Turn & Talk - Testing-Style

I tried something new this week. Two somethings new, actually.

Algebra 1 had their first unit test on expressions and equations.

The first thing I tried was an idea I got from Howie Hua (@howie_hua) on Twitter. He gives his students 5 minutes before a test to talk about the test - without pencils - with classmates. He says it lowers test anxiety and results in "rich" math-talk (I LOVE math-talk).

Many other teachers have used his idea, and they have all posted glowing tweets from the experience.

So I tried it. I called it "Test Turn & Talk." I told students they had to stay in their seats and could talk to the classmates around them.

I knew right away it was beneficial when students read the first question and I heard, "What's a coefficient?" from a couple of students. I heard students talk about making sure they looked at the last questions of the test. A couple of students didn't say anything to anybody. Students probably spent about 3 minutes actually talking about the test; after that, the conversations turned decidedly non-mathematical.

I liked the process. Those who had forgotten what a "coefficient" is would have been stumped on the first question, and that would likely have affected their performance on the whole test. I could sense confidence and calmness as students had the chance to look at and even talk about the test before they started.

As I read about Howie's practice last year, I wondered if it could be applied to some sort of test correction procedure.

So I tried another something new the day after the test.

I marked the tests the day they were turned in. With highlighter. I didn't write any "points off" or what grade students had made. If they missed any part of any question, the question got highlighted.

The next day I passed the tests back to the students. I gave them an official "Test Corrections" sheet (using the same one I blogged about last year). The sheet forces them to explain what they did wrong the first time AND makes the corrections easier to grade because they're all nice and organized.

After receiving their tests, students had 10 minutes to work individually. They could consult their notes and ask me clarifying or directional questions (although I told them I would not find their mistakes for them or tell them how to rework the problems).

Then students were given 5 minutes of "Turn & Talk" time. They had to put their pencils down (we found that under the desk was better) and they could talk about their tests/corrections/work. They, once again, had to stay in their seats.

We repeated the process 3 times.

There was lots of great math-talk. I heard lots of "OOOHHHHH!" as lightbulbs came on. I heard students share strategies for problems I might not have thought of.

After corrections, I regraded the tests - with the corrected problems - and gave students "points back" from what they would have earned had the tests been given a grade the first day.

The overall result of the two days of different forms of "Turn & Talk"? Happy students and a happy teacher.

I gave a reflection on the third day asking students what they thought about each thing: "Turn & Talk" before the test and "Turn & Talk" mixed in with individual work time for test corrections.

For the pre-test "Turn & Talk," students mentioned feeling more confident and less overwhelmed.

For the test corrections process, students mentioned really understanding why they had missed problems (win!). They, of course, loved being able to improve their grade. One student said it was his/her favorite thing a teacher has ever done.

As for suggestions from the students, they wanted more time to "Turn & Talk," and they want to be able to use their pencils during "Turn & Talk" time; they also would like to be able to move around the room. Right now, I like the 5 minutes. I also like the no-pencil policy; I don't want students simply copying from someone else, and I like that they have to process and remember what they discussed with peers when they return to their work. As for "Walk & Talk" (as one student called it)...I'm not sure. I want them to work with the students around them (their seats change all the time), and I don't want the whole class to mob the one kid they are confident will know how to do everything.

One student suggested a couple of minutes of individual time before "Turn & Talk" time for the pre-test. I like that idea. When I first told students to "talk" before the test, they sort of looked at each other and didn't know where to start.

I REALLY liked having tests AND corrections graded and posted in 2 days. A big reason for this is the 10-question assessments from this bundle along with this curriculum guide from Rise Over Run that I am using and loving this year. It deserves an eventual post of its own, but 10 great (editable) questions that tell me everything I need to know is a great way to do tests!

Weekly Warm-Ups #MTBoSBlaugust

It's the last day of August! Time to squeeze in one more post for the challenge.

I have always struggled with bell-ringers/warm-ups. There. I said it.

The last couple of years I have tried to incorporate daily spiral review using a product I purchased, but I found editing and compiling each week's daily problems extremely time-consuming. And then I would get so frustrated when kids just sat there waiting until I went over the answers.

I have read Sarah Carter's Weekly Schedule, and I decided I wanted to incorporate something similar.

I knew I wanted to be alliterative. So this is what I came up with.

Magnificent Monday
I got this straight from Sarah's "Good Things Monday." Through a prompt in Google Classroom, students tell me something positive that has happened recently. Then I ask for volunteers to share.

I'm learning what matters to my students. I learn things I can use to kick off conversations with individual students. I also learn things that are challenging for them, such as when one said, "Well, there's not anything positive right now; we just learned my grandmother has cancer."

24 Tuesday
I learned last year that students enjoyed "24" and bought a set of cards from Amazon.

Students are shown a card with 4 numbers; they have to use all 4 numbers and any operations to equal 24.

They get to use their dry-erase pockets for this! We get to talk about expressions and the order of operations and grouping symbols.

Right now our cards have been a little simple, and I think they're ready for more of a challenge.

WODB/Would You Rather Wednesday
Our first day of school was a Wednesday, and I did a "Would You Rather..." Cheez-It activity. This website has lots of mathematical ideas. (BTW, I learned "Would You Rather" can also be an inappropriate game played among middle schoolers. Can't anything stay clean?!?)

Since then, I've done "Which one doesn't belong?" on Wednesday. There is a website with lots of options. I also purchased this ebook from MashupMath.

I think kids like an activity where there is no wrong answer and they can share their thinking. Some like sharing their thinking a little too much, LOL.

Two Truths & a Lie Thursday
I have always loved Two Truths & a Lie. Students are shown three mathematical statements. They have to determine which one is a lie and explain why it is the lie. TT&L is wonderful at exposing misconceptions.

I have a few TT&L slides from the MashupMath Instagram account. I also purchased the ebook.

Eventually, I will have students create their own TT&L statements to exchange with other students, using this idea from Sarah Carter.

Fall Back Friday
This was the hardest one for me to alliterate, LOL.

I wanted one day a week to include some spiral review.

The teacher who created the spiral review product I had been using developed a digital version! The review is now done via Google Forms. It is so much easier for me to edit, delete, or add questions.

I choose 5 questions. I tell students to do what they can; the 5 questions are "for information only," and I want to see what they remember and what we need to review. Since it is now no pressure and no stress, everybody tries SOMEthing. Even if they have to make a guess. They also like using their dry-erase pockets for "scratch work," so that makes the whole thing fun!

Then, over the weekend, I look at the results (I LOVE Google Forms) and pick two or three questions to talk about on Monday.

The process is so much less painless than what I was doing before.

------------------------------------------

I really like my new schedule. Kids come to class knowing there will be something low-stress and maybe even a little bit interesting and fun to do. In the Back-to-School reflection I asked students to do, at least one student mentioned enjoying the different themes for each day's warm-up.

I am having to prep each week's activities, but they're not time-consuming, and next year they'll all be ready to go.

I feel like I'm addressing lots of different thinking processes and that students will benefit from the varied activities.

Thanks, Sarah Carter, for the idea!

My New Love #MTBoSBlaugust

I have a new love.

It happened quite impulsively and rather unexpectedly.

It's a set of "Reusable Dry-Erase Pockets."

I was targeted (quite effectively, I might add) by a Groupon ad in my Facebook feed. Twenty-five pockets for $20.

I know teachers have been using these for some time, and I am extremely late to the party. The girl who covered my leave last year and my 8th-grade math counterpart used them some last year.

I got them not knowing exactly when or how I would use them.

And then I had a bell-ringer planned that would require a little bit of paper - either a notecard from me or a piece of scratch paper from students - and the lightbulb went off! I put a blank piece of paper in each pocket and set the pockets in the trays under the desks. I told students to use the pockets for their "think work."

That same day we had an activity where students would need to show some work, and I told them to use the pockets instead of getting paper out.

I think we've used them almost every day since.

And I'm in love.

Students show me more work than I ever see on paper. If I ask them to explain something, I get beautiful explanations, unlike anything I've ever seen. They'll even explain something when I HAVEN'T asked them to explain!

If I'm helping a group of students, I use a pocket to show MY work to them.

Twice I've put a template in the pockets that students use to work a problem. For example, my Pre-Algebra kids drew a reflection using a coordinate plane and pre-image on what I put in the pocket.

I can't wait until we are graphing lines!

Students are beginning to reach for the pockets any time they want to do some "think work."

I've had to figure out a few things. The little erasers I bought were a pain to keep up with - and didn't fit nicely in the pocket - and my coworker recommended flannel squares to erase. Now each pocket has a marker and a flannel square, and there's less for me to have to think about when we use them.

I mentioned to one class that their work and explanations were so good with the pockets. One student said, "Because writing on these is FUN!" I told them this was the first year I've used the pockets, and they said, "You've never used them before? We got to be FIRST!"

I find it a little funny that, in an age of finding the latest and greatest tech tool to use with students, something so completely low-tech is making such a difference in my classroom.

I may be late to the party, but I'm glad I finally arrived!

Back in My Happy Place #MTBoSBlaugust

I'm participating in the August Blog Challenge of the Math Teacher/Twitter Blog-o-Sphere (MTBoS). Some of my participation will be through my Instagram teacher page (mrsgibbsmathmatters).

If I can remember to tag my posts, LOL.

Teachers went back to school this week on Thursday. My last day in the classroom, due to an unplanned leave, was November 16, 2018.

That's been about 8.5 months.

I did a few official things at and involving school during my leave, but it was a day here and a day there. A couple of emails here and a couple of emails there. Now I'm back in the deep end.

I mentioned in a previous post that I did not really miss school while on leave and wondered what would happen if I didn't want to go back. As I participated in events - school functions, professional development - I realized I DID want to return to the classroom.

I've still had some (minor) anxieties. Would I still feel like I belong? Would I feel like a first-year teacher all over again? Am I still an okay teacher? Do I still "have it"?

Most of my fears have been alleviated over the past two days. AJHS is still my family, and I still feel very much a part of it. So many people let me know how happy they were to see me, and each time it strengthened my heart a bit more.

I don't feel - too much - like I'm starting over. I mostly feel like I'm picking up where I left off.

As I was working in my room Thursday afternoon - friends and colleagues buzzing about in their rooms, popping in to say, "Hi" or ask a question or chat for a few minutes - I thought, "I've missed this!"

I won't know if my teaching skills have remained intact until next Wednesday (LOL), but I'm not *too* nervous about it.

I am thankful for the time I was able to be home. I was where I was supposed to be, I enjoyed it, and I pray to see the fruits of that decision over time.

But I'm back in my (other) happy place. And I have meant it with all my heart every time I have said, "I'm glad to be back."

I Attended FlipTech New England 2019! #flipblogs

Well, virtually, at least!

I am about 1100 miles away from Massachusetts, but Andrew Swan invited me to participate in a video conference session. I was a little freaked out that these people I typically converse with via Twitter would now see and hear me, but I was honored he asked me.

Turns out there was no reason to freak out. It was so great to see and hear these people with whom I have interacted almost weekly for the last 4 years. I also got to "meet" a few new people!

We used Zoom as our video conferencing platform.

We had about 45 minutes to talk and share. We talked about what we flip, why we flip, a little bit about how we flip. Learning management systems were mentioned. As always comes up in a group of flippers, some talked about what flipping has done for their classroom.

Several years ago I was able to attend a FlipCon in Atlanta. I loved making connections and learning from others. It's a little harder for me to get to Massachusetts, but I was thankful for the opportunity to also learn from this awesome group of people using the miracle of modern technology.

A Week of Training and Building Excitement

This past week I was involved in 4 days of Middle School Math training, hosted at my school and facilitated by The Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative, or AMSTI.

From AMSTI's website: "The Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative is the Alabama Department of Education's initiative to improve math and science teaching statewide. Its mission is to provide all students in Grades K-12 with the knowledge and skills needed for success in the workforce and/or postsecondary studies (college and career ready)."

I was probably way more excited than I should have been about attending a 4-day workshop during the summer. But, for one, it has been 7 months since I have been able to "talk math," and I have missed that. And also, we get a cool kit of supplies and manipulatives to use in our classrooms. Pretty exciting, huh?

The focus of this "Year 1" training (I believe there are 3 years) was ratio and proportions. We deepened our content knowledge (who says math teachers don't have math left to learn?). We learned how to select and analyze tasks that utilize the 8 Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices and the 8 Standards for Mathematical Practices. We learned how to sort student work and use the sorts to inform our next instructional steps.

I got to make new math teacher friends and will get to see them several times this school year.

I was SO happy to see lots of tasks that I can use in my 8th-grade classroom! A lot of work with ratios and proportions focuses on 6th and 7th graders because that's where the foundation of ratio and proportion is. But I was able to see tasks that took that foundation and built on it with 8th-grade standards involving slope and comparing proportional relationships.

I learned some classroom management techniques like using "Fist to Five" to see how much more time groups need to finish a task and a non-verbal cue to get students' attention.

I loved how everything was modeled for us. We were not simply told, "Do this or that. And good luck." "This" or "that" was demonstrated to us, plus we got to practice different techniques each day.

I saw how to incorporate "scary" (to students, sometimes to me) numbers into tasks so that students get experiences with all the types of problems and levels of difficulty they might see in various situations.

I also left there with a better understanding of the types of tasks I want in my classroom and how to find them. When a standard references "real-world" situations, I often feel stuck with textbook-type word problems. I haaaaaaaate textbook word problems (and students aren't crazy about them, either). But I saw examples of worthwhile tasks and was given resources containing such tasks.

At the end of the week, I was still excited. My excitement about returning to my classroom in the fall had increased exponentially. I can't wait to implement what I learned and see how it benefits my students.

Oh, and by the way, our trainers will be in our classrooms with us throughout the year. So when I've forgotten something they showed us or am having difficulties with implementation, someone will be there to help me out.

How exciting!

Video Reboot, Part 2 #flipblogs

I'm not sure if there's a current #flipblogs challenge, but since I started this series with #flipblogs, I'll continue it that way.

Video templates for the first grading period are done!

Nine sets of Google Slides are complete, covering the Pythagorean Theorem, solving equations, and solving inequalities (including compound and absolute value).

Man...that took a long time! Each lesson took, on average, two evenings to complete.

As I went along, there were elements of creating the slides that became a little more efficient and quicker.

As I got into the templates dealing with inequalities, I had to figure out how to make number lines and how I wanted to "click" them in while explaining how to do them. I was pretty proud of those first number lines.

Now I'm ready to begin recording.

I'm going to rewatch the videos about how to use Google Slides with Snagit and maybe try one or two this weekend.

My goal is to have all the videos recorded and ready to go by the end of June.

Stay tuned!

Video Reboot, Part 1 #flipblogs

I have needed and wanted to refresh some of my videos for the past 2 years. I have made new videos every year, but some of the videos I use are now 4 years old. Life has conspired against my best intentions, however, and there has been no opportunity to remake the videos that need remaking.

Since I'm currently on leave, I have more time, and the planning bug that bit a few weeks ago led to looking at video creation.

I have used Explain Everything for 4 years. My typical make-a-video routine is:

• Create blank notes in Smart.
• Export the notes as a PDF.
• Upload the notes into Explain Everything.
• Record the video as a screen-cast. I write on the blank notes as I explain what I am doing.

At the beginning of the year, I upgraded to Snagit 2019, and I decided I would like to try to use Snagit for video creation.

I looked at some videos explaining how to record Google Slides presentations using Snagit.

So I have spent the past week or so creating Google Slides. I am using Equatio to create the math. I am doing many things one line at a time so I can click in a line and explain it as I go.

It is taking a LONG time to create a video template.

I like the more professional look of the slides, and I like being able to use a few effects to make things look a little more "done."

I like that I'll be able to use the cursor as a pointer as I talk about things on the slide.

I'm afraid I'm going to miss writing on the notes.

The next step is to actually do some recording and see what it all looks like. Stay tuned!

Keeping the Pace #flipblogs

Algebra 1 has a lot of standards.

And for 8th-grade Algebra 1, I have to teach about half of the 8th-grade standards in addition to all the Algebra 1 standards (advanced 7th-grade math gets the other half).

It's 61 standards in all.

Oh, and make sure you cover them in-depth, so that students have a conceptual understanding of them all and can demonstrate mastery.

This is not a problem unique to me. All teachers have a lot of material to cover and have to ensure their students know those standards.

But the last couple of years, I have struggled to cover all my standards. I've been going more in-depth with lots of standards (a good thing) and ending the year with more than a handful of standards uncovered (a bad thing).

So for the past week or so I've been working on my Algebra 1 pacing guide.

I started with broad topics and then sorted my standards into the topic(s) they belonged.

Yes, I wrote out all my standards, some of them multiple times.

I then started deciding which standards would take less time and the ones I for which I would need more days.

I found a great website - When Math Happens - with a workable pacing guide AND complete lessons for Algebra 1! I also found Better Lesson, where I can find lessons for specific standards, even the ones I read and think, "So how do I teach THAT?!?" I'm reading information about how to spiral math from Kyle Pearce and John Orr.

And a plan is coming together. It's still largely in my head, but I'm confident it will (mostly) materialize.

Will I be able to cover all of it? We shall see, but I'm optimistic.

The Beat Goes On #flipblogs

There's a new #flipblogs challenge!

I'm still on leave and thus not experiencing a lot of blogging inspiration, but the school part of my brain has been kicking into gear, so I have a few things I can blog about.

I'm asked pretty regularly, "Do you miss being at school?" and the honest answer is, "Not really." I do miss my students and friends, and I'm looking forward to returning to the classroom in the fall (Lord willing), but it has been a blessing to be able to focus on what is the priority.

There was a fleeting thought early in my leave of, "What if I don't want to go back?"

While I knew the answer, it was confirmed last Friday.

I went to school to accompany my Algebra Team to the county math tournament.

The first student I saw was my student who is blind. I was having a conversation with a teacher friend, and the student came to stand near us. I told her, "Hi," and she said, "Mrs. Gibbs??? Mrs. Gibbs!!!" She literally shook she was so excited, and she brought tears to my eyes.

As I spent the day with my team and then saw more students after school - who came to give me hugs and seemed genuinely happy to see me - I realized my teacher-heart still beats strongly.

I'm thankful for the opportunity and ability to take some time off when I needed it, but this teacher still loves doing what she does and is excited to be able to continue doing it.

Pressing the Pause Button

I meant to be a better participant in the last #flipblogs challenge, but...well, you know...life.

Since my last post, life has led to some unexpected changes.

I am on leave.

The week before Thanksgiving was my last week in the classroom. One of my former students is covering my leave.

Things have felt very weird, but I'm beginning to settle into my current "normal."

My videos now have a new use, as I am sending links to my sub so that she can see how I would approach content. She has posted my videos for test review, and she would also like to post my videos for students who have been absent.

I have many goals for my time at home, and some of that includes reflecting on and learning how to improve as a teacher when I return to the classroom. I have joined Angela Watson's 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club (I can dream, right?) to work through her material and make plans to improve efficiency.

I don't know what I'll have to blog about in the next few months, but who knows? I might have something I want to talk about from time to time.