Reflections on 2020-21

Reflections on 2020-21

I’ve been reading a book, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, and I appreciate its methodical approach. Even though I am only through Chapter 4, I am beginning to feel school again, if only a little at this point. I’ve been reading threads on Twitter from colleagues around the country about their planning for this coming academic year, and I am feeling school a bit more. Before I can plan for next year in earnest though, I need to process last year.

Last year (2020-21), began with teachers teaching in the building and students studenting entirely online. Because I had experimented with technology so much since March 15^th, 2020, I was ready for this year. I had to wait to execute my own class design, however, until the district gave the green light a month into school. The first month students went through the first module of the curriculum using Nearpod and those students that bothered to do that hated it. This was NOT the way to start school. Students really do not know how to learn online except the mechanics of it which were taught through some videos and their experiences the prior spring, which were varied. They went through the motions; checked boxes; and learned nothing. I was ready to teach and my kids were ready to learn. Live, online classes were consistently being held by September.

Finally, there was a system in place for students to log into class, participate in lessons, and go forth and learn. Classes were 40 minutes 4 days a week. That isn’t much time. I put multiple tutoring sessions in place for my students. I could see student faces during online tutoring and learn personalities and interact with people rather than a chat stream. That was time well spent.

We got back from Christmas break and by late February, classes moved to 5, 70-minute periods per week. The extra time was necessary to make progress in student learning, but left little time to support students outside of class. Live class time essentially doubled and that time came from planning time. In truth, the shorter the class period, the more time is needed for planning because every teacher move must be preplanned in order to stick to the schedule. Teachers with shortened class periods must be addicted to coverage to a greater extent than teachers with generous class periods of 60 to 70 minutes.  This 70-minute schedule continued as we gradually began moving students into the building, live and in-person in March. At the same time we continued to have many students learning from home.

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This shows merely some of the constraints under which school was held last year. Here is the technology side of how I operated my classes:

LMS (Learning Management System): We use Canvas and had a district designed format to use to make it easier for students to navigate. That was a positive result that came out of spring 2020’s emergency adventure into online learning. This format helped me stay better organized in my planning. I tweaked lessons and daily plans as we went along, of course, but all of my weekly structures were in place. I already harvested my activities for the week and I knew where I wanted my students to be by week’s end. I committed to my plan and published it through Canvas for my students to access.

PPT: My district also provided pre-made PowerPoint (PPT) presentations for each lesson throughout the curriculum. These PPTs follow the students’ workbooks exactly. Proofing, editing, and resizing, are required, but these PPTs were a real time saver. I shared my screen and took notes right on the PPT presentation. After class, I saved those notes of as pdfs and posted them to Canvas for students. The only tool required was my stylus (x-Pen 640) that I had gotten at the end of last year. I inserted blank screens among the PPT slides where I could write if the class needed to do some extra problems or take some extra notes. I did this before schooling changed to virtual and will continue this when workbooks are used.

DUAL MONITORS: I had been using multiple computers—as many as 3—but I resisted using dual monitors for quite a long time, though my media specialist encouraged me to do so. My mind was fixed, thinking it was yet another thing I had to learn and coordinate. Mid-year I finally tried using dual monitors. I will never be without dual monitors again when teaching whether online or in-person. Not only are transitions smoother within the same class period, transitions between class periods are also more efficient. When sharing a screen, simply drag the new visual you want to display for students to the new screen. Also, I can keep my eye on the chat on one screen while working with the class on the other shared screen. I can monitor student work on the screen I am not sharing as well. Split screens are useful, but using those in combination with dual screens takes teaching to a whole other level. This is a derivative of online teaching that will stick going forward.

DESMOS: Sometimes I had learners use a Desmos activity that duplicated the lesson for the day. That allowed me to see the work of all students and to pace the class so we could pause for discussions and quell student misconceptions. At times I would use selected screens in a Desmos activity for the lesson rather than the entire lesson. Some of these Desmos activity files, I created, but more often than not, I harvested collections from other users that I had saved in my library. I hate Facebook, but that is where I came across most of the lesson collections.  In my district, we use OpenUp Resources curriculums (authored by Illustrative Mathematics and Mathematics Vision Project).

I also created a daily Desmos work file my learners bookmarked. If I needed to see student work, they immediately jumped into that Desmos class work file. I made student draw screens, which served as white boards. And I had graphing calculator screens and screens which were split between a Cartesian plane and a writing space where students showed their thinking. I paced my class to the screen I wanted them to work on so I didn’t have to instruct students to be on a specified screen and then wait for them to get there. Having this file at the ready allowed me to immediately check for understanding. I could make adjustments to the lesson as needed, and this improved learning outcomes for students. (Hint: If you pace one screen at a time and a student does not automatically move to the screen you designate, they are looking at a different tab on their computer. This is an opportunity to make certain everyone is engaged, whether they are sitting in the classroom or elsewhere.)

KAMI: I integrated Kami into Canvas. I used Kami for worksheet files to supplement the student workbooks. I had free, full access to all the Kami features for 100 days, then they wanted money. I seamlessly downgraded to the free version and it was fine for my purposes. With Kami, I can take a worksheet (like a sheet I get from Mathbits — legal because it is within the password protected LMS) by retrieving the pdf from my Kami folder in my school Google drive folder. I assign the sheet through Canvas and students access the sheet there as it populates in Kami. There, students can type, draw, highlight, and annotate as needed. Individual student work is saved in a class Google drive folder. I can access the student copy through Speed Grader in Canvas and write comments on individual student sheets. With Kami, I am more environmentally responsible and I save time making copies.

MATHBITS: The rigor of the Mathbits materials is top-shelf. The topics and sheets are well organized and cross-referenced to the standards. I know “worksheet” can be a bad word in education, but these are far from the worksheets I endured in the 70s. I write PTA mini grants to get my subscriptions funded if my school does not pay for my access. Because I now teach Integrated Math, I use three version of Mathbits regularly: Algebrabits; Algebra2bits; and Geometrybits. I use pre-algebrabits as well in years I teach the standard grade 8 math course. Beyond the worksheets, Mathbits has interactive quizzes and activities to which I facilitate student access. Also, Mathbitsnotebook is free and is where I send students who need a refresher or want extra practice.

QUIZIZZ: I used Quizizz a bit for quick checks for understanding. I usually had files already prepared from prior years so this was faster than building something in Canvas for a quick-check.

GOOGLE: Sheets, Jamboard: I spent much time creating collaborative student spaces with great back grounds and drag and drop matching cards and the like in the fall. This is what I used before I discovered Kami. I thought the Google Sheets and Jamboards were great, but they were much harder to manage than the combination of Desmos and Kami and really didn’t serve any better purpose. Issues arose when students would not access Google through their school Google account so I had to constantly remove access restrictions to accommodate that or spend the period serving in a tech support role. Though Google Sheets and Jamboards were pretty and I loved them, they didn’t stick around long in my classroom lineup of tech tools. I will likely use them when they serve the purpose in professional development sessions I create for teachers, but I do not see using Google with students next year.

ProblemAttic: I meant to use this resource more, but I forgot about it. The prior year I figured out how to create a quiz in Problemattic and import the questions to Canvas. It was awesome! I did not take the time to relearn how to do that this year. I am confident it will make its way back into my lineup this coming year.

There are several apps I thought I would use this year, but did not and I didn’t miss them. It’s not that they aren’t good; I just needed to streamline to survive. My students needed fewer options as well. Life was overwhelming enough already.

Nearpod: After what the district did to my kids the first month of school with all those carefully crafted lessons that my students didn’t complete or appreciate, I had a mutiny on my hands when I even mentioned the word “Nearpod.” It was a shame to waste that resource, but my students were not fans. That was not the hill I was willing to die on.

EdPuzzel; Flipgrid; Kahoot; Geogegbra; Padlet; DeltaMath: None of these made the cut this year. Well, Deltamath did show up a couple of times early on, but my kids said that’s all they did in 7^th grade, so I wasn’t going to force that on them, even though it is an outstanding resource. Too many different student interfaces and kids get frustrated. The math is lost while figuring out yet another application. I decided last spring, enough was enough and I tried to use as few math resources as I could this year while still setting up an engaging and productive math experience for my learners.

Each year I have a wonderful group of eager learners to work with and this crazy year was no exception. Implementing my classes as outlined above contributed my Math 2 students averaging 81/100 on the county exam while the county average was 44/100.  4 of my 61 Math 2 students failed the exam and 3/4ths of those failures can be traced to attendance issues among other obstacles that could not be overcome by these students.  In my Math 1 course 20% of the 59 students I taught exceeded state projections. About the 20% did not meet minimum state standards for the course, which meant 80% of my students were proficient. These results are low compared to a normal year, but I am confident results would have been better had we been full-time, face-to-face all year. My students are good souls who worked hard in spite of the challenges present due to the pandemic.

If I were you, would stop right here. The rest of this post is for my own documentation, but you are welcome to continue reading.

2020-21 behind the scenes:

I don’t even know where to start, but I survived and will return this fall to thrive as a better educator and as a better human.

The year was going to be missing some key players in my support system due to the retirements of a couple of my very best school chums, Jim and Lydia. I also lost my ELA partner, Meagan, when she decided to use another of her skills and teach Spanish instead of remaining in 8^th grade language arts. Grateful she was still at my school though. I was also without my 7^th grade math partner, Jeff, as he was succumbing to an aggressive cancer that was discovered over winter break 2019/20 and killed him the first week of school in August 2020.

School began in mid-August and settled into a rhythm in mid-September. That didn’t last. By October rumors started flying that staff members were changing classrooms. Nearly every single teacher moved. I had been in my room over 10 years and I had to move with little notice and less understanding for the move’s purpose. Before students came back live during 2^nd semester, 20+ classrooms had to be moved again. I was spared that move, but that drama cost a new administration any and all credibility they were trying to build with staff.

If you are keeping track, I lost 4 friends and my room so far and the leaves hadn’t yet fallen from the trees. January finally came. My dear sweet mother, who had been cursed with Alzheimer’s disease for the past 10 or more years, began her decline in physical health by no longer eating. I was able to sneak up to Ohio and see Mom in mid-January and teach from my dad’s dining room table for a couple days. February 2^nd during Core 3, my dad called to let me know Mom had just passed. Expected, but still hard. And final. A whirlwind trip through Ohio on our way to Minnesota in sub-zero temperatures for a lovely service and burial and I was headed back south.

By late February classes were running 70 minutes 5 days a week, where they had been 40 minutes per class, 4 days a week. That was a big adjustment physically, but certainly improved our ability to cover more of the curriculum. The 40 minute plan was predicated on the assumption that high stakes end-of-year testing would be waived by the state this year. That turned out to be a faulty assumption. We dug in deeper and finished as many of the standards as possible. By spring break, two-thirds of the students were in the building. Because at home learners needed to come into the building to test, schedules changed once again as testing season began. It ran from mid-May through the last day of school in the first week of June.

As if all of this were not enough, I decided to complete my Maintenance of Certification (MOC) for my National Board designation this year. I began the process and I attended multiple webinars that explained the submission requirements. Then I procrastinated and did not think about it until mid-February when I paid my fee. Then I procrastinated some more by not meticulously reading and outlining and making a plan using the printed MOC instructions. Every time I tried, I fell asleep. I was exhausted. In the mean time, I received emails informing MOC candidates that the deadline for submission had been extended. This happened multiple times. I also saw I had the option to defer my MOC submission until the 2021-22 school year and not have to pay the fee again. Mid-May I finally accept the fact that I would indeed have to defer, as I had no time to plan adequately nor did I have sufficient teaching days left. I was at peace. There was one problem though. I forgot to go to the NB site and inform them of my decision to defer. By the time I read where to go do that, the deadline had passed to defer, so I had a choice. I could submit nothing or submit the best application I could create between June 5^th and June 25^th. I was out the application fee either way, so I went for it. I submitted my MOC application with more than a day to spare.

All through May, I went to physical therapy to remedy a pain in my left hip and groin that plagued me for the better part of the past three years. June 12^th I am finally permitted to see an orthopedist who declares that I need to total hip replacement as my ball and socket are now bone on bone. Surgery was scheduled for Friday, July 2^nd. That gave me June 25^th to July 1^st to get a couple summer projects completed while I could still drive and go up and down stairs independently.

Tuesday after surgery, I was at physical therapy discussing some of my experiences at the surgical center and I start crying. No idea where that came from. The therapist assured me that it was totally understandable. Surgery and recovery take their toll. I got myself together and did what I came there to do – complete strength evaluations and receive exercise assignments. I now have a routine that I can execute to regain strength in my left leg and hip so I will be in shape when school begins August 23^rd.

This spring and summer more retirements and resignations continue to peck away at my group of school confidants. I am going to do my best this year, but remain in my lane. That may be part of my theme for the year – stay in my lane.

Forget Normal. Let’s Get Real.

If you thought the close of the 2019/2020 school year was unusual, just wait for the beginning, middle and end of the 2020/2021 year! No stakeholders are going to recognize their roles in regard to school this year. Parents are in the process of making decisions about their children’s educational environments without full information. Students are starved for face-to-face contact with peers, as they realize the limitations of social media. The US economy has come to the startling realization that academics are just one function of schools. And teachers. Teachers are going to reinvent teaching once again as we correct issues that were duct-taped together last spring.

Here is my outline of what must be better in schools this year along with my proposals for improvements.

Students need a reasonable number of classes. My 8^thgraders had 7 to 8 classes to keep up with last spring. When I called students to find out how I could help them when I saw them falling behind, I discovered they were working on some classes at the expense of others. A student with three different technology classes could never get to his math or his English. I tried to meet with students in small groups to help them prioritize their workloads. They were overwhelmed and ill equipped to make decisions about how much time to spend on an assignment. They got behind and soon saw no point in working to catch up. This cannot happen this year. We, as the adults in the room, must make this process manageable for learners. Students should have only 4 to 5 classes. If a student wants an elective class, it should be just that – elective. This recommendation stands whether schools are online, face-to-face or a hybrid. This is a temporary measure. Not permanent. (I know we must have arts and technology and physical education, but right now, we need to get our students to read and write on grade-level, or at the very least, at pre-Covid-19 levels.)

You may question, if student have only 4 to 5 courses, will such a plan would lead to an excess of elective teachers? Certainly not. Those teachers have experiences and relationships with students that must be utilized in general core education classes if students are going to be able to make up for lost learning from last year and move forward with grade-level content.  This is true regardless of the medium of education. We need all teachers focused the same goal, to get education back on track, not teachers fighting for one course to have priority over another. 

In a face-to-face class situation, multiple teachers will be required for each core class as the class size will be too large to fit in a single classroom. A second teacher will be needed, not a monitor. A teacher—a trained, licensed educator. I do not worry about content knowledge. That can be acquired, or rather reacquired. These teachers are college educated. I am confident they can quickly grasp 8^thgrade concepts.  And, they can learn right along with the students if need be. Adults by their very nature can learn more quickly than middle-schoolers. Adults can share their sincere joy of learning with the students. The adults can also bring a perspective to the learning that can benefit the learning process in the class. Teachers by nature are lifelong learners. They love to learn and share that learning. That can benefit students in ways that I could never do by myself.  This is a job I would only trust to my colleagues that are already in the building. I do not need an assistant. I need an equal partner. 

The same holds if classes are held entirely online. Any teacher with experience from last spring will tell you that it takes much more time to prepare for online class than it does for face-to-face class. It also takes longer to provide students with individual, quality feedback. It takes longer to facilitate constructive discussions among learners. Having multiple teachers with varied areas of expertise in content and technology can bring the entire online educational experience to another level entirely. There will be a synergistic affect that will benefit teachers and students alike. Again, I do not need an assistant. I need a peer who has skin in the game to help bring our learners to where they need to be so they may move forward with deftness and alacrity.

And what if the classes are hybrid? The amount of work required on the part of teachers to conduct a hybrid model is a daunting thought. If half of the students are learning at home three days a week and in school two days a week and then the halves switch, a single teacher cannot prepare, conduct, and provide feedback under two entirely different educational mediums in a single day, let alone four out of five days. The amount of preparation, monitoring, support, feedback, assessing, grading, reteaching, follow-up, parent contact, documentation, research and planning required for one course is staggering. One adult simply cannot successfully sustain this any period of time.  It will take a team of motivated, committed, trusted teachers to accomplish this. I know of no better teachers to rise to this challenge than the elective teachers with whom I have worked over the past 14 years. They are committed, intelligent, and trusted. All educators must be utilized to help our students at this time. This is when we must come together and show what we can do. 

I heard a school board member say at last week’s meeting that elective teachers would not go for a model that put them in general education classrooms. I think the school board members expect that these teachers would be monitors rather than teachers. Teachers are teachers and want what is best for student learning. These specially, intentionally placed teachers are not being devalued. On the contrary, they are being revalued. They are what can help right this wronged situation in which education now finds itself. We would be doing our students a disservice if we placed monitors with them in annexed classrooms rather than driven, qualified, quality teachers.  Motivated adults can acquire content knowledge quickly. The expertise that a qualified teacher brings to a class comes with experience.

There is not time, money or space to hold school safely to a pre-March 13^th standard. Teachers must work together for the benefit of society to get the education ship righted sooner rather than later. The better our educational system is, the better the economy will be. We must remember that we are helping build the creators of this world who will go on to be great leaders, inventors, and scientists; great writers, problem solvers, artists, and thinkers. I get a sense from neighbors, the small town newspaper, local and national news broadcasts, Facebook “friends” and users of Twitter that teachers are being vilified for their concern about returning to a physical classroom. Teachers know what makes a classroom a successful place to learn. A classroom has students learning and working together. It has teachers challenging and scaffolding students as these learners construct their own knowledge and understandings. Putting students into classrooms, spaced six feet apart, under vigilant monitoring to keep learners from following their instincts to get close to one another; to share thinking as well as supplies; to be stuck in the same room all day long as teachers move from room to room, this sounds miserable for all parties. Nobody wants to be back in the classroom more than teachers. We want to do what we do as teachers and have students do what they do as learners, but the traditional look of that is not safe at this point in time. It will not be safe for quite a while. I do not like these facts, but I must accept them. I must be able to move forward productively for the benefit of my students. Posterity is counting on us.

As I was drafting this post, I ran across this Tweet from @MathDenisNJ. Thanks Denis.

“no one can deny the benefits of in-person learning”–everyone who wants to reopen schools.

“Taking kids, spreading them at least 6 feet apart, putting them behind masks and desk shields and not letting their teacher or peers go anywhere near them is NOT in person learning”–ME

— Denis Sheeran (@MathDenisNJ) July 31, 2020

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Planning Out-loud

I am trying to plan a bit for next year. This is some raw thinking, so feel free to push back. Until I have a pacing guide, I am going to work on structure, regardless of the course. I will be teaching NC Integrated Maths 1 and 2 to 8th graders.

I learned several things last spring. I have other areas to bring into focus so I can work on them. Here’s where I am now:

1. There needs to be a school bell schedule of sorts. This cannot come from me, but must be implemented above me. I tried to keep a schedule of synchronous classes last spring and continuously had to adjust my days and times due to staff meetings and department meetings and district training opportunities. Teachers and students need consistent structure, just like a normal school day.

2. Students need a schedule. Last spring, my most successful students were those whose parents made certain they went to bed at night and got up in the morning. Structure and home support matter. While that is always the case, the effects of parental support and structure are amplified with online school when learners are not yet in the mindset of self-monitoring.

3. Too many apps and links and new programs for students leave little time to concentrate on learning content. Figure out the most beneficial tools and stick to them. Seems to me 3 to 5 applications are the maximum any class should have throughout the year. I will be using Desmos, Nearpod and Edpuzzle for certain.

4. Planning at least a Module at a time is essential. Tweaks here and there must be made, but a longer-range plan is helpful. I hope I know where we are expected to be at the end of the first 5 weeks of school so I can plan backwards. I know I want to spend ample time up-front getting to know my learners and their support systems.

 5. Synchronous class time is sacred and must be used for class discussions, discoveries and sharing if student work. Students can take quizzes, complete practice, interact with videos, check homework and take notes on their own time. It is likely I will only see learners twice a week.

6. A platform must exist where students can easily submit work from their workbooks so I can plan how to use that work to further learning in class. Perhaps I set up a Google folder by course by week where students submit pictures or scans of their work. If students can scan their work into a file. I can select and sequence work for class discussions in realtime. Maybe there is a way to do this within Canvas. 

7. Students must value learning for learning’s sake if online learning is going to be successful. If students go through the motions, checking off boxes with no real interest in outcomes other than grades or parent approval, they will be able to play the game of online school. However, students will not truly be successful at it. So, how do I build the culture I want online? This is always the culture I strive for in my classrooms. My students can hear, feel and see my passion for learning, and for many, that is enough inspiration. That is far from the norm though. I must help them find joy in learning.

8. I want a white board where students can draft their mathematical thinking as they develop it. I know I am going to send physical white boards home with students when they come to pick up their workbooks, but what about an electronic whiteboard? I just started looking at Google’s Jam Board. I like that the boards can be captured as images. I like that you can add post-it notes so you can actually type things in. Typing with a mouse causes hand cramps and not everyone has a stylus or a touch screen for writing. Canvas has sharable whiteboard space, but it gets very crowded with large classes. Zoom also has annotation tools that could be used as a white board. I’m still testing out options.

9. Summative assessments can be run through Canvas, though I think I will tighten the windows of time available for assessments from what I permitted in the spring. By being too accommodating last spring, some students got so far behind they could not catch up so they gave up entirely. 

10. Communication with parents needs to be simple and systematic. I need to develop a newsletter format, include links for additional help, preview the coming week and recap the past week. This must be done for all courses. This will help me stay better organized and focused as well. I will put samples of the technology we will use in our learning for the week. I may put in talking points to help parents engage in conversations about learning math with their children. A weekly calendar will be necessary.

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11. I see I have two classes of 37 students and 2 classes of 29 students at this point. I know supplemental instruction will be necessary as there is likely unfinished learning from last year. I envision this will be short videos I find or create. I do not want to steal student learning through these, but they must be efficient if students are going to watch them. Again, these videos will help me focus the course content. Videos can be part of a Nearpod lesson, an Edpuzzle lesson, a Desmos activity or they can stand alone as a file within Canvas. The key here is efficiency to cover unfinished learning from prior courses. I hope to accompany these with “green sheets” and train learners how to use these to support their learning so we may continue to work on course-level material.

12. Train students on using discussion boards in Canvas. I made an incorrect assumption last year that students knew how to respond and interact with discussion boards through Canvas before our remote learning experience. I was wrong. 

13. Activities in Desmos as well as the MVP/OUR lesson activities require perseverance on the part of students. Positive experiences requiring effort and perseverance will be key in the first two weeks of school to instill these qualities in students.

14. Not everything that matters counts toward a grade. Students and parents alike need to understand what grades are in my classes. Grades reflect mastering the standards. Grades are not rewards any more than they are punishments. Grades are simply the common shorthand language spoken and understood among parents, teachers and students. See number 7.

 15. Last year I did not teach Math 1. In fact I only taught Math 1 one year since the implementation of Common Core and those students just graduated. I am excited about this course. It used to be that students had 20 days to solidify their placement in Math 1. If, upon mutual agreement among parent, student and teacher, it is determined to be in the student’s best interest to move over to a grade-level Math 8 class, that could be accommodated, but only within the first 20 days of school. This first 20 days will be, likely, online. This necessitates additional relationship building with students and parents involved in Math 1 to get to know these students well enough to determine what is, indeed, in their best interests. It is also possible that the “20 day letter” is no longer a thing.

Emerging categories based on numbers above:

In my control 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Not in my control 1 2 7

Teacher 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 
Student  2 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15
Parent  2 5 10 14 15
Administration  1 2

Tangible 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12
Intangible 7 14 15

Looking at my crude sorting of ideas, it is clear that students and I together shoulder the most responsibility. This is as it should be and always has been. I hope my list helps me better prepare communications with parents and students regarding needs and expectations. Looks like I have some work to do so I better get to it.

Perfectly Timed Lesson and Distance Learning Vaughn_trapped Style

Mathematics Vision Project is the curriculum I am using and we began the last Module for Math 2 this week. The first lesson set the stage for some meaningful LIVE online conversation with learners. The lesson is titled “TB or Not TB” and uses, as you might guess, tuberculosis testing results for the basis of studying the meaning of conditional probabilities. I launched the lesson and students naturally  substituted Covid19 testing for TB as we thought about the context. We had the discussion of what it means to have a false positive or a false negative. We talked about which was more dangerous. Students were more invested because they could relate to the lesson’s context. They indeed met the goal of developing an understanding of the situation presented.

So, you may be wondering how exactly I pull-off live discussions in the middle of May, 2020 with 40-some 8th graders. Well here is some of what I have finally landed on after many failed experiments and inefficiencies.

• We meet LIVE two days a week, for those learners who are able to. I usually get 35 to 45 participants from a course of 52 students. That’s 2 brink and mortar style classes, but I run a combined virtual session.
• We review the lesson assigned the prior day and preview the next lesson.
• Students ask clarifying questions, offer options and make conjectures on open mic or in the chat window.
• For online LIVE lessons, I take a district created PowerPoint and dump it down to a pdf. (Pardon my lack of technical jargon. I am a technosaurous trying to survive in the 21^st century.) I import that pdf and share it with my class by way of a shared screen through Big Blue Button  which we access through Conferences in Canvas. I, as well as students, can write in real-time on the “slides”. The writing stays with the slides when I forward them which is handy if we need to revisit. (Note to self – go back after class and record those screens of the lesson that are marked up for students who were not there.)
• I make clear the purpose/goal of each lesson and make certain through discussions that we hit the main points of the lesson. Students have their workbooks that mimic the slides so we are all literally on the same page. Students take notes and write down questions to ponder. I have them circle words and we go through new notations, for example, in this lesson, conditional probability…the probability that A occurs given B has already happened: P(A|B). This detail of instruction is NOT in the workbook because the workbook is NOT a textbook. A teacher is needed to execute this curriculum. Students also ask questions of me and of one another.
• After the LIVE session, I post a scan of my completed lesson workbook pages to Canvas. To do this, I use a set of RocketBook Beacons that I attached to a small whiteboard. I point my phone at them and they shoot themselves to where ever I desire, usually my school email, but I am experimenting with other options. (I started by using my RocketBook pages and balancing my workbook while displaying the medallion at the bottom of the page, but Beacons are faster and create clearer images for me. I am not using them as they were designed, but it works for me.
  
  Here is the result:   8-1-1.
• Another thing I use to work with my learners online is a pdf of chosen problems from Problem Attic. I format and download a set of questions I harvest and choose to display one question per page, extra large, simple font to a pdf. If we want to quiz ourselves, I import that pdf and share the screen as I did with the lesson pages. We use the polling options available through Big Blue Button if I choose multiple choice questions. I can also have students type answers into the chat window, but wait to press enter until I count down so they do not steal the opportunity for others to learn. We also write on the shared screen and talk about the questions. I then post this set of practice problems along with an answer key to Canvas after the LIVE session for all to access.
• We finish in an hour. So that’s one hour twice a week LIVE. Since April 12^th : we finished one module, including quizzes and a test, that we started before March 13 – the day the world changed; we completed an entirely new module and quizzed twice and tested on it; now we are into the final module which we will finish including testing by June 5th. It cis everything that I have motivated learners and for that I am grateful. I have measured results. Students who attend and participate in the LIVE sessions perform better on assessments.

So, this may look and even feel successful at times. I assure you, it is far from optimal. I miss the smells and the noises and the looks of elation as well as confusion. I miss sitting close to kids and watching them think through concepts. I miss being able to see individual student work so I can sequence it for sharing with the class. I miss seeing my students’ smiles when I say, “White Boards—GO!” as they run to their favorite #VNPS in the room. I do love that my kids are driven learners. They have worked and they have been exposed and the large majority of them have really tried.

At long last…something to say

Time to blog. In the midst of a year where I felt like I little productive to add to the education community, I am now in a position to do so.

I just got off a Zoom chat with my niece who teaches in China. Here is some valuable information from our conversation.

Glimpse into our future first:

• Temperature checks are the norm. They happen as you enter a grocery store, your apartment complex and your school building. This is still occurring three months into the situation in China.
• After two months of isolation, they are now seeing people moving about the community, though most wear masks of some sort.
• They never had the shortages we are experiencing. Call it what you will.
• They have been told multiple times that the school will reopen, only to have it delayed week after week.
• Plan no more than a week ahead.

Now for school issues:

• Many parents at first were concerned that education was not really taking place online, but most have now come to grips with the reality of the situation and see and support remote learning for their children. Expect resistance and pushback from parents at first. It might not be as bad in the states since parents will have the benefit of seeing how the rest of the world is coping with education already.
• Keeping regular school hours is important. Even if you teach the same course multiple times during the day, combining classes does not work because students will be attending other classes. To avoid coordination issues, you must see your classes at your regularly scheduled times online.
• See your classes face to face via Zoom or some other such medium at least once a week if not daily. Students need that. The learning must be real. Seeing faces makes it more real.
• Some parents may opt their children out of this learning platform. That is administration’s issue to deal with. Report it, but spend your time with the students who are signed in to learn. Be there for them rather than chasing students you cannot catch. It’s the same group you were have trouble reaching in the regular classroom.
• There will be pleasant surprises. Some students who were tuned out at school now have a parent supervisor making certain they attend to their schooling. It will be so nice to have them being part of the learning process.
• Set up assignments no more than a week at a time. Some students will go ahead and it will be impossible for you to keep ahead, current and play catch up all at the same time.
• If students do not begin when the classes begin, it will be nearly impossible for them to catch up. Make certain the start times are sent out loud and clear!
• With all that said, stay positive and flexible. Embrace the learning you are doing and celebrate the initiative your learners are taking.
• Students who did not take action during class will not likely take action under these new circumstances. Teach those who are there to learn.
• Begin with as much structure as you can and maintain that structure. Try not to make changes along the way if you can help it.
• Teaching a course at the same time as teaching a learning platform is nearly impossible. Get the platform in place first. That should be easy for my students as their science and language arts teachers have done such a good job running their classes through Canvas for the past couple years. I hope you are similarly situated. If you are not in that position, get the platform set first so students know how to communicate and retrieve information.
• Thought you weren’t a technology teacher? Think again.
• Day by day changes will happen. Week by week changes will happen. My niece has seen reopening dates announced, reschedule and then cancelled. They play it week by week, but they have a routine and classes are in session. We can and will do likewise.

Now, with all that said, be safe. Love yourself.

I don’t know about you, but I am feeling overwhelmed and a bit depressed. I think this is probably normal — whatever that means these days. What I do know for certain is that we need one another. I can’t high-five you or give you a hug (not that I’m big on that under normal circumstances) or shake your hand, but please know, I want to help you and I want to help my learners. Be safe. Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. Live, love, math — in that order!!

Teacher-Dress–Just this Gal’s Opinion

I listened to an old podcast (September 2017) the other day on the topic of appropriate teacher dress. (Hack Learning episode 101) I was happy to see this topic being addressed, as it is important for teachers to dress professionally.

This topic stirs up ire among some educators, but I’m not talking about suits, ties, stockings and pumps verses polos, jeans, bare legs and deck-shoes. I am talking about my self-imposed rules on teacher-dress. It includes items that never make it to any official policy. The majority of these rules evolved over time, though my daughter, Kari, imposes a couple rules. She was in the eighth grade when I began teaching so she had more experience than I observing teacher dress. I listen to her because she is observant and reasonable. Besides, as a princess, her rules are nonnegotiable.

My rules:

• Shoes: polished and no flip-flops ever. Sandals are ok if you feel safe in them, but not recommended. It is far better to have only one quality (probably expensive) pair of shoes that you wear everyday than it is to have several pairs of cheep shoes that hurt your feet.
• Pants, skirts, dresses and shirts: cleaned and ironed with no missing buttons and hemmed to the appropriate length. It is just as bad for something to be too long as it is for it to be too short. It is perfectly fine to wear black pants every single day. That way, you can wear the same pair two days in a row and nobody notices. That is a pro-tip from a former guidance counselor.
• Avoid clothing with advertising or political statements or Santa or pumpkins or flags.
• Choose clothing that fits you well, in which you feel confident. If you have a single doubt about an article of clothing as you get dressed, obey that doubt. Wear it and it will bother you all day.

Now for Kari’s rules:

• Undergarments—ladies, wear padded-bras; gentlemen, wear undershirts. We all need a bit of smoothing from time to time. Also, visible panty lines (vpl) are to be avoided. And nobody wants to see your thong or panties peeking out over your waistband. Ever.
• Absolutely NO sweater sets. I think this rule stems from a bad experience with a chronic sweater-set wearer, but I honor it.

That’s it. Hope this is helpful or at least made you laugh and think.

If you know me personally, you know I like to wear clothing made with printed fabrics with math designs. I know this is super-tacky, but it’s part of my signature. And, I don’t dress like that every day, unless I am at a math conference! I am certain my choice of attire is against somebody else’s list of rules. I’m ok with that.

2016 First Ever Room Tour

Let’s start with my very favorite thing in case you check out before the end or the tour.

My husband and I visited Boston two weeks ago and we toured Fenway Park. He took some pictures during the tour and I didn’t think much of it because that’s just what he does. I headed for the beach two days after we got home for one last hurrah before school. When I got home he had a present for me. It was this photo mounted on a canvas. He said it was for my classroom, because I’m a little different. Isn’t that the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard? I’ve been teaching ten years and he now gets it. What a guy! BTW, if you don’t know the story, the red seat marks the spot in right field where Ted Williams hit the longest recorded home run in Fenway.

This is my front door. See my Varsity Math sticker? Bottom right: #ObserveMe Notice.

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Look around and you’ll see lots of recycled items: jean pockets to hold calculators and whiteboard markers and odd socks as erasers; CDs to cover old filing cabinets that will hold commented and graded student work for return; carburetor lamp; type writers circa 1927 and 1941; rotary phone; old chair.

Can you spot #TMC16 inspirations? Birthday (function) wall; Varsity math badge;

MTBoS nods? Mind Set bulletin board; not yet; #ObserveMe feedback forms are on the clipboard on the middle bookcase

Vaughn originals: Pencil sharpener for the hallway secured with red duct tape; posters; bad artificial tree that says “Math, you can’t fake it”; shoulder partner buckets for supplies

Misc: Vertical work surfaces; standards for mathematical practice; 36 student desks (moving 4 more in tomorrow)

Well, that’s my first room tour ever. Hope you found it above average.

 

Reflecting forward

My tenth year has ended. It was the worst year I have EVER had. It lacked joy. I didn’t sleep most of the year because my mind would never rest. My mind was constantly churning and constantly beating me up. For ten or so days after school was out, I slept so hard. Like my mom. Like a kid coming home from a drive-in movie. No light, alarm, dog, husband, phone, touch or voice could wake me. I would get up mid morning. Get myself something to eat and change my clothes and then go take my morning nap. Sometimes I took an afternoon nap too. I‘m now normal. I’m up around six and don’t stop moving until 11 p.m. or so. I’m sleeping about four consecutive hours each night and then just sort of lying there. Thinking. Only now I’m thinking about next year. And that’s good.

Next year is going to be great. I’m a bit anxious because I am going to have one Math 2 class rather than two. I will then have either three Math 8’s or I will get to add a Math 1—which I have never taught—to make up my 4 classes. There will be 35 to 40 students in the one Math 2 class. As I packed up my room for the year, I was packing with next year in mind. I also packed thinking about what drove me crazy last year and what went well or at least ok that I want to keep and improve.

I revised my opener procedure mid-year for the better. It is going to be even better this coming year. I will have a weekly sheet that students will use to record their openers that I won’t have to customize each week. Last year I varied each day among Which One Doesn’t Belong (www.wodb.com), solvememobiles (http://solveme.edc.org ), Estimation 180 (http://www.estimation180.com), Would You Rather (http://www.wouldyourathermath.com ), student error analysis, blast from the past, pre-view to testing, Visual Patterns (http://www.visualpatterns.org) and do it another way. The students noticed and wondered though some wandered. I thought I would set a certain day for certain openers and I just couldn’t keep up with the schedule. Mid-year I compiled the openers for the entire next week Friday afternoon or Sunday (like a normal teacher). I also began with a different opener for my Math 8 kids from my Math 2 kids. That was stupid. My Math 8 kids could do Math 2 prompts and Math 2s needed some Math 8 prompts as well. By spring break I was down to one opener for all four classes. I’ll generi-size my opener recording sheet and continue with the Friday harvesting of opener prompts next year.

First day of school….wish…The first day of school we will practice getting to and from the whiteboards quickly, quietly and neatly. Last year I tried having individual what boards in sacs which were on the backs of student seats. Seemed brilliant, but it was a mess. Markers would go missing. The socks I have students use as erasers would get lost. Trash piled up in the bags. The custodian would throw my dirty socks away. I’m changing (I actually changed before Christmas). I want the kids standing anyway. We just need to practice so they know what I expect. I envision doing the white board routine at least three times for each class this first day and at least once a day for the first week and every Monday and then another day per week for the first month. As soon as we get the lap-tops/tablets we will incorporate desmos activities as well as desmos calculator. I will introduce them to desmos at the same time as they are getting to know their devices since that will be our main use for the devices.The third day, Wednesday, I am definitely doing Sara Vanderwerf’s 100 challenge for design group work as well as partner work norms for the classes. If you haven’t seen that, go here, but come back because I’m not finished.

See what I just did? I got so excited I just interrupted myself. That happens in the classroom too. There’re enough interruptions without me interrupting myself. I may need to have someone monitor me with the “um can.” I learned about the um can in 1992 in a Dale Carnegie class I was taking through work (pension business back then.) We would prepare and give short talks to our class. If the speaker said “um” more than twice in the speech the leader would shake a can of pennies at you after each additional um. This cured the ums in a hurry.

That first week I absolutely need to see who these new students are and let the kids figure out a bit of who I am. I love high energy and adore math dialogue among students. Non-math talk however makes my hair stand up. It also raises my blood pressure, my heart and breathing rates and my voice. The only thing that is lowered is my ability to think. I just freak out in chaos. (It’s not only in class, but also while shopping, at parties and in NYC… I need to get this figured out because…well just because.) So, I need clear expectations for my students.

I am definitely adding Number Talks on a regular basis. Daily at first, probably starting Thursday or earlier if there is time. I know I am not doing Interactive Notebooks (INB). I tried last year and that was part of my misery. It was awful. It seemed to be all craft and no math and that drove me nuts. It was also harder to plan for than I expected. The math didn’t have a chance to ramp up at a good clip and it just stunk. I really tried. What a disaster! Kudos to those who do it successfully and make it look so easy. I will never forgive you, however, for fooling me into thinking I could pull it off.

Because of the INBs I made the smooth move of putting together shoulder partner buckets so they weren’t a total loss. I’m going to stock the buckets better this year. Besides glue, crayons, highlighters, rulers aka straight edges, and scissors I’m going to add index cards (I use them for formative assessment almost daily). I’m going to have 4 quadrant buckets that contain tape and staplers for each of the four quadrants of the room to share.

If I graphed the neatness of my classroom throughout the year it would look like this:

I want it to look line this:

See all the students making a mess while learning? Isn’t it great?

To help me reach that goal all the while making myself a better teacher for students I am doing some amazing professional development this summer. I truly believe each of them will be game changers for me.My first PD is Twitter Math Camp aka TMathC16, TMC16, TMC, etc. It’s being held at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. I got in. They filled registration in 8 hours and I got in! I can’t even believe it. I’m not worthy, but I’m going anyway. I want to learn from the best so I am going to the best. TMC is put together by teachers for teachers—a group of teachers who are collectively known as MTBoS (Math Twitter Blog-o-Sphere.) I didn’t get into the Desmos session that precedes it, but I’m on the waiting list. I really want to go to that. Hopefully enough people will share what they learn there with me so I don’t miss anything. Or, maybe, they will Periscope it like they did TMC last year. I was a super-stalker last year once I found the Periscope link. I will get more ideas than I am even imagining and I’m imagining lots!

I am also part of the second cohort of PTec. It is a professional development opportunity funded through a grant partnership with PTEC (Piedmont Triad Education Consortium) and MAPSS (Math and Problem Based Learning for Student Success). This is a group of teachers from certain counties in NC who are going on a multifaceted quest for better teaching and therefore better student learning. There is a leadership component where I will learn about myself and how who I am is affecting my classroom. There is also problem based learning incorporated, but not PBL in the normal sense and not PBL exclusively. We will be together at Wake Forest University for two consecutive weeks learning, planning and even test-driving what we learn on real kids! With this PD comes classroom support. They will actually come and observe me in action at my school and give me feedback. I’ve been waiting for substantial feedback in my classroom for more than 10 years if you count student teaching. There are also two retreats (fall and spring) where we will tweak and plan our classes. If someone would have to put a price tag on this PD would be well over $15,000, but it’s free to me because of a multi-county grant! Are you kidding??? (I even get paid to attend! That will pay for TMC!)

I know, too many exclamation points. Sorry. I’m just excited.OK, well if you’ve stuck with me congratulations!. You have earned the Vlog-merit Badge!

Vlog Merit Badge—given for perseverance in reading Vaughn’s blog!

360 Degrees of White Boards

360 degrees of white boards!

I have always been a fan of students working at the board ever since I was in high school. I can still hear Mr. Wolfram say, “Sara! Take your row to the board!” In my own classroom, 35+ years later, I knew I needed to get kids up and working.

When students are up, they take advantage of the opportunity to learn from one another. They also practice critiquing the work of others; they learn from watching and doing with others in a way that doesn’t happen when seated. Students also see that there really are multiple ways to solve the same problem. I needed to get all 31 students up at the same time–fast–and for little or no money.

I started thinking of surfaces that students could write on with dry erase markers. I thought of pieces of vinyl, but I couldn’t find anything that was shiny at a reasonable price. I decided to try a shower curtain from Dollar General. It wiped off…if wiped off right away, but it was a bear to get clean without fluid once the ink fully dried. That was strike two. I found some old laminated posters. The backsides of those worked. They were easy to attach to the walls, doors and bulletin boards with fancy duct tape and they didn’t take up a huge amount of space. They were also free. I also decided to use the window in the back of my room as a writing surface. That is absolutely the best surface of all!

With the surfaces up, it was time for logistics. I recently added seat numbers to my student desks to help with the seating chart. (That’s the green and blue thing in the upper right corner of the panoramic pic. I like to change seats at least quarterly, seating students who need the most support and supervision closest to where I can see them at all times.) I also have calculators assigned to students that correspond with their seat numbers. Hit by a rare stroke of genius, I decided to assign students to white board space so I am using my numbering system for that too. By assigning spaces, I make sure I have students who need the most support in the prime board spots. I also make sure to stagger my students by ability so they can support one another in a positive way. Students are also more productive when I decide where they stand.

The classes are now in the process of training to get to and from the board spots efficiently and quietly. There are still individual white boards available at the desks when we want to work with shoulder partners or if a student needs to be seated for some other reason.

Now every day, students come into my room and ask, “Can we do white boards today?” Highly engaged, enthusiastic students? In eighth grade? Yes.

Drops mic. Walks off stage.

Poster time

I tried some poster making today. My media specialist told me I could print at Office Depot so I’m going to try that tomorrow. I’ve never done this before, so please, I am open to suggestions.