Increasing Writing During Math Instruction

Check out Jill's great idea for working on writing during math time: Along with improving their written reflections, she is going to do some math quick writes by asking them thoughtful questions. - Something I did this summer and how it involved math. - Why is math your favorite subject? and when do you NOT like math? - Write to another student and explain (with detail) how they can get an “4” on their next math test. - Pick one of the standards of mathematical practice and explain how you are good at it. - Pick one of the standards of mathematical practice and explain why you are not good at it and how you plan to improve. Let's add to her google doc and create a fantastic list to get students writing more during math time.

Creating a Physical Environment that Promotes Thinking

As mentioned in a previous post I've been thinking a lot about inviting more active learning and thinking into my practice.  One way to do this (that they talked about frequently at InnEdCo) is intentionally designing the physical space in your classroom.  I think the way I had previously set up my room (and the fact that I hadn't changed that set up in 4 years) didn't inspire either me or my kids to think and learn creatively and actively, so it was time for a change!

I started by getting rid of most of my desks and replacing them with tables.  Besides just making the room feel bigger, my thinking is that this will also send a message to my kids that I value collaboration.  I want my room to be a place where we come together to discuss, explore, and solve problems; having my kids sit around a kidney table rather than in desk seems like it might be a better way to do this.  I did keep a couple of desks and smaller tables for when independent work is necessary and to allow my students a choice of working independently or in a smaller group when appropriate.

Next, I painted the tops of all of my desks and tables with clear white board paint.  This turned out so cool!  I love the idea of my students brainstorming and problem solving by writing right on the tables.  My hope is that this will encourage risk taking. When "mistakes" can be quickly erased, it may feel safer to try a crazy idea that just might work.

Finally, I replaced half of the traditional desk chairs in my room with fit balls and raised a few desks to make standing desks.  I prefer working while standing or sitting on an exercise ball for many reasons, not the least of which is pacing or bouncing a bit when I need to move, and I think my students will enjoy it as well.  I've thought about making this transition for a long time but I never did it before because I thought it would create too many distractions or management issues.  After examining this thinking, I was disappointed in myself for not doing it because it would be "too hard."  I always tell my students to "do hard things" so I decided I had better do the same.  Now that it's all set up, I actually don't think it will be too hard, I'll just set expectations for sitting on the balls or working at the standing desks the way I do for everything else.  I'll expect that my students will use the space appropriately and hold them accountable for doing so.

I can't wait for my kids to come and se this space next week!  If you're interested in planning workspaces that inspire thinking check out these resources:

http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/20-ways-to-setup-a-classroom-to-help-your-students-think/?utm_content=buffer48068&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

http://www.edutopia.org//blog/film-festival-learning-spaces-classroom-makeovers?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow&utm_campaign=RSS

Here are some pics of my classroom set up!

Laying the Foundation for STUDENT-based questioning

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Before I can go forward in the process of documenting our INSPIRED journey into the power of inquiry, questions, and student discourse to leverage instruction and overall higher level learning over the next two years, I must take two steps back to post about two foundational steps that we took before beginning this blog journal.(This was step 1.)

My overall 2-year goal: To explore the potential of student-derived questions and subsequent text based discussion (TBD) to support student comprehension and learning from text. (I will only outline our  journey to find the answer to QUESTION 1 in this post.)

My personal guiding questions:

• QUESTION 1: How do students learn to develop meaningful questions that promote student-to-student discussions that increase and deepen engagement and learning?

• QUESTION 2: What does an effective discussion that promotes thoughtful engagement with text or content matter such as math, science, social studies, and knowledge building look and sound like?

• QUESTION 3: When the students are engaged in student-to-student discourse, how can one monitor or gauge evidence of rigorous thinking?

QUESTION 1: How do students learn to develop meaningful questions that promote student-to-student discussions that increase and deepen engagement and learning?

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

It is my understanding from reading myriad articles, and to quote the Right Questioning Institute , “ the ability  to produce questions, improve questions and prioritize questions may be one of the most important—yet too often overlooked—skills that a student can acquire in their formal education. Strong critical thinking is often grounded in the questions we ask. By deliberately teaching questioning skills, we will be facilitating a process that will help students develop a mental muscle necessary for deeper learning, creativity and innovation, analysis, and problem solving.”

CCSS correlation - related to so many, I won’t even list them.

Lesson 1 - Students began by watching the visual presentation of the wordless book, Bluebird by Bob Staake ,which captures the “somber hues of loneliness and introspection”, and then following the six steps of the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) method. (Feel free to check out Jay Corrigan, teacher specialist’s, Prezi”ntation” which hooked me in!)

1. The Question Focus (QFocus)

2. The Rules for Producing Questions

3. Producing Questions

4. Categorizing Questions

5. Prioritizing Questions

6. Next Steps

7. Reflection

(To keep this blog post as short as possible, here is a link to the in-depth description of implementing each step of the QFT method. )

OUTCOME:  Upon completing the prioritization and reflection process, ONE student-generated question became the basis of a very high-level whole-class evidence-based discussion.

• How did the author use color, shades, and hues to define the theme of the story?

Lesson 2 - Students used the Text-Based-Discussion TBD sheet, adapted from Krista McDaniel, to prepare for their first TBD using the first lesson as background knowledge for generating questions.

OUTCOME: While the discussion was interesting to observe, it was the REFLECTION portion of the discussion that provided us with what we really needed to move forward with our questioning technique. The students evaluated the type of questions that they had discussed in their group, and which ones had the most profound impact. They came up with a list of SIX CRITERIA for effective, what we call - INSPIRED- questions as outlined below:

This criteria has been the bridge to extending our work towards answering QUESTION 2.

**I can tell that students understand the value of the an INSPIRED QUESTION, as they have elected to actually hold a collaborative question “revising and editing” session before formalizing their individual Text-Based-Discussion preparation sheets, and subsequently having a high-level, meaningful TBD. 

MakerSpaces

At InnEdCo this year, one thing that kept sticking out to me was the problem we face trying to make learning a more active endeavor for our kids. This is something I strive for, I don't want my classroom to be a passive environment. However, upon reflection of my own practice, when it comes right down to it, I expect my kids to "sit and get" more than I want to. So, what to do?

At the same conference I also heard a lot about MakerSpaces and it seemed like setting this up would be a great step in the ACTIVE direction. So I talked to my principal and while we still have a lot of tweaking to do (mainly who will supervise and when will it be open), we're going to set one up in one of our empty classrooms. I'm excited because really think this will be a FANTASTIC thing for our kids. It may not be a direct link to making learning more active in my room but I think having this kind of learning spot in our building will help to foster an "active learning" mindset in my students.

Have any of you done something like this? Do you have any ideas of what we should include? I'd LOVE any and all ideas/suggestion you all have and I'll keep you posted on how it goes! If you're not familiar with MakerSpaces, check out the video links below.

 This first video is from a HS ... The Principal of this school was at InnEdCO and he was so inspiring! New Jersey HS

 This one is from an elementary school and features so LEGO products and Makey Makey's which I have already so we could start with these materials. Dousman Elementary

 This one is LONG but its a good starting point for people who have never heard of MakerSpaces. What is a MakerSpace

With a Piece of Chalk

I am planning on using this video as a springboard for discussion with students this fall.  What are your thoughts? How could it set the stage for a conversation with students?

Paper Roller Coasters

One of my students had a passion for all things roller coasters, so I did paper roller coasters with my 5th grade math students this year, and they loved it!  Students worked on it this fall in small groups, and then wanted to re-visit it at the end of the year so they all collaborated together to make a giant one.   The fine motor piece of cutting, folding, and taping made it difficult for younger students.  I would recommend 4th - high school students.  You could use it as a very exploratory project where students are creating and collaborating, or you could go very in depth into the math and science of how roller coasters work.    There are tons of books about the history of roller coasters, and the science of roller coasters. The project came from www.PaperRollerCoasters.com  Enjoy!  

Resources can be found here.