Changing Teachers' Mindsets one Baby Step at a Time

Last year and this year I have had the privilege of being a STEAM coach.  It was not part of my original job description as a Curriculum Coordinator, but I added it because I missed being with the teachers and students.

Since it is Thanksgiving time, I am truly thankful for the small district I work in and the MANY roles and responsibilities I get to experience.  I have shared many STEAM activities on this blog and on Twitter.  One thing I emphasize with the teachers and students I work with is that they will be out of their comfort zone, like Sylvia Duckworth's sketchnote:

With this sketchnote in mind I have witnessed a growth progression in the STEAM teachers I coach weekly:

(this is only a small part of my overall coaching role)

My Coaching Process:

• Weekly STEAM time with a 5th grade, a 3rd grade, and a 1st/2nd grade class.
• Give students a Maker or Coding Challenge: (CLICK HERE to see what we've done so far this year)
• Create a HyperDoc to accompany our activity: (Included in the link above)
• Get out of the students' way tell them to figure it out and/or make it work (I'm a Project Runway fan)
• Have the teacher walk around and support but NO helping or rescuing
• CLICK HERE for some photos of our work this year

What the Teachers Do:

• See their students' engagement
• See their students struggle and persevere
• See that their students are creative and capable problem solvers and critical thinkers

And eventually they step out of their comfort zone and start creating their own HyperDocs and activities with a risk-taking mindset.

The week before Thanksgiving vacation the 1st/2nd grade STEAM teacher created a HyperSlide on Salmon for her students and had the work on it during our STEAM time so I could support her and the students.  The incredible part of the lesson was when she realized she needed their names and so she told the kiddos that she is learning along side of them and that she needed them to "redo" the form with their names.  It was an awesome example of modeling and risk-taking for a self proclaimed "non-techy" teacher and her students.

Is There a Time to Quit?

Yesterday after my sixth rejection from the Google Teacher Academy/Google for Education Innovator Academy a thought entered my mind.  The thought/word is one that as a risk taker, problem solver, challenge embracer, failure learner, and determined succeeder (do you like my two new words?) never crosses my mind as I model for ALL in my district.  However, I think I have come upon my time to QUIT applying and putting myself through this process.

I put a positive spin on my first few failures, no rejections.  I learn from failures because failures provide meaningful feedback and enable a person to make tweaks and improvements.  As a standards based grading enthusiast, I turned my students so called "failures" into learning opportunities and pushed the kiddos to work on the specific areas needed to improve.  I gave my students daily feedback on their understanding so that they could make adjustments and improve instead of waiting until the unit test.

As a STEAM coach and Instructional Technology Coordinator, I model taking risks and failing forward daily for the teachers, students, administrators, and parents.  An example is the straw towers we are building this week in 1 - 5th grade classrooms: This photo is from a 2nd/3rd grade class

One of our new comer students who speaks little English built the structure that can be reversed and still hold the golf ball, can you pick that one out?

I differentiate between rejections and failures because of what I have learned from the rejections.  Because there is no meaningful feedback on the actual application, I have tried to revise and iterate without knowing what I have done well and not so well and tried to base those improvements by researching those who have been accepted.  When I look at "Famous Failures" (CLICK HERE to watch the video I show my students) they all succeeded because they had determination and feedback to drive their growth.  Even Jose Hernandez the astronaut who failed 12 times before getting in to the space program received feedback that got him one step closer after each failed attempt.

Because I like to model for my learners, it is time for me to QUIT and turn this rejection into an opportunity to model guiding our students and teachers to succeed by providing meaningful feedback and support.  I embrace failure because it really does provide for incredible learning experiences. 

My son asked me if I was going to quit trying last night.  He told me he is not a quitter and I told him I am not either.  So, this morning on our drive to school, we will have a wonderful discussion on if/when there is a time to quit and why I have chosen to do so in this instance.

Again, Google for Education has given me a GIFT in this rejection.  I have realized that everything I do as an educator is to keep my learners from giving up and quitting.  How ironic, I have what would have been my next project: Using Google Tools and Technology to Keep Learners from Quitting.  

As the Late and Great Rita Pierson said, "-18 sucks the life out of a kid, but +2 says they're not all bad"

I love Google, I love Google for Education, I love being a Google Certified Trainer, I am lucky to have many Google Certified Innovators and Trainers as friends and colleagues and I have the highest regard and respect for them all. However, to quote Samantha from Sex in the City: "I love me more."

Toothpick Structures STEAM Activity #2

Our first activity Straw Building was a sort of pre-assessment for our STEAM classes.  It enabled us to get a glimpse of the students and how they ARE in an environment that is open-ended, unstructured, and driven by inquiry.  We gave the students 30 straws and tape and let them build, create and struggle.  Most students embraced the lack of constraints placed upon them, however, there is a select group of students who struggle in this situation - the compliant, rule following, success seeking students.

The STEAM activities at the beginning of the school year expose those students who are used to succeeding with little effort and/or risk taking.  These students crumble in an environment that is open.  They play it safe and know exactly what to do to "get the A" in a traditional setting.  Outside of the classroom, these kiddos can be extremely creative, but in class they want to know exactly what and how to do everything.

At the same time STEAM activities are extremely freeing for those students who struggle to comply in a traditional classroom setting.  The open-endedness provides a no holds barred situation for the kiddos who feel confined in the traditional setting.  That being said here is our next lesson:

Toothpick Building CLICK HERE to access HyperDoc

First and Second Graders

From now on, our STEAM activities will have a HyperDoc or Multi-Media Text Sets to engage and inspire and push the students thinking.  I am gathering the lesson on this spreadsheet so that the AUSD teachers and all others can easily access the lessons etc... CLICK HERE to access STEAM Lesson Spreadsheet.  Have  a great week!

Accessible Learning for All Post 2 - Leprechaun Lesson

Sketchnote by Sylvia Duckworth

I am excited about the ALA tools because they give all students access to grade level content and/or meaningful content that they may not be able to read on their own.  I also love voice typing for all students because it allows the teacher to gain knowledge about a students THINKING.  The students can get their thoughts out and not have the writing get in the way. It is also my belief that using these tools will support independent literacy and language acquisition over time.

I am going to share some of the ways my teachers are using the tools to make content accessible to all of their students.

Leprechaun Lesson:  This lesson was adapted from the global lesson Krissy Venosdale shared:
CLICK HERE.  After reading her blog post, I sent it out to my K-3 teachers and offered a coaching session if they would like to participate.  I had 8 takers and so I created a STEAM lesson that had Krissy's materials as the foundation with the ACA tools and other resources added.  The maker activity (STEAM part) of the lesson was to use recycled materials to build a trap
Here is the link to the HyperDoc I created for the Lesson: http://bit.ly/LepHyperDoc

Lesson Plan I shared with the teachers:

The first link on the HyperDoc will take the students to the HyperDoc.  They will have to go to file and make a copy and then the document will be in their Google Drive account or if you are using Google Classroom, you can make a copy for each student.

HyperDoc Tool:

1. Start with the Spark video: It is a Lucky Charms commercial from the 1970’s (I thought it would be funny for the students to see the commercial I watched when I was their age and compare how the cereal has changed…)
2. Information:
1. Click the link and read Luck’s Blog to learn what he likes so the students can plan how they will attract a leprechaun to their trap.
2. Have the students fill in the table with the 7 things Luck loves using the Voice Typing Tool (this is a link to a screencast)
3. Have the students continue reading his blog to discover 2 additional things he loves and add them using the Voice Typing Tool
3. Interesting Facts:
1. Click on this link then use Readability and Read and Write for Google (this is a link to a screencast) to have the Chromebook read to the students.
4. My Map of Ireland
1. Have the students click on the Ireland red marker, then click on “view in Google Maps”
2. Then click on the little yellow man in the bottom right corner to get street view pictures of Ireland.
3. Let them explore Ireland in Google Maps for a bit.
5. Challenge: Go over the project information
1. Have the students plan their trap and what materials they will bring in to build it.

Here is a screenshot of the HyperDoc:

This lesson was a great way for the students to practice using three of the accessibility tools.

Building Balloon Cars - Ambiguity and Cognitive Dissonance

NOTE: These beginning paragraphs are the "Background" to the what and why I do this activity with my students, you can skip to the lesson link below if you are short on time and want a fun and challenging activity to do with your students the last weeks of school.

 from: Krissy Venosdale: Venspired.com                                                                     

Way back in the summer of 1995, I attended a summer institute on integrating technology into the classroom.  I received a computer with a dedicated phone line for internet access, a stipend, and two weeks of STEM (not called that back then) activities.  There was a cohort of 25 Idaho teachers who would build what we now call a professional learning network.  The expectation was that we would use our computer and dedicated phone line to collaborate and stick together as a group since we taught in different areas of the state.  One of our first activities (and the only one I remember) was experimenting with rubber band cars leading to the building of balloon cars.  It took the entire first week to test the cars, collect data, make observations, and then transfer what we learned to build our own balloon powered car.  Of course we were working in collaborative teams and using the computers to organize data, graph data, and make notes (much more clunky than using Google Docs/Drive).

The University of Idaho science professors who were leading our group used ambiguity to force us out of our comfort zones.  There were no guidelines, just guiding questions.  When they introduced the rubber band cars they handed them out, dumped a pile of rubber bands on each table and we sat in silence for a few minutes thinking and waiting to be told what to do.  As the seconds ticked away, our looks became more perplexed as we continued to wait for instructions.  Finally the professors broke the silence and said "Get to work".  "What are we supposed to do?" one brave student asked.  They answered with two simple and profound words, "Be scientists!"  They gave us the ultimate statement of ambiguity to send us on our thinking way long before #geniushour and #20%time existed.  After continuing to sit with dumbfounded looks on our faces, (we were all very obedient science teachers/students who wait for instructions and procedures) the professors realized they needed to gently nudge us forward.

They began by asking us a question, "What is a scientist and what do scientists do?"  Make a list in your groups, you have 2 minutes to brainstorm.  For the first time that morning the room was a buzz with chatter.  After the brainstorm session, we shared and made a collective list to help us remember our role as active, thinking, tinkering, and information seeking scientists.  The next guiding question the professors asked was, "What are you going to do with the rubber band cars in front of you?"  Again they sent our groups into a brainstorm session and the room was once again a buzz.  We shared with the whole group after 2 minutes and wrote the collective list on the board.  The professors asked one last question, "How many of you have enough information to get started?" All of our hands went up and we spent the rest of the day and the next two days "playing" with rubber band cars in the halls of the science building.  At the end of the three days, we had rubber band car races down the halls.  We used the data and knowledge we gained from tinkering and experimenting with them to find the combination of tweaks that resulted in the fastest car and the farthest car.

Day four began with the professors dumping piles of materials down in front of us and challenging us to use only those materials to build a balloon powered car that would be the fastest and/or the farthest.  We experimented for a day and at the end of day 5 we had balloon car races in the halls of the science building.  The ambiguity and cognitive dissonance was at times extremely frustrating, but it lead to a strong commitment to the process and a willingness to persevere and get it figured out.  And, way back then, we could not Google It.

So, the next school year in my middle school science classes in Twin Falls, Idaho, we played with the rubber band cars and then built balloon cars.  And from that time, the project became a yearly staple in my classroom.  Before I share the lesson plan, I want to share some interesting observations I have noted as my classes have completed the exploration over the years:

• High achieving students struggle with this process because of the ambiguity - they don't do "play and figure it out" well
• You will be surprised and inspired by what your students create.
• Be prepared to provide questions to guide struggling groups so that they do not give up
• Remind everyone that this learning experience is about the process and that there is no failure 
• Figure out ways to give the students hints without telling them what to do

Here is a very basic outline of the lesson and supplies you will need: 

Balloon Car Lesson Ideas Click Here

I will be going into third grade classrooms this week to have them build balloon cars and I will add pictures here.  You can use the links and information below to have your students explore NASA's Balloon Car Challenge.  I would do this part with middle school students.

NASA Balloon Car Results

Pictures of NASA Balloon Cars

• Pick 8 of the cars, write their name, distance and time.  Then calculate the rate of each one (SPEED).

Have a great end of your school year!

Building a District Innovation Team

This quote is something I work to aspire to as a classroom teacher with my students, as an instructional leader sharing and presenting with other educators, and most recently as a curriculum coordinator.

A few weeks ago the topics for #satchatwc were Creativity and Innovation.  As usual the discussion inspired me to think about how I can facilitate creativity and innovation in my school district.  This year has been a transition year for me from the classroom to a coordinator position.  As I have worked to define and figure out my new role, connections to my life as a classroom teacher have started to help in my transition.  As a classroom teacher I worked to empower my students to take control of their learning.  Now instead of directly impacting students, I need to empower the administration, teachers, and anyone else directly linked to students and instruction to do the same.  Just like in a classroom, I do not get to hand pick the adults who work in our schools and district.  In the classroom I worked hard to empower all students whatever their background or experience and now I need to do the same with the adult learners I work with by meeting them where they are to begin movement however fast or slow.

One of my projects for next year will be to leverage the instructional experts that already exist in our schools.  The following is a "rough draft" of an idea to foster creativity and innovation in my school district.

My goal is to create a district "Innovation Team" to empower teachers to become leaders, share their expertise, their learning process and inspire them to lead and support their colleagues.  Next year we will be expanding our use of Google Apps for Education (GAFE) into our K-5 elementary schools.  So our Innovation Team will be focused on GAFE and other instructional technology tools.  Keeping the quote from Lao Tsu in mind I want to use a model that I am familiar and comfortable with.  I want to build a Professional Learning Network based on the National Writing Project summer institute model.

• Begin by sharing a best practice or sample lesson (model the instruction)
• Discuss/debrief the lesson see how it can fit into each teachers practice
• Take it to your classroom and try it out and document the results to share with the team
• Read, watch videos, reflect, collaborate, struggle, invent, design, and question as a team
• Encourage members to choose a #20% or #geniushour topic within our team to become an expert

The goal is to build capacity and confidence within the team so we can leverage their expertise and use it to provide models of professional development within the district.  At the beginning I may need to facilitate with ideas, documents, resources for discussion, but the true strength is that the team will take over and guide the direction.  I will sit back, ask questions and provide needed materials and they will do it themselves. This will enable a variety of practices to be established such as:

• #edcamp staff meetings or staff development days
• Professional development planned and lead by Innovation Team members
• Instructional rounds where teachers go and observe each other and discuss
• Administrator/leadership team participates in this process as coaches rather than evaluators

Again, these are the beginning thoughts and draft ideas.  We are starting from scratch with Google Apps for Education and I want to start small with a team that is willing and able to explore and learn and then share with their colleagues in a supportive way.

I'll take any suggestions, ideas and input you have to share.

What Happens to the Thinkers and Tinkerers?

My favorite chat on twitter right now is #satchatwc which is a bunch of educators who gather at 7:30 am pacific time to chat about education.  This morning's topic was about telling our stories and the stories of our students, and others in our organization.  The thing that I have greatly appreciated about #satchatwc is that it gets me thinking, reflecting, scheming and plotting.  The rich conversation and sharing of resources and ideas sticks with me throughout the weekend as I contemplate my place in the education world and how I can affect change in my organization.  Synchronicity often keeps me company throughout the weekend as I proceed through my mundane activities and find interesting connections to the morning's conversation.  Here is the story that slammed me in the face as my son and I took a morning stroll shortly after #satchatwc ended.

We live in the Sierra Nevada foothills above Sacramento and below Truckee/Tahoe, so a stroll for me is my daily workout with lots of hills to get my heart rate up.  For Skyler a stroll is a chance to look for bugs, scat (various animal droppings), plants, and a connection to nature and time with Mom.  Today on our walk, I had many brick in the head moments that made me pause as a parent and as an educator.  I will try to share the conveyance of many different events that culminated on our 30 minute walk.

What happened on the walk...
As I headed outside with my Google Glass on, Tater was jumping on/from rocks waiting for our Saturday stroll.  I had just set up an app that would track our walk and provide us with important data on our "workout".  We began our walk and I had glass on to record the logistics of the walk.  As we traipsed down the driveway, I could tell that Tater wanted to try them out so I swiped down to get to the home screen and handed them over to Tater.  He gently put them on and started the usual conversation one has with glass... "Okay Glass"... We stood and I coached him to speak slowly, pause between statements and after many head bobs, tapping, swipes, and yelling a picture was finally taken.   We continued to walk slowly and Tater continued to tinker with the new tool.  He was slightly frustrated but continued to try.  I was giving him input and advice because I wanted to speed the pace of our walk and to "help" him.  15 minutes and 100 yards later, Tater was yelling, "okay STUPID Glass" over and over and I knew we needed a do over.  We stopped and I turned on screencast from glass to my phone so I could see what Tater was seeing and we went through the process of taking a picture and recording a video calmly together.  He handed glass back to me and we went on our merry way.

What my brain did as a result... (and the connection to thinkers and tinkerers)
I started thinking about Tater's impatience with glass

• My son has learned in his short 3 years of school that if you can't do something quickly - read, math facts, worksheets, etc... then it is not worth learning or doing.  
• He is a thinker/tinkerer and needs more time to learn, create, and do.  Unfortunately for him, his strengths have not been valued in his classes at school.   
• Movement is integral to his learning and understanding as he works to make sense of what is going on around him. 
• Unfortunately he is shutting down in school and losing interest and perseverance because being thoughtful makes you look stupid.
• As a result, he gives up at the drop of a hat and expresses anger and frustration.  At home we spend a lot of time pausing, calming down and re-starting embracing the process rather than the product.
• As a middle school math teacher I saw this behavior everyday in my classes when I asked my students to problem solve, explain, write, and be thoughtful - huge resistance that took many months to break down.

As a curriculum coordinator, I need to find ways to help our teachers value the thinkers and tinkerers and support them as they re-imagine their classrooms by creating "Innovation Teams" (another blog post).  I am so thankful for my PLN who shares ways they are changing the students learn and I will be calling on you for your ideas and support!

My thoughts on being a Glass Explorer
I became an explorer not because I am a gadget lover but because I am infatuated with all things Google.  I normally do not spend exorbitant amounts of money for things especially as an educator, but I knew I had a month to "tinker" and then I could return them.  At first I thought I would definitely return them but I have changed my mind and here is why:

•  The Glass Explorer program is about thinking and tinkering with a new technology tool to make it better and usable for the general public.  
• It is a process that takes time which goes against what most technology consumers want - they want something that will make their life easier, more organized, efficient (plug in your own adjective) and they want it NOW
• Glass explorers are taking their time and tinkering, reflecting, sharing, creating, building and innovating and sharing some more and it is invigorating to be a part of that energy.

So I will be keeping my Glass not to be cool or a first adopter, but to learn from and about a new technology and how it will become a tool for me and my school district.  

Did the Mountain Lion Catch the Mule Deer? A Lesson Draft

The other day my son and I were walking on our property, we have a few acres in the sierra foothills above Sacramento.  It had been raining and we found something interesting... deer tracks with mountain lion (cougar) tracks right next to them.  Our first question to ourselves was, Did the Cougar Catch the Deer?  Being the crazy teacher who is always looking for ways to connect real life to learning, I began scheming in my mind and I am sharing the results with you here.

Because the tracks were so close to our home and I have an 8 year old son, I wanted to find out as much as possible about our neighborhood mountain lions.  I also thought it would be interesting to create something for the K-8 students in my school district which is located in cougar country.

I created this interactive image on Thinglink one of my new favorite teaching tools.

Click here to access this thinglink

Lesson Plans for using the above Thinglink: CLICK HERE

I am in the process of creating K-8 Real Life Math problem solving questions using the facts about mountain lions and will post those soon.  Here is what I have for K-2 so far (very rough): CLICK HERE.

This is just a draft of my ideas that started flowing after participating in #satchatwc this morning.  It will be tweaked and changed.  Feel free to make a copy of the Google Doc and make it your own.  You will see my edits as I make them if it is added to your Google Drive.

The goal of this activity is to model for the students so that they can create their own Thinglink (or other tool) to teach their classmates something interesting and/or pose an interesting question for exploration. This could also be a #geniushour "mini-lesson" or "mini-20% time" project.  There are numerous ways this can go depending on your willingness to let your students run with the process and make it their own.

Fluency Does Not Equal Speed

As an educator with 23 years in the classroom I used to give math timed tests to build automaticity in the basic facts.  After attending many math projects and teaching middle school math the past 10 years I learned that problem-solving, critical thinking and explaining are the foundation for student fluency in mathematics.  I also know that the CCSS (Common Core State Standards) specifically cite "timed fluency" in the third grade standards.  As I deal with this issue personally with my 8 year old son and as an educator who wants teachers to re-visit their practices around timed tests, I have drafted this letter.

Dear Second (or Third, or any grade) Teacher,

I understand that you are working hard to prepare your students for future learning in mathematics.  I also know that you would not want to discourage your students or make them want to quit learning.  That being said I would like to ask you to look at your timed test practices.  I understand you are trying to build fact fluency in your students, however, fluency does not equal speed.  There are many more foundational skills that need to be developed to support fluency.  I also acknowledge that the timed tests are a small part of your math program.

A wise person once told me that if you want to complain about something be sure to offer alternatives or ideas for changing course or forging a new path.  So here are some ideas or alternate ways of giving/using timed tests to build automaticity.

First of all, I would like to request that you actively involve the students rather than continue to have them be passive participants.  By passive participants I mean they take the test, hand it in, it is corrected then given back to them with a score.  As passive participants, the students can pass off their performance or lack there of easily and the poor performers can justify giving up - "I can't do this, the teacher just proved it" might be one such justification.  I am suggesting that you involve the students in every step and make the timed tests a learning experience rather than an assessment.  So, I hope you are. Let me share some ideas in how you can do this:

When the students take the test, set the timer to stopwatch instead of counting down and project the timer so all the students can see it.  When the student finishes they record their finish time.  Just like an athlete (it is Olympics time), you can remind them that they are racing against themselves rather than each other.  Their goal is to decrease their individual time rather than competing against other students.  This is the first step in actively involving students in the process.  Have them graph their times and see their growth each time they test.  It is also a great way for you to track individual growth.  You and the students will be focusing on increments of improvement and perhaps the students will see the need to practice rather than giving up or feeling stupid

After the students are done and have recorded their time, correct the test together or have the students correct their tests with an answer key (if they are all on different tests).  Then discuss (or provide reflection questions) successful strategies students use, patterns in the problems that the miss of find difficult, ideas for improving, etc...  You can also ask the students "How are you thinking about these problems?" and "What are your shortcuts?" which will allow the students to learn from each other.  This will actively involve the students by having them share successes and struggles with the intent of promoting improvement and having the students take responsibility for where they are in their learning.

You can also have a "Timed Test Station" where students go and complete the process of setting the timer to count up, take the test, record their time, and then correct the test.  Then the discussion with the teacher or a parent volunteer needs to take place so the student reflects on where they are.  If you want growth and improvement the students have to know where they are and see their growth (or lack there of).  Then they can set goals for improvement.  Because they are a part of every step of the process, they cannot pass off the responsibility to anyone but themselves.

My last request would be to set a "reasonable" time for the students to achieve.  Perhaps it is 100 in 10 minutes.  You may be thinking that is not a rigorous level of performance.  I would argue that it allows for the diversity of your class.  Since the students are recording their times as they finish, the one who want to be the "fastest" can still aspire to that level.  The ones who have struggled or are considered "slow" have an attainable goal that allows for success rather than failure and giving up.

I understand that timed tests may be mandated in your school/grade level/district, but please consider being brave enough to try a new approach and start a new dialogue with your PLC.  With your team of educators you can explore new ways of building fluency and automaticity in your students.

Marilyn Burns stated in 1989: "Speed with arithmetic skills has little to do with mathematical power."

I am including some resources and research for you to review and consider:

Can We Please Consider the Evidence? The Ways in Which Assessment Policies and Practices Create Math Anxiety in Young Children.

Math Solutions: Faster Isn't Smarter

GOOD NEWS: MISSILEERS ARE CHEATING TOO.

I have one final request:  Please do not tell me my thoughtful, problem solving son is "behind" in math because he is one of the slowest at the timed tests.  Instead, sit down and have a conversation with him at least once a week and ask him to explain his thinking and problem solving processes.  Find out how he thinks about numbers and how he takes them apart and puts them back together.  Ask him what strategies work for him and which do not.  Fluency is more than automaticity or speed or memorization.

Thanks for your consideration,
Sincerely,
Kristen Beck - Mom and Educator

My #geniushour, Making Math/Science Connections

I have a confession, my #geniushour project is looking for resources that connect mathematics and science to real life situations.  Here is my most recent find:

I found this picture in HGTV Magazine's October/November issue. It is exactly the type of thing I am always on the lookout for, you see I am obsessed with finding pictures, videos, and articles that connect math to any type of real life situation that my students might relate to. Often, the connection is not necessarily something that is of great interest to the students personally. However, they are used to me bringing something of this sort into class, telling a personal story, and then asking them what math they see and/or can explore. This picture provides a great proportional reasoning experience for students. I prompt them to come up with mathematical explorations and record as they share ideas. We use the Standards of Mathematical Practice (SMP) in the Common Core state standards as our guide. For this activity, I might pick SMP 1 - Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 

As a curriculum coordinator, I will take this picture, the SMP of focus and then search the grade level standards to make this accessible to all grade levels K-8. Then, I will share with the teachers and hope that a few will experiment with their classes and explore. I am working to find a balance in providing Common Core experiences with the right amount of scaffolding for the teachers. Building capacity is something I was skilled at doing with students in the classroom. I find it more difficult to do with teachers, but I am loving the challenge of being one of the instructional leaders of a school district, not just the instructional leader of a classroom.

I am in the process of collecting close reading resources for the teachers in my school district. It is in the beginning or infancy stages so be patient as I work to organize and tweak what I find.

The resources shared on this page will be periodically edited and revised and updated, they are the beginning of my effort to collect and compile.

Beck’s Close Read Process:

• I keep my eyes and ears open at all times for current articles, news stories, student discussions and likes or dislikes
• I search resources like:
• NPR
• Newspapers
• Local Television
• ESPN - other sports
• Anything that will relate to the students
• I will do a search on a topic I know is of interest for the students
• As I am picking items for Close Reads, I search for information that can be used in a mathematical or scientific nature
• As we read and work to find the main idea, details, meanings of technical words and other vocabulary, we also formulate mathematical/scientific questions using the data in the article.
• We work with the text for the entire week, in class and as homework in both a mathematical/scientific way and in a Common Core ELA way.
• I am particularly interested in looking for proportional reasoning items since it is an area of struggle and foundational for connecting mathematics and science to real life experiences.

What's The Connection? How to Integrate Mathematics, Common Core Standards, Real Life Experiences, and the Content Areas 09/20/13 Global Education STEM Webinar

Close Read Resources (this will be added to continually)

Beck's Close Read Process (this will be revised periodically)

What I am Doing for International Dot Day

Last year, my students and I participated in our first International Dot Day.  I pledged to continue the tradition because it had such an impact on my math students.  In fact in my end of the year survey quite a few students stated that their favorite activity of the school year was “Dot Day”.  This summer I took a job that has me out of the classroom and into a curriculum leadership position in a K-8 school district with 4 elementary schools and 1 middle school.  Instead of doing dot day with my 120 middle school math students, I will be doing dot day with 22 of the teachers in the district.  So, I will be increasing the number of students and teachers I reach by quite a lot.  As a district we have chosen three ELA Common Core Standards to focus attention on this year.  I will be integrating these standards into the lesson plan so I can model the common core standards while teaching the students to “Make Their Mark” on the world.  Here are the lessons I plan on teaching in the upcoming weeks.

International Dot Day Lesson Plans - These are a work in progress and will be changing as I think and revise and then repeat that process. I thought I would share now even though they are not complete.