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.
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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 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. OK, I'm not gonna lie. Around this time, the honeymoon period between students and teacher is completely gone. And we just look at each other angrily. And I get frustrated with them. Here they are... sitting there... trying their best to do absolutely nothing.
Today is the Monday before the Monday before the first Monday of break. There's pretty much nothing good about this day. I came back from a wonderful weekend vacation from Orlando where I spent Sunday playing mini-golf, eating a 2 hour long breakfast al fresco, and taking a nice swim in the pool. Twenty four hours later: a group of tired teens who hate me. First period did not go well. I dreaded third period. They usually give less effort than my first period, but I decided to try something differently this time. Another teacher reminded me, "It's that time of year. Students are tired and don't want to try. Teachers are tired and don't want to try." I realized how much I had been dropping the ball recently... with grading, with lesson planning, with creating a warm classroom environment. It's no surprise that students would feel the same way in early December. I started third period differently- with empathy. "I know how stressed you've been these past couple weeks. The semester has been grinding. I get it. I want us to be learning today but I also don't want it to feel like there's so much pressure. We're going to go over some things today. Some of you may want to work with me to learn the pre-skills. Others of you will want to try some problems with groups you choose. I don't want this to feel overwhelming." I responded to off task behavior more positively, laughed more, joked around more... The class wasn't perfect, but students did a hell of a lot more than the first period class, and there was so much more positive energy. I had several students goofing off, but I also had 3 students who chose to work with me over their friends so they could feel caught up. I had students teaching other students; some working alone; and some in larger groups. At least for that class, my attitude and my response to them made a LOT of difference. Students are people too (duh). I've dreaded my last period class on Monday every week since the second week of school. Students come in ready to get nothing done. There's a lot of craziness and chaos that fills the room. Some days I'm glad I'm a teacher. Other days, I wish I had a desk job.
Recently, my friend sent me an article on students meditating 15 min per day every day. They found amazing results like fewer fights and calmer classrooms and fewer disruptions. I was inspired. I knew I was going to have a tough road ahead because getting a class full of adolescents to quiet down and "clear their minds" is almost impossible. I gave them reasons on why it would help us feel relaxed after a long day and I let them know it might seem awkward at first. I went through a little prompt I had prepared in my head. "Focus on the breath, relax from your head to toe (naming each body part), breathe out bad energy, breathe in good energy..." Several students snickered and mimicked what I said or some other distracting behavior. I could tell that the kids who had started getting into it were quickly distracted. I then set a timer for 1 minute to simply clear their head silently. Kids were almost bursting out laughing. Afterward we went into the warm-up explanation and a problem set. I pulled three students aside individually to re-cap their behavior during the meditation session. A conversation something like this: T: I noticed that you were really laughing and making fun of the session. S: yeah, i know. I couldn't help it. T: I get it. Meditating can be pretty awkward at the beginning. It's just that when you started laughing it was hard for the rest of the class to have their own experience. S: Yeah yeah sorry. T: Especially you, I feel like you have long days and you can get easily stressed. I felt like this would have been particularly useful for you. S: yeah, i guess. T: But if you really feel like it's too much, go ahead and step outside in the hallway until it's over. S: I can do that? T: yeah, I'd rather you do that than distract the whole class. This week, I put meditation monday back on the agenda. Some students scoffed but didn't outwardly make comments. I went through some prompts about focusing on the breath. The students who I had talked to still didn't buy in but they didn't make any disruptive noises, which helped the rest of the class. After some prompts, I set the timer this time for 2 minutes. I made note to them that we were increasing the time. I asked them to keep their minds blank and still for just 2 minutes. Heck, I felt better after the two minutes. The timer rang, and there was a noticeable difference. Less chaos. I think we all felt better. Next week... THREE minutes! "I had seven students in my group. Were there 6 in yours?" This Friday, this quote came out of the lips of NOT a teacher but a student in my class. He was one of my assigned group leaders for a differentiated activity that we were doing in class. He was asking this to another group leader in my class and both of them saw their groups as their own students.
I've never been more proud. I know that in a lot of classes, the struggling students get the majority of attention by the teacher while excelling students sit quietly working on their problems until they're done. Neither group really feels a part of any kind of classroom community. just bodies in a room. Unless... they're talking to each other. Having students continually work together and push each other to help each other has been helpful on days when I simply can't be 6 places at once. And I don't need to be! Sometimes, I had groups of 7 students in one group (usually a logistical and management nightmare) working very hard for most of the period because they had a group leader to guide them through their work. They felt like they could help each other and get help if they needed to. It helped that the task was differentiated to their needs and that they were able to choose which assignment best fit where they were. It helped that students were used to working together and listening to each other. As much as possible, I take a step away from the groups so that they don't even notice me. It's so they recognize their own expertise and forces conversation with each other. So, how do I assess progress on individual students if I'm mostly steering away from groups? Toward the end, I call each group leader one by one outside in the hallway and ask for a (literally) 1 minute assessment of where each of their members are. I get qualitative info like which students are working really hard, which ones are just copying. I also get info like which ones are struggling and which ones are doing well. They are also specific about the types of problems they have difficulty with. This is probably better data than I could have gathered myself. This is only one day, but I'm going to need to continue thinking about how to keep this kind of rigor and intensity in my class more often An oldie but a goodie: (circa Dec 2013)
I asked students to write on a notecard of someone who they are thankful for in the class. I read them aloud so that people could realize how they have a positive impact on others. Attached are a few responses. I know others have done variations of this activity. It actually didn't take very long and I think a lot of students felt very appreciated. I have a particularly challenging class when it comes to respecting others and myself. They came into class ready to do nothing. I put aside the curriculum and asked them to do a "Chalk-Talk." Each student gets a different color marker and answers a question. They can start to make connections to what other students in their group are saying.
Afterward, students get a few mini post-its and do a "gallery walk" and put their post-it on anything they really agreed with. I did my own gallery walk with purple post-its. In retrospect, I'm not sure if I should have distinguished my color. They answered the following question: "When do you feel respected in class? When do you feel disrespected in class?" Problem Solved? Not quite, but it's a step in the right direction. The rest of class went fairly smoothly, if that says anything. |
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