TechConnect Online Teacher Certification: Reflection 1 6/9

Reflection Prompt:
Considering the online learning self-assessment you took this week, and thinking about your reasons for taking this course, what is your highest priority learning goal for this course?

What are some specific skills, strategies or tools you are hoping to learn more about?

This summer (2013) I have enrolled in an online course: TechConnect 2.0 Online Teacher Certification which will enable me to gain the necessary skills to create online and/or blended learning situations for  all sorts of students.  One of the requirements for the course is a weekly reflection assignment.  I will use my blog for this process.

The University of Houston has a Free Online Assessment that tests student readiness to learn in an online environment.  My score on the assessment was 208 which means I am prepared for online learning and should be successful in that environment.  I found it interesting that I scored 4.8/5.0 in "need for online learning" which means my schedule (I teach full time), and my distance from universities dictates a strong need to learn online.  I truly believe that physical presence in a classroom is not required for rich learning experiences to take place.  Online learning environments are an intriguing option that I am very interested in exploring.

For the past three years I have been attending Classroom 2.0 Live Saturday online seminars.  It was my first experience with online learning and it has been such a great experience that I make time in my schedule to attend each week (unless my son has a baseball or soccer game).  If I miss the live class, I will find time to attend the recorded session.  The recorded session is not as much fun because I miss participating in the chat that takes place during the session.  I have made many friends and have learned so much about integrating technology and improving my teaching.  I even became a Featured Teacher in June 2012.  As a result of my attendance I began building my personal learning network on Twitter and Google+, I started this blog, and have become active in using technology to learn, share, and collaborate with other educators all over the world.

I decided to take this course because I am interested in providing a variety of learning experiences for my students.  I want to create blended and/or online learning opportunities that will result in more student involvement and interest.  It will also enable me to differentiate the learning for my students more effectively.  Another reason I enrolled in this class is because I wanted to learn how to use Schoology as a learning management system.  Lastly, I strongly believe in learning collaboratively and I am looking forward to sharing with and learning from the other educators in the class.

My highest priority learning goal is to learn how to effectively utilize Schoology as a learning management system to provide blended learning experiences for my math students.  It is important for me to experience this process as a student.  That perspective will enable me to keep the student in mind as I develop online learning activities.

If I Don't Grade It, The Students Won't Do It!

Three years ago as I began my crude implementation of standards based grading, I made the decision to NEVER say, "this is for a grade..."  I put the dots because there is a plethora of continuing statements that are inevitably attached to those 5 words depending on the situation.  I would love to say that I have completely eradicated that statement.  Unfortunately for my students sake, that has not happened.  In fact, I caught myself saying it last week as I introduced an end of the year project my students will be completing.  "I caught myself" is an important statement.  When I started this quest I began by building an awareness of how often I "threatened" my students by saying it.  I see the statement as a threat where others might see it as "motivation".  I was shocked by how often the words would come out of my mouth.  Slowly, it has been three years, it rarely rears it's ugly head and when it does (LAST WEEK) I get a sick feeling in my stomach and the students give me perplexed looks as if to say, "Really?"

 I have worked hard to remove the "threat" of grades for my math courses in two ways:

•  Not punishing students for what they do not know (by grading and putting scores on quizzes and homework and classwork into my grade book) 
• Working to provide feedback on levels of achievement on individual essential standards rather than one overall grade

Most weeks, I have a quiz that enables me to see where students are in their proof and understanding of our essential math standards.  I get a picture of where each student is and they get feedback on their strengths and struggles.  This process has evolved into a non-threatening, non-cheating experience which the students know provides vital information to all involved.  Non-threatening because students look forward to the feedback they gain and they willingly write in big letters: "I don't understand this" on their quizzes knowing they will not be punished, but instead helped, encouraged, and expected to understand.  I love how the non-threatening environment has created a non-cheating environment.  The students know that I need to have a complete picture of what they understand and that if they copy from their neighbor during an assessment, I will not get that picture and they may not get help.  I find myself saying, "I need to know what you know and what you don't know, so I can help you!"

This school year one of my math periods is an "enrichment" class that is ungraded, filled with struggling students, and has a three week rotation (the logistics of the program are detailed and will not be addressed in this post).  Every three weeks, I get a new batch of students from all the math teachers on campus needing specific "enrichment" (remediation) on specific essential math standards.  This class is un-graded and has surprised me.  In anticipation of this class I thought it was going to be extremely difficult to motivate struggling students grouped together.  It has become the best part of my school day!  There are so many cool things about this class but I want to focus on the environment that exists because of it's non-gradedness.

• The students enter the room with a sigh of relief rather than anxiety, they can relax knowing it is a place to make mistakes, get help and learn from them.
• The students are focused on improving their understanding of the math standards without the threat of punishment for lack of performance.
• The students received meaningful feedback on their understanding which motivated them to continue their quest for understanding.
• We have built relationships that go beyond the classroom - most of the students are not in my math classes, yet these students go out of their way to speak to me when I see them on campus, they even come to me after school to serve their detentions.
• I am still their teacher, not their friend but by concentrating on establishing a safe trusting environment, the students are learning and improving their math understanding
• I need to figure out a way to use this information with other teachers to help them understand and consider how to change the learning environment in their classes.

I have been thinking about the"If I don't grade it, the students won't do it!" statement often lately.  Every time I hear an educator use this argument, it makes me cringe.  The snarky remark I would love to say is, "If a grade is the only motivation for a student to complete your assignment, then it is a crappy assignment."  As an educator who is working through the implementation of standards based grading, I want to bring more teachers on board not drive them away and have them thinking I've lost my mind.

The statement expresses resistance as educators struggle with evolving grading practices shared by such experts as Rick Wormeli, Robert Marzano, Richard Stiggins, Thomas Guskey, and many others.  I completely understand where the resistance is coming from.  In my school district we have created common assessments based on essential learning standards for all of our "core" classes - language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science.  This summer I am going to use my experiences to create some baby steps for implementation of standards based grading (sbg) and guide teachers as they consider the shift from grading as "motivation" to grading as "feedback" starting with this great blog post: Assessments: The Collateral Damage of SBG by Daniel Schneider a very insightful and reflective SECOND year teacher.  I will also use my "classroom experts" who are working on sbg implementation everyday and sharing on twitter: #sbar #sbgchat
Thanks to all for your support and inspiration!

I would LOVE any feedback, advice, help, ideas, anything you can share!

Tater's Spring Break Re-Takes and Re-Dos

This past week my 7 year old son and I have been on spring break.  On Wednesday 3/27 the #sbgchat discussed redos and re-takes.  Here is the Storify archive of the chat which I had to read because I was driving home from a day of skiing with my family.  My teaching life requires me to think about redos and re-takes everyday as I try to effectively implement standards based grading.  This week while at home with my son, I witnessed some real-life redos and re-takes I'd like to share here.   Watching Tater  reminded me that I am only scratching the surface with redo and re-takes in my classroom.  This post will serve as a reminder to me that I need to keep revising my process for the sake of my students.

Tater the Spy

One morning as I was working on a project for my math students (will be shared on my classroom blog), my son and his buddy were pretending to be spies.  Tater is a bit obsessed with James Bond at this time (yes, he is only 7 and yes, we watch James Bond movies with him - shame on me!).  Anyway, Tater and his buddy were trying to sneak up on me and surprise/SCARE me as I worked on my computer.  It was great because the first time they barely made it down the stairs before I heard them.  At that time I had no idea what they were doing until they informed me that they were spies trying to sneak up on me.  Upon hearing this I told them they needed a "redo" and sent them back upstairs to try again.  On their second try they got closer before I heard them.  Once I "caught" them, I complimented them on getting closer and then gave them another redo.  Tater stated that he wanted me to pretend I did not hear them so that they could sneak up on me.  I informed him that if he wants to be a spy, then he has to learn to sneak up on me using stealth - no sound, banging, or bringing attention to.  They continued to practice and each time they got closer and closer experimenting, revising, and problem-solving.  They were not punished for having to try multiple times.  I did not tell them they had only one attempt and then they were done.  Although they became frustrated during the process, they never gave up and found it fun to keep trying.

I immediately put myself into my classroom and the learning process my students go through to prove their understanding.  Why is it I can patiently guide my son through the revision/re-take process, yet  I struggle with my students.  I find it interesting that my students also would like me to pretend that they know something, similar to Tater's request for me to "pretend" I couldn't hear him.  In my classroom I drift in and out of "old school" and "new school".  When I am in "new school" mode I am embracing the standards based research and listening to the incredible educators in my professional learning network.  I am patient with the students, I encourage them to try again and give them hints and instruction that will help them revise their thinking and understanding.  I differentiate between silly mistakes and true misconceptions to help each individual student.  I push and do not give them an option to quit.  I work hard to stay in this mode, but every once in a while I revert back to "old school" mode.  My regressions are due to peer pressure from my colleagues, parents, and students who don't want to work hard to prove their understanding.  Those of you trying to implement standards based grading know how challenging it is for every stake holder involved.

Tater the Skier

I think I mentioned that my son is seven.  He has taken two full days of lessons and has a nice foundation of the skiing fundamentals.  During spring break we took our first family ski trip.  The night before we left, Tater was anxious about riding the chair lift and even got a bit teary.  Skip and I assured him that we would not put him into any situation that he would not be able to handle and that we would be there to support and help him.  All went well with the first chair lift ride.  We took Tater on beginner runs which were easy for him, however, he did not need to turn to get down the hill.  After lunch Skip and I decided that for Tater to learn how to turn, we needed to challenge him a bit, sort of force the issue.  We took him to an intermediate run which pushed Tater to the edge.  At the top of the run, Tater completely melted down and threw a fit.  He gave up, quit and according to him was not going to ski down the hill.  Unfortunately for him, I was not going to be hiking back up to the top so we could ski down the beginner hill, so we were at an impasse.  Skip and I let Tater throw his fit which took about 10 minutes.  We calmly waited and when he was calm enough to listen we explained the situation to him.  He was going to have to figure out how to get down this run by making turns and we would be guiding him the entire way.  Skip was downhill from Tater guiding his turns.  I was uphill ready to pick up skis and poles as they dispersed when he fell.  I yelled "pizza turn" (the new terminology replacing "snow plow") when it was time to turn.  It was extremely painful at the beginning with lots of tears and declarations of quitting from both Tater and Skip.  I told both of my boys that quitting was not an option, we were going to get down this hill and if we all worked together we would be successful.  Tater's turned improved each time.  As we made our way down the hill, we glanced up and saw the ground we had just covered.   When Tater looked up and saw what he had skied down it gave him confidence and the will to continue.  In the moment, it was a struggle and at times extremely unpleasant, however when we got to the bottom the three of us collectively felt a sense of accomplishment.  On the chair ride up we complimented Tater on  his effort and perseverance and we continued to point out the steepness of the hill he had just skied down.  The rest of the day, Tater had no problems making turns.  That hill we took him down was all about re-dos and re-takes.  Every turn he made was a re-do/re-take and it taught him how to turn his skies.  We had to challenge him on this hill because he would not turn on the easier hills.

This experience translates to my classroom in many ways.  Again, it interesting that I found the strength to push my son yet I sometimes have a hard time pushing my students.  I have learned a lot about "cognitive dissonance", that place where learners are extremely uncomfortable and struggle.  Our educational system does not allow for students to spend time in this place, we are to rescue them and make them comfortable.  I purposely put my son into a situation where he was uncomfortable and struggling and he learned - he was kicking and screaming, but he learned.  Because of the "pacing guide" I am forced to follow, I cannot put my students into this state often enough, nor do I know how to do it properly in an educational setting.  I feel I am doing a disservice to my students by not allowing them to have this experience of discomfort while learning mathematics.  I need to explore how I can create these experiences with the confidence I had with my son as he tackled skiing.

I've Absolutely Had It With Homework

For those of you who regularly read my blog you know, I think about standards based grading OFTEN! The other topic I am obsessed with is HOMEWORK.  Last May, one of my favorite education bloggers, Joe Bower wrote this piece on opting out of homework:
Alfie Kohn's "Opt Out of Homework" letter shared by Joe Bower

If you read the comments you will notice the long one I posted.  I have not done much writing here about homework.  I am not sure if it is because I feel it is not a battle worth picking since my views go against the mainstream thoughts of most educators.  Or if it has just taken a backseat to my need to write about other topics.  I have been collecting blog posts and articles for the better part of 2 years which are here for you to explore:
Kristen's Evernote Standards Based Grading and Homework Notebook

The resources I have been collecting (and obsessively continue to collect) have provided a burden of proof for me to share with those who question my philosophy on all things related to homework and standards based grading.  They have also given me enough peace that I haven't felt the need to push my views here or anywhere else except when I have to defend myself.  Interestingly two things happened this week that have awoken a sleeping giant and require my immediate attention.

Last week the second EVER chat for #sbgchat on twitter addressed homework:
Storify Archive of #sbgchat on Homework 03/20/13
It was a lively discussion that blew my mind with the speed of the chat and resources and thoughtful comments.  It also created a fire in my gut that told me I need to advocate for my views on homework.  Two days after that chat I received my son's first grade progress report in which he scored an S- for homework.  I would like to say that a light bulb sparked, however, it was more like an explosion of some sort.  So here goes another one of my "I Believe" rants which will be followed by a reflection on homework as the parent of a first grade student.

• I believe that students should read or be read to at home everyday for at least 30 minutes (any type of media) and discuss, debate, question, with family members what they have read for an additional 10-15 minutes
• I believe that students should have at least an hour of time to unwind or do whatever they choose
• I believe that students should actively participate in some sort of family ritual every day (including preparing dinner, attending sporting events, attending other events, helping with chores, caring for animals, any other family time/event)
• I believe that students should get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep a night
• I believe that if students do all of the above, they will have not other time for "homework"
• I believe that if students spend more than an hour on homework a night they are wasting their time.

Ouch, I am going to hear it on these!  First, the kiddos who are going to stay up until all hours of the night completing the homework you assign already know the material and most likely do not need the practice.  The ones who do need the practice will not do it anyway, nor will they do any of the things I mentioned above.  So, homework punishes the high achieving students by taking ALL of their quality family time and free time when they should be rewarded for their hard work during the school day.  The students who "need" homework" are usually the ones not completing it because they do not have the support at home.  They do not even do the things I mentioned above because their parents are usually working, and the student has to take care of siblings and/or cook dinner and/or be the parent.  

Please don't get me started on the responsibility argument!  It is an illusion to think that we can make anyone do anything, even our students.  This I have learned by becoming a parent.  The last thing I want my son to be is a blind rule follower.  I want him to be a thinker, problem-solver, questioner, creator, builder, includer, writer, reader, information consumer, member of a community, and contributer.  Because he is an individual there is no way to standardize this.  Unfortunately, school tries to.  

As I write this I have come to a realization, I do not fit into the system of school as an educator and as a parent.  Sadly, I have found that is also true for my son.  I just noticed the connection at this very moment.  Neither one of us truly fits in, in my case I can adjust as needed.  But for my son, is writing an "Opting Out of Homework" letter to his teacher going to be enough?

The Lone Wolf and Standards Based Grading

I am the lone wolf when it comes to standards based grading at my middle school.  That is a very loaded statement and some at my school would disagree for the following reasons:

• Our report card has the following grades: A, B, C, NM (No Mark) meaning the student has not demonstrated proof of understanding in ONE or more Essential Standards 
• Every department has 10-12 "Essential Standards (ESC's)" for their courses
• These ESC's are tested at the end of each unit using common assessments and the following rubric:  4- advanced, 3- proficient, 2- developing, 1- beginning, 0- did not attempt
• If a student does not earn a 3 or 4 on an ESC then their OVERALL grade is a "No Mark" which means they are not passing the particular course
• As a department we agree on how the students earn a particular rubric score based on agreed upon criteria for each problem or assessment item
• If a student has a "No Mark" then they must complete a corrective activity or activities and then a re-take.  

Some of you may be wondering how this does not illustrate standards based grading.  I agree there is a lot of good stuff in all of this!  However, it breaks down when teachers combine the above with: zeros for missing homework, grading homework on completion, 10% off your grade for every day an assignment is late, formative quizzes count for 10% of your overall grade, and other types of grading based on behaviors rather than proof of understanding.  If you want to be reminded of my beliefs on grading behaviors etc... Read This. 

So, as the lone wolf, I have come to understand some things:

• I really admire and respect the teachers I work with because first and foremost they LOVE working with middle school students
• I understand their reservations in making the full fledged jump to grading students solely on their proof of understanding (or lack there of) of the Essential Standards - students, parents, board members, etc... ( a blog post for another time)
• Change is difficult

On the other hand:

• Teachers can't keep grading the way they are because that is the way they were graded
• It is not okay to stay the course and maintain the status quo
• It is a different world and we must be flexible and adapt

What I really wanted to write about was standards based grading and the correctives process, so I will share some quick thoughts and some resources I have created/gathered.  The whole idea behind implementing SBG is including the students in every aspect of the process.  What I find is that even though I am using a standards based grade book, the students have not utilized it fully.  I expected them to check their grades see NM's, highlight what they need to fix and come to me for correctives or what others call remediation.  About 2 months ago I came across this blog post: Mathy McMatherson's Wall of Remediation and I realized I needed to create something similar or duplicate this for what my district call correctives.  Instead of creating a physical wall, I created a virtual one.  So I created the following Google documents:

Pre-Algebra Chapter 4 Correctives

Pre-Algebra Chapter 6 Correctives

Algebra 1 Chapter 6 Correctives

Algebra 1 Chapter 8 Correctives

Now keep in mind these are beginning drafts, I am still searching for better online resources that will give the students practice.  Also keep in mind that these are very skill based which is the opposite of what my classroom is all about.  I am still working through all of this and also please remember that my implementation of standards based grading is a work in process! 

Please give me ideas and feedback!

Be the Teacher You Wish You Had in School

The other day while reading a blog post from one of my favorite educational bloggers: Bill Ferriter, The Tempered Radical I came across the following tweet:

This statement George (another one of my favorite bloggers/tweeters) shares struck a chord with me as a classroom teacher of 22 years.  When I started my teaching career, I gave myself 5 - 8 years in the classroom before moving up into some sort of administrative position.  However, what I realized is that my place is with the students, they are the ones I cannot wait to see every morning and think about during the evenings and weekends.  I tell my friends stories about my students and tears fill my eyes (I am a major sap head!).  Everything I do in my classroom is with thoughts of my students.  What I realized is that as a teacher, I stay in the classroom because I am determined to "create an environment I wanted as a student."

So, what am I doing in my class that I wished my teachers had done with me?  In the spirit of the common core and the inspiration I get from Dan Meyer's 3 Act Math, I have been working to change how my students learn math.

First, on Monday's our district has articulation time from 2:15 - 3:45 so the students have shortened periods and go home at 1:56 instead of 3:10.  I am using Mondays to introduce a "3 Act Math" type of activity that I then also use as the basis for my homework for the week.  I make sure the activity I pick is either related to our current pre-algebra content standards or will act as a preview for upcoming standards.  Here is an example of one of the activities we recently did and how this past week I referenced back to the activity as I introduced ratios and proportions.

Nana's Chocolate Milk (link to Dan Meyer's activity complete with video etc...)

Monday - I usually begin each of these activities with a story about myself and/or my family:
"During vacation, Skyler and I visited my parents in Oregon.  My mom, Nana, loves chocolate milk and Skyler loves to make it for her... I then show the video of what happened.

Nana's formula is one cup of milk to 4 scoops of chocolate, however, the video shows one cup of milk and 5 scoops of chocolate.

I ask the students to share some "math questions" they have and they all come up with
How can we fix Nana's chocolate milk?

After letting them fumble for a few minutes, and noticing that most of them are just doubling the "recipe" I stop them and throw a tidbit in "Oh, I forgot to tell you guys that when you fix the mixture, you can only add milk, you cannot add any more chocolate.  This really forces the students to think and work together.  

This takes the better part of the half hour we have together.  Pairs that are stuck are encouraged to walk around the room and "steal" ideas.  I cruise around and only ask questions to help them get unstuck.  By the end of the period, all of the pairs/groups have a solution.

Their homework is to write an explanation or illustrate their understanding of the problem/solution.  When they come to class the next day, they work with their partner to "revise" their explanations/illustrations as their warm up.  If a student does not bring anything, they participate in the group discussion and "copy" the groups/pairs end products.  (I do not penalize students for not completing homework - that is a completely different blog post.)

The rest of the week during class we worked on the standards in our unit of study, however, the homework all week was a  problem that related to Nana's Chocolate Milk: Nana's Eggs (the sequel to Nana's Chocolate Milk), Papa's Iced Tea.  Again, I have the students work on explanations and illustrations at home and bring something to revise the next day in class.

By the way, we did get a different solution than Dan's Solution Video - we added 1/4 cup of milk instead of a 1/2 cup, we must have thought about it a different way!  That is what I love about these activities is that they are open to the questions that the students ask.

This is one way in which I work to create a math class I would have loved as a student.  Problem-solving working to write explanations of my thinking, illustrating my math work and collaborating with other students in class.  Discussing, getting stuck, feeling frustration, persevering, learning from others, all things I rarely had the chance to do as a math student.

This past week when we started our ratio and proportions unit, I started by reminding the students about Nana's Chocolate milk and used that problem to create a concrete reference to define ration and proportion. The students loved it!

Should Quizzes Count?

As I passed back our most recent chapter assessment, I struck up a conversation with one of my Algebra 1 students.  When she looked at her scores (I give each problem a score which is tied to a standard rather than one overall score), she noted that she had never received such high scores in math.  This student has said that after every chapter test usually in amazement at her success.  This last time I decided to sit down and have a chat with her about two things: my confusion of her lack of confidence and her continued disbelief in her math ability.  She has passed every essential standard on every test with a proficient or advanced score, usually an advanced score (based on our department expectations). 
I took a seat next to her and we looked through her assessment.  I asked her some questions about how she solved some of the problems, how she chose strategies to use, why she solved problems the way she did.  These  questions proved what I already knew, this is a strong math student who knows what she is doing and why she is doing it.  In my eyes math makes sense to her. 
So then I asked the burning question I was really wondering: "How is math different for you this year?"  She sat and thought for a minute or two.  While she contemplated the question, I considered why I asked this and what I was expecting to gain from her response.  Since I am in my second year of implementing standards based grading, I am conducting action research in my classroom constantly.  I was hoping to gain some insight on how/if standards based grading had anything to do with the improvement of her math grade.  As it turns out, the implementation has had an indirect effect on her improved grade.
She told me that the biggest thing for her was our weekly formative assessments (quizzes) and the immediate feedback on classwork that had enabled her to practice, learn, make mistakes, identify her misconceptions, and then allow her to re-learn the things she struggled with without being punished by a failing grade.
"Mrs. Beck, you record our standard scores in the practice phase so that we can track our progess, understanding, and misunderstanding but those scores do not count against our grade AT ALL.  When it is time for the chapter test, the scores I receive on that are the scores I have in the class.  So, this year I am not stressed if I do not know how to do something, I just know that I need to get help and practice more.  I am able to focus on learning rather than focusing on not making mistakes.  The mistakes I make while practicing allow me to adjust and build a lasting understanding of algebra 1.  Last year I was so stressed about not making mistakes that I couldn't focus on learning the math standards."
When my winter break ends in a week, I know that I need to bring this issue up with my department to discuss if/how quizzes should be counted.  The most common comment I hear from my colleagues is that if they do not "count" the quiz, then the students will not take it seriously.  So, when I hear that comment my first question will be: what is the purpose of your quiz.  For me, the purpose of a quiz is to see where my students are with their understanding.  There has been more than one occaision that I thought my students had a concept down up until I gave them a formative assessment on the standard and was proven wrong.  Thankfully, my students will write me notes and let me know they have no idea what/how to do something because there is not the punishment of a grade looming over them.  They readily admit their lack of understanding knowing that there will be help and support to get them where they need to be.
I only hope I can convince the math departement that fear of a failing grade will not motivate students to learn and be successful math students.  It will be a conversation that will continue for many months with many uncomfortable moments.  But it is a conversation that I will start.  There will be many challenging questions asked from both sides and the parody will enable all involved to grow. 
I apprreciate any suggestions and/or advice you have to share!