Final Reflection: Summer 2015
Looking Back, Looking Forward
I was talking to a colleague in the math department about the classes this summer. She said “You’ll have to tell us what you have learned this summer.” I thought “Wow!” How am I ever going to be able to do that?! As I try and condense all that we have talked about this summer, I am going to use the article we used one of the last days: Teaching That Sticks. In the article, there are six components that are mentioned. I believe they make a very good framework for me to tie my thoughts together as I reflect on our 11 contact days and as I prepare for the year to come.
1. Simple:
At various times during class, we were asked to do some very simple tasks which actually turned out to draw out very deep abilities as teachers. We were asked to make masks, musical instruments, play with simple toys/mechanical devices (makey, makey, strawbees). In the article, the author states “Simplicity doesn’t mean dumbing down, it means choosing.” This is a powerful statement in that given certain objects to use, certain time constraints, certain media we had to be very judicious in what we felt we could accomplish. We had to focus on core issues, fundamental to what we believe about teaching and our students.
2. Unexpected:
I immediately think of the Quickfires we were asked to do. This follows from many of the things I said in #1. By keeping us on our toes, not getting too comfortable, calling on us to be creative, to collaborate with others quickly, we were able to keep class interesting, fresh and vibrant. Although there was a certain routine we followed each day, beginning with tech tips and World of Wonder, there was definitely an aspect of spontaneity that was well noted and can be replicated in my classes next year.
3. Concrete:
Many concepts are often talked about without being grounded in real things/objects. The authors used a great example of the number of crickets chirping vs. the temperature of the surroundings. This was used to help students conceptualize the meaning of a function. When we looked together at the Cosmos text, it helped to ground our understanding for each chapter by choosing a representative quote from the selected chapter and following that up with a picture to go along with the quote. By having to discuss with our group all the important quotes, then settling on one in particular, we were forced to consider numerous viewpoints. By choosing a picture, we had to use our collective creativity. This activity for one chapter caused us to be much more invested in what we had read. I can still picture the location of the quote on the page for the chapter we were given.
4. Credible:
Here the author used two examples. An English teacher discussing Thoreau having students spend 30 minutes alone in nature to see how powerful that experience can be. The fact that relationships of numbers to drive home comparisons is more powerful than straight statistics: finding ways to compare the price of bottled water to the cost of municipal water in San Francisco.
One of our first Quickfires was coming up with a traditional word problem and making it non-traditional. We were trying to make the problem much more credible for the audience. When we filmed our video about misconceptions in science, we had to discuss the actual concept in great detail. It gave us a much more credible backdrop for mastering the concept.
5. Emotion:
This section was very powerful for me because it brought memories from forty years ago to conversations at the dinner table. My sister’s 6th grade teachers were doing a unit on prejudice in the early 70’s. They had divided the class into groups that had blue eyes and brown eyes. I remember my sister saying that one student decided to stay home on the day when it was their turn to be discriminated against. I realize as math teacher, I need to constantly be searching for ways to have my students become emotionally invested in the material. Maybe having fictitious stock depreciating in value over the year, showing exponential decay. Or it could be a home that is worth less than what is owed on it. When talking about the amplitude and frequency of a sinusoidal wave, discuss tidal or tsunami waves. Anything for them to be emotionally attached to the material.
6. Story:
The authors discussed how important it is to have students take on roles in actual scenarios: constructing arguments to present to the school board, community groups, acting as lawyers or business consultants. I try to do this as much as possible in word problems but as I will discuss later, I believe I can do it in a completely new way in math class.
Although I wanted to use these six parts from Teaching That Sticks, there are a few random things that I wanted to be sure to share which do not fit the framework above.
I enjoyed reading The Cosmos and felt it was a great way to begin the week. I had not read it before and I found myself taking it very seriously, reading carefully all that Sagan was trying to bring out. I kept thinking, however, that although he is considered to be very intelligent, I would not consider him to be wise. I realize he never made the claim that he was. I did find it very interesting that he would say at the beginning of the book that “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be” and yet later in the book would say “there are so many examples of misuse of the Earth.” On what basis can he say there are misuses if the physical world is all there is? “Misuses” implies a value judgment. I found myself exactly in the position that I want to put my students in – to critically read all that I give them. I was glad to read about his recognition of the beauty of mathematics and its ability to model the things in the universe. I often tell my students that circles do not exist in the real world, neither do lines. That is why geometry is such an elegant subject. I thought Sagan did a great service to this concept.
I learned a great deal about creating short video clips, keeping concepts simple, not trying to make things perfect, working under a time crunch, and trying to be creative using the supplies we were given. I thoroughly enjoyed working with my group and listening to their best lessons. I am planning on using Tracey’s (4th grade?) science lesson on sound when I discuss different types of functions in my Advanced Algebra class. I realized how much time and effort it takes to make a 2 minute video and edit it with audio and sound to present to everyone.
When we were at the Museum of Science and Industry, I enjoyed looking at the details of the scale model of downtown Chicago. I was amazed at the intricate details. As I looked closer, I realized that the builders also had a sense of humor. There were many cars going towards each other in the same lane, some were on the wrong side of the street, another was parked backwards. The Incredible Hulk was walking down the middle of one of the streets.
I plan to incorporate World of Wonders in class. Tech tips might be a little more challenging to make it relevant to all students but I might try that also.
I enjoyed the article “Teaching for Aesthetic Understanding” by Mark Girod. When he spoke of the one teacher describing the atmosphere as an ocean of air above us, it made me think of how wind is characterized in so many children’s books: a face in a cloud, with large cheeks, blowing….
As I look forward to this year (and many more), I want to focus on the following:
Having structure but leaning towards more spontaneity. Students will be taking seven classes, will be in school for over 7 hours a day. If class is not interesting, if they do not see the use in what we are doing, if they are not involved, they will not learn much and will retain even less.
I have used the statement many times: everything counts but not everything can be counted. I know students often love to worry about points and grades but I believe if they are given significant assignments, they will do a great deal of work and not be so worried about points. I know I may have a different concentration level than many high school students but I think about how many hours I worked on my I-Video. I lost track of time just to make a 2 minute video. I hope my assignments will help students forget about how much time they are spending on them.
It was a great experience to be a student again. It was very valuable to feel the burden of meeting a deadline, to budget my time, to be evaluated by a teacher again, to stand up in front of my peers. It is good to be out of my comfort zone of being a teacher. I plan to be more transparent with my students – to share my “aha” moments with them even if they are from years ago. I will be sure to share some of the tricks and things I learned in this class: the Ollo clip (already bought one), CrazyTalk7, and Movie Maker. The ones specifically for teachers in class I will use when they apply.
I have always used a sense of humor in class. The necessity for humor in teaching was reinforced during our day of improv. I hope to use some of the activities we did that day to break the ice with students and to give short breaks in class, especially the last few periods of the day, when students can be a little more restless. I have already mentioned this session to our principal and I believe we will use improv at future professional development days.
As my final change for next year, I return to item #6 from Teaching That Sticks. I feel very confident in the content I need to present next year: to “un-cover” not cover. I feel I can infuse technology where appropriate. What I really want to work on is to incorporate as many stories as possible. Each year, I talk about “families” of functions: linear, quadratic, cubic, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric. This year, these families will have specific names and the children in the family will take on the characteristics of the functions. There are many things that I have felt students need to memorize. I will try to use stories to help them memorize these essential concepts and topics.
I’m looking forward to a great year and many more to come.
1. Simple:
At various times during class, we were asked to do some very simple tasks which actually turned out to draw out very deep abilities as teachers. We were asked to make masks, musical instruments, play with simple toys/mechanical devices (makey, makey, strawbees). In the article, the author states “Simplicity doesn’t mean dumbing down, it means choosing.” This is a powerful statement in that given certain objects to use, certain time constraints, certain media we had to be very judicious in what we felt we could accomplish. We had to focus on core issues, fundamental to what we believe about teaching and our students.
2. Unexpected:
I immediately think of the Quickfires we were asked to do. This follows from many of the things I said in #1. By keeping us on our toes, not getting too comfortable, calling on us to be creative, to collaborate with others quickly, we were able to keep class interesting, fresh and vibrant. Although there was a certain routine we followed each day, beginning with tech tips and World of Wonder, there was definitely an aspect of spontaneity that was well noted and can be replicated in my classes next year.
3. Concrete:
Many concepts are often talked about without being grounded in real things/objects. The authors used a great example of the number of crickets chirping vs. the temperature of the surroundings. This was used to help students conceptualize the meaning of a function. When we looked together at the Cosmos text, it helped to ground our understanding for each chapter by choosing a representative quote from the selected chapter and following that up with a picture to go along with the quote. By having to discuss with our group all the important quotes, then settling on one in particular, we were forced to consider numerous viewpoints. By choosing a picture, we had to use our collective creativity. This activity for one chapter caused us to be much more invested in what we had read. I can still picture the location of the quote on the page for the chapter we were given.
4. Credible:
Here the author used two examples. An English teacher discussing Thoreau having students spend 30 minutes alone in nature to see how powerful that experience can be. The fact that relationships of numbers to drive home comparisons is more powerful than straight statistics: finding ways to compare the price of bottled water to the cost of municipal water in San Francisco.
One of our first Quickfires was coming up with a traditional word problem and making it non-traditional. We were trying to make the problem much more credible for the audience. When we filmed our video about misconceptions in science, we had to discuss the actual concept in great detail. It gave us a much more credible backdrop for mastering the concept.
5. Emotion:
This section was very powerful for me because it brought memories from forty years ago to conversations at the dinner table. My sister’s 6th grade teachers were doing a unit on prejudice in the early 70’s. They had divided the class into groups that had blue eyes and brown eyes. I remember my sister saying that one student decided to stay home on the day when it was their turn to be discriminated against. I realize as math teacher, I need to constantly be searching for ways to have my students become emotionally invested in the material. Maybe having fictitious stock depreciating in value over the year, showing exponential decay. Or it could be a home that is worth less than what is owed on it. When talking about the amplitude and frequency of a sinusoidal wave, discuss tidal or tsunami waves. Anything for them to be emotionally attached to the material.
6. Story:
The authors discussed how important it is to have students take on roles in actual scenarios: constructing arguments to present to the school board, community groups, acting as lawyers or business consultants. I try to do this as much as possible in word problems but as I will discuss later, I believe I can do it in a completely new way in math class.
Although I wanted to use these six parts from Teaching That Sticks, there are a few random things that I wanted to be sure to share which do not fit the framework above.
I enjoyed reading The Cosmos and felt it was a great way to begin the week. I had not read it before and I found myself taking it very seriously, reading carefully all that Sagan was trying to bring out. I kept thinking, however, that although he is considered to be very intelligent, I would not consider him to be wise. I realize he never made the claim that he was. I did find it very interesting that he would say at the beginning of the book that “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be” and yet later in the book would say “there are so many examples of misuse of the Earth.” On what basis can he say there are misuses if the physical world is all there is? “Misuses” implies a value judgment. I found myself exactly in the position that I want to put my students in – to critically read all that I give them. I was glad to read about his recognition of the beauty of mathematics and its ability to model the things in the universe. I often tell my students that circles do not exist in the real world, neither do lines. That is why geometry is such an elegant subject. I thought Sagan did a great service to this concept.
I learned a great deal about creating short video clips, keeping concepts simple, not trying to make things perfect, working under a time crunch, and trying to be creative using the supplies we were given. I thoroughly enjoyed working with my group and listening to their best lessons. I am planning on using Tracey’s (4th grade?) science lesson on sound when I discuss different types of functions in my Advanced Algebra class. I realized how much time and effort it takes to make a 2 minute video and edit it with audio and sound to present to everyone.
When we were at the Museum of Science and Industry, I enjoyed looking at the details of the scale model of downtown Chicago. I was amazed at the intricate details. As I looked closer, I realized that the builders also had a sense of humor. There were many cars going towards each other in the same lane, some were on the wrong side of the street, another was parked backwards. The Incredible Hulk was walking down the middle of one of the streets.
I plan to incorporate World of Wonders in class. Tech tips might be a little more challenging to make it relevant to all students but I might try that also.
I enjoyed the article “Teaching for Aesthetic Understanding” by Mark Girod. When he spoke of the one teacher describing the atmosphere as an ocean of air above us, it made me think of how wind is characterized in so many children’s books: a face in a cloud, with large cheeks, blowing….
As I look forward to this year (and many more), I want to focus on the following:
Having structure but leaning towards more spontaneity. Students will be taking seven classes, will be in school for over 7 hours a day. If class is not interesting, if they do not see the use in what we are doing, if they are not involved, they will not learn much and will retain even less.
I have used the statement many times: everything counts but not everything can be counted. I know students often love to worry about points and grades but I believe if they are given significant assignments, they will do a great deal of work and not be so worried about points. I know I may have a different concentration level than many high school students but I think about how many hours I worked on my I-Video. I lost track of time just to make a 2 minute video. I hope my assignments will help students forget about how much time they are spending on them.
It was a great experience to be a student again. It was very valuable to feel the burden of meeting a deadline, to budget my time, to be evaluated by a teacher again, to stand up in front of my peers. It is good to be out of my comfort zone of being a teacher. I plan to be more transparent with my students – to share my “aha” moments with them even if they are from years ago. I will be sure to share some of the tricks and things I learned in this class: the Ollo clip (already bought one), CrazyTalk7, and Movie Maker. The ones specifically for teachers in class I will use when they apply.
I have always used a sense of humor in class. The necessity for humor in teaching was reinforced during our day of improv. I hope to use some of the activities we did that day to break the ice with students and to give short breaks in class, especially the last few periods of the day, when students can be a little more restless. I have already mentioned this session to our principal and I believe we will use improv at future professional development days.
As my final change for next year, I return to item #6 from Teaching That Sticks. I feel very confident in the content I need to present next year: to “un-cover” not cover. I feel I can infuse technology where appropriate. What I really want to work on is to incorporate as many stories as possible. Each year, I talk about “families” of functions: linear, quadratic, cubic, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric. This year, these families will have specific names and the children in the family will take on the characteristics of the functions. There are many things that I have felt students need to memorize. I will try to use stories to help them memorize these essential concepts and topics.
I’m looking forward to a great year and many more to come.