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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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. The first two weeks are flashing before my eyes but also feel very grueling. Especially in the first month, I am prowling the classroom. I am a lion. Hear me roar. Two of my classes are back to back for a 100 minutes with 8 minute passing periods. I did the arithmetic and I stand and prowl for 3 hr and 40 min straight. Coming from a previously sedentary summer, it's safe to say my body is in small states of confusion and weariness.
Yet somehow, this is still better ... infinitely better.. than my first year teaching. One of the biggest changes is that I'm addressing problems more directly. I've spent most of my life avoiding problems and hoping things will either resolve themselves or go away. I've found that as a teacher- problems only go in one direction: bigger. I've been interlacing math content with culture building activities. Today, I asked students to share a cultural practice or tradition so that we got a sense of who we are as people walking into the classroom. In one period, I could sense that students weren't buying in. "Why are we doing this? This is math class." I guess all that mumbo jumbo about learning together as a community wasn't cutting it. The problem is... that even if most of the class is cool with an idea quietly, a few vocal minority can turn the class around really quickly. It's one of those kind of remarks I might have stumbled through and proceeded on as if nothing happened. I gathered my thoughts and said, "I apologize that you don't find this a worthwhile activity. I want people here to know each other and know their backgrounds and histories better." I had responded for now, but made a note in the back of my mind to directly address it with her later. Then I gave my own example. I had crafted it beforehand. It was time to work the crowd. I sold my story. Students were nodding along as they journeyed through my early years without Thanksgivings. I saw a few faces that were grossed out when I mentioned kimchi- a spicy pickled cabbage. I had them hooked. They spent a few minutes crafting their own memories and I bee-lined to the disgruntled student. She had her eyes ready to roll. I said: I know you might not find this a valuable activity. And I can't force you to do it. She said: I'm not going to. I responded: Let me explain why I'm doing this. When I was a student in high school, I always felt like I had to leave some part of me at the door. Maybe it was because I'm from a Korean family with different values and maybe it was because I never felt very comfortable in a white-centric environment, but I felt like I had to be a different person to succeed. I'm doing this activity because I want people to know that whatever their background, history, or culture, they are welcome here. And I want you to know, whatever your background or history, who you are now, is welcome here. I don't usually say something so direct, and honestly- I'm not even sure that I knew would come out of my mouth. She didn't respond, but I observed a subtle yet noticeable shift in her attitude toward the class and the activity. We had a few people share their stories aloud- from New Years on a boat, to making Saturday deliveries with dad, to soccer Sundays, we listened and clapped as people shared. We'll definitely need a LOT more reinforcement before our class becomes a community but I'm hoping to take strides there. And mostly I'm hoping that responding to students and problems immediately is going to be way better than previous years. okay, I'm exhausted. next time I'll post a mistake making activity that students completed. I'll be honest... for every one good thing I do as a teacher, I can name at least 10 things that go wrong (with my help of course.) I was talking to my mentor (Rochelle Gutiérrez) about how we only ever share things about our teaching when its sunshine and roses... or things about our classroom that show we're wonderful teachers. But I think this is the trap that we fell into as students and continue to perpetuate. Failing is not REALLY part success and if you ARE failing, you should keep that secret until you've succeeded. But anyone who examines that statement knows how bogus it is. If we really think failure is going to lead to improvement, then we should be sharing them with others. Just know, fellow teachers, you are not alone.
Well here goes, my failure. Today. In one my classes, I noticed that student motivation was down. They were in class for a looong time (block period) and it was just work work work. But I was frustrated. The kinds of things I was asking my students to do was within their capabilities but they just didn't want to do anything. I noticed one particular group make almost no progress, and in that particular group, a student who appeared to me to be doing nothing most of the time. After 15 minutes, I finally went up to the group, to the student, and said, "Ok, I'm going to ask you to move seats. You're clearly not doing anything." S: No. And there it was. the power struggle had to play out. even as it was playing out, I saw how I had already messed up. I couldn't lose face. T: This isn't a request. You're distracting others; I'm asking you to move. S: No, I'm doing work. T: Why are you making this into a power struggle? I'm asking for something simple. You just need to move. S: I don't understand why I have to. It's not going to change anything. I'm getting work done here. T: I asked you to move please move S: No. I don't want to. T: Don't turn this into larger consequences for something so simple. S: (clearly getting more and more frustrated) fine. If I won, why did it feel like I lost? At the first available moment, I sat next to him and explained my perspective. I asked him if he disagreed. He did. I tried to coax a conversation out of him so I could better understand what he was thinking, but the damage had been done. He did do some work and his group focused better without him there, but the cost was not worth it. Especially for the last 15 minutes of class. One of my colleagues showed me a worksheet with a very simple idea and profound effects: "lifelines"... basically agreeing to provide up to two hints when they are struggling most. For me, these lifelines are represented as smiley faces. See below. I'm going to give students a group challenge (a math task that students will struggle with but are within their capabilities). I usually provide hints (thanks to Complex Instruction Consortium's ideas) but this time, I decided to go with lifelines. My colleague told me that students are suddenly very protective of their lifelines. I believe it. I'm hoping this works. Will update once the activity is complete. UPDATE: I tried this in my most challenging class. WOW what a change! First the group challenge was more appropriate to their level but they really did NOT want hints to be taken away. Students were suddenly talking to each other, helping each other, checking answers. They hated the idea of me marking up one of their smileys. Small change, genius results.
I was just at a meeting sharing best practices. One teacher said she tried having students taking notes on what other students were saying. She'd say "Jon just made a really good point. Let's take that down in our notes." Then Jon would have to repeat slowly what he said so others could write it down. She collected the notes at the end of class. This was to value what other students in the class were saying and positioning them as experts (instead of just the teacher).
I'm really interested in doing this in my own classroom. I'm not exactly sure the structure of how this would look but quoting other students as part of the notes seems like a really great way for students to start leaning on each other. |
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