Desmos Picture

My students in Algebra 1 are learning about functions, and we start with domain and range of relations.  Due to amazing #MTBoS resources, I had some excellent resources to integrate into a week long lesson, which started with pictionary thanks to +John Scammell (@scamdog) and his post here.

My one good thing, however, is about the performance assessment I assigned to students using +Desmos free online graphing calculator.  On our PD day at the beginning of the semester I attended a session by our curriculum director @montemunsinger about creating rubrics for performance assessments, so I used it to help set up this rubric based on my standard related to domain and range:

The assignment was to create a picture in Desmos with at least 10 relations.  In addition, students must restrict the domain for three relations and the range for three relations.  Then students complete a reflection where they explain one domain choice they made and one range choice they made.  The reflection is important to me because it is their opportunity to share what they learned, not just what they created via trial and error. Don't get me wrong, the trial and error aspect of Desmos is the only thing that makes this assignment at all possible for my students, but I want to make sure that through the trial and error process they are learning something.

So my #onegoodthing is watching my students create!  We worked on it off and on throughout almost the whole week.  Some students jumped right in and have created some awesome things, others wanted to copy a previous Desmos picture they saw, but could explain polar coordinates to me (shocker!) so I made them start over (aka not copy).  Some students needed a lot of guidance at first ("Try y=mx+b and substitute some things in for m and b until you get what you want.  Now what part of the line do you want for your picture?  How do we do that?") and then were able to take off and just ask me for help with troubleshooting when they made an error ("Why did my whole line just disappear when I did the domain?" *I check and see -7.5<=x<=-8*  "Remember to put the minimum on the left and the maximum on the right...").

Hopefully, I can get permission to post some pictures here, but let's just say I've seen Olaf, a Christmas tree w/star and presents, batman symbol, personal designs, etc.  My favorite part, however, is when the students learn about new types of relations.  "How do I make a circle?"  "How do I make an oval?"  "Can you help me make this rounded?" I don't usually get to share about circles and ellipses in Algebra 1, but we did this week!

-Kathryn

How I Used Plickers

I just started using Plickers in one of my classes.  I learned about them at #TMC14, and if you don't know what I'm talking about go here to find out about them.

Note:  this is my reflection of my use in the classroom; nothing more

Set-up:  I printed the free plickers, size "normal" and copied onto colored paper, laminated, and wrote each student's name on the back in sharpie.  I had my students use the plickers for one question on Monday and one question on Tuesday, just to see how they would work.  Then I planned to use them multiple times on Wednesday.

Class:  I was doing this in my intervention class, which has 8 students enrolled.  I wanted to try plickers in my smaller, more flexible class before full-out implementing into my large core classes.

We have been studying domain and range, so I prepared seven graphs, each with 4 options for domain and range, trying to include common errors as possible options.  I also created some beginning questions about domain and range, just to get us started.

Implementation:  I showed the graphs and the options using my document camera and the students pulled chairs around the screen.  I did not show the plickers "Live View" because I was showing everything they needed through the doc camera.  I gave them 30 seconds to think then asked them to hold up their answers and I scanned with my iPad.

The app gives immediate feedback as to who was right and who was wrong, and which wrong answer they selected.  I can use that to base our follow-up conversation before we move on to the next question.

Reflection Thoughts:

• The kids LOVED it.  They asked to do it everyday and for the most part they were engaged the whole time.
• At the end of the lesson I gave the a graph and had them give the domain and range WITHOUT options.  They were more successful than they would have been before the lesson, but not as successful as I would have hoped.
• The app seems slow, but I have to remember that it is faster than if I had to read and judge them all.
• If they are covering up any part of the QR Code it will not read their answer.
• I'm not ready to implement in a full class, because it would be harder to keep everyone engaged.
• I can't think of a better way to help students learn about domain and range in a way that will engage them and simplify it to make it more accessible to all students from the beginning.
• I'm planning on doing something similar in the future with other concepts.

How have you tried plickers?  What did you like?  What does it take to make a good plicker lesson?

-Kathryn

Function Notation Slider

After my immensely popular tweet of these pictures:

I figured I should blog about what we did for function notation in my class.  We made this slider for our notebooks.  The files can be found here.  They are 3/page and 6/page with dotted lines where you need to cut.  You will need to download into word for the files to be formatted correctly.  We glued the top and bottom of the pink one down, so that the brown can slide.  (Side note:  9th graders might need instruction and assistance with cutting the isolated slits on the brown one.)  On the right side of our notebooks we worked through each different input value and simplified as much as we could.

The next day we did a quiz-quiz-trade activity.  This helped students gain confidence.  After doing four problems quiz-quiz-trade style I gave them one to do individually and went around checking their work.  I did a quadratic to make sure they were simplifying exponents BEFORE multiplying.  If students didn't have it correct I could give them some quick feedback, they would fix it, and I would check it again.

There's more to what we did (and are still doing), but that's all I feel like blogging about now.  Thanks for all the encouragement via my tweet.  It was amazing to see the power of twitter in that another teacher (in another country) took the idea and improved it and used it THE VERY NEXT DAY!  My students all think I'm a super-star now and they are impressed that I had one idea of my own.  It reminded me of what a blessing it is to be part of the #MTBoS!

-Kathryn

New Steps I'm Taking to Improve Group Work

I'm working a lot harder on making group work work in my classroom this semester.  I implemented some changes first semester, and expected it to work for itself from there...uh, duh Kathryn, you can't just put things in place and expect them to run themselves.  So I've been more thoughtful about it this semester, and trying to patiently look for small improvements.  Since I rarely blog, I will discuss all changes I have made this year.

First Semester

Desks in Groups of 4:  I have tables, so I've pushed two together to make groups of four.  I had this on and off last year, but I haven't even considered changing it once this year.

Group Supply Tubs:  I organized supplies into group tubs.  Something I sort of had last year, but that didn't work very well.  I also was intentional about not putting too much stuff in at the beginning of the year.


Roles:  I wrote about my role cards before school started, but I expected a little prep and some pretty cards to be enough for students to "play their role" every time...that is not enough.

Talking Points:  We do talking points as a warm-up every Thursday.  This helps give every student a voice.

Then I'd also throw around the phrase "do this in your groups" a lot and feel frustrated that they really weren't.  So I have tried to be more thoughtful.

Second Semester

Role Explanations in Notebook:  I made a half-sheet explanation of all the roles for students to put into their ISNs.  This way they ALWAYS had access to them and I could hold them more accountable.

Group Tasks:  I have been a lot more intentional about groups tasks.  One scored group task every unit is my challenge for myself.  This is super structured, and involves a significant amount of prep.  An important thing I learned from Elizabeth and our morning session at #TMC14 is to put in checkpoints for groups to call me over and see how they are progressing.  This helps a lot.  I even carry around a roster so that I can mark off what checkpoint each student has completed.  Then when I'm prepping for day 2 of the task, I have an idea of where everyone is and who I should maybe guide right from the beginning.

At this point I haven't done any amazingly exploratory/discovery task, but I think that's OK.  I'm not super-teacher, so small steps is what it is going to take.  I've turned some things I did last year (that I liked) into tasks that I now like better.  I'm sure they will morph next year into things I like even better...oh the joys of teaching!

Here is my sequence task:  Instructions, Cut Outs

Here is my function task:  Instructions, Cut Outs, Recording Sheet

Acknowledging What I Like:  I've been intentionally looking for things that I like during the group work time so that I can praise those things.  This helps me and my students, because I see the good things rather than the bad, and they feel encouraged.  It also leads to improvement because others see what I like from a group and they can work to do it in their group.

I actually just had a thought while I was blogging this that I'm going to try Monday.  I'm going to use my whiteboard to give these acknowledgements.  It is semi-public in that the entire class can see (but not other classes), but I don't have to spend the last couple minutes of class giving shout outs that they might forget by the next day.  AND other groups can IMMEDIATELY implement changes to get acknowledged as well.  I could even start with a few things on the board that I'm looking for and then write up the table number when I see that group doing it.

Group Reflections:  Every day we do any group work task work, I have them complete a quick reflection.  I'm sure I stole the questions from Elizabeth (bottom of this post) and just modified it a bit. It's just a quarter sheet, so I make a ton of copies and have them ready.  My hope is that by regularly trying to give a compliment to someone for playing their role they will become more familiar with the responsibilities of each role.  I might modify the reflection next task to involve something the individual did as well as something another person did.  Try to slowly increase the expectation that EVERYONE is playing their role.

Here is a link to what I've been giving (4 to a page).  And here is what I created for next time (2 to a page).

That's where I'm at with group work right now.  I'm proud of the changes I've made, but also disappointed that we're not farther along.  I have been realizing this year how long real change takes.  And it is a little disheartening because I'm starting to understand that it's going to take more than just me to make real change for our students.  We really need every teacher on board to make real change for students.

Let me know if you see something big (or small) that I'm missing that would make group work more valuable for my students.  I know that it is not ideal at this point, but I'm working on getting better.

-Kathryn