Digital Tools: Opening my eyes to online learning

I am now entering week 10 of online learning, and it has been a pivot. I decided to lean into the pivot and use these weeks as an opportunity to explore. In my explorations, I came across Dr. Theresa Wills. She is a professor from George Mason University and has been teaching math online for years. I forget how I found her, but she has opened my eyes to what is possible. Since she has been teaching online for years, her strategies are very well developed and the free daily PD she offers allows anyone to learn from her. I sat and watched many of her recordings and learned the following:

• Teaching is a skill you develop over time and with practice. Teaching online means applying the skills I have developed but in a new medium. I have to now practice these tools, giving myself the time and play to learn them. I can't expect to be good at this unless I practice. 
• There are so many other people who have been doing this for a while and doing it well. There are benefits to this method of learning that I can learn and help my students, now and in the future, if we go back to class. 
• The online teaching community is supportive and caring. I have taken two of Dr. Wills PD sessions and all the teachers I have been grouped with make me feel supported and help me where I am at. 

I recommend that anyone who is teaching online to explore what Dr. Theresa Wills is doing to develop community and collaborative learning in her classes by using Google Slides.

This is the video that hooked me. I hope that it hooks you. 

Patent Laws, Areas of Shapes and Launching into Structures - June is on its way!

It is weird to think that May is already here and June is just around the corner. However, when I feel the energy in my classroom, it is evident that these Grade 7 students are ready to move and get going into action. This week the goal was to have a short launch into their activity and then send them loose to explore, try and play. The learning goals for this week were:

• Through understanding forces, we can prevent failure of a structure
• Understand area is the space taken up by a 2D object
• Explore the relationship between finding the area of a rectangle to the creation of a formula for the area of a triangle

Science:

This week was the wrap up of the solar oven project since we cooked our s'mores on Friday. With the twist of having students decide if they should make their results of experiments for public or private use, I wanted to take time to explore how this is applied in the world outside our classroom through patents. I decided to have a discussion period where students would understand and question how patents can motivate as well as make it difficult to innovate. 

To launch, I used the Poll Everywhere app to have the students share anonymously how they felt about making the results of their solar oven experiments for others to use. Through the different questions it was identified that:

• In this project, students made all of the experiments public for others to us, but if there was the option of charging their peers a chocolate bar to use their ideas they would have done so. 
• If they knew that not everyone in the class had a chocolate bar to spend, there was a slight shift to making it public but the majority still remained keeping it private and charging. 
• When asked what they think causes people to want to create inventions, the highest ranked choice was because they had a problem to solve, but also the idea of financial rewards appeared. 

After discussing the results of our class data, I walked them through the process of getting a patent and outlining the time and investment of money that is required. We searched on the international database of patents to see if an idea we had for our solar oven was already created. They found this challenging and time consuming. They also saw how inventions that are patented show how to make and produce the invention to everyone online, which they saw as a way to spark ideas in others...if others could find the patent. 

We then took time to ask why inventions had not been created to solve problems such as clean water, when we have made great improvements in cell phone technology. By talking through different world views, they were able to identify that the financial investment required to develop a product would then be gained back by selling the invention. However, if the people needing it have no money to pay, than the inventor would be at a loss of money.

I was really happy that we had this conversation as it allowed the students to see why some of the world's problems have not been solved due to issues that they have never made connections with before. The conversation was enjoyable and worth the period that we spent on it for sure and I would do it again. 

Here is the slide show that was used: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QVrhWcdUsVrspBD0OUMe9Q_1XdaqrlEZBpfen01sp6o 

To get ready for their upcoming structures unit, they are doing a homework assignment that will let them build and also collapse different structures. It is called Catastrophe and the developers have done a wonderful job of applying the laws of physics to the designs. My students have already started using the terms tension and compression without having learned it in class. 

The assignment they are working on is: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1N3Q3ELicDaoT5lAhIY5IwIIWHlU4slCXvFPrDrjK3m4

Next week is the launch of the structures unit and they will be working with another class. Lots of hands on building and exploration to do as we go into the end of the year!

Math: Finding Area

I was able to participate in a Lesson Study done by the Junior School teachers this week which focused on the development of understanding of area. With a focus on conservation and additivity when finding the area of irregular shapes. During the conversation, the idea that students forget these concepts as they begin to learn the formulas of shapes. With this in mind, I wanted to teach the area of a triangle by starting back at the start of understanding area. 

To do this, I told the students that they would be erasing their brains of all past knowledge and we would be progressing together. We talked about how measurements were originally taken by using body parts, but that different sized people would have different sized hands/feet. Then standardized units of measure were created so that everyone knew what was being talked about. We then explored why they were called units squared. For some students they had not thought of this since their younger years, and only now were able to grasp the concept. It was a short review, but important to understand that it is the total number of square units. 

We when looked at the area of a rectangle and saw how it is an array. You have for example, 10 groups of 6 boxes in the rectangle, so we can use that to do it faster. Students they made the connection that this would relate to the base x height formula they had learned. 

Finally we did a paper cutting exploration to show how two triangles make one rectangle. They understood that if we know how to find the area of a rectangle, than cutting up a triangle so that it fits into a rectangle allows us to use our array understanding to find the area. This was then connected with the formula that we then developed together. 

Once all students felt confident with this task, they were put into groups with their own shape that they needed to create a similar slide show showing how to change the shape back into a rectangle and then use this to develop a formula. Groups were arranged on purpose by processing speed so that they could think through the problem together and no one would be left behind. This was because the goal of the lesson was for them to think deeply about how conservation of area can occur. 

Now, they are creating their slide shows and will present to others in small groups next Wednesday. They will have the slides shared as their own "notes" to refer back on for their homework. This will be a good launch for their individual solving of irregular shapes as well. 

Slide show used: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AZP9F2b9kqAH7oDlLUaTZ7ARx8j5nGHvK8Xe8yv45L8 

Climate Change, Solar Ovens and Exploring Patent Law

Coming to the end of the year, there is always the challenge of how to spark Grade 7 students to keep going as well as create assignments where they can also explore their developing independence. The class had four learning goals this week:

• Science: Identify how heat is transferred and how heat loss can be reduced. 
• Science: Look at trends and evaluate the amount of greenhouse gases accumulated over time and propose courses of action to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. 
• Math: Make inferences and convincing arguments using data and the analysis of data from charts, tables and graphs that compare two attributes investigated. 
• Math: identify trends/patterns present to come to a conclusion on an argument

Science: Solar Oven Development

This week was day 2, 3 and 4 for the solar oven project. At this point, students had already determined if they wanted to be in a group, or working alone. Many had already identified the modifications they wanted to make to the "base model" and created experiment planners to test their new ideas. They had also thoroughly read through their peer's lab reports from the individually created heat labs completed over the March Break to find ideas and evidence for possible modifications. 

I really appreciated how the students bought into the hypothetical situation of being in an information bubble. They have only the results from their March Break lab reports to reference as evidence for a design modification. By doing this, students were reading through each others labs with a fine tooth comb. What was the biggest take away was how the students were trying to find ways to use the experimental results of an experiment involving putting an ice cube in a cotton or wool sock to justify a modification to their solar oven. They were able to take the results and apply them to a new situation effectively. However, hearing their discussions over how the data could show their modification showed their deep understanding and also some misperceptions of heat transfer that I had not heard until this point. 

Students who had decided to complete their own experiment are now collecting the results and determining if they want to make the results public for others to use. It was also interesting to see their excited faces during the first trial and seeing the results coming in for each modification. Students were then asked by their peers if they would make the results public or not. It was great to see students challenged with the decision of if their ideas should benefit others or just themselves. We will be wrapping up this conversation next week with an analysis of various situations where the decision of sharing scientific results for others use occurred and the outcomes afterwards. Having Grade 7s debate the purpose of copyright and patent laws will be very interesting now that they have their own personal experience. 

Documents used this week:

1. Solar Oven Student Handout
2. Solar Oven Design Template
3. Solar Oven Experiment Planner
4. Solar Oven Exit Interview Rubric

Math: Reading Graphs With a Focus on Climate Change

Since creating their lab reports from the March Break heat labs, they have developed an understanding of what is required in a proper graph. What we have been focusing on is that each graph has a story to tell, and that this story was was only told because someone had a question. When reading graphs their job is to identify what the question was that was asked and how the graph tells the story of the answer. 

I also wanted students to realize that reading a graph is not difficult, but requires them to slowly decode the information. Even the most confusing graphs can be broken down into parts that they can work to understand independently of each other prior to bringing the ideas together. 

There is a range of abilities in the class for how students can interpret visual data. With the range, some students are still working on reading a line graph while others are ready for a greater challenge. To ensure that all students were being challenged in this area, I wanted to find graphs that were all trying to tell the same story, but in a different way. This way my students, no matter which graph they received to work on, needed to tells its story to the rest of the class so that the big picture of climate change could be understood. 

To do this I went to the IPCC and used their graphs and data that explain climate change. I broke students up to work on a graph that reflected their need for challenge. Upon receiving their graph, they had 10 minutes to work independently to work through the decoding document. Then, after the 10 minutes they joined up with the rest of their group to share what they had decoded as well as where they were stuck. The final goal of the week was to create a slide show presentation to share with the rest of the class. In this presentation they needed to show the graph, explain the graph by decoding it, identify the question that was asked to make the graph, the answer to that question as well as the "why should we care". We have now started the presentations and it is really interesting to see students make connections between the stories their graphs told to the stories being told by other groups graphs.

The next step is that a board is going to be made with all of the graphs. Students will then use string to make a physical link between two graphs (one being their own) and identify what story the two graphs together are able to tell. They will then need to explore what next steps can be made to improve the outcome

Documents used this week:

1. Tuesday Slide Show Presentation
2. IPCC graphs for each group
3. Graph decoding document

Combining Expectations: Integers, One Step Equations and Translation Vectors

When looking at my curriculum, as I think many other teachers do, thought "How am I going to cover all of this". However, when I started looking through the parts I thought of how each expectation didn't have to be taught separately, but that perhaps if they are taught and explored together they would provide great context and then also the time to think through each of them.

My first attempt at this is exploring translation vectors, integer addition/subtraction and one step equations all in one hit. By doing this, I feel that my students will have longer to look at each concept and also use their strengths in one area to help them in another. I have already seen that my visual students have grasped the addition and subtraction of integers through their translation vectors, better than they would have done if it was taught separately.

I have put below each days goal and the related handout that the students completed (if applicable). My classes next steps are to explore the rest of the transformations on a Cartesian Plane. Through this we will also be looking at composite areas, similar and congruent shapes and two step equations. If you have any ideas of how these can lead into each other please let me know. I have a plan but open to change.

Outline and Resources:

Previously to this we had already explored the transformation terms through dance. Please see the previous post about this exciting activity.

Day 1:

• Explore the Cartesian Plane and how coordinate points are communicated. Translation Vector Intro.
• Resources: Click Here. 

Day 2:

• Translation Vectors Review and Thinking -> Inquiry into integer addition and subtraction.
• Resources: Click Here and Click Here. 

Day 3:

• Determining Translation Vectors through One Step Equations
• All class handout: Click Here. 
• Challenge by Choice
• Green level: Click Here
• Blue Level: Click Here
• Black Level: Click Here

If you are interested in my challenge levels please read my blog post about it. Click Here. 

Learning Transformations Through Dance

I am wrapping up our first unit in Grade 7 with our Data Management unit and our infographics of Who Are We. Every year this intro unit doesn't reach the level of design I want it to, but we do reach a great level of understanding in middle school organization expectations, homework management, class routines and friendships. I always need to remind myself that I purposefully do this unit first since it allows my students to focus on these other areas and not be stressed about the mathematical concepts.

Moving forward, I can now challenge them in their thinking in the classroom. My next term is a combination of geometry, algebra, number sense and measurement. To start we are going to be looking at transformations using dance as a way to introduce the vocabulary. I was inspired by a video I saw about a year ago from Math in Your Feet of a teacher doing the activity. Here is the video and below are my outline and goals.


Step 1: Dance Creation
Students are divided into pairs. Students stand an arms length away from each other and each within a 50 x 50 cm square. In this square, the two students create a short dance that includes foot, hand and body movement. They practice this until they both know the moves and can do it in synchronization.

Step 2: Vocabulary
Students are then slowly introduced to the vocabulary of origin, translation, dilation, rotation and reflection. One person in their box is told they are the origin. The other person is the translation or reflection. After an explanation of what there terms mean, the students then dance their dance in both situations. For the translation, nothing changes. Students see the movements are the same, but just not in the same box. However, when a reflection occurs, the origin does the original, while the other student completes the reflection. You can probably picture what happens with the others as well. Students practice each of these, switching who is the origin.

Step 3: Combination and Share
Students are partnered up with another group. The teacher calls out one or two terms. The students must dance their dance with these transformations. The other group is watching to see if they make a mistake and provide feedback. The teacher may say "translate, rotate 90 degrees and reflect". Students must understand what this means and preform.

Step 4: Music video analysis
As a possible homework activity, students watch a short segment of a popular music video and analyze the dance moves. They given the moves the transformation terms. They can also then identify who is the origin and also which types of moves occur more frequently. As a comparison, different people could get music videos from different countries to see what kind of transformations are more population there.

I am looking forward to trying this out. I am hoping it will take 2 periods and the homework to complete. After this, and they have the vocabulary down, we move onto geometric shapes on paper.

If you have any ideas of recommendations of how to make this better please let me know. 

Why I (half) Use Khan Academy in my MS Math Class

Over the past year I have read numerous posts about the pros and cons to using Khan Academy. After reading many of these, and now that Khan Academy has come out with new features, I wanted to put my two cents into the mix as to why I feel that I "half" use Khan Academy.

Teaching Student Individuality
I introduce Khan to my students on the first week of school. Students create accounts and add me as their coach. As we do this, we also have a conversation about who we are as learners. We talk about how important it is to understand how each person learns differently and needs different supports. We also discuss how a mature student is one that celebrates their own learning needs and finds their own right path to success.

I ask students to think of a time where they felt that they were learning differently than the other students in their class. A time where they felt they needed something different. Everyone can think of a situation that this happened, either that they were ready to move on, or that they just needed more time. This is when I introduce the Khan quizzes. We talk about how each student is able to practice a concept as many times as they need, without waiting for a teacher to tell them to, or that they can move ahead and challenge themselves with a new idea. They can then work on something as many times as they need to, at any point in time without any consequences. We then share and celebrate times where students felt different than others in their learning. Putting these feelings in the open in a middle school classroom can create a classroom culture of understanding and support.

Creating Student Directed Review

When I started using Khan, I would assign quizzes as homework, but I realized that this was not following the culture of student directed learning I was trying to create in my class. The minute that I stopped assigning quizzes, students saw them as a place to make mistakes without injury. A place to practice and test their ideas with immediate feedback. Prior to assessments, they select their own review questions based on their own needs and create their own study plan. With the immediate feedback from the quizzes, they can gauge their own needs and made adjustments as needed. By the end, they have a great sense of empowerment and ownership of their learning. They were the ones that made the plan, did the action, and then came out with the final result. I feel that for a middle school student, this is a very important lesson.

Providing Vocabulary to What They Learn
I have also used Khan as a way for students to identify what they have learned. At the start of a unit, I give the students a list of concepts that we will be learning. We call them the "building blocks" as they are the more calculation/knowledge based concepts needed for their curriculum. As we explore the concepts in class, students are told that we are looking at concept #6, or applying concept #4. Students can then refer to their concept chart to see what these could be called. Along with this chart, I attach links to Khan quizzes. I do this because I want the students to be able to look back at examples of things that we have done in the past, and see how they build on top of each other. They can also then practice a specific skill if necessary.

This year I saw a new benefit to linking the Khan quizzes to each concept. My students now can tell me that they are having challenges with the distributive property because they don't fully understand negative numbers. By seeing how the concepts build on each other, and not as separate entities, they can find the specific issue for themselves. They can go to a Khan quiz and see concepts as many times as they need, making them more familiar with the smaller building blocks. Compared to my past experiences I would have students say that they can't do any math and would put up a wall for moving forward. Now, I have students saying that they can move forward as long as they go back and practice an earlier concept. This was an amazing thing to hear from a student, and something that we celebrate together. If a student can identify a specific challenge rather than feeling it is EVERYTHING, they can feel there is a way out of the maze. The best part is that they become their own guide rather than depending only on the teacher. I have really enjoyed this aspect!

How I Don't Use Khan

I do not use the "flipped" approach that Khan was originally founded on. I do make my own videos, that I post after we have explored a concept in class, but I feel there is a part of learning that is missed if a student doesn't have a chance to explore an idea before they are walked through it. I feel that a student should have the time and opportunity to think through a new concept. To be able to ask themselves:

What looks familiar? 

What looks new? 

If I could change one thing about this problem so it looks familiar what would it be?  

What do I think my first step is going to be?

 I feel that by giving the students a chance to explore the ideas, they start to develop their own problem solving skills.  The end goal is to develop their own routine to find a starting point for any question that they are presented with. I feel that if a student is walked through the steps they don't have this opportunity.

Final Thoughts

I am very thankful for programs like Khan Academy. They allow my students to feel that they are more in control. They determine what they need to practice and when. They also start to celebrate their own challenges and their own solutions. I also appreciate how they are free, and my students can continue to use it long after they leave my class.

I feel that Khan can be a great tool if used in the right manner. For me, that means there is nothing assigned, marked or expected from students when using this program. The less I tell them to use it, the more they do. My next step is to figure out how my students can start making their own Khan academies online, to share and collaborate with each other in a program that gives immediate feedback like Khan. I guess that is the project I could assign my students exploring coding as an extension project. See what their first step will be to this new challenge.

Flipped Mastery: Finding a Balance for Middle School Students

For my upcoming unit of Patterning and Algebra, I have decided to run the class on a Mastery Method. I have spent the past two weeks setting up the program, marking plan, support materials and just released it to the students this week. I was surprised to then see two articles posted this weekend, one from the New York Times and the other from David Wees which both made me reflect upon my methods and goals.

The New York Times article In 'Flipped' Classrooms, a Method for Mastery, Tina Rosenberg summarized the challenge of a traditional class room as "the teacher must aim the lecture at the middle, leaving the faster learners bored and the slower ones lost". I have enjoyed using a Challenge by Choice approach to differentiate my teaching for my students. They select the level of challenge and support that they would like when learning a new concept. The issue I was having with using this method was that I was dictating which concepts we were learning and when. Students still enjoyed selecting their level of challenge as they could move slower or faster depending on their personal needs at that time with that concept.

However, looking forward to our algebra unit, I know that my students are coming from a wide range of backgrounds, and some have already covered this material. Due to this I wanted to provide the Challenge by Choice teaching style, but also with the student selecting which concept they wanted to explore and when. My solution to doing this was to combine the Challenge by Choice with a Mastery Method of teaching.

To make this happen, I have broken down the unit concepts into small, understandable steps for my students, each with their personal copy. I took this idea from Dan Meyer after reading his post about his checklists for students to track their learning. Students are made aware of which concepts we will be exploring in the upcoming week via an email and announcement on Friday. If students want to, they can go to another document that outlines videos that I have made or found as well as practice questions about this topic. They can explore the concepts ahead of time, practice, and then come to class knowing what kind of support they would like to have (Green, Blue or Black). When I introduce the concept, students can then decide if they would like to explore the concept together, or if they would like to move ahead and explore an additional concept through online resources, in class activities or with peers. As stated in the Times article, putting this together has been almost having another job, but I know that by having the resources available will allow the students to move at their own pace.

The plan for tracking the students progress is through the use of Mastery Quizzes. Students will sign up each week and identify which mastery quiz they would like to complete. These are formative and they can take them as many times as they like. To be a master, they need to get 4/4 on the concept twice. Students track their progress on their concept check list sheet and I do the same in my notes. It is through these quizzes that students can show me that they already have understood a concept and so they do not need to be in the Green group with me, but can move ahead. If a student has not preformed a mastery quiz on that concept, they are indicating that they would like some support walking through the concept.

In the end, all the students will still write a signature assessment (test) displaying their understanding of the unit. The difference is that they can select how they progress from the start of the unit until the end, not having to move at the same pace.

David Wees made some valid points in his post that made me reflect on my plan to use online resources like Khan for students to practice.  David identified the following challenges of only using online assessments or learning tools when looking at its use at his son's school:

• It did not measure his ability to explain his reasoning to others.
• It did not ask him to show multiple solutions for finding his answer.
• It did not present a meaningful context, and measure my son's ability to apply his understanding to that context.
• It did not check to see if my son had gained any transferable understanding.
• It did not allow my son to talk to peers about his solution.

I am going to keep David's comments in my head as I move forward. My goal is to ensure that those students that are moving ahead are also needing to think collaboratively and be challenged when in the Black or Blue groups. I will remember to think that online tools should be used as a way for them to track their own learning, but not as the way for them to display it. 

If you have any experience with a Mastery based program, I would love to hear or read about your experience and appreciate any advice you can give. 

Bansho: Applying Primary School Strategies to MS Math classes

A quick summary of a Bansho from my understanding would be that students solve a problem, share their unique solutions to the rest of the class allowing the teacher to identify various strategies and methods that could be used. The teacher consolidates the methods by creating a summary of a good strategy by identifying or combining various students work. Students then take ownership over the work and feel it is possible to understand since a peer/peers were the originators of the ideas.

I decided to use a Bansho as a way to assess what skills and understanding students had about percentages. I did the Bansho on the first day of class (lesson plan here) also to create the sharing and collaborative culture that exists in my Grade 8 classroom. As students went through the period, they experienced the values of creativity, perseverance and selected challenge. I created a small slide show to guide the work (found here) and and wrapped up with only four questions for homework.

I adapted the idea of the Bansho that I was introduced to match both my teaching style and needs. By using this method I was able to see more than just who was able to solve the problem, but also able to see the following:

• Clear awareness of students who have been taught in a procedural method
• Risk taking abilities
• Number sense abilities
• Ability to explain and justify their ideas
• Ability to see similarities and differences in mathematical procedures
• Ability to make connections to prior knowledge
• Preferred learning style (visual, oral, etc)
• Prior understandings
• Introverts/extroverts

For an activity that took only 50 minutes, it provided me with a better understanding of who my students were and allowed me to flag students who needed both support and a greater level of challenge and where that would need to take place. More than I have ever done on the first day of class. 

Upon reflection I would say that a Bansho would be a valuable teaching strategy for all grade levels. In the high school level it would be a beneficial activity prior to introducing a new functions, rates of change, geometry proofs, to beginning calculus. By asking the students to come up with as many different solutions to a problem you could see their understanding of previous concepts, ability to compare methods to each other and analyze what aspects of various methods create a more accurate and useful solution. For me since the Bansho, I was able to understand how my students already viewed proportional relationship problems and then teach to their methods directly. Overall a great experience and one that I highly recommend to all teachers at all teaching levels. 

Learning from other divisions. How I learned about Bansho.

Last year I attended a OAME conference (Ontario Associate of Mathematic Education) and participated in a "Mathematical Literacy" group. Sitting among the teachers, I quickly realized that I was the only middle school teacher, or pretty much the only teacher that was above the Grade 5 level. As the presentation proceeded, my eyes were popping out of my head as I was seeing strategies that I felt would bring the clarity and ownership of mathematical procedural learning to my students.

However, as I looked around to the other teachers, I saw that they were not as interested as I was. When questioned as to why they weren't as "blown away", one women sitting at my table said "Honey, I've been doing this in my class for 10 years. This isn't new information to me.". A few sessions later, I was sitting in a session meant for Grade 11 and 12 teachers only this time I was the one telling those senior school teachers that the "amazing" strategies that they were being introduced to were common practice in middle school classrooms. It was at this point that I realized the valuable strategies that work for students are not being used or applied beyond the designated Primary, Junior, Intermediate and Senior divisions. So I made it a goal to see what I could take and use from the Primary/Junior divisions, as those are the areas that I have never taught in. And this is how I was introduced to a Bansho.

Personalization Step 1: Why make a change if nothing is broken?

From my previous post, I have shared that my goal is to create a personalized classroom. One where the students self-assess, set personal goals, work at their own pace and explore the infinite resources available to them both online and in the community at our school and the outside community. This shift comes after reading about the various school districts both in Canada and abroad that are seeking a way to excite students who are finding current methods un-engaging and lacking the platform for them to practice their 21st century skills.  Solutions are varied depending on the needs of the students. Systems have been put in place in the UK in the form of the Studio Schools , British Columbia's Personalized Learning campaign and others discussed in a recent Forbes article. Each of these organizations have identified the need for a change in current teaching methods and each have selected the method that will work best for their population.

But why am I seeking a change? What have I tried already to know that this will work for me?

As a math teacher, I have always had the challenge of working with a group of students who are all are various levels of understanding based on their abilities but also their past experiences. Some students come into the class with a strong ability to perform calculations but are unable to creatively design an equation for a problem and vice versa. Ensuring that all students are engaged, challenged and moving forward at the right pace is a tough balancing act demanding continuous check-ins with students and ensuring that no one is falling between the cracks.

To do this I have implemented a differentiated approach to each lesson. As students enter the class, the goal of the day is written on the board as well as the schedule. Each day will have a mini lesson or activity that introduces the students to the concept that we will be exploring. After this 15 to 20 minute intro, students take a moment to self-reflect on how comfortable they felt with this new concept asking themselves the following questions:

• Did they feel they understood the examples?


• Did they depend on the teacher for the 'do it on your own' final example?


• Is this similar to things learned in the past?

At this point we move into our Challenge by Choice (CBC) levels. Based on a ski hill, students will decide if they want to move into a green, blue or black level of challenge for that specific concept. They will pair up with someone also on their hill and collect the associated work. Those on the Green level will begin with the teacher, providing some more examples and structure that are also reflected on their worksheets. After a period of 10 minutes, the teacher leaves the Green and checks in with the Blue group to see if they have any questions. These students understand that they have each other to work through problems and that they have selected a more independent and challenging level. The black level is even more challenging and there for students who have already mastered the concept. After 5 minutes of work, students of all levels are asked to self-assess their comfort where they are and determine if they need to switch hills for the rest of the period. Each level has different questions that reflect the goal of the day and also the challenge level they are on. Students move down to green or blue or up to black at their own will. At the end of the period, everyone meets at the "chalet" at the bottom of the hills to complete a check out. This quick completion of 2-3 questions ensures that everyone, no matter what hill they took understand the goal for that day.



What are the benefits?

By having the students select their own challenge level after a short lesson, they are also indicating what extra help they need. Those students who need more time are given it, but those that are all ready to move on can do so. Those students on Green will have the opportunity to work through a problem and provide an answer when before they would have let one of the other students do so. Those on the Black level become engaged and challenged to work through something that is different. By the end of the period, students have spent the time being engaged and working with material that they can have success with. Each student has the opportunity to feel success, if by being the one to offer an answer to the group or come up with a creative solution. Each student will be able to do so since they are working at the pace and place that is right for them. At the end of the unit, the final assessment is at a Green level where all students know that they can be prepared and ready to the task.

What are the challenges?

Creating 3 different activities for each lesson is a challenge for me as the teacher. Going to various sources to find questions and challenges that are appropriate for each level takes time. We are still moving through goals each day, meaning that if a student missed a day or didn't get the concept fully the class is moving on and they will need to attend extra help. Also, even though I have made a black level there are students who are even above that. They are ready to move on and think of creative and current applications of these concepts.

How will Personalization keep the good and help with the challenges?

I am hoping that by giving my students the opportunity to identify what they know, what they need to work on and the resources to do this at their own pace will continue to engage all students and ensure that everyone is attaining the course expectations. I don't want to loose the ability for the students to select their own challenge levels and have the assistance they need when they are learning each concept. I also want my students to leave my class with the skills to identify what they understand, what they need to improve on, what support they need to ensure their understanding. They will begin to see that I am not the only source of information and challenge, but that there is infinite options online and also how to collaborate with peers in our school and those outside its walls. 

Next Steps:

How is this going to work? That is my goal for the next month is to figure that out. I have some ideas in place, but I hope that you will help me along the way by providing me with suggestions to any dilemmas I may have.

At the end of the day, the system I have in place isn't broken but it isn't allowing those who need more time to have it and for those that want to extend and explore an interesting topic to do so. It also isn't allowing students to see the multitude of resources available to them and determine how they learn best by exploring different methods out there that might not get presented in class. Even though the system isn't broken, it can always go for a tune up!

 

Indi-Personal-Differ "ations" - What works for the 21st Century Learner

When sitting through PD sessions or reading online educational articles, three words appear to come up over and over again. These are Individual, Personalized and Differentiated Learning. Sometimes it can feel that these different methods come in and out of fashion like boy bands and teased hair. However, I have decided to take a closer look at these three methods and think specifically which method I currently employ in my classroom teaching and which method would provide a more beneficial outcome for my students working in the 21st century.

The first step was to become more familiar with the terms. Speaking with my small group at my Cohort 21 session, I became more confused than I was previously trying to identify the specifics of each method. What appeared to be so clear before, became clouded with teaching pedagogical wording. With some guidance from the BC Education website and Personalized vs Individualized vs Differentiation organizational chart I was shown on the Rethinking Learning website. I feel that I have a better grasp of what I am working with now.

To summarize here is what I have determined to be my working definitions for the course of this blog:

Individualization: The student is at the main focus of this method, accommodating the learning needs of the individual but with everyone achieving the same specific objectives. They may work through material at different paces but moving on requires the student to show mastery or understanding. Learners are dependent on the teacher to support their learning by creating individual lessons and learning is assessed in the end with a grade-based test or assignment that confirms what the students knows and doesn't know.

Differentiation: This method focuses on a group of learners organized based on their needs or interests. Instruction is adapted for each group and is directed by the teacher. Learning objectives are the same for all students, but how they may present their understanding could be different depending on the groups.

Personalized: The focus is on the learner with instruction connected to their interests as well as pace of learning. Each student may have different objectives based on their needs. This could mean displaying an understanding of fractions using a way they feel most comfortable with. Learning is done through a network of peers, teachers and others that the student has decided to make apart of their personal learning team. Students are encouraged to set goal, monitor progress and reflect on learning.

Right now personalized learning is the hot ticket item for 21st century learners by having students able to set their own goals, identify their own learning needs but also see that the teacher is not the only resource to them. These skills are deemed very valuable and necessary for the creative, group oriented and intrinsically motivated professional careers our students will be filling in the future.

As a math teacher, I will be looking to first identify where I am in the spectrum of teaching methods, but then ask other teachers reflect on there they are. By sharing and comparing I hope to gain a better understanding of what I feel these terms mean in practice, but also obtain great resources as to help move towards my goal; a more personalized learning classroom with that uses of 21st century technology and resources.