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Back in the fall of 2015, our district allowed our math department to attend a California Mathematics Council (CMC) conference in Asilomar. The 3-day conference allowed you to self-select 1-hour long sessions to attend throughout the conference. On the 2nd night, they had an Ignite session. During this session, 10 presenters each had 5 minutes and 20 slides to present. This session was the most beneficial part of the whole 3-day conference. Most of my colleagues agreed, the Ignite session was worth the price of admission and the most valuable time at the conference. The energy, pace, and passion delivered during each presentation was contagious. The presentation provided so much information, at a fast but easily digestible manner. That presentation can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/CK7z37AO0NM.
I thought this Ignite session was a CMC-only style presentation. However, I was pleased to hear during our Tuesday class, that we were able to create our own Ignite presentation. Furthermore, I researched and found out that Ignite Talks is an independent organization created in 2006. These events follow the same format (20 slides, 15 sec/slide) we were given. Although, my presentation was not as polished as the ones I saw in 2015, I really enjoyed creating and had fun presenting our slides. My current annotation project is centered around assessment. Within EBSCO, I was searching Mathematics and Assessment. I was surprised and reassured when the first two articles I read detailed formative assessments that I have used in my classroom. The formative assessments created by the Mathematics Assessment Project were introduced to me by my department chair. I have used a few of these assessments in multiple classes. These tasks, I have found to be informative on my students misconceptions and has given me ways to address the misconceptions. It was very nice to see these assessments being validated in my current research. This course, including the readings, class discussions, and activities continue to kick up ideas I knew were good teaching strategies and good for learning. But with time, and gravity, these great ideas slowly settled to the ground. My hope is I will grab some of these “new” old ideas that I know work, but have made excuses why I choose not to use them. I have consciously and unconsciously, shied away from some ideas due to time constraints; mandates from administration, district, state; and sadly, laziness on my end. This course, during the summer, is perfect timing. I can use this time to review and change my course syllabi. Two main ideas I would like to address are grades and assessment. I have gone back in forth with the idea of the “Power of Zero,” and utilizing the different types of assessments in our newly adopted mathematics curriculum, College Preparatory Mathematics (CPM).
Over the years, I have gone back and forth over a grading policy. Some years, I will default assessment grades no lower than 50%, other years I will give the percent as is, but allow test corrections for points back. I will need to reassess what I will be doing this upcoming year. Also, with our new mathematics curriculum, CPM, I want to utilize their multiple ways to assess. They provide performance tasks, team brainstorms, and portfolios. I will use this course and summer time to decide which forms of assessment to use over the course of the coming year. In the end, I want to avoid what Littky says as “The alternative approach (to exhibitions), of course, is to have teachers sit at home at the end of the quarter and add up meaningless numbers to come up with meaningless letters.” I jokingly tell people that the teaching profession would be the best if there was no grading involved. I feel like grading sucks the energy I need to create the best lesson plans, and still have the energy to implemented these plans. I need to spend my energy on quality assessments as well. I, little at a time, am getting closer to the teacher I wanted to become when I first joined the profession. Ch. 6 Real Work in the Real World
Tell about a time when you (as a student or a teacher) were working on or teaching an assignment that you now realize was “fake real.” After reading Chapter 6, I got a reality check. I realized I was actually teaching the “fake real” assignment about the diet cola can floating and the regular cola can sinking. Believe it or not, this was an activity I was using in a summer STEM academy funded by the astronaut, Jose Hernandez’ Reaching For the Stars Academy. For years, I thought I was being “hands-on” and “real” using this activity. Reading about what makes a real activity (Election Unit) versus a “fake real” activity (Travel Unit) is eye-opening. It makes me slow down and seriously think what is my goal and outcome, and more importantly, is it truly real to the students. Will they truly buy in to the activity? Ch. 7 Giving Families Back Their Power In what ways are teachers the amateurs and parents the experts? When it comes to knowing the children, the parents are the experts and the teachers are the amateurs. The parents for the most part, are the experts on what works and doesn’t work for their children. They know the ins and the outs, and really have the most influence. We as the teachers, the amateurs, can tap into this resource, the parents, to reach the student. Chapter 8 gave me another reality check. The use of grades has always been a tough one for me as well. I always try to caution my students from playing the points game in order to get the grade they want. I always wanted the letter grade to truly reflect the amount of content and knowledge learned in the course. Furthermore, I have been stubborn in giving extra credit and other grade “boosting” activities that really do not reflect the content they are suppose to learn in the given course. I find it somewhat irritating when a student has over a 100% in a class. Does that mean, they learned more then the teacher taught or more than the teacher expected. In my opinion, IF we use grades, and yes, now I am even contemplating using grades, the grade should represent what a student learned or the growth of the students knowledge. In the high school I attended, we were given letter grades and citizenship grades. At my current site, we do not use a citizenship mark, but I feel like I would like to use this along with a letter grade. With a citizenship grade, you can assess, punctuality, participation, and work ethic, and this wouldn’t influence the letter grade that should represent content retention. In Chapter 9, I seriously understand what twelve years of teaching can do to my original teaching rationale and philosophy in the quote, “we all need to reexamine our situations from time to time and make sure we are not sticking to old patterns in new situations” (p.189). I need to keep replaying this quote to make sure I don’t fall into my old patterns as the years come and go in my teaching career. Ch. 1 The Real Goals of Education
The ideas in this chapter were refreshing and great reminders at a much needed time. I became a teacher to make a difference within education and every student I taught. I knew that I didn’t want to be the “teacher” who fills the students’ pail with knowledge and have them spit it back out unchanged to get a satisfactory grade. However, I find parts of my teaching has slowly converted to this style of “teaching.” These ideas reinvigorated why I teach, how I teach, and who I teach. I began as a teacher twelve years ago and was determined to make that difference. However, with every passing year, I see myself doing things I hoped I never would, indirectly taking away genuine learning opportunities from my students at the expense of mandated tests or time constraints. It is time I recalibrate why I am a teacher. Ch. 2 Kids, Schools, and the Bigger Picture When you see Fried and Littky’s list of “enemies of change” it seems to be a very daunting battle. There are so many people fighting against the necessary change to meet the student at his/her needs. Well, it is a battle worth finding, this is why we became teachers, to help students attain the necessary skills and knowledge, and more importantly how to use this knowledge. Part of me became a teacher because I was angry at some of the things I saw going on in the classroom. I agree to do nothing to change this, the “dirty dozen” win, without them doing anything either. Ch. 3 Atmosphere and School Climate It was eye-opening to read, “passes are disrespectful”. In my first year of teaching, twelve years ago, I noticed so many students asking to leave the classroom for whatever reason. I asked my principal for a remedy. She provided me the idea of giving the class a set amount of passes. Over the years, this eventually evolved to each student getting a set amount of passes. Finally last semester, I finally got rid of my hall pass policy. It was reassuring to see that my pass policy was seen as disrespectful, which I believed to be but felt that it was my duty to force students to be in class as much as possible. However, I have come to know if I make the class more welcoming, interesting, and engaging, the students won’t leave class as frequently. Ch. 4 One Student at a Time I need to do a better job of meeting and understanding each and every one of my students. I do feel like I do a good job, most of the time, but I know I can do better. For the past 11 school years, I have begun the school day at 7:20AM (half of the school starts at 7:20, the other half at 8:20). Come to think of it, this is outrageous to think students can learn at this time of day. Our current school policy is to give a student an hour long detention for being tardy. As you can imagine, there are plenty of tardies to these 1st period 7:20 AM classes. Once in awhile, I will ask the students who are habitually tardy why they are tardy. I will listen to their explanations. Unfortunately, I just listen, still issue the detention and rarely do I offer solutions. After reading the section on discipline and punishment, I want to make sure I do a better job of helping those students who are habitually tardy come up with solutions, and know that it may take a few solutions to get it right, like in the reading. It is so obvious the misbehavior should be changed, not punished. Ch. 5 Learning Through Interests and Pursuing Passions Questions to Further This Conversation . . . #4 Did you save any of the papers you wrote for school? Why or why not? Yes, I have saved papers and binders from school. Obviously, I have not saved every single assignment and paper I wrote. The papers I have saved were the ones I was most proud of writing. Also, I was proud of course material I had learned and kept them in organized binders, and I still have these filled binders. As I read this chapter, it made me seriously consider what I assign my students. I find it very appalling that some students quickly throw away a graded paper when handed back. Maybe I should consider assigning work that will have true value to the students. Assignments the students would be more passionate about and want to keep. I know I can’t do this for every assignment, but something for me to seriously consider. I need to make sure there is no busy work assigned, and the assignments are purposeful. I took this class to grow as an educator. I am aware of the phrase “growing pains." Growth hurts and it can be painful, that’s how growth occurs. As a coach, this is what I tell my athletes during tough workouts. I am treating this class as my next workout program to become a better teacher. At this very moment, I am doing something I feared or never thought I would ever do. I am writing down my thoughts and reflections on this blog. I am not, in my own opinion, the typical writer who likes to put their thoughts on paper and/or the internet. I have been asked to step out of my comfort zone and be comfortable with the uncomfortable. This is what I needed. After twelve years of teaching, I need this reminder. These are the the same expectations I am expecting from my own students and athletes. It truly is rewarding and helpful to go through the same processes we expect our student-athletes to go through. Two of my go-to sayings are, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” and “Trust the process.” Now it is time for me to trust the process and enjoy this journey to become a better teacher. I admit I am fearful to go back to school, but then this fear is needed to understand what my future students may be going through when they walk through my classroom door.
After reading the first five chapters of The Big Picture, my reasons for becoming a teacher have been reignited. It has exposed where I have been complacent and has provided me with obvious ways to make my school and classroom more welcoming. The Advisory Period is one idea my school has been talking about implementing. I, at times found myself as the teacher who might have complained about the time constraints and commitment needed to implement. However, Dennis Littky, reminds me about the importance of this time commitment in reaching and understanding the whole student. This commitment also enhances the atmosphere and school climate that we all want to achieve. A place where learning can easily and genuinely happen. This achievement can be accomplished with the proper investment in an advisory period. I now find myself firmly on the pro advisory period side. Now let me zoom out a little more, to see the Bigger Picture. Stay tuned... |