I've been thinking about group quizzes more. I really like doing group quizzes, because students feel more incentive to work together, especially if the classroom is set up so that this is the expectation. I did this activity that I stole from another blog.
1. 10 min individual 2. 10 min in partners 3. 10 min in groups of 4 4. 10 min in groups of 8. One person is chosen at random to represent the group's grade. (I shuffle the papers and see who lands on top.) I saw a lot of engagement for the most part, although one or two students were disconnected. I gave back their quizzes and reminded them that if they felt their score didn't represent them or the group, that meant someone was disconnected. I went back to the beginning of the year picture I keep showing them. Then, I reminded them of a hackey sack game we played in the first week called "No we all messed up." (Students tossed a hackey sack until one person dropped it. They had to say "I messed up." and we had to reply, "no we all messed up."). I said, "It's not this one person who messed up, everyone in the group messed up. We have collective responsibility." Calling back to this game was effective. A day later, I gave another group quiz and I heard comments like "You're being disconnected" from a few groups. Debriefing the first group quiz really helped set up the second one.
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1. Start with an equation and write an equivalent equation.
2. Fold back the original question so it cannot be seen. Rotate the new equation. 3. Repeat 2x 4. The fourth (last) person needs to unfold the sheet and check if the last equation is actually equivalent to the original. I'm still working on this but here's what I have so far. Each student assesses their group (for a group project- but possibly for just working together.) Then I typed their assessments (with some review of if everything was appropriate). Then I will share their peer assessments with them so that they can improve. Still thinking about how to frame this. Next time I think I'll do the group assessment through a google form to simplify process.
I recently started using a website Kahoot.it! It's pretty interactive site where you can create your own questions with multiple choice responses and allow smartphones to connect (like clickers) through a code.
One of my students asked me to share more about myself and that I should make a Kahoot about me. I thought this was a fantastic idea- so I wrote 5 questions about myself with multiple choice responses and 20 seconds per question. Students guessed my favorite food, where I went to school, my major, and my favorite class period (HINT: I chose all of them). There's also a leader board that shows who's winning. They get a kick out of that. Students don't often get to my class on time during the first period of the day. It got me thinking that this could be something to do at the very beginning of my Monday class. But instead of making them all about me, I asked students to volunteer to make a Kahoot about themselves. 5 questions at 20 seconds each. One student per week. This can really engage the classroom and make it feel more like a community. This is my first time doing this so I'll try to update with results on how it goes as the weeks go by. I like to use the downtime after a quiz and request students to "write me a letter" if they finish early. The letter can be about anything and I get to know a few more students this way (especially when I respond.)
I learn a lot often about their disposition toward mathematics, the class, or just their lives outside of math class. Some responses below Aside from math, this year I also teach a new course called Exploring Computer Science (in the Career Technical Education department). It is an AMAZING, well researched, well created curriculum produced by code.org (I think).
During last class, groups created a 9 slide presentation on Google Slides -one slide for each computer component (like hardrive, RAM, optical drive, etc). They had to work together to produce something that everyone was going to learn from and use. This class, students got to open up some old Dells that no one will use anymore. They had to use their slides from the previous day to identify and take apart the different components of a computer (and put them back together). I used this video to get them started. They loved getting to touch and take apart the different things inside a computer (and know what they were). It helped demystify some of the daily technology they use. After a while, I gave each group a screw driver and told them to take off the fan and some of the other components. Overall a great experience for students. I'm glad I have the opportunity to teach this course! One thing I noticed when I was at another school visiting my colleague and friend Benjamin Walker was he would actually record what students were saying by typing it out. It let students keep record, letting them know that what they have to say is important, and it's easier for people to follow along. It also makes it easy for students to refer to each other's contributions.
I've been thinking about it a lot and I think it makes a good difference in the classroom. Luckily for me, I'm a pretty quick typist. Might be challenging to do otherwise. So the longer I've been teaching, the biggest lesson I'm learning is that it takes a lot of time and prompting to form a classroom community and to establish a collaborative classroom culture. My first year of teaching, I learned it takes longer than 1 week. Last year, I learned it takes longer than a quarter. SO I think I get it now. Slow and steady ... finishes the race.
I've been looking for a good graphic to help explain my classroom philosophy and certainly Geni Consulting provides a few, but there weren't any that I felt like I could use directly for my class. So I made one with Geogebra based on the ones I saw already. The image on the left represents that everyone brings knowledge and we learn by sharing and listening to others. The image on the left is what happens when someone chooses to disengage. This is no good. It's an image I decided to share with the class and I think it helped explain why I was doing what I was doing. I have the great pleasure (and sometimes the great pain) of teaching a weekly improv class as an elective. I've got students from 7th grade to 12th grade. It's quite the motley crew. After a semester of 28 students for 45 minutes once a week, students have generally improved in their improv abilities! After we played a new game today called "Evil Twin", one senior student came up to me. She said, "I think this class has really been useful. Not just in acting." I said, "Oh yeah?" She replied, "Yeah, I feel like it's helpful in life. It's taught me how to think on my feet and react better to all kinds of scenarios."
WOW- if there is one thing I would want my students to get out of improv, it would be that. Now if only I could get students to think about math like that- not just helpful in their careers, but helpful in life. Have you ever started giving a lecture and watched your classroom fall apart? I have. It happened last week actually. Four students in a corner arguing loudly about whether Jesus was the biscuit or the syrup, a pair of students flirting, and the quieter students looking at their phones. It was going to be one of those days. I finally got the majority of the class to quiet down so I could restart. One girl loudly responded, "Now we're waiting for YOU!" Some students rolled their eyes, others told her she was being rude. I wasn't going to be able to do anything at this pace.
I put a five minute timer on the screen and said, "We'll start in 5 minutes." As soon as the timer started, I moved quickly. First to the loud arguing students. I had a good relationship with them so I simply said seriously, "Hey what you're doing is not cool and it's distracting. You don't always need to have the last word." They nodded and quickly affirmed they would no longer be a distraction. Then ... a bee line to the student who had made the comment about waiting for me. We had not always had the best relationship, but it was slowly improving. I looked at her quickly and said, "I didn't appreciate your comment." That was all I said. She responded, "Sorry about that." Okay two down and two minutes left. I moved to the flirting distracted pair. I moved one student across the room. I could see they were disgruntled. I made a note to talk to student I had moved after class. The timer rung. I said, "Okay, let's get started." This time, students were ready to listen and ready to work. Five minutes saved me 50 minutes. |
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