What learning looks like in the classroom

It's been a while since I've discussed any topics. Partly it's because I am teaching the same classes and, other than tweaks here and there, I hadn't implemented anything really new and different.

The start of the school year has just rushed by. In addition, the math department at my school had some unique challenges to start of the year that are still rippling through our work. Without going into detail, we have three brand new, first-year teachers, we lost two experienced teachers within the first four weeks of school, and we still don't have both of those positions filled with anyone that even remotely resembles a permanent replacement. Couple this with upheaval in the school district (teacher and student walk-outs and protests) and it has been a start of the school-year to remember.

This past summer I was fortunate enough to have the annual Legacy of R. L. Moore - IBL Conference land in Denver. This conference focused on what inquiry-based structures are being used in college classrooms. In two days I picked up an amazing number of ideas that could be brought to the classroom.

It seems odd that the conference was in June and I am just now writing about it in October. But here I am, writing about some of the things happening in my classroom. One of the topics covered during the conference was mindset. It turns out that my school decided this was to be a focus for our professional development when we returned in August. Perfect timing and blending for one of the things I wanted to implement.

I have tried to focus on specific feedback that discusses what a student did well versus making statements like "you're such a good writer" or "that was smart thinking." This coincides well with the research on mindset. One thing that I have implemented is to include a positive, mindset quote at the top of each quiz or test that I give this year. The research suggests that just seeing such a quote may increase student performance on the quiz or test.

Another session that I attended discussed how homework was handled. This is an age-old problem in math. Do you collect homework? Do you grade homework? How do you provide students with feedback on what they completed? This session took a different approach. Problem numbers were written on the board. Students were invited to show their solutions. If more than one student wanted to share their results, those students would converse and make sure they agree on what was presented. Students that were not presenting would then go to a group working on a problem to ask questions or listen to the discussion on problems they struggled with on the homework. Students presenting results receive points. Those watching and asking questions also receive points, at roughly half the level of the presenters. Almost the entire classroom becomes involved in the homework. Students are providing each other with meaningful feedback and students are graded on their work. After all problems are up on the board the homework discussion continues with students looking over all the problems and then asking questions and discussing results.

I have begun to implement this process in my classes. There is some norming that needs to take place. I have also had to remind students not presenting the problems that they should be up at the board listening and asking questions on problems with which they struggled or did not know how to complete. The classes become involved, they ask relevant questions, they argue about results, they question each other, and they make sense of the material. Plus it is easy to check off who is presenting and who is watching or asking questions. I keep weekly tallies and then add the results to my grade-book each week.

Here are a couple of shots of what this looks like:

These aren't staged shots, I just took a couple of quick pictures as the class worked this morning.

I hope to periodically post shots like these through my twitter feed using the hash tag #WhatLearningLooksLike. Join in the conversation and post what learning looks like in your classroom.

This summer I also was a first-time AP Statistics reader. Reading through over 1,000 student responses really drives home what students communicate and don't. The process of training on scoring rubrics also drives home should be communicated based upon the question's prompt. I am working with my AP class on really thinking about what a prompt asks and what needs to be done to answer the prompt.

The other big walk-away from the reading was to keep responses in context. Specify units, don't answer generically. I have told my class, if they write an answer, they need to consider adding "for example." If they read the response and they could add a "for example" then they better add it so there response is in context.

That's all for now. I'll try to not stay away so long from posting.

Have a great school year!