Math

The Why?

I'm bored. That's why. I jumped into this TLLP project because I found myself bored with my own classroom. I can't help but think if I'm bored, how do my students feel?

I've made many changes over the years, often in an effort to make things more efficient, not necessarily more engaging.

My Goals

1. To build a "thinking classroom"

2. To engage students by making learning more active

My Influences

Much of my inspiration came from a conference I attended a couple of years ago. Peter Liljedahl from SFU spoke about building "thinking classrooms". When I walked out of the room, I was on kijiji looking for whiteboards, and emailing my principal for funds.

www.peterliljedahl.com/

Action

Furniture:

Add standing desks

Resources

Class set of whiteboards

Teaching

Create rich tasks to encourage group collaboration and authentic problem solving opportunities

EQAO Scoring Task

1. Students are "trained" to score EQAO open-response questions

2. Students are given a set of questions to score

3. Scores are consolidated through a Google Sheet, and students can compare results and rescore as necessary

4. EXTENSION: Compare results with those of other participating classes across board, or province.

What Really Happened

Not a whole lot!

Allow me to explain.

1. Furniture delays: My standing desks arrived about 6 weeks into the semester. I immediately provided opportunities to use them, but students opted for traditional furniture as, I believe, they found the standing desks uncomfortable (out of routine as opposed to physically uncomfortable from standing!)

NEXT STEPS: I would like to use these Day 1 in September and convince students from the get-go that this is the new norm.

The individual student whiteboards arrived during final exams, so...

NEXT STEPS: I will, again, pull these out in September and see how things go. Students love writing on dry erase surfaces, and my hope is these boards, with a pre-drawn grid, promotes a less stressful opportunity to demonstrate learning (less permanent (ie erasable) seems to equal less stressful)

2. Timing Woes: The EQAO task, shown above, is ready to deliver. I, unfortunately, simply ran short of time. Snow days alone put me about two weeks behind.

NEXT STEPS: I am most excited about testing this task out, especially as it is one that would have not existed in the past.

I've had the opportunity to score the grade 9 EQAO math assessments over the last couple of years. I always leave with greater insight into what a "good" solution looks like, specifically on open response (problem-solving) type questions. It occurred to me, if this is eye-opening to me as the teacher, imagine the benefits for my students. I feel strongly that once these students understand what to look for to distinguish a CODE 20 from a CODE 30 or a CODE 40, they will have a better approach to solving the same type of problem themselves.

Going Forward

In his presentation, Mr. Leijedahl mentioned removing all of the chairs and desks in the classroom. If the goal is to have students standing, then why give them an alternative? I wish I could be so brave, but I don't know if such an extreme measure is most appropriate for me, especially as I often share my classroom with other teachers.

I would, however, like to make using of the standing desks, along with the individual whiteboards and wall mounted whiteboards part of the daily routine. In my experience, students are much more likely to buy-in if the expectations are made obvious from the start.

As far as my EQAO task; it looks like this one will be put on the shelf for another year. At the moment, I am not scheduled to teach any sections of Grade 9 math next year. I will investigate, on the other hand, ways to duplicate the collaborative nature of this activity with my other courses.

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