Chromebook Pilot, Week 2, Thursday

2nd Period:
Another assessment today: vertex form
Graded yesterday's assessment on solving by factoring.

I'm hopeful about these grades, but not counting my chickens. This is a skill they had seen before, but it was also the first skill they'd done online. 13/17 had A's or B's. Hoping I can grade today's assessments this afternoon.

Class itself was uneventful. As they finished their assessments, they finished anything unfinished and began on this cool assignment on transformations with complex numbers from . It's due for homework. It was a shortened period.

3rd Period:
I stayed fairly busy and had 17 kids working on 5 different assignments. That is a definite pro about having my website ready to go and access to the Chromebooks.

• A student who had zoned out the last 2 days went back to trying and asked for lots of help. He's a smart kid, but chooses when he wants to try to understand. He started over on Monday's lesson and seemed to have it by the end. I need to call home and see if we can get him to be more consistent.
• A student who had been "out" the last 10 days returned today. He's also a smart kid, but he makes poor decisions. He took this class last year, passed it and the EOC exam, but failed because of absences. Two days before his vacation, I had let him begin working ahead in the text. The idea was that he would let me know when he was ready to assess, and we'd go from there. When he finished our curriculum before everyone else, I was going to begin going over Math II with him.
• Another student had been missing the last 3 days returned. She was working on all sorts of skills that she is behind on. She somehow took Math II as a Freshman and is now taking Math I. So, sometimes she picks things up real quick, but her foundation is really weak. She also has issues with attendance. She has some reassessments to take, which I mentioned to her. She said she took one last week and tried to turn it in to me, but that I said I didn't need it. That's entirely possible. It's hard for me to remember this morning.
• The rest of the class were working on various things from the 3 main skills we'd done this week (including the one we started today--Addition and Subtraction of Polynomials).

4th Period:

Short and uneventful. They finished up Systems of Inequalities and began Addition and Subtraction of Polynomials. I had another student tell me that she understands the format and understands the material from the videos. Yay! Grading their assessments from yesterday now, but I don't expect the success that 2nd block had because we were so jumbled up and they had so much drama with the crying and all. I'll post it anyway.

3rd and 4th grades on Solving Systems of Equations:

	A's	B's	C's	D's	F's	Average:	Median:
3rd Block - Math I	1	5	2	3	2	66.2	70
4th Block - Honors Math I	6	5	0	0	2	78	89

First Email Exchange

First, a few pics of my inspiration for this. I should mention that I am a minimalist at heart and could deal with this room, as is, forever. I know, though, that the kids can't stand it.

My first reply to Abby:

How's this for a start? I answered in-line in some bluish-purplish color. I am color blind. 

On Thu, Feb 12, 2015 at 10:48 PM, Abby Roza; wrote:

Hi Ben- The posts are a great place to start and you have a neat idea. 

My initial questions are these:

Do you have a vision for what the final task/ project outcome would look like?

The final task/project would look like a crazily painted room as each group will be given (somewhat) carte blanche for their area. I'll post pictures of what it looks like now on the blog. Speaking of which, do you have any interest in co-blogging this with me? You could start a sister-site or give me stuff to post on mine. Just an idea. Seriously, though, I think you'll get your answer more fully several questions below.

How much time do you want students to spend on the unit?

I was thinking of doing this for several units. Our state (LA) outlined the following units for Algebra I:

1. Solving Single-variable Equations and Inequalities
2. Linear Equations and Inequalities
3. Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities
4. Evaluating Functions
5. Linear and Exponential Functions
6. Arithmetic with Polynomials
7. Solving Quadratic Equations
8. Quadratic Functions
9. Radical Functions
10. Piecewise Functions
11. Bivariate Statistics
12. Univariate Statistics

I can definitely see using this to entirely teach Units 1-3 and maybe even Unit 4, too. I don't foresee there ever being a year where I finish all 12 Units. Honestly, we'll probably only get through Unit 8 this year. I try to touch on some of the other stuff throughout the year. Ideally, I'd love to find projects for the rest, too. I have a pretty good quadratic project, but let's cross one bridge at a time.

My gut feeling, which may be wrong, is that the students (partly because they haven't done PBL before) will need lots of structure to be successful. (Many of these structures were addressed in the webinar - the benchmarks and check ins, the playlists, the small group lessons). Do you think so?

I think that structure is definitely needed. The question is what kind of structure. I would love for the vast majority of skills to be learned via exploration with maybe a few nudges. I don't expect them to figure out how to solve systems of equations algebraically, but I think I can be structure where they can figure out a lot of stuff on their own. That aside, structure is definitely needed (for me!) to keep them on task and moving forward. I think we should come up with a list of "things" we need for each unit and each sub unit. Off of the top of my head:

For each unit:

• Skills lists.
• Rubrics
• Tasks
• Pre-knowledge Assessments
• Review/scaffolding (flipped...?)
• Student (and teacher) checklists

For each sub unit (or skill)

• Practice
• Assessments
• Learning Resources
• Notes
• Videos
• Interactive Websites (Desmos, etc.)
• Opportunities for writing/explaining
• Blogs
• Job quotes
• Emails
• Summaries
• Tutorials
• Discussion Board
• Remediation and Enrichment

 Where are you with thinking what this might look like? 

Ha! I wish it were that easy. That's why I've been trying to find someone to do this with. My vision: From Day 1, they are given the task at hand: painting my room or making a garden or building picnic tables (fund raiser?). There are activities that help them review or explore operations with signed numbers. They need to submit a quote for the job showing all costs for parts and labor. They would have another document for their team showing profit, etc. Parts of these would double as an introduction to writing and solving 1-step equations and be a great segway to 2-step equations. They would research not only prices of materials to buy, but justify why their choices are the best choices. They would create graphs, for example, showing quotes for painting different types and areas (doors, interior, exterior, corners, trim, etc.). We could also incorporate statistics into this for averages, etc. From here, it should be pretty "easy" to provide (or have them provide) certain constraints, creating systems of both equations and inequalities to solve. I think that functions and function notation (Unit 4) could probably be interwoven throughout, leaving just a little (if any) at the end.

Each step along the way would contain practice problems for fluency as well as other application problems. I would want to give paper assessments to make sure that the project knowledge was being translated to other applications as well as the "abstract" algebra.

The last post mentions flipping your classroom. Have you been doing that? How much? 

I am currently flipping the remedial algebra community college course that I teach. It's bare bones right now, and I am about to grade their first assessment, but I like it and can't wait to improve upon it. I need to see how they do and how they feel about it.

Last and most important question - How could I be involved? What would be a role for me that would be helpful for you?

How do you want to be involved? I'll take anything and everything, from getting help to being help. I think that two minds are definitely better than one, so you can help in whatever way you feel comfortable. Our students are different and will need different things. What I want to do is create a framework suitable to many projects. Kind of plug-and-play.

August seems like a good timeline to me. 

Yay!!! Butterflies!!! 

Abby

On Wed, Feb 11, 2015 at 8:28 AM, Benjamin Morris wrote:

Check these three posts out. I've done some more mental processing since then, but this is a good start.

1. http://benjaminclaymorris.blogspot.com/2013_11_01_archive.html

2. http://benjaminclaymorris.blogspot.com/2013/12/cementing-details.html

3. http://benjaminclaymorris.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-am-still-cementing-ideas-for-teaching.html

I started blogging about it, but this is as far as I got. I need someone to keep me progressing. My goal would be to have it ready to go for August...

On Wed, Feb 11, 2015 at 12:57 AM, Abby Roza wrote:

Hi Benjamin,

I was on the GMD webinar tonight and was intrigued by your note that you have a PBL idea for algebra you'd like to collaborate on. I would very much be interested in hearing more, both about your idea and how you'd like to collaborate. 

I also want to note that I don't have much experience designing or implementing project based learning. (But I'm eager! and hard working!)

I currently teach Adult Basic Education to Adults. The new GED is a goal for many of my students. It is heavy on Algebra and many of my students either did not take or did not understand Algebra in K-12, so I am guessing the math content I teach would mesh well with what you are considering for the project's content. 

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

Abby

Getting the ball rolling...

I attended the BigMarker webinar "Project-Based Learning for Mathematical Practices" hosted by Zack Miller and Kyle Moye on Tuesday, 2/4/2015. It was great to hear some more ideas on project-based curriculum and instruction and it really got my mind churning. I offered up my email address to anyone who might want to collaborate and was lucky to be approached by Abby Roza. We have decided to start forging through this process. Other volunteers are more than welcome. For the next several posts, I'm going to simply cut and paste our email conversations to show our thought process. Once we start compiling deliverables, etc., I will post those. Check out my previous posts for the intro to this idea.

1. http://benjaminclaymorris.blogspot.com/2013_11_01_archive.html

2. http://benjaminclaymorris.blogspot.com/2013/12/cementing-details.html

3. http://benjaminclaymorris.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-am-still-cementing-ideas-for-teaching.html

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!