Parent Conferences 2012

Today I had Parent Conferences from 7:45am to 3:30pm with a 45 minute lunch in there somewhere. We hold them in the gym as the middle school teachers sit at tables placed around the perimeter of the gym. Parents roam around the gym looking for teachers to talk with. I suppose I should back up a few days before I dive into today's happenings.

Wednesday, I did two things. First, I sent all my parents an email saying how excited I am to meet them on Friday during conferences and that I request they bring their child so they can help lead the conference. Secondly, I gave students a Review Quiz to assess their mastery, growth and retention of the concepts from the first few weeks. Many students demonstrated mastery, substantial growth, and are retaining algebraic concepts. They came into class Thursday to receive the results of the Review Quiz and were expected to fill out the following form. This form [editable version here] would help students lead the conference with their parents.

This form had multiple benefits such as guiding the student and giving them talking points. It was so cool to hear kids tell parents the concepts they were mastering such as "Distributive Property" or concepts they needed to improve like "Number Systems." It gets better. I had kids explain to their parents how Reassessments worked and how many they've set up with me. Again, there were some fantastic moments of kids proudly explaining the process. Of course, there were kids who haven't even set up one reassessment who should have by this point and it really drove the point home that their learning and 'grade' is ultimately in their hands. I wanted students to remind their parents that I only assign 2-4 home exercises each night and although they're not worth points, I wanted students to use their own words to illustrate why it's important to still attempt and complete them. Behavior was an additional suggestion by Chris Robinson and kids were actually very honest, if not modest at times. Lastly, let's move forward and have students come up with some specific, yet attainable goals and ones other than "Get good grades" [BORING!!!!]. Check some of these student created goals:

1. Don't be afraid to ask questions.
2. Do all Home Jams completely.
3. Keep myself organized throughout the year.
4. Avoid doing PS on Sunday night.
5. Ask at least one question per day.
6. Learn with a smile.
7. Avoid making careless mistakes.

Avoid making careless mistakes! I found myself telling parents that 'careless mistakes' are a natural feature built into a middle school student. My job is to help them get better at strengthening their skill of double-checking their work by being their own "math lifeguard." Yes, having goals, working toward mastery, and learning concepts will lead to "good grades." It was amazing how little I actually informed parents of their child's current percentage and grade in my class. It was amazing. Compared to previous years, there was a huge, apparent, and welcome shift in the context of Parent Conferences. Thanks SBG! Numerous times I told parents that students are being less "grade enthusiasts" because they are owning their learning and working on mastering concepts one at a time. See ya later points!

Some parents came in with agendas, skeptical of this "different way of teaching". Oh, you mean the teaching where I present students with a question, task, or problem and let them grapple with it for a few minutes, fleshing out ideas with their group members on their giant whiteboards as I circulate the classroom listening? The teaching where I only jump in if they are a hundred miles off base? The teaching where I look for students to discover solutions on their own and then share their work with the class using a document camera? The teaching where students are learning from each other and not following a contrived algorithm or procedure blindly without direction, interest, or appropriately struggling with it first? The teaching where I encourage students to take ownership of their learning? Right. Well, after a few weeks of ironing out some kinks from being too 'hands-off' at times with instruction, I've found my groove and I've found that happy medium between being hands-off and knowing when to intervene and instruct students. Not all students are ready or welcome the idea of a teacher being hands-off. Some, especially these middle schoolers, still need that procedural learning from the get-go. I respect that and am sensitive to that. Therefore, my happy-medium place is that where I allow students to grapple with concepts at first and with each other, but students will always leave my class that day knowing an efficient way to navigate to a solution, even if it's procedural.

Ending on a positive note, I had two conferences that truly brought warmth to my heart! Two girls in separate classes struggled in my class the first few weeks of the year. By no means are they strong students. They try and work hard, but not as hard as many of my other students. At first they wanted good grades, but that's changed to wanting to succeed and learn. They figured this out on their own. Their 'grades' were in the dumpsters the first few weeks. I gave the Review Quiz this week and holy smokes, they kicked math butt! Giving them back their assessment yesterday, sharing this news with their guardian at conferences today, and seeing their current 'grade' was an experience that confirmed that SBG is here to stay.  I'm proud of you two girls! We don't need no stinkin' points-based-grading.

Conferenced out,
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Be the 'student' at 101qs.com

*Disclaimer: Im not a professional cinematographer! I haven't taken any film lessons! I consider myself a novice with film editing. However, I'm passionate. I want to improve my craft with film almost as much as improving my craft of teaching!

Dan Meyer was kind enough to invite me to the beta testing of 101qs.com after seeing my Fake Money - Act 1.

I was both flattered an honored that he dug my exponential growth video and wanted to include me in the beta testing before his site went live. One of the best pieces of advice Dan gave me was, "Buy yourself a tripod for Christmas, Andrew." His feedback from Sand Vase - Act 1. I totally agreed with him and didn't wait for Santa. A tripod makes the experience much easier on the viewer. Plus, no matter how perplexing you might think your tire rolling down a hill is, you run the risk of losing your audience from a shaky camera or poor camera work. (Hits forehead with palm, D'oh)

Look, I've read many blogs and comments that challenge Dan's objective with 101qs, the perplexity rating, the lack of comments/feedback, the initial question versus the discussion, and on and on. My objective here is not to rehash any of that. Hands down! It's a solid site and beneficial to us teachers! Embrace its ingenuity! My goal is to offer some observations and advice that might contribute to making the viewing experience even better for you and your students. Here's how:

1. Have measurable acts.
2. Be the 'student' during both the staging and viewing portions.
3. Have fun!

Make sure it's measurable:
I've thrown some pics up on 101qs.com, but they were flops because it's not measurable or epic. I can discuss it with my class, but that's it. If we can't measure it, we're done. Maybe we can create a small scale project, but that could detract from the amazement of the initial media. John Golden's Largest Land Vehicle in the World pic is epic. But how do you measure it? I don't have a giant earth mutating blade in my backyard. Do you? However, one of my all-time favs is Nathan Kraft's Tuba Echo. There are definitely some measurable parts here. Plus, it's really simple!

Be the 'student':
Before pressing record or taking a plethora of pictures. Before sitting down to create, to plan, or to stage your first act, stop and think as a 'student'. Be every student you have! Be the die-hard learner. Be the mediocre student who goes with the majority. Be the smart-aleck kid who loves any opening for a joke or wise comment. Get some candles, some incense, channel them all... okay you get the point! Let the 'student' critique, trash, beat up, and make fun of your mere idea! Take the rose-colored glasses off.
This doesn't count for off-the-cusp pictures you can take with a digital camera while experiencing some majestical moment on vacation. However, be the 'student' before uploading said pictures. Would this really be something a student would be interested in, be perplexed by, have a question about, wonder about? Be honest. Your student doesn't necessarily think like you. Amazement and perplexity are two different things.
*My goal is to allow my classes to experience 101qs.com next week and see what they think. Seeing other teachers do this inspired me.

Staging:
Face it, we have a demographic. When staging your videos or pictures, keep students in mind; your students, my students, someone else's students. Sit in their desk, put their glasses on, be your demographic. Sorry John Hanks, is your Dirt really going to interest your students? Maybe yours. It wouldn't perplex mine. What might be perplexing for you or the general majority of the users of 101qs.com is not necessarily perplexing for your student. So how do you effectively stage an act? I'm going to use Chris Hunter's Big Box o' Krispies. It's my new favorite.
I think the intended question was 'how many?' Hence all the skips. Longtime users are for the most part...done with 'how many?' But c'mon, they're Rice Krispies! SNAP! CRACKLE! POP! Think outside the box here (I can't pass up a good pun!) I'm going for another audio clip here, "How loud would the Snap Crackle Pop be if they were poured into a barrel of milk?" Can you imagine that? If I had a box that big, here's how I'd stage it:
Use a tripod, put a small bowl on a table, pour some Krispies in, and then pour in some milk. Record the audio up close. Cut to a picture of a barrel, a few or many gallons of milk, and the huge box of Rice Krispies. Cut. Act 1!
Think about the sequel? If it's not loud enough, how much cereal should we add? How quickly? What type of milk will yield the loudest response? How much longer will the barrel snap crackle pop compared to the bowl? What's the perfect ratio of milk to cereal for the highest decibel? Maybe invest in a decibel meter? You can still cover your volume question and more... I love it! So what about the 101qs.com viewing experience?

Viewing:
When viewing the uploads on 101qs.com, think like a 'student'. Sometimes the expected questions are staring you in the face. I've commented to Dan that some users are abusing their power with the 'Skip' button, but I respect their autonomy. I can't force or coerce a student into what I think is perplexing so I'm not going to bash a 101qs.com user. However, I would encourage that user or student to still offer some feedback. Why is this boring? Why did you press 'skip'? I don't care if I'm on the top ten (no, that's not loser talk). I don't. I care that I hit my intended mark. I care that I get constructive feedback from a flop and improve upon it. I care that my students are perplexed.  Lastly, I believe I can offer feedback to those on 101qs.com if I pretend to be that smart-aleck kid in your class. Perplexity in math is a natural component of classroom management. If you can't engage me, the smart-aleck, I'm cracking jokes and off-task. Here's how I'd make Abbie's Oatmeal slightly more student friendly. There's too much text. Students don't want to read much or dig through text after they've become accustomed to you showing them epic pictures. Crop this picture. Zoom in on what you want the student to question. I almost skipped this, but offered Abbie some feedback because this picture has great potential.

Have fun:
If you're not having fun, your students aren't having fun. It was fun to put Post-Its on a huge File Cabinet. The students had fun making estimates. They had fun writing the numbers on the Post-Its. They had fun doing the math to figure out the actual number. They wanted to know how many Post-Its to write numbers on. I said, "You tell me." They didn't blink. They took ownership of both the writing of numbers and the math. Keep these fun moments in mind when you are channeling the student. If it's fun for them, it'll be fun for you while you plan, stage, record, and edit your media.

Have fun,
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2012 Math Olympics

Last week was the first week back from Spring Break. Over the break, I took the feedback from the Survey your Students (earlier post) I gave and wanted to finish the school year in a different manner. I chose a class theme (which I'm not sure I've done before) to be the 2012 Math Olympics. I needed a fun way to spend the last 5 academic weeks with my 8th graders. I went to Target and the Dollar Store and found a few goldmine items for weekly events and "Gold medal" winners.

Last week's event, Jai Alai 

I wanted to both professionally and personally challenge myself to make improvements in the following areas:

Group & Discussion Based Learning:
I had to change the desk arrangement in my classroom. As you can see from the picture above, students are facing each other now instead of the interactive board. I did minimal direct instruction this week.
It was fantastic!
I wanted the groups to figure out and discuss examples before telling them how to answer, solve, or approach the examples. Kids are smart!
The students were put into homogeneous groups, having a range of mathamatical abilities. On Monday, they met their teammates, nominated a team captain, and picked a country from the list of participating countries in the 2012 Summer games. USA was not an option!
It took a couple of days for the students to warm-up to the discussion based learning, but by Thursday, they had made great strides (remember to praise them on Monday for this!)

Different Classroom Management Skills:
We take our 8th graders to Washington D.C. at the end of May. Therefore, the students have one giant foot out the door by this time of year. This past week, I saw a greater level of engagement and less need to remind students about learning. I have found myself in previous years sternly reminding them,
"It's imperative that you guys learn this if you're interested in getting into Geometry as a freshman."

The only thing I had to remind my students of this week was for their captain to report their good-will points to me before leaving. Good-will points are earned for displays of good sportsmanship in class by staying on task, helping another group, or scoring a point in Jai Alai. I kept track of good-will points on these cheap chalkboards I found at Target:

To earn Good-will points (and to avoid foul play) in Jai Alai, one team had to successfully pass the ball to another team so both teams received points. It was awesome to see them cheer each other on instead of making fun.

Warm-ups:
I found a highly successful warm-up activity this year that was based on assessing individual skills, called my favorite yes/no (video found here).

However, with the students in groups (countries), I transitioned my two-minute warm-up into a group task. I not only had great discussions going on, but kids were submitting their cards cheering for their country, writing...
"Go Fiji! Germany rocks! Go Tunisia!"
I loved that they took ownership of both their learning and their adopted country for the Math Olympics! (again, remember to praise them for this on Monday!)

Student Estimation and Prediction:
The daily two-minute warm-up also includes a question requiring estimation to answer it. Past examples include:
What year was the first cell phone call made?
How many In-n-Out Burgers are in California?
How many miles is the California coastline?
How many miles is it around the earth's equator?
Discussion following these questions has been quite valuable. They find the validity in guessing too low and too high and enjoy sharing the actual answers with family or friends throughout the day. I assigned homework on Monday for them to look up two fun facts about their country. I will use the facts they submitted throughout the next 4 weeks. I believe this will pay dividends... we'll see.

Incentive Based Learning:
I tread lightly in this arena. I have never been a big fan of handing out candy or giving small trophy awards for something I believe learning is, intrinsic. However, the second you toss candy in front of a middle schooler, it feels like the equivalent of feeding the dolphins at Sea World after performing a trick. My school banned the distribution of candy and I'm totally good with it. Let's be realistic though, every once in awhile, kids enjoy some type of reward, even if it's silly. They are kids after all.
On Monday, I will be awarding my Gold medal winners with glow bracelets I found at the dollar store. In order to win glow bracelets for your country, your group must have the highest exam average from the previous week. We learned parabolas this week, and I've seen some of the best understanding ever, which translated to great scores as well!

Lastly, our event for next week is Archery. I have a student-made target at the back of my room. After successfully answering questions, students will aim a giant foam rocket at the target to earn good-will points for their country next week. London 2012!!!

Best,
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Survey your students

Spring Break Questionnaire 2012:

I believe in the importance of feedback, whether it's:

1. Customer feedback regarding a product
2. Feedback about a restaurant, their food, service, cleanliness, etc.
3. Feedback from colleagues, administrators, students in your class or 
4. The feedback Jimi Hendrix produced wailing on guitar (that's definitely a topic for another day).

I gave my students this questionnaire last week, right before we went to Spring Break:

The feedback I received from my students is invaluable. My favorites were:

1. A student that responded to question 5 and a difficult concept: "I need more space, there were too many."
2. A high percentage of students used the same verbiage for question 6 regarding the warm-up: "It helps get my brain ready for math and I like the second question because it's fun."

So here's the how, why, and when I do questionnaires.

How: 
Keep it simple. Type up a one page questionnaire your students can finish in about 5-8 minutes. Give it to them on the first day of school or at the end of a short test or quiz. Give your students the premise, don't just throw it at them. Tell them their feedback is important to you (because it is). Explain that their honesty and constructive feedback helps you (the teacher) help them (the students). Again, tell them again that their input is important to you (because it is).

Why:
I don't feel much explanation is necessary here as we could come up with a million reasons, but hopefully the reasons are instinctive, logical, genuine, and simple.

Questionnaires allow student's to take the initial step in the ownership of their learning. They see that you are open and willing to make their learning experience rich, rewarding, and reflective of their interests.  They see that you care. Students can possibly gain a better sense of appreciation for your hard work, but this shouldn't be your main objective. If they see you working hard to meet their expectations, then maybe it will rub off on their work habits in your class and pay dividends towards your expectations of them.

The students (your customer) can give you a perspective that you might miss. They might remember something they enjoy in another teacher's class and want to share it with you. Don't take it as a slight. Take it as a Professional Development opportunity. I'm not saying the students dictate the curriculum, daily agenda, or always know best about their learning behaviors, but their input and perspective keeps you connected and in tune to what they are thinking. Simply put, how does your customer feel about the product you are selling? What can you do to enhance your product and better appeal to your customer base?

This a great opportunity to teach your students that constructive feedback is a life skill that benefits from some etiquette. The questionnaire is not a 'comments' section they can anonymously fill out online, bashing the subject or person while they sit in front of a computer screen. Students are given the opportunity to provide words, explanations, and reasons that are constructive, diplomatic, and appropriate. It's a great opportunity for a teacher to teach a life skill... embrace it.

Don't wait until the end of the school year. IT'S TOO LATE. I always found the rating forms at the end of a college course or graduate class pointless. Why ask me after the fact, especially if the instructor was terrible? How do my classmates and I benefit from taking the survey at the end? How come we didn't benefit from a survey given to this instructor's last class? I digress... However, it's important to me that I survey my students frequently. So when do I poll them for their feedback?

When:

Don't abuse questionnaires. Students will see them more as a task instead of an opportunity to provide meaningful feedback. Don't overuse: 4 times max.

Beginning of the year

It allows you an opportunity to find out information, fun facts, learning styles, and their attitude towards your subject area. What a great way to immediately make connections with your students. Use questions that encourage detailed answers. Avoid 'yes' or 'no' questions. Hey, you're gonna spend the next 180 school days together, don't you want to make a connection with your students immediately that will catapult you together into the subject area you teach? Lastly, ask them what is something they would like to know about you...

Before Winter Break

By this time you have been using various techniques, strategies, learning activities, and have gotten to know the make up of your classes. The newness of the school year has definitely worn off and it's time you get some feedback from your students. Use Winter Break to evaluate their responses and give yourself some New Year's resolutions and an action plan upon your return in January. Your response is pivotal. Return in January reminding them what they did, some common threads, and your action plan. It's imperative you follow through with your plan, or you subject yourself to losing your customers...

Before Spring Break

Spring cleaning, right? It might be time for you to utilize some fresh ideas/activities or maybe trash some that are just ineffective. Maybe there's some concepts you need to reteach before those lovely standardized tests arrive. Use Spring Break to prepare some improved ways of reaching your kids. They're older now. They've seen your best and your worst. Give them something fresh upon their return. Maybe this is where you bring out some 'secret weapons' or some awesome activities you found from a colleague on Twitter, 101qs.com, Teaching Channel, a blog, etc. Do something so both you and your students have something to look forward to as you close the school year. Trust me, by this time, your students will feel comfortable enough to tell you what they like/dislike, and how effective/ineffective activities have been in your class. Plus, if you followed through on your January action plan, they trust you will respond equivalently. 

At the end of the year

This isn't one where you just do it as a formality. You have spent 180 days with your students and hopefully have left a positive impact on their life by now. Hopefully they returned the favor. If you're always looking to improve and be a better teacher, this is your opportunity to take the good with the bad so you can better prepare for next year. I know by this time you are looking forward to summer and the last thing you want to do is think about next year, but it will be here before you know it and guess what? Your current students will help you prepare to have an even better and stronger year next year. Yes, your students might be brutally honest on the final questionnaire because they may never see you again, but take off the rose-colored glasses. It might hurt at first, but it can only make you stronger (sticks and stones..., right?). Take the summer to find ways to better connect with that 'one' student who will be in your class again next year. Decompress over the summer, but keep in mind that your former students have given you a valuable gift. They're feedback, their insight and their words are teaching you now. They have left you with a lesson. Think about it, we expect our students to learn from their mistakes, to take chances, be lifelong learners, and always strive to do their best. Expect that of yourself too. Take their feedback and give back. 

Good luck,
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