Space for All Learners

In my ongoing quest to find great math resources on Twitter (not hard), I started following Steve Wyborney (@SteveWyborney). Steve is a math teacher and coach in Oregon. He has been posting high quality math activities immediately usable by elementary teachers. I will share a few of them here.

Teachers often struggle with math tasks that feel just right for some students but not others. Steve’s activities are accessible by a wide range of learners in the elementary grades. They provide access points for many but also opportunities for challenge within the realm of grade-appropriate number sense, place value understanding, and additive or multiplicative reasoning.

Provide Massive Space to Notice

Steve has created this subitizing/number patterns video that teachers can show to students, pausing at a certain spot to allow thinking and noticing. It couldn’t be much easier. He provides a printable page to give to students. Simple to try, powerful results.

The Maze Hundreds Chart

Watch Steve’s video of ideas for how to use this resource. Then you can get the interactive powerpoint slide he created and try it with students. I can’t get it to work on a Chromebook, so you probably need a computer with Powerpoint installed.

Also try The Green Light Hundreds Chart and The Animated Multiplication Table.

These are simple tools, already frequently used in elementary mathematics, but often without the kind of exploration and reflection encouraged by Steve.

If you explore Steve’s blog, I’m on a Learning Mission, you will find lots more high quality instructional strategies as well as tools that are immediately usable with students.

The Project School Visit

Recently, a group of educators from the Burlington School District visited The Project School in Bloomington, Indiana. This was part of an ongoing partnership with Daniel Baron, one of the school’s founders.

We had three amazing days of quality time with students in classes and meetings with the school staff.

Some takeaways:

School climate matters. When the staff is happy, it shows. Everyone knows it, especially the students, and it creates a healthy, happy, productive learning environment.

Decision-making based on student needs rather than adult needs feels very different. Adults at The Project School have shared core values that guide their decisions. They are flexible, positive, and student-centered. They shift schedules, resources, groups, and plans throughout the year as needs change.

Multi-age classes have many benefits. Observers noticed all students seeming to rise to the level of the oldest students in the class.  We saw a high level of peer support for learning, greater acceptance of differences, and increased self-sufficiency and student leadership.

Having a really great mission and vision matters. Here is theirs. You can read more on their website.

The mission of The Project School is to uncover, recover and discover the unique gifts and talents that each child brings to school every day. Our school works collaboratively with families, community members and social service agencies to solve real problems, as well as to create art for public spaces. Students graduate from The Project School as stewards of the environment with the will, skill, capacity, and knowledge to contribute to the greater good.

The vision of the Project School is to eliminate the predictive value of race, class, gender and special abilities on student success in our school and in our communities, by working together with families and community to ensure each child’s success.

Student voice and choice is critical. A 1st through 8th grade multi-age daily class called Passions helped us see how school can be more enjoyable for everyone.

Themes and big questions are powerful. This year they are focusing on Struggle and Progress.

Problems, Projects, and Place make up the P3 framework used by The Project School. Students do integrated, relevant, compelling projects throughout the year.

Wow! The trip gave me a lot to think about. Our group will continue to meet relative to this experience and our work in Burlington.

Thanks to Daniel and the rest of The Project School staff for helping us see some different ways of thinking about and doing education.

Fix It

I appreciate Marilyn Burns’ presence on Twitter and her blog. She offers great contributions to the math education community.

Marilyn's recent blog post, entitled Fix It: An Activity for Ordering Fractions, is a well-written reflection of a lesson she taught to fifth graders. Marilyn describes how she used an engaging format and includes details of some masterful scaffolding for a student who needed help. It's worth reading the whole thing.

Fix It Fractions reminds me of the Clothesline Fractions activity Rebekah Thomas did with her summer school class. Before class, she’d hang a set of fractions (using clothespins) on a length of string in her classroom. A different student was in charge of “fixing” them each day (putting the fractions in order). The student presented his or her work to the class along with an explanation.

In Marilyn’s activity, students create their own Fix It Fractions sets for others to try.

There is something inherently compelling about fixing. It is different than doing math work that involves simply performing a calculation or solving a problem. Students look at the work of someone else that may be intentionally or unintentionally incorrect and perform an error analysis. There are lots of formats for doing this, including My Favorite No, or presenting two or more solutions and asking students which is correct and why.

I always appreciate when I see error analysis type tasks in Eureka Math lessons, Smarter Balanced Assessments (both of which we use in our district), and other materials. When I think back to different jobs I have held in my life, I think the majority of my time was spent interpreting, analyzing, adapting, correcting, and reimagining work that had been begun by others.

Let’s think about how to include more of this type of approach for students, and see if it improves their school experience.

If I Had a Hammer

Peter, Paul & Mary

I just read a great blog post by Tracy Zager. Her blog is called Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You’d Had.

It is about getting students out of the normal (sometimes boring) routines they’ve become accustomed to in math class.

Tracy describes being in a workshop with Brian Hopkins and doing a bunch of math problems in groups. Her group solved a problem and then there was discussion and learning about the mathematics that best fit that problem. When Brian posed a seemingly similar problem, Tracy assumed they would be applying that same mathematical construct to the new problem. That was not the case, which surprised Tracy.

“...Brian disrupted the predictable, pitter-pat routine of math class...

What I see in schools is we cue kids to know what tool to use. If we’re two weeks into a unit on fractions and we give them a story problem, the kids figure fractions are involved. If the name of the chapter is “Multiplying Two-Digit Numbers” and it’s written on the bottom of the worksheet, the kids are going to assume they should multiply some 2-digit numbers. If we’ve written an objective about linear equations on the board, kids figure the answer is going to involve linear equations. If my new tool is the hammer that divides fractions, I’m going to use that hammer until my teacher tells me it’s time to switch hammers.”

As educators, we are often frustrated by our students’ lack of ability to make sense of and solve problems (the first Common Core math practice standard). Yet, are we giving students experiences in math class that help or hinder their ability to solve problems?

Redefining Math (still)

I find myself thinking a lot about redefining math, and posting things on this blog about that topic. Here, again, is a quote from a brilliant mathematician that forces us to rethink our idea of what “math” means.

I must include a paragraph from this article verbatim. Terry Tao, math prodigy.

That spring day in his office, reflecting on his career so far, Tao told me that his view of mathematics has utterly changed since childhood. “When I was growing up, I knew I wanted to be a mathematician, but I had no idea what that entailed,” he said in a lilting Australian accent. “I sort of imagined a committee would hand me problems to solve or something.” But it turned out that the work of real mathematicians bears little resemblance to the manipulations and memorization of the math student. Even those who experience great success through their college years may turn out not to have what it takes. The ancient art of mathematics, Tao has discovered, does not reward speed so much as patience, cunning and, perhaps most surprising of all, the sort of gift for collaboration and improvisation that characterizes the best jazz musicians. Tao now believes that his younger self, the prodigy who wowed the math world, wasn’t truly doing math at all. “It’s as if your only experience with music were practicing scales or learning music theory,” he said, looking into light pouring from his window. “I didn’t learn the deeper meaning of the subject until much later.” (p. 46, 7.26.15 NYTMag)

Read more here, and add this to the “How do we redefine mathematics in school?” pile.

On Productive Failure

Here is a 7 minute video of a young math major, Elly Schofield. She reflects on her K-12 mathematics education, and the disconnect between that and the mathematics she encountered in college.

Student Self-Assessment

I want to send a huge shout out to Bill Ferriter, here in Burlington from Raleigh, North Carolina. Bill is a sixth grade science teacher with a year-round school schedule that allows him to visit us during our academic year. He is helping Burlington educators improve our collaborative process and our work with students.

One of my big takeaways from spending time with Bill is the importance of student self-assessment. Teaching teams in Burlington have begun creating unit overviews which are given to students so they can chart their learning. Unit overviews vary depending on the teachers and grade level, but most have a way for students to indicate what they know and can do relative to important learning targets. Older students might make a mark on a line somewhere between “Not Yet” and “Got It”, while younger students color in a box or a smiley face next to a skill they have mastered. More important than the format is the fact that students work on their awareness of their own learning. They begin to take responsibility for assessing themselves, rather than leaving that up to parents and teachers.

Researchers and thought leaders in education from Marzano to Wiggins to Hattie agree -- students who are aware of their learning objectives and who are responsible for assessing, charting and sharing their own progress are more likely to be successful. Yet, according to Bill and others, students are rarely asked to assess themselves.

I have been studying the Common Core Standards for years, especially in math at the elementary level, and I think they are mostly wonderful. The content standards emphasize conceptual understanding and depth over breadth. The practice standards focus on critical skills like problem-solving, constructing viable arguments, and critiquing the reasoning of others. An activity like problem-solving requires a good deal of self-awareness and the ability to “...monitor and evaluate their progress and change course if necessary” (a direct quote from the CCSSM). So, in order to master the standards, students would need to have a measure of meta-cognition. However, student self-assessment is not an explicit part of the standards, nor is it an obvious feature in a Common Core program like Eureka Math (EngageNY).

So, how do we ensure students are responsible for self-assessment if it doesn't appear in the standards and programs? Using unit overviews is one way. When a PLC  team creates a unit overview, they have the opportunity to collaboratively determine the most important learning targets for their students. In doing so, they have also created a product that students can use to know their goals and take charge of their learning.

Geodesic Dome Building, Part II

The dome actually worked! All three fourth grade classes rolled, measured, cut, marked, counted, and assembled two geodesic domes at the Integrated Arts Academy. A quality assurance team was established in order to ensure the newspaper rolls were strong and tight. Partner work was important, so students had one person tape while another person held newspaper rolls in place. Math was happening all around. The domes initially worked great, but then started to droop and fall after a few days. Students fixed them up and brainstormed ways to make them stronger.

This project was shared during an all-school assembly. Three of the fourth graders presented the work with a slideshow created by their class. More fourth graders sat inside one of the domes (to everyone’s delight!) in order to hold it up if it started to droop during the presentation. It didn’t need any support but it was really fun to have them sitting in there. The presentation touched on the math, art, and engineering in this project. Students also explained Buckminster Fuller's humanitarian vision for the geodesic dome.

I loved collaborating with Ada Leaphart, Judy Klima, and the fourth graders at IAA. I hope to do it again soon. There are so many wonderful opportunities to connect math and art in meaningful ways.

How to relate, by Alan Alda

I am watching reruns of M*A*S*H right now as I reflect on seeing the one and only Alan Alda in person at UVM’s Davis Center. I love watching M*A*S*H, as I feel it has held up really well over time and is a perfect mix of funny and tragic. The character Hawkeye Pierce, played by Alda, stands out even though the other cast members are excellent.

Alan Alda was also brilliant in Woody Allen movies, like Crimes and Misdemeanors (“If it bends, it’s funny. If it breaks, it’s not funny.”) Then I began seeing him getting involved in science with Scientific American and other shows that ran on PBS channels. Although today was a snow day and the roads were pretty bad, I and the intrepid Nina Madore weren’t going to miss the opportunity to see him live at UVM. I figured nobody would be there, but the giant Silver Maple Ballroom was packed.

I expected Alan to talk about specific science concepts, but, instead, he talked about being an effective communicator. He got rid of the podium used by those who introduced him in order to be more accessible to the audience. Actively demonstrating the theme of his talk, Alan looked carefully out at the faces in the audience and spoke in a warm, conversational manner without reading any notes. He shared the alarming statistic that 95% of Americans are not considered “science literate”. Then he went on to make the case for scientists learning to be better at relating to laypeople and working to make their research accessible.

Alan shared several ideas that scientists can use to think about improving communication. He talked about using emotion to help lodge ideas in the minds of the audience and using suspense and drama as a hook. At one point, a courageous audience member took the stage to demonstrate by walking across the stage with a very full glass of water. Another audience member was enlisted to demonstrate “the curse of knowledge” by tapping out a song. The curse of knowledge is what happens when you know something so well that you forget what it is like not to know it. In order to be a good communicator/teacher, one must break the curse and use empathy to understand the audience.

Alan’s talk was excellent. I wish more colleagues had been able to attend and that we could participate in some of the workshops he was going to be leading at UVM. His foundation, The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science has a website worth visiting. UVM is going to begin a similar program and partner with him and his colleagues. In the meantime, elementary and middle school teachers should take a look at The Flame Challenge. Teachers of fifth and sixth graders can register here to let their students be the judges of a contest to see which scientist can best explain the answer to a science question. This year’s question is “What is sleep?”.

Alan has important messages for teachers and scientists and really anyone with a heartbeat. It’s worth visiting his website, reading more, and watching videos. Alan, thank you for coming to Vermont. I look forward to seeing UVM’s efforts in this area.

Educon 2015

I can see why many Educon attendees remarked that they’d spent their own money to be there. The conference, held at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia is that good. It was an eclectic group of out-of-the-box thinkers, innovators, and activists. I knew I wanted to go when I saw Chris Lehmann, founding principal of the SLA, speak in Killington last year.

I was a first-timer. Day one was spent at the school - a public high school that is an inquiry-driven, project school - in partnership with the Franklin Institute. I and a few of my colleagues found a student to guide us. She patiently walked us to different classes where we watched, listened, and sat with students to chat. Students in one class passionately explained a project in which they protested the closing of a huge number of Philadelphia public schools. Students in Doug Herman’s photography class told me what they’d learned about composition and layering and why they were in the photography room even though it was actually their lunchtime. In Algebra II they had designed a catapult to hit a target and were typing a reflection about their group process. I was hooked.

Then, of course, there were many great workshops, Ignite talks, and side conversations on Saturday and Sunday. Here are some of the people I met and learned from, along with some quotes and resources.

A highlight of the conference for me and many others, I’m sure, was Raghava KK, the effervescent, charming presenter and self-proclaimed TED whore. Here’s a 4 minute TED on bias and perspectives in history. He helped me remember what it means to be truly creative. You don’t matter, he said to all the educators in the room. Art should be the medium by which stem is taught... Art is how you teach everything... Incorporate visual literacy in everything you do.

Every disagreement is a chance to learn about a different perspective.

Raghava’s co-presenter, Meenoo Rami, an SLA teacher, hosted this session in her classroom. After meeting her, I was sorry I hadn’t made it to her class on Friday.

Diana Laufenberg, of SLA, led a workshop on school transformation and Joni and I sat with a Eric Dale from the Dwight School in NYC and Andrew Gallagher of the NYC Department of Education. We enjoyed hearing about Eric and Andrew's work, marveling over the vastness of the NYC school system. Diana recommended the book Immunity to Change.

Deterritorialize departments. Get away from content and move to skills.

Jamie Gravell shared a collection of articles on Inequity in Education.

The one thing I wish I'd known about was this idea of transformational resistance.

Is the student trying to transform the environment in some way instead of doing something wrong?

Math and Social Justice, was a session I didn’t attend, but wanted to. Thank you for posting these resources.

Burlington High School (Massachusetts) has a course called Help Desk. See their great website here, which was presented by female STEM enthusiasts on their way to becoming engineers.

There was a really cool panel I was late for. I liked the conversation that was happening when I arrived, which included comments from Otis Hackney, Principal of South Philadelphia High School.

When people say ‘they don't have the background knowledge’, I say, it is your job to give them the background knowledge they need! If they walked in already knowing everything, they don't need us. As an educator you have a job to do.

What if you had a school with mostly white students and all black teachers, what would that be like?

David Jakes, Imagining Digital Spaces for Learning. In groups, we designed a digital learning space, but we were not allowed to discuss any specific tools. Anyone who is working in or redesigning a school should read Toolkit for Designing a Digital Atelier.

Have you intentionally designed a space that intentionally supports your vision of learning?

How do you design a physical space for an increasingly virtual education?

Last but not least, I was in a wonderful session called Shifting the Focus: Elevating Student Voices led by students and their teachers, Josh Block and Amal Giknis. First, the students shared their projects and then we were asked to create an “education manifesto” in 30 minutes that could be posted to twitter with hashtag #focusonvoice. The students were so open and passionate in their presentations and then were so effective as they came around to help us with our assignment...this session is one that has really stuck with me. I was fortunate enough to sit with Renee Hawkins, a very thoughtful educator from a school in Baltimore.

I don’t know how I’ll stay away from Educon next year. I had my mind blown by great thinkers, got to spend time with beloved colleagues, and had my first taste of a grapefruit brulee doughnut from Federal Donuts. As Raghava said, Don’t mess with passion.

STEM and Equity in the Burlington School District

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

― Albert Einstein

Recently, a budget draft included funding of a STEM position at Flynn Elementary. Here is why adding and/or strengthening STEM education at Flynn and in all Burlington schools is the right thing to do.

STEM is cutting edge education.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. At its best STEM education consists of hands-on, student-centered design challenges and project-based learning that cultivates the imagination.

Einstein’s remarks about the importance of imagination have never been more apt.

The world is changing so rapidly that no one can anticipate what, specifically, students will need to know. We must equip them for success in a in a technology-driven world that demands continual learning. Students should be offered broad and varied opportunities to take charge of their own education, collaborate, communicate, design and synthesize.

STEM is diversity and equity.

Quality STEM education is enemy of the achievement gap. Women and people of color are still underrepresented in STEM classes in high schools, STEM majors in college, and STEM fields in the workforce. Women and people of color are equally capable of excelling in this work and they provide much-needed perspectives. We have to ask why the demographics of these fields continue to be skewed. The fact is that we still live in a world full of biases and systemic discrimination. Education is a critical part of the solution. Stereotypes, biases and barriers don’t go away without concerted effort to counteract them.

The importance of high quality STEM education goes beyond giving students opportunities in STEM fields. It makes school a place where more students are able to be successful, period. Hands-on, student-centered design challenges, a hallmark of STEM, tend to work better for all students than traditional pedagogy. Students who are from low income families, are non-white, are new Americans and/or English language learners are at greater risk for under performance in school. STEM helps these students. Education for equity means providing engaging, challenging work for all students.

As a K-5 Math Coach in the Burlington School District, I have personally witnessed the power of STEM education. Individuals who are less successful in traditional learning situations shine when engaged in high quality STEM learning opportunities. I’ve watched students who typically exhibit challenging behaviors and low academic performance become energized about computer programming, exploring fractals in art and nature, catapult building, geodesic dome construction, and on and on. It is hard not to become an advocate of this type of education after watching marginalized students get opportunities to demonstrate their brilliance.

STEM is for Burlington

It is wise to fund STEM education in Burlington. By investing in STEM, we are focusing on what really works for achievement and equity. This is a forward-thinking opportunity to empower our students to be the leaders, thinkers, and makers of a changing world. Imagine that.

Geodesic Dome Building, Part I

Ada Leaphart, Integrated Arts Academy Art Teacher Extraordinaire, and I have embarked on an adventure. We’ve got all the fourth graders at IAA building geodesic domes out of newspaper.

I really don’t know how this is going to end up, so that is why I have named this Part I. I hope to report back with more news as the project progresses.

Ada and I decided to keep things loose. We didn’t want to figure everything out for the students by creating our own dome first, learning all the lessons, and then presenting a tidy scenario.

Instead, we have never attempted to create a geodesic dome out of newspaper or anything else, for that matter. Sometimes STEM+Art (I, unlike others, am not wanting to call that STEAM) should be messy and students should have the fun of making mistakes and doing all the figuring.

Before the students got started building, Ada showed a photo of a geodesic dome and asked students what they noticed. We got some math+art conversation going from that, as students noticed many geometric shapes, like triangles, pentagons, hexagons, and trapezoids. Then we talked about old Bucky Fuller (every class asked if he was still living) and how he really wanted to make the world a better place for everyone by using an efficient structure like a dome for shelter.

Kids couldn’t wait to get started. Here are the instructions we are using from PBS.

It turns out, you can roll newspaper in a loose, floppy, weak way or you can roll it in a very tight, very strong roll. Students shared successful and unsuccessful techniques. Among the successful techniques invented by students are 1) Asking someone else to help you tape the roll, 2) asking someone else for help, period, 3) twisting the roll when it is finished to make it even tighter, and 4) using a pencil to act as the center of the roll, then shaking it loose once the roll is finished.

We ended up with enough rolls to make one or two domes. 65 usable rolls are needed. Next time we will need to establish a Quality Control group to assess, select, and count the rolls we’ve got. Ada and I aren’t sure how the whole thing is going to go. At the end of it all I would like to set the dome on fire in the playground. I am not sure we will get permission for that. Oh well, we’re going to roll with it.