Poor man's student white board.

As I was considering assessment options for my students with my clinical faculty she mentioned the idea of having each student write on a small whiteboard at their desk and thus be able to hold up their answers in such a way that I can quickly assess the class’ learning of a given objective.  She thought I might ask if there was a set in the school.  There was no set in the school but my cooperating teacher said that once upon a time he would but a sheet of shower panel (intended to create fiberglass like walls in a walk in shower) and use that as a white board.  He said you can get them cheap at Home Depot.  I am now the proud owner of one such sheet ($12.00) which I quickly cut with a saw into 32 one square “tablets”.  Both my cooperating teacher and I are excited about putting them to work to assess our teacher check points.  I am sure complications will arise.  Dare I hope that I can turn the use of the white boards into my lesson hook?

Use the freeze on the doc cam.

Often on a worksheet I will work through an entire problem on the doc cam, very slowly and carefully, step by step with the students.  Typically I will then ask them to work together on the next problem.  I try to work my way around the class to give help and implement some teacher check points to see if they are picking up my objectives.  I move back to the doc cam to set up the finished problem, but now I either rush through it (prone to simple mistakes) or I continue slowly which is what I did on the first problem but I probably, but not necessarily, don’t need to do now.  My cooperating teacher pointed out how awkward my doc cam teaching was and the simple solution was the freeze button.  As the students work the problems I can freeze the unanswered problem on the doc cam and work it out carefully until it is ready to project, and not give away the answer.  I started to incorporate this into my lessons but I prepared the worked out problems before class so I did not loose any time circulating, helping, and assessing.  It seems obvious in retrospect but I have so much on my mind during lessons I often mangle these small details.

What about public records for teacher candidates?

I have some weaknesses in my lessons that my cooperating teacher has to repeatedly point out to me and I think we both think I am a little dense not to address my weaknesses and improve them.  This week I took action.  I was thinking about how hard it has been to get my students to remember the definition of domain and range, even though the definitions are up in front of the room in the form of public records.  I thought that if I could offer my students public records to help them with concepts they find difficult why I can’t have my own public records to address concepts I seem to struggle with.  So now in the back of our class room, in my field of view are three public records to help me through my lessons.  The specific weaknesses the public records address are: 1- My weakness for not explicitly stating the learning objective of the lesson (though I do include it in my lesson plan and print it on the board.) 2- My weakness for not explicitly stating the anticipatory set, I don’t verbally tie the learning objective back to the previous material we have been covering. 3- I often ask questions when I should be making statements like when I have two single students in a class who I want sitting together so they can take part in a pairs activity I will tend to ask “if” they could sit together rather than simply stating that I want them to sit together, "please do it now".  Here are my public records: 

Busted! By my principal! Right is Right.

I was at a meeting of new staff and interns and as we wrapped up the meeting our principal asked us to go over the Common Principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools.  No one was familiar enough to come up with more than one and she was clearly disappointed.  I have been studying the principles since then.  The seventh principle stresses the value of “unanxious anticipation” which is described as an attitude of “I won’t threaten you, but I expect much of you.”  This principle resonated with my interpretation of the “Right is Right” technique in Teach Like a Champion.  “Right is Right” says to “Set and defend a high standard of correctness in your classroom.”  Teach Like a Champion goes on to say:

In holding out for right, you set the expectation that the questions you ask and their answers truly matter. You show that you believe your students are capable of getting answers as right as students anywhere else. You show the difference between the facile and the scholarly. This faith in the quality of a right answer sends a powerful message to your students that will guide them long after they have left your classroom.

In other words you are fulfilling the seventh Common Principle and saying “ I expect much of you.”

Baby steps toward getting students to answer questions.

I have mentioned this before but I am still caught up in the problem of asking all students questions.  At the start of the school year we had students write “letters of introduction” and in several of these letters students requested that they not be called on.  I was willing to honor this request, especially if the student was doing well in the class.  This has proved untenable, the forces around me have pushed me to call on students randomly and comprehensively so I was looking for strategies to accomplish this.  My cooperating teacher does call on students randomly, and if they struggle he is quick to say: “I didn’t want to put you on the spot, it’s OK if you don’t know.” He then will move on to another student.  I like the honesty and transparency of this approach.  In Teach Like a Champion the “No Opt Out” strategy adds a sweet detail that could be added to the reassuring statement my CT uses.  When a student does not answer a question, for any reason, you can turn to another student and (hopefully) get an answer.  You then turn back to the original student and again ask the question.  Of course they can simply repeat the correct answer but this approach allows the student to “rehearse” success and lays the groundwork for the student to eventually entertain questions and produce appropriate answers.  I am going to implement this in my lessons from now on.

Addendum to High Leverage Teaching Move 3, Use of Vocabulary.

When the Seattle School District describes “Use of Vocabulary” two terms are defined: “Content Terms” and “Process Terms”.  I struggled to explain how these two terms are related and yet different.  It turns out that a quote by Poincare clarified the difference for me.  Poincare said: “Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.” Content terms are like stones to a house, and are often offered as facts in the classroom.  Facts are important but students whose heads are just filled with facts are not what we are after.  We want Content to lead to Process; we want students to know how to arrange the stones to build the house.  In mathematics we want students to become mathematically literate.  It is difficult for me to come up with Process Terms and all the vocabulary listed in the Seattle School District pacing guide are Content Terms.  I looked to Polya’s “How To Solve It” for some Process Terms.  Polya lists many Process Terms in his book and he casts the Content vs. Process dichotomy into a description of Pedantry and Mastery when he writes:

            Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules.

            1. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in cases where it does not fit, is pedantry.  Some pedants are poor fools; they never did understand the rule which they apply so conscientiously and so indiscriminately.  Some pedants are quite successful; they understood their rule, and least in the beginning (before they became pedants), and chose a good one that fits in many cases and fails only occasionally.

 To apply a rule with natural ease, with judgment, noticing the cases where it fits, and without ever letting the words of the rule obscure the purpose of the action or the opportunities of the situation, is mastery.

            I think I’ve got it now.