the comfy chairs and charge their phones. And I'm sure there was snap-chats sent to show their old friends what they were missing out of. Most of the kids mentioned this was their favorite part of the week because of the freedom and ability to be out of the classroom as well as the wise advice from people who have been where they are. 

Growth Mindset 

The other really important part of our school is starting a school culture. We focused first on defining growth mindset. After defining it, we asked students to go to the content teacher where they had fixed mindset first. I bet you were all shocked that I had the most for math. There we did our best to give them some helpful hints about how to obtain growth mindset in our courses and how we would help them do that. We fielded some questions about growth mindset and our courses. Then students went to the content teacher where they felt they already had a growth mindset. I then spent more time asking questions that I realized I hadn't asked nearly as often before. I asked these kids "What about math makes it easy to have a growth mindset?" Some students had stories of watching their math grade fluctuate in both a positive and negative direction, and by putting in extra work or slacking off they watched it change. I had a few that struggled to verbalize it and then a few who missed the mark completely. Some just said they've always been good at math (smh). So I tried to explain how that was more of fixed mindset based on talent. 

We came back together as a big group and watched Angela Lee Duckworth's TedTalk on Grit.  We fielded out a couple questions and the kids facilitated a conversation. Then each kid took a Grit Test to find out a score. Our goal is to revisit this score and see how accurate it is and try to better it through the year. I believe we are going to use this as part of a journal for our teacher cadet course. 

Social Contract

Okay. So, this post has gotten really long, but I feel as though these things all helped develop a successful first week and school culture thus far. Last thing! The social contract we built with our kids follows closely with Capturing Kids Hearts protocol. Here is the method we used to build it. I'm not going to write a ton about it (I've already written a ton) except that it was wonderful, involved all student's input and impressed me. This was my first time seeing it and it was spectacular. This is our final social contract for the whole school. We are going to have kids sign it and hang it in all the classrooms and possibly outside our front doors. 

CTEC

"Authenticity requires vulnerability, transparency, and integrity." -Janet Louise Stephenson

This quote has been illuminating my lock screen on my iPhone for months now. As soon as I accepted the position at CTEC (Charlotte Teaching Early College). In less than a week close to 50 bright-eyed freshies will be entering the lower level of Cato College of Education. There they'll find four educators excited about sharing their passion for their profession and hopefully we'll start cultivating new teachers. This program is the first like it in the state and one of a few in the entire country. The ability of the program to spread, to be viable, to help sustain our career is invested in these first 50 students. 

I was asked why this school was special by someone writing a story for CMS and these are thoughts that I sent: 

For me, the Teacher's Early College is an exceptional way to start inspiring young minds with meaningful connections in hopes that they discover that teaching is a vibrant career option. Our state has seen an unfortunate decline in accredited universities offering education based diplomas at undergraduate and graduate levels because of lack of enrollment. Between this lack of interest and the burn-out that many educators experience in the first years on the job due to their inability to close the gap between the expectation and the reality of the career, its no wonder that we can't sustain all the highly qualified educators we need all over the state. This program provides a rare opportunity for students to start gaining the tools and understandings of what a "good teacher" looks like and how to emulate that practice. It's also unique in the fact that all the people participating in this training are invested educators whose love for the classroom is evident and infectious. I am a CMS graduate that attended University Meadows, Ranson, Northridge, and Vance. I also graduated from UNC-Charlotte for my undergraduate degree in Math Education. This year will be incredibly special to me, as students share so many similar experiences to me. And I hope that these students help start revitalizing the career that I love and employ a system that provided me with the passion to teach. 

(Okay Kristen, Back to the quote! ) 

I know that the one thing that will go a long way in my classroom is authentic relationships and authentic tasks for my students. This means that I will be the most transparent I can about my intentions for content, decisions, my professional triumphs and professional growth. I want to be vulnerable to my colleagues so that they can impart their knowledge and ideas on me to be a better teacher. I feel as though these things will mean more than they ever had in my classroom. I have a lot of hopes for my students. I want them to not only access the curriculum in a new exciting way, but start to evaluate how they access it.

***Update***
During the first week of being open several news crews, newspapers, and media outlets involved in the school have shown up. I've been quoted in some of these and some of our kids have been interviewed. I figure I'd document them here:

WBTV Local News Story
CMS Story (I'm quoted in this one)
UNC-Charlotte Story
WCCB Local News Story (I'm at the end of this broadcast)
Charlotte Observer 
WSOC Local News Story
Education Weekly (National Coverage)