Sunday, September 29, 2013

Week 4 Reflection: Progress

This week I found myself able to breathe and relax a bit. Students are getting comfortable with class and are realizing I expect them to take responsibility for their own understanding. Memorable moment of the week; a student whose struggling completed a practice assignment, upon grading it realized they had many mistakes and asked "can't I just turn it in to have it done?"  No Honey, it's not about completion, it's about understanding.  We are making progress. Slow, steady progress. 

As students come into class I have the tracking spreadsheet up.  If you are in the red you're in a row. Being in the red means that students haven't completed their WSQ (watched video, summarized with notes, and answered questions online).  In rows they need to grab a netbook and complete their WSQ. 

For those in groups we've been starting class with our Rapid Review. Students grab a whiteboard and I put up some problems from the concept covered in huge video. They work them out, show me their answers/work and I can identify who needs help and provide some remediation. I also use students' answers to their online submissions (the "Q" part of WSQ) to guide what we do for Rapid Review. 

Next students have flex time and work on their practice. I also use this time to pull together small groups for remediation and help students individually. We end class with a whole class activity. Lately we've been finding mistakes in student work or doing number talks. 

We also have a number of interventions from our Freshman Academy including academic detentions, meeting with counselors, parent calls home, and Link Crew lunch study buddies. There are a few students I need to meet with about retaking their first unit test. Progress is happening. Slowly but surely. 

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Week 3 Reflection: Regrouping

I feel that as educators it is so important for us to be reflective about what we do and responsive to our students.   As a type A perfectionist I sometimes get so caught up in my commitment to an idea that I forget they just don't always work out the way we plan.  Although my students were learning the process of flipped mastery there were some unintended consequences that are quite frankly not good for my students.  Or for me.  As Gary Strickland (@SciAggie) from my PLN tweeted me this week "stepping away from a plan that's not working isn't the same as giving up.  Regroup and move forward."  So this week...I regroup.

Unintended Consequences
I had my mastery portion set up so that students would take a short five question quiz after learning each concept to show their level of understanding.  This week it became evident how that worked to dramatically increase many students' test anxiety.  I have always worked diligently to lessen that anxiety so it did not sit well with me that this increased.

I also found that the necessary management of reteaching several groups of students who were on different concepts took up so much of my time that I was having less time with my most struggling students. I always have students who, because of failing middle school math, tend to sit and do nothing due to their severe lack of basic math knowledge.  However, when flipping last year I found that I had time to sit and work with them.  Not so while implementing mastery.

I also feel that I don't have as good a grasp on what my students really know because I haven't been able to have those quality conversations with individual students.  There is just too much chaos.  And I'm not a sissy when it comes to organized chaos.  I have five kids of my own!  Chaos is the norm for me in my life.  But what's been going on in my classroom has not been beneficial chaos.  For my students or for me.  It is okay to acknowledge that.  And to make a new plan to fix it.

Right Fit?
Now its true that  there  may be things I could do differently to manage my time and students better.  Maybe there is a solution to make continuing mastery viable.  But maybe, just maybe, its not right for me...right now.  And maybe, just maybe, its not right for my students...right now.

I work with all freshman in a Freshman Academy setting (I'll blog about that at a later date).  We have four core teachers who have the same 125 students all year at the high school level.  We have the opportunity to have great conversations about our students.  And we are working to help successfully transition them to high school.  We are finding that our students are coming from a middle school experience where they rarely had homework.  Collectively we have an expectation of about 5 hours of homework per week.  That transition is very overwhelming for our students.  At some point I have to accept that our collective goal of getting 100% of our freshman to graduation is greater than my personal goal of doing flipped-mastery.

Regrouping
I've decided that rather than quizzing over each concept we will have a quiz for every 2-3 concepts.  This means that rather than having maybe eight quizzes in a unit we will have about 2-3.  The day following a quiz I will build in reteaching for as many students that need it.  If that's the whole class its okay.

I also found that students were trying to skirt the system a bit by taking quizzes without authentically watching the video, summarizing with notes, and answering the questions online.  We will be staying together as a group more.  When students come into class they will need to show me their notes and have done the online submissions in order to sit in a group with their friends.  I have a tracking spreadsheet to show me who has done theirs (thanks Crystal Kirch).  Otherwise they will sit in a row with a netbook and get that done.

Meanwhile, those who have their WSQ done (watched video, summarized w/ notes, question submission) will get a "rapid review".  Student grab whiteboards, I put up a few questions on the board, and we check their understanding of the concept and clarify any misunderstanding.  This helps me identify those who need small group intervention and gives those students who crave the "tradition" style a bit of that.  By the time we get to small groups those watching the videos in class should be done and can join the small group if they feel they need the extra help.  Those not needing small group can get started on the practice.  When small group is done they can then get started on the practice.

Since I'm finding that students (especially freshman) get a little squirrelly near the end of class we will do a whole class activity for the last 10-15 minutes of class (keep in mind I have 71 minute class periods).  These will be number talks or problem solving activities (see my post on Whole Class Activities).

Here's a recap of class time:

  • Rapid Review/Watch Video 10-15 min
  • Practice/Small Group Interventions 40-50 min
  • Whole Class Activity  10-15 min
 Please know that I'm not saying I don't believe in flipped-mastery as a viable instructional method.  It's just not working for me and my students right now.  Maybe I'll give it more of a go later in the year.  Maybe I will decide its just not right for me.  In conversation with my principal he admitted that he could never do it.  It's just not right for him.  And I think one of the worst things I can do as an educator is to use an instructional method (or be forced to) that doesn't fit who I am as a teacher.  I love flipping.  It works for me and my students.  But it's not for everyone.  And that's okay!

There's a part of teaching we don't talk about much.  It's intuition.  It's time for me to listen to it. Are there growing pains in trying something new?  Of course.  But there's also personal growth in reflecting on the journey and listening to your heart.  What's your's saying to you?




Sunday, September 15, 2013

Week 2 Reflection: Breathe!

Even though my level of exhaustion at the end of the day continues to be high.  Overall, it has been a good week filled with student progress and administrative conversations.  Here's the highlights!

Positives:
Students are getting the hang of the process and I have several who have finished the first unit ahead of schedule.  Everyone has made some progress, some more than others.

I have tweaked my organization for quiz retakes to help me better pull together students who need small group interventions.  When I grade that day's quizzes I have half sheets for quiz retakes and fill them out for students who need to retake, noting their original score.  I then gather these by concept and work with students in groups.  I'm finding that some students can explain concepts when we work in a small group adequately although they may do poorly on a paper & pencil quiz.  Therefore, if they show me mastery of the concept in small groups I give them a passing score on the quiz.

Negatives:
I have some students falling behind and really struggling.  There are so many that need help that I find it difficult to get to everyone.  I also have some who are resisting flipped.  I expected this.  Students who are used to "playing school" tend to resist flipped because it requires that they take responsibility for their learning.  I will be calling home for my struggling students this week.

Positive or Negative?
I'm not sure if this is positive or negative.  I have begun to realize that flipped mastery is magnifying the need for differentiation in my students.  It would normally take quite some time for those who might be disengaged, not really taking notes, and not being authentic on the practice problems to be identified.  But now they are quickly identified.  This is good because then it allows me to more quickly get them help.  The difficulty is that there are so many.  I just can't seem to keep up.

Conversation with Administration
I asked my principal to come in and observe me this week.  I just asked him to be an objective pair of eyes and tell me what he sees.  It was a very good experience.  He noted that when I talked to groups I would inadvertently put my back to the rest of the room.  As soon as he mentioned it I remember making the conscious effort NOT to do that last year when I flipped.  It was a good reminder.  He also noticed that when students would encounter a question they would just stop, put their hand up, and wait for me.  This will be something I need to work on.  I'm thinking about something like "ask three before me" kind of thing.  It will be part of our focus for this week.  Most students were on task most of the time.  Given that this is the second week of school and these are freshmen says a lot.  They have much individual work time and they are using it well, most of the time.  I'll take it!  He was also impressed with how well they have have learned the procedures of the class.  He stopped a few when they were turning in quizzes, etc. and asked what they were doing and what they were supposed to do next.  They seem to understand and I'm proud of their efforts.

My assistant principal, who oversees our Freshman Academy, had some wonderful advice for me this week.  Breathe!  She was right.  It was time to breathe and get to know my students.  I'll continue to do that this week.  When introducing the procedures of the class I struggled with whether or not to take the band-aid off slowly or just rip it off, so to speak.  I was a bit too focused on getting that right and because of that I had a less intensive focus on my students themselves.  It's good reflection to keep in mind for next year.

So this week I will continue to breathe.  To get to know my students.  To get them to buy into me and my devotion for them.  It was a good week.





Saturday, September 7, 2013

First Week Reflection: Initiating Flipped Mastery

The first week has come and gone. I'm exhausted! My students are learning the process of flipped mastery learning and I am trying to ride the waves while maintaining my optimism. It is not an easy task.

To better understand my reflection you need to be aware of how I have structured things.  Students have a basic work flow; 

Watch video
Summarize by taking notes (I give them guided notes to help)
Questions submission (answer questions about the content online)
Practice what they've learned and correct it with answer key, fix mistakes
Check in with me (basically check to see if notes & practice are done authentically)
Quiz over the concept (must retake if score less than 70%)

We have been modeling watching videos and taking notes in class. Many soon realized that they would rather watch the videos in their own learning space so that they can do so at a pace that works for them. This helped to move them to that goal by the end of the week. Starting next week, viewing content will be done in the individual student work space either at home or in class on their personal device or one of my classroom netbooks.  

By the end of the week students were having discussions about math and working together to understand. For the most part. I am quickly identifying students who are disengaged, mostly because of a lack of understanding of basic math. This is an Algebra 1 class and we start with a review of fractions. Maybe this isn't the best idea as most students (and adults) struggle with fractions. However, we find that the inability to do fractions limits students ability to do more complex work throughout the year. So we start there. 

The check in process is meant to be a way for me to quickly ascertain students' needs. I struggle with it because I find that there is so little of me to go around that I fly through the quick conversation because I'm trying to get to everyone. I'm not sure how to rectify this but I don't want to give up on it quite yet. 

I give students choice in the practice assignments. They choose the level of difficulty and have other problems that they must do. Students are still getting the hang of it but they seem to appreciate having options. I have started to teach some students who are severely struggling to focus on the more basic problems to help lessen their frustration and support them in acquiring some progress. 

What is frustrating me most is that I have uncovered students cheating on the concept quizzes. I have multiple versions of the daily quiz (which has questions for every concept) and have found students putting answers to a version of the quiz that was used previously. This means they are taking other students quizzes and copying the answers. Unfortunately, I have been so focused on students learning the process of class that I have not been teaching them to work that process with integrity. That will be our discussion and focus for next week. 

I think this is evidence if how struggling students have learned to "play school" in a traditional system. Because students have not been held accountable for taking responsibility for their understanding they copied and cheated (or were just passed on due to social promotion) to move through grades.  Now I'm asking them to show they understand and they fall back on old habits or try to shut down. 

Class time is very chaotic as I try to reach every student. I feel like many are falling through the cracks because I just haven't been able to meet their needs.  Yet. It's early. But there is one thing that has become very evident to me. The traditional way is so wrong for kids! I'm not saying the aren't amazing teachers who do great things in a traditional classroom. But as I watch what is happening in my classroom I think about how it would be different for my students if this were a traditional classroom. My go-getters would be sitting there bored out of their minds instead of 3-4 concepts ahead of the others. My strugglers would be watching content fly by them with no level of understanding, broken and disengaged. Instead, even though they are still on the first concept of the first unit, they are right where they need to be. Still learning. Slowly. Ever so slowly.

As I work through the pitfalls and hurdles I feel the fear creeping in. It is a constant battle every day to remain positive and optimistic. To not get angry that students aren't taking advantage of the huge opportunities I'm trying to give them to finally learn a subject that has remained foreign to them for many years. And even though I am surrounded by colleagues and administrators who are supportive I am left feeling lonely and isolated. It's hard trying something new. But my fear has nothing to do with me.  I'm not fearful of trying something new and having it not work. If it doesn't I will learn and move on. I'm not afraid to make a mistake. Tomas Edison failed many times before succeeding with his many inventions. I'm not afraid of failing for me. I'm afraid of failing my students.

They are why I do this. Why I work so hard. Why I'm trying something new. Something I know will work if I just figure how. I guess to fall back on my optimism I must remind myself it is a journey. This week was one of many. Maybe it's one of the failures. Maybe there were some successes. Either way it is one small step of a long journey to help kids truly learn. Great things are not accomplished without great sacrifice, hard work, unwavering determination and a good dose of faith. 

So I guess, once again, it's time to let go of the fear.