Twitter Math Camp 2016, held at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, wrapped up 8 days ago. Normally, I would have blogged right away after such a rich experience, but some extenuating circumstances led me to step back and think about the conference in a different way. You see, normally I would have written a detailed summary of each session I attended and explained how I planned to use what I'd learned in my own school. But not this time.
My flight home from #TMC16 landed at BWI around 9pm last Tuesday. I planned to stay with my parents that evening because they live much closer to the airport than I do. My parents picked me up from the airport and I texted my fiancé to let him know that I'd landed safely. He replied that he needed to attend a viewing in New Jersey the next day and asked if I would be able to go with him. When I called to find out the details, I was heartbroken to hear about the loss. His friend's 17-year-old brother Jeffrey, a rising senior in high school, had died on Saturday in a fishing accident.
By all accounts, Jeffrey was a vibrant young man. He volunteered to teach younger children and those with special needs how to play hockey. He loved to fish but often came off the boat with more than he needed, so he would share the bounty with anyone on the dock who wasn't as fortunate. He had an infectious sense of humor. Over 1500 people attended the viewing; it lasted 6 hours. The funeral
the next morning was standing room only in the large church. Though I never met Jeffrey, it is clear that his passing will leave a void in his family and his community at large.
Following the viewing and funeral, I was reflecting on what had been shared about Jeffrey. I realized one thing that seemed important: no one mentioned anything about his academics aside from a passing reference to "looking for colleges." Whether he was an exceptional student, a mediocre student, or a struggling student didn't and doesn't matter. Those grades don't make a person. What matters is the character that Jeffrey showed in his life because his loved ones will remember their joyful shared interactions much longer than his report card grades.
What I noticed this year at TMC16 was a new focus on social justice and how the climate we establish in our classrooms and schools can spill out into the greater world. Less emphasis was placed on content than at TMC14 (the only other TMC I've attended); in fact there were only a few sessions that were targeted at one specific course. I can't speak to why this shift has occurred but I am proud to be a part of the conversation about improving school for our students. After all, a good education is comprised of far more than letter grades on a report card.
How can you send the message to your students that their education is about more than grades this back to school season and beyond?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Friday, April 22, 2016
As the year draws to a close
We're just 5 weeks from graduation and 7 weeks from the end of the year. As such, I find myself reflecting on the progress I've made in my new role this year and the work that lies ahead of me.
Last week, @timsmccaffrey and I decided to challenge each other to write about a challenge that faces us as the school year ends. My challenge is to lay the groundwork for next year. I feel like I've been doing lots of things this year, but there hasn't been a clear overarching goal for my position that's specific enough to really guide my workday. "Improve student achievement" is absolutely my goal but what are the important sub-goals that support that goal?
Here are some of the things I've been doing this year:
- visiting classrooms
- co-teaching/model teaching
- planning with teachers
- writing sample lessons or activities
- supporting students by pushing into classes
- working in small groups with students in my office
- writing and implementing common benchmark testing for Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II
- writing Bridge Projects for the state of Maryland (an alternate path for students who are unsuccessful on PARCC)
- administering PARCC (I'm at 34 sessions so far this year and counting)
- reviewing curriculum resources for potential purchase
- leading Universal Design for Learning PD for the whole staff with two other teachers
- participating in an Assessment Literacy Collaborative sponsored by the state of MD
- planning schedules for next year
- reviewing data and planning next steps
- studying formative assessment practice
So, my goal for next year is to hone this list to spend more time on the most effective things (and find ways to minimize the time-suck of the not-so-effective but still necessary things). And my goal for the next month and a half is to prioritize these items and craft a mock schedule of how I should be spending time next year. Streamling time!
What's YOUR goal for the rest of the year?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
Last week, @timsmccaffrey and I decided to challenge each other to write about a challenge that faces us as the school year ends. My challenge is to lay the groundwork for next year. I feel like I've been doing lots of things this year, but there hasn't been a clear overarching goal for my position that's specific enough to really guide my workday. "Improve student achievement" is absolutely my goal but what are the important sub-goals that support that goal?
Here are some of the things I've been doing this year:
- visiting classrooms
- co-teaching/model teaching
- planning with teachers
- writing sample lessons or activities
- supporting students by pushing into classes
- working in small groups with students in my office
- writing and implementing common benchmark testing for Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II
- writing Bridge Projects for the state of Maryland (an alternate path for students who are unsuccessful on PARCC)
- administering PARCC (I'm at 34 sessions so far this year and counting)
- reviewing curriculum resources for potential purchase
- leading Universal Design for Learning PD for the whole staff with two other teachers
- participating in an Assessment Literacy Collaborative sponsored by the state of MD
- planning schedules for next year
- reviewing data and planning next steps
- studying formative assessment practice
So, my goal for next year is to hone this list to spend more time on the most effective things (and find ways to minimize the time-suck of the not-so-effective but still necessary things). And my goal for the next month and a half is to prioritize these items and craft a mock schedule of how I should be spending time next year. Streamling time!
What's YOUR goal for the rest of the year?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
Monday, January 11, 2016
#MTBoS Blogging Challenge #1
Hello! It's time for the Math Twitter Blogosphere Blogging Initiative! What's this challenge all about? It's just about gently getting you into the habit (or back into the habit) of blogging. This week we have two options:
Option 1: We rarely take the time to stop and smell the roses. Even on the most disastrous of days, good things happen. And these good things, when you’re on the lookout for them, pop up. All. The. Time. So for one day (heck, do it for many days), keep a lookout for the small good moments during your day and blog about them. We bet that by keeping an eye out for the good, your whole day will be even better!
Option 2: A few years ago, some people in the #MTBoS wanted to share what their teaching lives were like. Partly because we all work in different schools, and so we wanted to get a glimpse of our friends-in-action. At the same time, we also wanted to battle against the idea that teaching is easy. We wanted to share what it is like to be a teacher with non-teachers! So we all blogged about a single day of teaching — from start to finish. So for the first week of the blogging initiative, we thought you blogging about a day in your lives would be a great way to start getting to know each other!
Since I've blogged about positive moments more recently than I've done a day in the life, I'm choosing option 2.
5:30: Alarm 1 goes off. I make friends with the snooze button a few times.
6:14: I coax myself out of bed, hastily grab an outfit from the closet, and hop in the shower.
7:15: Having finished breakfast and packed my lunch, I'm out the door.
7:16: I back out of the driveway and see a light I left on.
7:17: I park the car, turn off the light, and head to school.
7:24: I pull into the parking lot and head into the building.
7:33: I sign in at the front office and check my mailbox. No news is good news.
7:40: I walk down the math hall and say hello to the teachers on hall duty. One teacher asks if I'll be able to come to her Algebra II class and I say I think I will provided I'm not pulled to test.
7:45: I send my weekly memo via email to math teachers.
7:50: I go to the Algebra II class and assist students who are struggling with their review questions for the final exam. This teacher has students write work on the board daily. They're allowed to take a buddy along for support/guidance if they're stuck. Two students ask me to be their buddies, and I oblige.
8:40: I return to my office and start reviewing material for the Bridge Projects I'll be writing next month. (In Maryland, Bridge Projects are an alternate way students can earn credit after they've failed a standardized final test in a course like Algebra I at least twice.)
9:03: I get a call from our testing coordinator asking what I'm doing second period. Could I please test a make up PARCC session? I go back to looking at the Bridge Project information until it's time to test.
9:23: I head to the media center for the make up session. It's 11th grade English. It takes some time to get the majority of the students there, most likely because we're also running final exams this week and our state-mandated tests (HSAs) in Government and Biology.
9:53: I finally say, "You may begin."
10:46: All the students have finished, so I end the session.
10:52: I finish cleaning up the room and return the materials to the AP.
10:54: I heat up my lunch, left over PF Chang's Beef with Broccoli from my dinner out with college friends on Saturday. I will need to drink several liters of water this afternoon to combat the insane amount of sodium they include in their meals. I basically haven't stopped drinking water since Saturday evening. There were over 3,000mg of sodium in that meal. Eek!
11:10: I check my personal e-mail while eating lunch and decide to start writing this blog post. Usually, I eat with the math teachers at 12:05, but I have meetings this afternoon, so I'm eating in my office alone instead.
11:32: I pause writing here to return to work. I start gathering materials and thoughts for my 12:00 meeting.
11:44: I go to the office to sign out.
11:49: I'm in my car driving to the Board of Education.
12:00: I start meeting with my supervisor and the other specialist from the other high school in the district. We discuss the meeting we're having with teachers in the afternoon, textbook adoption, benchmark testing, data analysis and more.
1:30: Our supervisor leaves for a different meeting, so the other specialist and I continue our previous conversation and update each other on how things are going in our schools.
3:00: We start meeting with teachers from the two high schools to discuss course sequencing, course offerings, master schedules, and sort of the overall pathway that students would take in high school.
4:30: We end the meeting and I discuss more with one of the teachers from my school as we walk out.
4:40: I arrive at the grocery store so I can make brownies for tomorrow's potluck at "C" lunch. I only have two eggs left and brownies require three. I'd better get milk too.
4:50: I get home from the grocery store.
4:55: I preheat the oven and notice that brownies take, in fact, just one egg so my grocery store run was pointless. Hmm. It must be some cakes that need 3.
5:30: I start making dinner.
5:50: I eat dinner.
5:55: The brownies come out of the oven to cool.
5:59: I resume typing this summary of my day.
6:10: I start playing with the master schedule a bit pursuant to my discussion this afternoon with teachers. We batted around the idea of requiring freshman to enroll in Algebra I first semester if they haven't completed it in middle school but we're not sure how that will change the rest of the schedule.
6:32: Schedule analysis complete. I tried to change as little as possible. Of the nine teachers, 4 could keep their exact schedules, three could teach the same courses but alter the number of sections of those courses, and only two would have to teach different courses. Those two teachers would each add one new prep (but they would still have at most two preps per semester).
6:37: I answer an e-mail from a teacher who is requesting help with a course that's coming up next semester.
6:40: Back to tying this summary.
I'm going to publish this now because my work day is essentially over. I'll do the dishes, maybe throw in a load of laundry to catch up from what I didn't do over the weekend, write a thank you card to a family from youth group who brought me a Christmas present last night, and carve out some time to keep in touch with loved ones via phone.
To all the classroom teachers out there, I'm sorry. I still carry tremendous guilt about the fact that with my new job I've been able to carve out personal time in the evenings and not grade papers or plan lessons all the way until bedtime. I stay busy, but it's a different kind of busy than I had for the previous seven years and I'm not quite settled into this new routine yet. Not having Sunday evening anxiety is strange.
Which prompt option will you choose to blog about this week?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
Option 1: We rarely take the time to stop and smell the roses. Even on the most disastrous of days, good things happen. And these good things, when you’re on the lookout for them, pop up. All. The. Time. So for one day (heck, do it for many days), keep a lookout for the small good moments during your day and blog about them. We bet that by keeping an eye out for the good, your whole day will be even better!
Option 2: A few years ago, some people in the #MTBoS wanted to share what their teaching lives were like. Partly because we all work in different schools, and so we wanted to get a glimpse of our friends-in-action. At the same time, we also wanted to battle against the idea that teaching is easy. We wanted to share what it is like to be a teacher with non-teachers! So we all blogged about a single day of teaching — from start to finish. So for the first week of the blogging initiative, we thought you blogging about a day in your lives would be a great way to start getting to know each other!
Since I've blogged about positive moments more recently than I've done a day in the life, I'm choosing option 2.
5:30: Alarm 1 goes off. I make friends with the snooze button a few times.
6:14: I coax myself out of bed, hastily grab an outfit from the closet, and hop in the shower.
7:15: Having finished breakfast and packed my lunch, I'm out the door.
7:16: I back out of the driveway and see a light I left on.
7:17: I park the car, turn off the light, and head to school.
7:24: I pull into the parking lot and head into the building.
7:33: I sign in at the front office and check my mailbox. No news is good news.
7:40: I walk down the math hall and say hello to the teachers on hall duty. One teacher asks if I'll be able to come to her Algebra II class and I say I think I will provided I'm not pulled to test.
7:45: I send my weekly memo via email to math teachers.
7:50: I go to the Algebra II class and assist students who are struggling with their review questions for the final exam. This teacher has students write work on the board daily. They're allowed to take a buddy along for support/guidance if they're stuck. Two students ask me to be their buddies, and I oblige.
8:40: I return to my office and start reviewing material for the Bridge Projects I'll be writing next month. (In Maryland, Bridge Projects are an alternate way students can earn credit after they've failed a standardized final test in a course like Algebra I at least twice.)
9:03: I get a call from our testing coordinator asking what I'm doing second period. Could I please test a make up PARCC session? I go back to looking at the Bridge Project information until it's time to test.
9:23: I head to the media center for the make up session. It's 11th grade English. It takes some time to get the majority of the students there, most likely because we're also running final exams this week and our state-mandated tests (HSAs) in Government and Biology.
9:53: I finally say, "You may begin."
10:46: All the students have finished, so I end the session.
10:52: I finish cleaning up the room and return the materials to the AP.
10:54: I heat up my lunch, left over PF Chang's Beef with Broccoli from my dinner out with college friends on Saturday. I will need to drink several liters of water this afternoon to combat the insane amount of sodium they include in their meals. I basically haven't stopped drinking water since Saturday evening. There were over 3,000mg of sodium in that meal. Eek!
11:10: I check my personal e-mail while eating lunch and decide to start writing this blog post. Usually, I eat with the math teachers at 12:05, but I have meetings this afternoon, so I'm eating in my office alone instead.
11:32: I pause writing here to return to work. I start gathering materials and thoughts for my 12:00 meeting.
11:44: I go to the office to sign out.
11:49: I'm in my car driving to the Board of Education.
12:00: I start meeting with my supervisor and the other specialist from the other high school in the district. We discuss the meeting we're having with teachers in the afternoon, textbook adoption, benchmark testing, data analysis and more.
1:30: Our supervisor leaves for a different meeting, so the other specialist and I continue our previous conversation and update each other on how things are going in our schools.
3:00: We start meeting with teachers from the two high schools to discuss course sequencing, course offerings, master schedules, and sort of the overall pathway that students would take in high school.
4:30: We end the meeting and I discuss more with one of the teachers from my school as we walk out.
4:40: I arrive at the grocery store so I can make brownies for tomorrow's potluck at "C" lunch. I only have two eggs left and brownies require three. I'd better get milk too.
4:50: I get home from the grocery store.
4:55: I preheat the oven and notice that brownies take, in fact, just one egg so my grocery store run was pointless. Hmm. It must be some cakes that need 3.
5:30: I start making dinner.
5:50: I eat dinner.
5:55: The brownies come out of the oven to cool.
5:59: I resume typing this summary of my day.
6:10: I start playing with the master schedule a bit pursuant to my discussion this afternoon with teachers. We batted around the idea of requiring freshman to enroll in Algebra I first semester if they haven't completed it in middle school but we're not sure how that will change the rest of the schedule.
 |
| Master schedule tinkering |
6:32: Schedule analysis complete. I tried to change as little as possible. Of the nine teachers, 4 could keep their exact schedules, three could teach the same courses but alter the number of sections of those courses, and only two would have to teach different courses. Those two teachers would each add one new prep (but they would still have at most two preps per semester).
6:37: I answer an e-mail from a teacher who is requesting help with a course that's coming up next semester.
6:40: Back to tying this summary.
I'm going to publish this now because my work day is essentially over. I'll do the dishes, maybe throw in a load of laundry to catch up from what I didn't do over the weekend, write a thank you card to a family from youth group who brought me a Christmas present last night, and carve out some time to keep in touch with loved ones via phone.
To all the classroom teachers out there, I'm sorry. I still carry tremendous guilt about the fact that with my new job I've been able to carve out personal time in the evenings and not grade papers or plan lessons all the way until bedtime. I stay busy, but it's a different kind of busy than I had for the previous seven years and I'm not quite settled into this new routine yet. Not having Sunday evening anxiety is strange.
Which prompt option will you choose to blog about this week?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Two little joys from today
I just wanted to record two happy moments from today.
1. I visit a particular Algebra II class almost daily to help students who are struggling. One of the students who is generally not in need of extra assistance is a 10th grade student who was in my class in 8th grade. She commented today, "You know, I just threw out the notebook we made in your class and now I wish I hadn't because this stuff was in there and it would have helped me." Obviously, I had a little twinge of pain in my heart when she admitted to throwing out her ISN, but I was more pleased that she recognized its utility.
2. When I parked at Dollar Tree, I was parked behind a running Mustang with a passenger inside. My quick purchase turned out to be a little more time consuming than I expected because the staff insisted on boxing up my purchase instead of putting it into bags. I walked out of Dollar Tree carrying 20 glass prayer candles for a youth group event this weekend and noticed that car was still running. As I was walking back to my car in the especially dark parking lot carrying this heavy load, a young man hopped out of the running car. He called out my name and ran to my car. He wanted to chat; I taught him French last year and although he had moved school districts, he had heard I'd changed jobs. It was nice to hear that he's doing well at his new school.
Kids are the best, aren't they?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
1. I visit a particular Algebra II class almost daily to help students who are struggling. One of the students who is generally not in need of extra assistance is a 10th grade student who was in my class in 8th grade. She commented today, "You know, I just threw out the notebook we made in your class and now I wish I hadn't because this stuff was in there and it would have helped me." Obviously, I had a little twinge of pain in my heart when she admitted to throwing out her ISN, but I was more pleased that she recognized its utility.
2. When I parked at Dollar Tree, I was parked behind a running Mustang with a passenger inside. My quick purchase turned out to be a little more time consuming than I expected because the staff insisted on boxing up my purchase instead of putting it into bags. I walked out of Dollar Tree carrying 20 glass prayer candles for a youth group event this weekend and noticed that car was still running. As I was walking back to my car in the especially dark parking lot carrying this heavy load, a young man hopped out of the running car. He called out my name and ran to my car. He wanted to chat; I taught him French last year and although he had moved school districts, he had heard I'd changed jobs. It was nice to hear that he's doing well at his new school.
Kids are the best, aren't they?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
Blogging Challenge
Did you make a New Year's resolution? I gave up on those many years ago, but if you're looking for something quick and easy to try in January, may I suggest the 2016 Blogging Initiative hosted by the good folks in the #MTBoS? You can read more here.
I started this blog about 3.5 years ago when I was in the middle of a Pinterest-inspired creativity session. Wanting to share the pretty things I made for my classroom, I wrote a few posts. From there, I realized that blogging about what I was doing in my classroom impacted how I was planning for instruction in my classroom. There were many nights that I blogged about my upcoming lesson as a vital part of my planning process and in writing the post I made crucial revisions to my plans.
I'm out of the classroom now and work as a coach for a team of teachers. I'm not blogging much. I'm going to participate in this challenge so I can figure out how to blog about my new job in a useful way.
Today's question will be simple: Will you join me for the 2016 Blogging Initiative?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
I started this blog about 3.5 years ago when I was in the middle of a Pinterest-inspired creativity session. Wanting to share the pretty things I made for my classroom, I wrote a few posts. From there, I realized that blogging about what I was doing in my classroom impacted how I was planning for instruction in my classroom. There were many nights that I blogged about my upcoming lesson as a vital part of my planning process and in writing the post I made crucial revisions to my plans.
I'm out of the classroom now and work as a coach for a team of teachers. I'm not blogging much. I'm going to participate in this challenge so I can figure out how to blog about my new job in a useful way.
Today's question will be simple: Will you join me for the 2016 Blogging Initiative?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
A good day
I feel that it's important to remember the good days at work. This is purely so I can look back on a good day later.
My morning started with a visit from the specialist at my old school. I helped him with benchmark things he had questions about for Algebra I ever so briefly. He was thrilled to see how I had organized benchmark items and was going to reorganize his in the same way. Win.
I went to an Algebra II class that was doing a PARCC infrastructure test/sample test. It seemed like we had few technical glitches and students were doing fine with the technology. Win.
I found out what testing sessions I will be administering or proctoring over the next four weeks. I am not testing every single day and only one of my groups is extended time. Win.
I went to two Algebra classes who were also doing the infrastructure test and helped students check their work, then coached them on what mistakes they could correct. Win.
I caught the awards from our school's Poetry Out Loud competition. I'm sorry I missed the actual recitations but I was needed in Algebra class then.
I got a surprise visit and big hug from a former student who is now a freshman in college studying Spanish and French and planning to study abroad in Spain and France. Also, he delivered Rice Krispie Treats. So, yeah, gotta love that kid!
I got a geometry class through the PARCC Practice, their unit test, and classwork since the teacher was sick and not in school.
I got my Advanced Professional Certificate (APC) in my mailbox. To qualify for this teaching certificate, you need either a Master's Degree or National Board Certification with 12 Master's credits. After I qualified in April, I sent the paperwork in over the summer and finally got my new certificate back. I'd forgotten about it, to be honest. With that new certificate comes a little pay increase, so that was a nice surprise before the holidays! The other surprise is that my French certification changed. I used to be certified for French 7-12 and am now certified for French PreK-12. My cousin suggested I start a virtual French Pre-K so she can enroll her son and the rest of the little cousins in the family. Hehe! I don't have any designs on that but maybe I'll teach them a few words at Christmas!
I saw another former student, this one from my first year of teaching, as my cashier at the grocery store. I have taught almost all of the young cashiers at the local store and it's always nice to chat with them for a minute or two and hear how their lives are going.
Oh, and it was the last day before break. How can you beat that?
What was one good thing that happened to you today?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
My morning started with a visit from the specialist at my old school. I helped him with benchmark things he had questions about for Algebra I ever so briefly. He was thrilled to see how I had organized benchmark items and was going to reorganize his in the same way. Win.
I went to an Algebra II class that was doing a PARCC infrastructure test/sample test. It seemed like we had few technical glitches and students were doing fine with the technology. Win.
I found out what testing sessions I will be administering or proctoring over the next four weeks. I am not testing every single day and only one of my groups is extended time. Win.
I went to two Algebra classes who were also doing the infrastructure test and helped students check their work, then coached them on what mistakes they could correct. Win.
I caught the awards from our school's Poetry Out Loud competition. I'm sorry I missed the actual recitations but I was needed in Algebra class then.
I got a surprise visit and big hug from a former student who is now a freshman in college studying Spanish and French and planning to study abroad in Spain and France. Also, he delivered Rice Krispie Treats. So, yeah, gotta love that kid!
I got a geometry class through the PARCC Practice, their unit test, and classwork since the teacher was sick and not in school.
I got my Advanced Professional Certificate (APC) in my mailbox. To qualify for this teaching certificate, you need either a Master's Degree or National Board Certification with 12 Master's credits. After I qualified in April, I sent the paperwork in over the summer and finally got my new certificate back. I'd forgotten about it, to be honest. With that new certificate comes a little pay increase, so that was a nice surprise before the holidays! The other surprise is that my French certification changed. I used to be certified for French 7-12 and am now certified for French PreK-12. My cousin suggested I start a virtual French Pre-K so she can enroll her son and the rest of the little cousins in the family. Hehe! I don't have any designs on that but maybe I'll teach them a few words at Christmas!
I saw another former student, this one from my first year of teaching, as my cashier at the grocery store. I have taught almost all of the young cashiers at the local store and it's always nice to chat with them for a minute or two and hear how their lives are going.
Oh, and it was the last day before break. How can you beat that?
What was one good thing that happened to you today?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
Friday, November 20, 2015
Inservice #1- Part 2
Last week, I shared a recap of the inservice presentation on Kahoot! I gave with a colleague. Today, I'll share about the afternoon session I presented called "Movement in Math." Much of the inspiration from this session came from my grad work.
I started with a learning target and success criteria for the 30-minute session. Our school district is in the second year of a formative assessment initiative that uses this language, so I decided to model it for teachers as many of them are not yet involved in the cohorts who are receiving the formative assessment training.
Once we'd taken a look at the learning target and success criteria, I started with an activity called "star pass review." Participants stand in groups of 5 and toss a ball in a star pattern. If that's hard to visualize, imagine you're drawing a five-pointed star. The ball passes in that same order. It's a variation on hot potato, so when the music stops, the person holding the ball answers the question to their team. Others can chime in afterwards or can help the person if they're stuck on what to say. Teachers answered a few questions to activate their prior knowledge about using movement and draw on their experiences.
I was able to segue from the comments about why we might not use movement into an article reading from Eric Jensen, "Moving with the Brain in Mind." Everyone had 7 minutes to read (9 would have been ideal, but I was trying to cram a ton into my time) and then we had a discussion. I used Mix and Mingle (which is what I call the Kagan "Stand Up Hand Up Pair Up" structure ) for the discussion. While music plays, participants mingle around the room with their hand up poised to give a high 5. when the music stops, they high 5 the nearest person and discuss the question at hand. We had these questions:
If you teach secondary math and you're ever on Pinterest, I can almost guarantee you've seen this picture.
We used it for a brain break where I called out an equation and everyone used their arms to model the equation. Call out y = 0. Then call out y = -10. Watch people do squats. It got every group giggling.
We used the poorly named "hook up" which I've renamed "human pretzel" as a calm-down activity following our giggling.
This made for a great time to give activities for our poster relay. We formed teams. Each team got a marker to use as a baton for the relay. When time started, participants took turns writing a reason to use movement on their section of the board, then rushed back to the line of teammates to hand off the marker. At the end, we compared lists.
I wrapped up the day with two exit questions answered in an inside-outside circle. (Participants form two concentric circles facing each other. Everyone discusses with the person they're facing. Then the leader directs everyone in, say, the outer circle to rotate two people clockwise. With the new partner, they discuss the next topic or question.) We answered the following:
Do you find ways to incorporate purposeful movement into your classroom? What are your favorites?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
I started with a learning target and success criteria for the 30-minute session. Our school district is in the second year of a formative assessment initiative that uses this language, so I decided to model it for teachers as many of them are not yet involved in the cohorts who are receiving the formative assessment training.
- Learning Target: I can incorporate purposeful student movement into my lessons.
- Success Criteria: I can identify research that supports using movement. I can list at least two strategies I plan to use.
Once we'd taken a look at the learning target and success criteria, I started with an activity called "star pass review." Participants stand in groups of 5 and toss a ball in a star pattern. If that's hard to visualize, imagine you're drawing a five-pointed star. The ball passes in that same order. It's a variation on hot potato, so when the music stops, the person holding the ball answers the question to their team. Others can chime in afterwards or can help the person if they're stuck on what to say. Teachers answered a few questions to activate their prior knowledge about using movement and draw on their experiences.
- Do you feel that it is important to use movement in a classroom setting? Why or why not?
- How often do you think that students should engage in movement activities during your class?
- Why might teachers refrain from using movement?
I was able to segue from the comments about why we might not use movement into an article reading from Eric Jensen, "Moving with the Brain in Mind." Everyone had 7 minutes to read (9 would have been ideal, but I was trying to cram a ton into my time) and then we had a discussion. I used Mix and Mingle (which is what I call the Kagan "Stand Up Hand Up Pair Up" structure ) for the discussion. While music plays, participants mingle around the room with their hand up poised to give a high 5. when the music stops, they high 5 the nearest person and discuss the question at hand. We had these questions:
- Why is movement important?
- Are we currently doing things that help? What are they? (It turns out this question was poorly worded because nearly every group had a question about what it meant. I'd change it to, "What things are we individually or as a school or as a district doing to support purposeful movement?")
- What changes are within our control to make in our classrooms?
If you teach secondary math and you're ever on Pinterest, I can almost guarantee you've seen this picture.
We used the poorly named "hook up" which I've renamed "human pretzel" as a calm-down activity following our giggling.
I wrapped up the day with two exit questions answered in an inside-outside circle. (Participants form two concentric circles facing each other. Everyone discusses with the person they're facing. Then the leader directs everyone in, say, the outer circle to rotate two people clockwise. With the new partner, they discuss the next topic or question.) We answered the following:
- What new insight did you gain today?
- Give an example of how you plan to use movement in your classroom before Thanksgiving break.
Do you find ways to incorporate purposeful movement into your classroom? What are your favorites?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
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