Wednesday, January 29, 2014

For the Nonbelievers

I like to surround myself with people from whom I can learn. Over the past five years as a math coach, I have been surround by people who are not afraid to step outside the box and challenge the ideas students and teachers have about mathematics. The new endeavor attempted by a couple of my coaching friends is the use of 3 Act Tasks within the math class. If you haven't heard of them, check out Dan Meyer's blog http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=16470.  

My quick and dirty version of a 3 act task- present students with a situation or a conflict with very limited information. Allow students to pose questions that come to mind. Students estimate an answer that is too high and too low, then using only what they have begin to find a solution to the situation or conflict. As they work, students find they need more information and are able to obtain the information by asking for what they need. Dan says this is creating an intellectual need. 

This type of approach was introduced to me by Graham Flecther. The examples I've seen were with the intermediate grades up through high school. So naturally, my original thought was to try my hand with this approach in a 4th or 5th grade classroom. In actuality, my first experience was in a 2nd grade class. If you are a nonbeliever in giving students as little information as possible and allowing their curiosity take over, if you believe you have to teach the concept before students in engage in a task or you believe only older students have the ability to do such a thing; let me make you a believer. 

The 2nd graders completely blew my mind. As I walked around asking probing questions, I became more and more excited.  This is the task in which they engaged. Their questions didn't go in the original direction I had planned. It looked like I was going to experience some set back with questions such as, "is it a wedding," "is it a concert". 
With the possibility of the lesson unraveling, I posed the question, "How many panels are in the noted region?"  At this point, students took off thinking and processing, until they realized there wasn't enough information for them to arrive at a solution. Information was revealed only after a student inquired about the information. 

The strategies the students exhibited to multiply double digits ranged greatly. Students had their choice of which manipulatives to use within their groups. 


This group created nine rows of ten, but doubled the quantity to represent 18x10. 

This group realized that 10 groups of 10 was equivalent to 100, so they used their counters to make 10 groups of 10 and 10 groups of 8 to model 18x10. What they really were doing was the distributive property, but that wasn't an explicit goal of the lesson. Wow! Creating the opportunity to make sense of mathematics naturally brings out the concepts some teachers believe they have to "teach" before students can do it. 

This student drew an array for 18x10 and used repeated addition to solve. 


This group created 18 groups of 10 and skip counted by 10 eighteen times to arrive at an answer for 18x10. 

As if walking around talking with students about their mathematical thinking wasn't exciting enough, we got together as a class to discuss how the different groups arrived at a solution. I posted two explanations on one of my YouTube channels. http://youtu.be/gtv039ktFkI



From this task, one of those 2nd graders made a conjecture most 4th and 5th graders struggle with understanding. For that very reason, I recorded this thought on anchor charts and hung them in the hallway. 

In the math classroom, there is a time and a place for lecture and practice. But if you spend most of your time doing these two practices, it's likely that your students will miss out on the opportunity to make sense of the mathematics in which they are engaging. 

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Dance

The Dance card
The card reads: Step into the light. Share your gifts and talents with the world.

I've pondered over this card for a while and how it connects to my life. Yesterday I was forced into the world of blogging, a place I did not want to be. I don't like those kinds of people who feel like they always have something to say. Maybe because I'm a words person and I try to think through my thoughts before blurting them out all the time. Maybe because someone else wants or needs a turn in the spotlight. Or maybe because I know my ego and how it can get out of control if I allow it to always be in the forefront. So I
put off blogging as long as I could.

But it seems blogging is connected to the card I pulled at my last counseling session. At the end of each session you pull a card from a box and journal about how it makes you feel, how it connects to your life or anything that comes to mind. I do believe I have a gift of teaching. Why? Because I honestly enjoy it, I see the impact I'm able to make and because I took a spiritual gifts test on more than one occasion and scored the highest on teaching. So if my gift and my talents lay here, why keep it to myself? That's biblical, you know the story of the one talent man. I don't want to be "that guy" or girl in my case.

I guess coming out of my "me against the mainstream world" fight is necessary and a part of the work I am purposes to do while I have time left on this earth.

Reminds me of a Kid President question posed in one of his videos. What are you teaching the world?

Friday, January 17, 2014

A Coach's Reflection

Reflecting on last semester as a math leader is very vague for me.  Inbetween my numerous stays at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, I vaguely remember going to new PLs, engaging in exciting math activities or trying out an innovative math idea within a classroom.  One would think that I have had an unfulfilling first semester, but looking at so of my works I've planted good fruit. I've created technology resources for my teachers, changed the way some teachers think about my math among other things. Check out my website and see what you think: 
http://schoolwires.henry.k12.ga.us/site/default.aspx?DomainID=4011 


Legacy is important to me.  When someone thinks of Jenise, there are certain things I want to leave within their span of memory.  I'm not being morbid, I'm talking about leaving one place and going to another. How will I leave my mark.  With going through this school year with a chronically ill infant, going back and forth to the hospital but still coming to work with a smile on my face is a good mark I would like to leave.  Effectively using technology within the math classroom is another mark I would like to leave.  So I'm working diligently to develop ideas for using it effectively. I've posted many things on my school site so far. Feedback is useful to those fighting the good fight within the classrooms. 
http://schoolwires.henry.k12.ga.us/Page/59792