Tuesday, February 14, 2012

...

This will be a short one.


I gave a vocabulary quiz today.  I graded them immediately, but couldn't hand them back because our online grading system was down.  I notated them all with what I thought at the time was extraordinary feedback until realizing tonight that the feedback was worthless.  I love this process!!!  It's testing everything I've done in the 6+ years I've been teaching


I've done a vague introduction with my students re: SBG and told them they were going to be my guinea pigs.  They seem to be extremely excited at the idea of knowing where they are and where they need to go.  I think I've finally settled on a way to infuse it into our grading system.  And I may officially stop giving averages tomorrow.

90+% of skills (15-20 in the qtr) at 3/4 or above = A
80+, B
70+, C
60+, D

This really is lower than I would like, but it's what I'm working with, and it may just be me clinging to the old school.  It's also going to be tricky changing grades in past quarters because the online system blocks changing those scores.  All past scores have to be changed in the system manually by the counselor/administration and I don't know what process I will have for that.  I have to talk to the counselor, explain SBG, and ask what's good for her.

I'm still working on documentation to get to them and the parents that will explain the details.  I think I'll hold a parent night for my students only.  You know, for bonus points.  ;)

Sunday, February 12, 2012

My Plan - February 12, 2012

This one should be brief. If you don't know about standards-based grading, check out this link. Warning: be prepared to spend HOURS reading through all of the links, and links to those links, and... be sure to read the comments and go to those links, too.

I am already 5 weeks into the semester (block schedule) of Geometry and just started reading about SBG last week (I don't know how it took soooo long!). I don't have a clear enough picture to go into it full-fledged, and our district grading policy doesn't leave room--currently...

Soooo... I'm going to do a hybrid version.

  • I'm going to keep teaching the order of the text, which isn't a big deal, because it's a good text. I'm going to, for now, use the chapters as the topics, and break them down into skills. Each student will get a skill list to track their progress and we'll assess what we've learned every other day, and remediate the days in between.
  • I think, for now, I'm going to designate every Friday as a remediation/enrichment day. We usually have a vocab and skills quiz on Friday anyway. The remaining time will be used for students to go back and master prior skills. There will be several resources available: our textbook website and video tutors; google; Accelerated Math cards; geogebra; notes/textbook; peer tutoring; me; and anything else I can think of. I'm going to give questionnaires for the first several weeks so students (and I) can pinpoint how they learn best. Then, we'll begin to make individualized plans to meet each student's goals.
  • There will be chapter tests (organized by skill) and the students will be able to reassess specific skills. I am going to use the form someone was nice enough to post (I have to start writing down sources!) for reassessment as well as diligently looking for/constructing as many project/activity-based lessons as possible.

I don't know how much I will actually get done. It's going to be an experiment and will definitely be fluid. I am set on taking as much time as needed to plan and to get things organized and am prepared for things to be a little chaotic. My main goal is the organization and communication, though. I want students to see what they need to learn and want to learn it. I'll take what I learned this semester and cement it into a full-fledged plan for the fall. My question is, if the school board doesn't bite on SBG, how do I implement it into an 'averaged' grade-scale? I have some ideas (25% of skills by end of qtr1, 50% by qtr 2, etc.), but those are work arounds that don't achieve what SBG is capable of.

Any thoughts, suggestions, comments, questions, please let me know below.

My History

A little about myself. And none of this is to brag. It's to explain my love and excitement for math and teaching.

I've always loved math. I guess it's easy to love something when you are good at it. I'm just not sure if I became as good at it as I did because of natural ability or because of my excitement for it. I tend to believe it's a little of the former and more of the latter.

I graduated high school from Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts (LSMSA). It was/is a residential, college-prep high school for 11th and 12th (and now 10th) graders. It wasn't a very hard choice to apply. It was in my home town and offered some of the best academics in the country. I loved just about every second of it. Most of my closest friends now were fellow students then (1995-1997). In two years there, I took 8 math classes: Precalculus, Trigonometry, Calculus I, Calculus II, Multi-variable Calculus, Differential Equations, Graph Theory, and Linear Algebra. It was awesome! Most of the teachers had experience in industry, whether it was working for TI on guidance systems, doing research for NASA, or software engineering for various companies. Several had been college professors. My physics teacher had a doctorate in Cryogenics and owned some of his own equipment! My German teacher, who also taught Russian and fine arts, learned his foreign languages while stationed in West Germany. I think over half the teachers had Doctorates and the rest, Masters. Needless to say, they prepared us well for college.

I don't have a lot to say about my academics at LSU, Baton Rouge. I graduated with a B.S. in Computer and Electrical Engineering and a minor in mathematics (from classes I took for fun). I was also 1 letter grade away from a minor in Computer Science. Whoops. Like I said, I don't have much to say about my academics at LSU...

After graduating, I roamed, working at restaurants and an internet tech-support company until I landed in Naples, FL, living with some friends. I was looking for engineering work and didn't want to fall back into the restaurant trap and they were kind enough to let me stay, having me work off some of my debt helping them remodel their kitchen. Eventually, though, they wanted some rent and asked if I'd substitute teach the last week of school--they were in need. I said sure and began falling in love.

My first day on the job, I was left with a bunch of high school kids, none of whom I knew, leading a dissection. Talk about sink or swim! By the end of the week, the principal asked me if I wanted to teach summer school Algebra. Of course I did! More money than I'd ever seen in restaurants, for sure. I had 6 kids (I think) and made it up as I went. My roommate was/is the best teacher I've ever known and he helped me think about grading, creative ways to teach, etc. I wasn't a teacher. I was just a guy in the room helping them learn. By the end of the summer, the kids' parents were begging that I be added to the full-time staff.  I was so honored and humbled by their support that I was hooked.

The principal couldn't offer me a job for the full year, because they were staffed, but she could offer me a job until the end of September, when the other math teacher was going to arrive. I took it. Again, I made things up as we went. For several classes, we didn't have textbooks, so I hand-wrote lessons and made copies. I was just some dude in the room helping them learn. As an added bonus, I was the defensive coordinator of the inaugural football team! My football players said I was harder on them in class than on the field. October rolled around and the school's enrollment hadn't grown enough to create a job opportunity for me, but the middle school serendipituosly had an opening. The HS principal talked the middle school principal into hiring me. I would be teaching 8th-grade math and one section of Algebra.

My first day there, last period, we began the Algebra class. The first question out of the kids' mouths was, "So, what are your qualifications to teach us?" I was floored. If I wasn't hooked before, I certainly was now. Who knew kids wanted to learn? Again, I was just some dude in the room helping them learn. Some days I would figure out how I was going to teach on the commute and, others, I'd figure it out as I went. I had no idea what a lesson plan was or how to write one. I did have an awesome master teacher who helped with organization and classroom management, but there just wasn't much managing to do. Many kids volunteered to stay after school several hours a week for extra help. I didn't have a life. Well, I did. Teaching was my life and I loved it!  By the end of the year, I had learned so much and felt like I knew what I was doing in a classroom. Our school made an A+ and my students had improved on their already outstanding results. I was only able to stay that year, though. I was moving back home to teach and raise my daughter.

Coming to Louisiana and deciding I was going to keep teaching, I needed to get certified. I was able to go to my local university's alternative certification program and the end of innocence was nigh. Little by little, the guy who was in the room to help kids learn began learning about lesson plans, classroom management, differentiated instruction, assessment, and... I became a teacher! And I do say that in a bad way. I felt I had to have control. I felt there was a way things had to be done. I was now required to write lesson plans. Parents weren't as involved. The kids weren't as self-motivated. It ate at me the whole year. The next year, I finally got moved to high school, where I wanted to be, and have been there since. I've continued to be a teacher! So, now, I'm going back to being some dude in the room who is going to help them learn. Yes, I'll have to write lesson plans. Yes, I'll have to discipline. But, I'm blowing it all up, rewriting the way I teach my classes, and instituting standards-based grading. I'm nervous, scared, anxious, and, most of all, excited. I have to do this. I have to once again inspire and be inspired, otherwise I'll be looking for a new job soon.


Here we go again!

I haven't been this excited since my first year teaching! I'm about to redesign my classroom teaching methods from the floor up! For some reason, after 7 years teaching, I didn't hear about standards-based grading (SBG) until Fall '11. And I didn't really read about it until last week. Since then, I've been obsessed.

I'm doing it. I have to. My motivation for teaching has fizzled because nothing I have done has been nearly as successful as I thought it would. I've tried implementing various teaching strategies, but to no avail. My kids, on average, accomplish no more and no less than they had previously. It made me rethink my job choice several times. SBG makes so much sense and is so simple fundamentally, that I'm embarrassed I haven't thought of it before. I want to thank all of the bloggers who have posted soooooo much information on the ins and outs of implementing SBG. It started off with my clicking one link, and opening new tabs to the other links and so-on and so-forth until, probably 20 hours later, I have a feeling I kind of know how I am going to start.

I've decided to blog to share for anyone who cares to read. I'll try to link to all of the places I've been, but I've been to soooo many, that probably won't be possible.

I would like this blog to be an informational overview for parents, students, colleagues, and administration as I work my way to doing a strict SBG approach. I know there will be some mental hurdles as well as administrative hurdles, but I am AMPED!

So, to conclude this post, please bear with me as I try to sort through the seemingly endless ideas in my head. Also, please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Ben Morris, Mathematics and Engineering
Lakeview High School
Campti, LA

Next up: My initial plan!