Standards Based Grading continues to evolve

This is my third time through the Common Core Algebra 1 curriculum with Standards Based Grading and the online book based on ck-12 modules.  Our school is moving towards proficiency based grading, so I've made some changes to line up with that.

My course has used 30-ish standards for the entire year and I've been using a version of quizzing based on Dan Meyers' blog post from forever ago.  I think students benefit from more summative assessments than this rotating quiz schedule allows, so I've grouped my 38 standards ("learning targets", in other systems) into 10 units (also called "proficiencies" in other systems) so they can have unit tests along with the standards based quizzes.  I still rotate all the standards through the quizzes, they see them twice in class and can retake twice with me, but there is now a summative unit test about once a month that can't be retaken.  Right now I'm averaging all these scores to make a traditional number grade, but when our school moves over to proficiency based report cards, the grade will most likely be reported based on mastery of each proficiency.

I have also created a library of videos (screencasts of me teaching each standard) and practice problems that are posted on the class website.  The students can access these for extra practice for the assessments.  I have also reorganized the book and all of the classwork so it is very obvious which standard they connect to.  This should make it easier for a student to see how they are doing on each standard prior to the unit test.

If a student wants to retake a standard, they have to show the homework and classwork from that standard, plus show some extra work they did from the online resources.  I have a Google form they fill out to check off that they've done that, plus the form emails me to give me some warning that I need to have a quiz ready.  Our school has just moved over to one 30 min advisory period in the middle of every day that we manage with Enriching Students software.  This will make it easier for students to schedule time to retake quizzes.

I also have an extensive collection of classroom activities that I've collected from years of following people's blogs and Twitter feeds.  This makes it fairly straightforward to have a variety of interesting things to do in an 80 minute block.  I would like to use more of the clever problem solving activities that I have found online, but the Algebra 1 Common Core curriculum still has a lot of individual skills in it, so I don't have as much time for that as I'd like.

I am happy with how this is going so far, I think everything is organized in a way that makes it straightforward for the students to know what is expected of them.  I think that education is moving towards students taking more control of their learning, information is so readily available that it seems reasonable to give them the ability to pick what they want and learn the way that they want.  There are many ways to meet proficiencies and I believe schools will be offering students more independence in the ways that they get there.  I have structured this course so that a student can get what they need in several different ways and they get experience in looking online for the materials that they need to be successful.

Proficiences, Blended Learning, Personalized Learning, STEM and Technology

These are the things I have been working with all year.  Standards Based Grading is going just fine and I am developing ways to use online resources in a personalized way with my Algebra 1 students.  I am hopefully training the students to use online resources in a professional way to further their own learning goals by creating a well organized database of videos, self paced problems and class resources.  I liked this blog post about MOOC's (Massive Open Online Courses), I believe that being able to learn from others effectively on the web is becoming more and more important and I'd like to train my students to do that.  Our entire school is going toward Proficiency Based Graduation Requirements and I believe that web based resources can be very useful in personalized and self paced learning.  Most of my innovative efforts in algebra this year have been around this topic.

I teach in our math computer lab, so I have access to computers while students are in class.  I am working on a blended approach to personalized learning where I set some time aside during the regular class for students to work on material that their standards based tests have indicated some shortcomings in.  One of the resources I use is videos that I have made with Explain Everything.  This is a fantastic iPad app (also available for Android recently) that allows you to make videos explaining a topic.  Something I would like to do is use EdPuzzle to embed quizzes in the YouTube videos, but it just hasn't happened yet.

I would like for the students to have tablets so they could access this material any time they have a web connection, but this isn't cheap and my school isn't jumping right into one to one for all students.  The tablets I am interested in are the Galaxy Note and the Surface Pro.  I would like the students to be able to write math problems with a stylus and keep it all their work in a OneNote notebook.

As our entire school goes towards Proficiency Based Graduation Requirements, I have been considering a change from SBG to another method of learning that uses my standards as learning targets and uses the standards based quizzes more as a formative assessment.  The actual grades would be more connected to summative assessments (ie unit tests).  I understand that some folks have been using Schoology for this sort of thing, I will be looking into this further.

Along with the algebra 1 work, I am in my second year as our STEM Academy leader.  There are 55 students in the Academy and I am very busy developing a program that allows them to pursue their interests in science by participating in a STEM Advisory, Internships and doing a capstone project.  The state of VT has mandated Personalized Learning Plans for all students beginning in fall 2015 for our freshmen.  This Academy approach is one possible way for students to receive a personalized learning pathway, there are many exciting things developing at our school right now as we try to figure out how to make learning more meaningful for all of our students.

Algebra 1 plans, post TMC14

I am working pretty hard this summer in my never ending quest to make my Algebra 1 class a place where all students can learn. In 2014/2015, I will be using SBG for the second time and I will be using the second edition of the book I am writing on ck12.org. YouTube videos of my teaching will also be available online. This will also be the second year of our new Common Core Alg 1 curriculum, I don't think I did a great job teaching the 8 Mathematical Practices while I was trying the new curriculum for the first time. My plan for this year is to try to improve that, but it is difficult to find the time with all of the skills that are still required in the CCSSM. I will need to cleverly work them into instruction and classroom procedures.

So here's a quick synopsis of thing I am thinking of doing, some new ideas from TMC 14 will be highlighted, along with where I heard them.

First day, I may start with a slide show about me, this is from John Mahlstedt's Favorite Thing presentation.  I hesitate a little 'cause I don't want it to be all about me, but I do think it could help build connections.

Daily Agenda, always write the date as a math problem, also from John Mahlstedt.

I usually start class with a clicker warm up on the previous days lesson.  I liked Kathryn Belmonte's idea to spiral through previous units in the warm up.  I will still use the clickers, but I think it will help with retention to have old units continue to show up randomly.

I had changed by SBG grading scale from 0-4 to 0-10 for more flexibility in grading.  From general conversations with folks, I think it's better to use 0-4, I just need a better rubric.

I still like my SBG/resources online/YouTube video plan.  A fellow teacher in one of the sessions I went to reminded me that parents will possibly use the videos as a refresher if they wanted to help their child.  I think that will happen and I like the idea.  The same teacher also suggested putting the videos on iTunesU so they could be downloaded if there was a problem with internet access at home, good call.

Just before TMC14, I went to a Global Math Dept presentation on SBG, Matt Owen showed a slide with the list of things students need to have before they can retest

I will be making a modified version of this, but I think it's a great start.  Jessica (@Algebrainiac1) also suggested they fill out a Google form when they are ready so you know they are coming, I will probably do the same.  I also think a list of things they have to do to retest can help solidify classroom procedures.

The discussion in my morning Algebra 1 sessions about assessing functions were very useful.  I plan on doing a much better job of teaching functions this year.

One of my alg 1 classes has a lab associated with it, I liked some of the ideas in Kathryn Freed's intervention session, I will probably put them in groups with whiteboards and let them work.  I will make the groups based on what they need to study from SBG results.

I liked the work that Mathalicious and Illustrative Math are doing to make lessons that are both Common Core and PBL.  My curriculum needs more of this kind of thing and I will be looking those over.  I also hadn't heard about Robert Kaplinsky's lessons, I need to look through those.  http://robertkaplinsky.com/lessons/

I learned about Desmos at the Anja Greer conference at Phillips Exeter last summer.  I used it a little, but there was a giant buzz around it at TMC 14, I need to use it more in my PBL quest.  I think that will be easier when my school goes 1 to1 (hopefully) next year.  I will try a few lessons to get a feel for it.

Just as a general thing, there are a very large number of algebra 1 resources on Pinterest, I didn't realize that before.  Lisa Henry's TMC Pinterest board got me looking and there's a lot of good stuff.

Another My Favorite Things was on planbookedu.com.  I use it, but I don't use the links to the extent that the presenter did.

I need to look through the session pages in the Wiki, I'm sure there's lot's there.

As far as future communication goes, my Twitter skills improved tremendously.  I met lots of people and it's much easier to understand the communication flow.  I have a better idea who to follow and I'm better with lists and TweetDeck.  I'm also more clued in about blogs as well.  Dan Meyer's presentation gave me a better feel for the MTBoS and who's in it.

I thought there was a lot of power in Steve Leinwand's presentation about emphasizing the WHY over the HOW.  I would love to teach math that way, he made sixth grade math sound like the subject I really want to teach.  CCSS alg 1 still has so many skills in it, I think my school is a long way from that kind of teaching as a whole, but I'd like to strive towards it.

SBG, Common Core and Online Class Summary

Okay, so it's been FOREVER since I posted anything.  The end of the year just got nuts.  Along with implementing a new Common Core Algebra curriculum, I am the leader of a new STEM Academy at my high school.  This spring, we worked very hard to get it launched and 45 students signed up.  This is awesome, it's been taking a lot of my time and it will be a major focus during the 2014/2015 year.

This year, I tried 3 main new things in Alg 1.  We are starting Common Core with our Alg 1 class, 2013/2014 was the first year of it's implementation.  Since we were launching a new curriculum, it was a good time to try breaking the content down into standards and using standards based grading.  Our school is looking at proficiency based graduation requirements, SBG seems to me like a natural launching point for that.  I also wanted to make my curriculum available online to facilitate self-study towards mastery of the standards.  I wrote a book using ck-12 and created a webpage with access to classroom materials and practice options.

First, I'd like to talk about the Common Core curriculum.  There is a major emphasis on the 8 mathematical practices and I was imagining a classroom with a greater focus on problem solving and creativity, but in practice, there are still a lot of skills to cover and it's hard to find time for both.  Our department compared our traditional curriculum to the Common Core standards and came up with a list of topics we needed to cover in order to make sure students would have all the skills they would need on the SBAC test.  I converted that into a list of 38 standards to use for SBG.  I also compared those standards to the CCSS.  Here's the document I ended up with.

Algebra 1 Standards List

I like how this course ran, I think it's a nice sequence, I liked the focus on functions, modeling and statistics.  I think it does give students some idea of what math can be used for in the real world and it all hung together pretty well in my mind.  It is difficult to find time for problem solving, though.  What I ended up doing was grading students for trying to think outside the box and I didn't like the feel of it.  I will be revamping how I develop mathematical creativity next year.

I liked SBG combined with the online curriculum elements I developed, but I will be beefing it up for next year.  What I did was give one quiz a week with the recent standards on it.  Each standard appeared on a quiz for three weeks and the students could retake them outside of class up to 3 times.  I think my quiz questions were a little too easy and I made it too easy to retake and master the standard.  I don't think this did my students any favors when it came time to take the department final.  I don't have all the details worked out yet, but my testing will become a little more rigorous somehow.  Watch for this is a future post.

A key part of the SBG system (at least in my mind) is giving the students access to the material outside of class.  Here is the webpage I developed over the course of the year.

Essex High School Algebra 1, Mrs. Smith

The resources page is important here, it has a link to the book I used this past year (being revised for 2014/2015) and the Practice by Standards page.  I used Flexmath and BrainGenie (ck-12 products) to create self practice materials.  This summer, I am using the iPad app "Explain Everything" to make videos that I am posting to my YouTube channel (utubemath) and putting in each standard.  I am always available for help at school, but I am trying to create a way for students to use the internet in a way that teaches them how to help themselves.

Twitterfeed

twitterfeed.com is how I connect my Blogger posts with Twitter.  It stopped working, I'm pretty sure that's because I changed my Twitter password recently.  I've tried to reauthorize it, hopefully this post shows up on Twitter...

MTBoS Challenge 3, One Good Thing

I've been working hard putting all my class materials on my web page this year and I don't really know if people are using them yet. Today I handed a packet of papers to a student who missed last class and he said he didn't need it, he'd already printed it out from the website and he understood what we'd done. Yay for systems that work!

Information in Education

I am just a huge fan of the way the internet makes information available from so many sources in such an easy way.  I use this in all areas of my life and I think education needs to change so as to allow students to become better at exploring their own interests in this way.  I am learning how to be a fully engaged internet citizen, I hope to be able to interact with my students in such a way as to make this a valuable component of their education.  The ck-12 book that I've shared here is one aspect of this, the information I'm teaching in class is available online at any time with additional resources for self teaching embedded.  I'm exploring other things with a new STEM teaching assignment I have, hopefully that turns into a blog as that unfolds.

Last summer, I was a little overwhelmed by this model, but it's coming together now.  I like cloud computing, Google, Dropbox, Spotify, etc.  I have the same model for most things, I find online sources of things I like and then I store them in the cloud in whatever format is best for that particular content.  Feedly brings me other educators ideas, those are stored in Diigo or Mindmeister.  YouTube brings me all sorts of things from all over the world, that is stored in YouTube playlists.  I also have a YouTube channel if the need to broadcast ever came over me.  Spotify music streaming is awesome, I follow people with similar musical tastes and make playlists of a wide variety of music.  Pictures are stored in Dropbox for easy access anywhere and sharing.

It's fun to find people that are broadcasting what I want to know and then learning from them.  It seems to me that this is a whole new model for people to learn from each other.  Isolated nodes of higher education seem like a thing of the past, I chose my own experts and learn wherever I want.  I imagine there will always be well documented education paths for things like open heart surgery, but it seems like the whole Ivory Tower, I've got the knowledge and you don't thing may become less powerful someday.

Bottom line, it's about finding sources of things you like and storing them in the cloud in a way that is easy to retrieve.  I have a Chromebook and a Galaxy S3 phone which allow me to access all of this fun and I enjoy it.

The start of 2013/2014

Okay, so here's how I am going to continue to expand Algebra 1

1. This will be our first year of the Common Core Curriculum. Last year, the dept created an outline of what topics would be covered and in what order. Now, it's time to put that into practice.
2. Last year, I wrote an online ck-12 book for Algebra 1. I am going to realign this book to new CC Curriculum
3. I plan on Implement Standards Based Grading as a first step towards personalized learning plans
4. Continue making information available anywhere, anytime.  Last year, I created a website that I put all classroom materials on, including SMART Board notes from class. I will expand this to include videos of major topics to enhance SBG. The plan is to make it easier for students to retest a topic by allowing them to access the lecture over again on their time. I plan to make videos, I learned how to use Camtasia and a Bamboo tablet at the Anja Greer Conference on Math, Science and Technology at Phillips Exeter and I want to put those skills to use. If I run out of time, I will post someone else's videos.
5. Increased use of problem solving activities. This type of thinking is at the heart of Common Core and I will make greater use of the wealth of activities that have been made increasingly available over the last few years.

End of the year

I haven't posted in so long, the end of the year just got nuts.  I advise two clubs and I've got my fingers in a lot of pies.  It's all done, so now I'm back to communicating.

ALEKS went well, I liked it as a lab activity.  My class has a 40 min lab in addition to the regular 80 min block schedule.  ALEKS was good for reinforcing basic skills and it let students practice the new concepts at their own pace.  They were cooperative about working on it (for the most part) and the lab time was well run.  There was no increase in their final exam grade compared with last year, though.  I think it helped them, but it didn't translate into higher grades.

This was also the first year that I put all of my course materials online.  The part that worked the best was having my class notes available.  I used a SMART Board in class and exported the day's notes as a pdf.  Student used those regularly.  The ck-12 online book was only marginally successful.  Part of the problem was that I didn't have the entire book ready at the beginning of the year.  I had it about 90% done and I finalized each chapter as they year went along.  They didn't particularly enjoy having to download a new version each chapter and they got a little negative about it.  I still think it's a good idea, though.  We are going to be changing our curriculum around next year for our first try at the Common Core and the flexibility of the online book really lends itself to that.  I will have it done at the beginning of the year this time.

Thinking...

So the year is clicking along and I'm trying lots of things and reading about lots of things.  Where am I on using technology in math class?  It's very clear that there is a use in the teaching of teachers.  I learn  so much from the blogs I read.  Tomorrow's lesson plan on factoring has two activities that I read about in blogs and one that I found at NCTM last year.  I save ideas using a mind mapping program I found in a blog, there have just been so many good suggestions out there. I also think it's useful to post my class material online.  I take class notes on the SMART Board and I post those along with the worksheets on my class web site.  There is a nice record there for anyone who is ill and it's helpful for students who just want to look at things again at their own pace.

Just how useful is it, though, to use technology to help individual students learn?  So many things cost money and I'm starting to wonder if I'm not just bought into some Silicon Valley get rich scheme.  I think ALEKS is a great tool in lab to help students learn at their own pace, but it costs $30 per student per year.  I'm writing a free online book for algebra 1 at ck12.org, but not all of my students have access to it at home.  I print out the homework for people, but I feel funny making a lot of online book work required if every student doesn't have a computer at home and it's expensive to level the playing field there.  I'm intrigued by formative and summative assessment programs that track individual student progress and keep students testing only where they need it.  This would also be easier if everyone had their own tablet or Chromebook or whatever.  Not cheap...  I think there is a lot of potential in this new connectedness, but I'm trying to think critically about products that deliver value for the money.

I'm also starting a new class where students learn about STEM careers and this pilot program is one to one.  I'm using technology in a whole different way there.  I'm showing them how to make a personal learning network around their career area of interest, I am encouraging a lot of time online.  They will also be shadowing STEM professionals in my community, I'm hoping this combination of  hands on experience and online learning will be a valuable experience.  I blog about this class at ehsstem.blogspot.com

Mid Year Status

I've changed the name of this blog to reflect what my goals are.  All of my posts have been related to updating my Algebra 1 class to reflect modern trends.  I think education is in the process of a major transformation that has primarily been brought about by the internet.  Information is now much easier to access and it also easier for people to communicate around that information.  This brings so many changes and I think public education has to find meaningful ways to adapt.

The first thing I'm doing is creating central locations online where all of my classroom materials are located.  I am consolidating all of my materials onto a shared drive at my school where all of  my colleagues can have access to them.  I have also created a website for my algebra class using our school's Wordpress platform.  Here's a link:

EHS Algebra 1 Site

I'm a big fan of all things Google, but I don't like how their sites are so tailored to their applications.  I have years of material from my pre-Google doc days and Wordpress gives me greater flexibility in how I present material created using a large number of platforms.  Each day's classroom activities are posted online along with the class notes that I give using a SMART Board.

Our math dept is in the process of transitioning to the Common Core and I feel one the big changes that can happen at this time is that the textbook manufacturers will no longer have so much control over our curriculum.  To that end, I'm writing a textbook using the modules created at www.ck12.org.  Here is a link to the latest version of the book, I pieced it together over the summer and I'm finalizing it a chapter at a time as the year goes on.  I'm pretty happy with chapters 1-5 in this version

EHS Algebra 1 Book

Next year, we will be implementing Common Core based units on statistics and modeling with functions.  I plan on modifying my existing book to match the new curriculum.

It is also very easy for educators to communicate with each other now, that's one the main purposes of this blog.  I post things that work for me and I use great ideas from educators the world over.  This seems very transformative to me and I'm happy to be on board.

I also think technology has the power to help individualize student's education and I'm trying out ALEKS in this capacity.  It's a program that uses the concept of knowledge spaces to find out where a student is at and assesses them on the material they are ready to learn.  I have been using it successfully since August 2012 and I feel it's a step in the right direction.  My students use ALEKS in a very positive way and I think it's helping them master concepts.  It has yet to result in increased grades in my class, but I still think it is helping them.

Something I'd like to pursue next year is Standards Based Grading.  I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do it yet, any suggestions would be welcomed, but I think it's an important step in creating individualized instructions.

"Why do we have to learn this?"

When a student (high school) asks me that question, I have a few different responses.  I think my favorite one is to tell them that they might never use this particular math equation in their future, but what they will use are the habits of mind they are developing as they learn how to solve math problems.  Math teaches you how to think logically and creatively at the same time.  The "aha" moment in solving a math problem brings together the synthesis of logical thought and an intuitive leap of genius.  It's an important skill and it can be useful in a large number of endeavors.

Why put algebra online?

I would like as many materials as possible online so the students can access them at their own pace.  Often, a concept is not clear the first time and there is no chance to go back and try to learn again.  I always offer extra help, but sometimes that isn't enough.  I would like to make math accessible to more students by giving them more learning opportunities.

I would also like them to be able to collaborate with each other.  I will move slowly into Moodle forums and see if the students work well this way.

New Blogger Initiative Post 1

- One thing I plan on doing differently is putting more of my Algebra 1 content online.  I'd like to have more of a blended classroom.  I'm lucky enough to teach in the math computer lab, so each student can have their own desktop computer.  I've been using the computers for various activities over the years, but this year I'm expanding things considerably.  I'm writing an online textbook using ck12.org, I have chapter 1 ready for prime time and the other 8 chapters are pretty well sketched out.  I'm using Moodle to keep track of online resources.  I'm using ALEKS for the 40 min lab that goes along with the regular 80 min class (I piloted that last year, so it's pretty under control).  I have a new SMART Board and I'm planning to make my notes available on the Moodle page.  I will be using other tools to connect the students online, Socrative, Google Forms, Moodle Forums, etc.  I'm looking forward to all this and I'm also looking forward to finding some colleagues in bloggerworld who use a blended classroom and would be willing to share ideas.

Thanks to the new blogger initiative team for helping us to get started :-)

Blended Learning

I think this is the buzzword that describes what I'm doing.  I think traditional learning methods can work well and I think online methods also work well.  I like to blend these things in a way that allows me to reach as many students as possible.

Wikibook on Blended Learning

Algebra 1 Technology Plan

I have been using various tech tools in algebra 1 class over the last few years, my plan for the 2012-2013 school year is to increase the amount of content that is available to the students online.  I teach in a room with enough desktop computers for everyone.  We use a block schedule and I have the students for a half block lab in addition to the regular one block class.

We will be using ALEKS in the lab, I tried it last year for the second half of the year and I liked it.  I will be directing the student learning in ALEKS so they will not have access to the whole curriculum at once, they will be held to the topics in the current chapter being taught.

I plan to use the open source ck-12 textbooks, although I will arrange the chapters to closely follow the Pearson book (Lial, Introductory Algebra 9e) that the rest of the algebra 1 classes in my school are using.  Maybe someday the students will have a Kindle to keep that book on, but for now, they will have online access and they can print out materials if they have problems accessing a computer outside of class.

I am also using a SMART Board for class notes, I plan to make those notes available online.  I am also going to be compiling worksheets, videos (Khan) and activities that they can access.  I will be using Moodle to organize all of these materials.  At first, it will just be a collection of resources, but possibly I will make it more interactive in future years.  I have been gathering algebra 1 games online for years, they can be found here 

http://www.ccsuvt.org/ehs/academics/math/mrs-smith/algebra-1b/

I have been using clickers as a student response system over the past few years.  I understand that there are several computer based systems now, I will be finding one of those and giving it a try.

I know this is a lot, but I feel it is important and the time has come for it all to work together well.  I have been doing pieces of these things for years and I am hopeful I will be able to put it all together in a way that provides more opportunities for more students.