Walking the walk

I just completed a 2-week block at another school, this time cover for mostly Maths classes. Lessons were already planned by the teachers so technically, all I had to do was deliver them (if keen) or leave the kids to do the assigned work and make myself available….this is what casual teachers do, right?

After a week though, I found myself literally sick to the stomach because I knew I could do more. Here I was harping on about to “Make room”,  “Student reflection”, “Inquiry Learning (1)” , IL(2)  and “Playing with different teaching styles and approaches” and then not doing them. Ha!

I could have hidden behind the curtain of ‘I am just a casual teacher, blink and I’m gone’ but deep down, I felt that I had to walk the walk….my walk. The question was whether I could pull this off in a Maths classroom, with students I didn’t even know the names of?

mini-PBL

The year 7s were learning about Data and Graphs; identifying, reading, creating, critique-ing…..in that order! I’ve taught this unit before and that’s how we’ve always done it…just like most Maths teachers I know. I only had 6 lessons with year 7s and 3 of those where gone in the first week; so I had 3 lessons left for something different to indulge my ‘walk the walk’ thingy.

Here’s my mini-PBL; it’s not great but does tick the boxes of PBL essential elements (via BIE.org), bar the public audience. There’s a “focus on inquiry, voice and choice and significant content”, as per starting with PBL article (via Edutopia)…relative to the constraints voiced previously.

[click to enlarge]

Students were allowed to work alone, in pairs or in groups of 3. Students had a choice of presentation mode/tools. Students had a choice of graphs.

Investigations were prompted by a couple of Olympic-themed infographics and a video on what is a typical person which aimed to raise questions on samples and populations, in particular.

Musings – positives and negatives

Inquiry was a challenge. The students struggled with the list of questions, i.e. what were good questions to ask. My biggest concern here was that most of them aimed to please me, the teacher, to pick the right questions and answer them. What I really wanted them to do was list the first questions that came to mind, e.g. “What is this graph about?”, “Why did they use this type of graph?”, “Is this a population or representative sample?”, “Is the scale correct?”, etc. It took several instances to assure them that there were no right or wrong questions, as such, and that some questions were impossible to answer, e.g. such as if the sample size and profile were not given.

Timing was tight. Ideally, the students could have been given more guidance to look for more complex and diverse examples. I’m inclined to think that this would have been better at the start of the unit, i.e. I “wasted” the first 3 lessons doing direct instruction and socratic questioning with the whole class.

Presentations helped uncover misconceptions. This was gold! Students were also learning graphs in Science and were talking about the line of best fit and scatter plots. No wonder they were confused when I was teaching them line graphs the week before; some of them thought line graphs were connected scatter plot dots. This misconception came out when a couple of groups presented about line graphs as being bad because joining the dots was “a bad idea”. This misconception would have been practically impossible to uncover using the traditional method of teaching mentioned above because they would have had little opportunity to “make that mistake“.

Big picture approach helped put things in perspective. I’m a fan of big-picture teaching, (re: post on algebraic equations). This mini-PBL got students looking at different graphs all at once, not one-at-a-time as you would in traditional teaching. So when a student asked a fantastic question of how to represent 0.7 in a picture graph using a scale of 10, it allowed opportunities to discuss options such as using a different scale and (the most obvious they didn’t see it) – use a different type of graph….because they can.

This sacrificed Knowledge and Skills for Working Mathematically. This bugs me because I feel I have let the students down because we didn’t tick all the boxes in the syllabus document for Knowledge and Skills such as “using line graphs for continuous data only”. I am biased towards focusing on working mathematically, e.g. “generate questions from information displayed on graphs”, something I believe transcends usability beyond standardised tests and high school years.  Balancing these is a challenge most Maths teachers face. I made my choice and certainly hope that I didn’t do students a disservice.

So, in the end, I did walk the walk….and gained from it.

What’s your (teaching) style?

Today, one of my year 12 students asked if I taught all my classes using different methods.

Serendipity right there as I was thinking of blogging about the different teaching styles (the term pedagogy gags a bit) I’ve been using with 3 of my classes. In fact, I’ve blogged about all of them already:

Project-based Learning (PBL) – Year 12 Information Processes and Technology

Inquiry-based Learning – Year 11 Information Processes and Technology

Games-based Learning – Year 9 Information and Software Technology

Apart from PBL, I’m a newbie to the other two styles and totally loving the whole experience. It feels good to try different ways of teaching and expanding my pedagogical (gag) repertoire. I do believe a diversity in approach keeps me interested and ditto for the students. A win-win in my books.

I have no preference as such, as each approach has its strengths. I think what makes them work in my meagre experience is that each one is all about the learning, fostered through a regular dose of feedback (teacher-student, student-teacher, student-student). It is a community built on relationships built through constant connection. All approaches focus on the instructional core: student, teacher, content – and the interactions thereof.

I do not see myself as an innovative educator – that really is  not my aim. I daresay I am a learning (vs learned) teacher, with an eclectic approach to teaching and learning. Yep, that’s my style. What about you?

I like this “doodle” by Giulia Forsythe. Though I don’t claim to to pursue innovative pedagogy, there are some interesting points here methinks.

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Is this Inquiry-based Learning?

One cannot have a conversation with Edna Sackson (@whatedsaid) and not be excited about the potential of Inquiry-based learning. Excited I am, for sure. Trouble is, I don’t know much about it really other than that learning is driven by inquiry.

So, that’s what I tried to do, ie. design a unit around a driving question (DQ). It had elements of Project-Based Learning (PBL). I borrowed ideas from Bianca Hewes (@BiancaH80) through her blog, PBL workshops and edmodo.

I found my year 11 Information Processes and Technology (IPT) students rather unmotivated. Filling in for another teacher for a few weeks, I did not have the luxury of getting to know them well enough to be confident in designing something engaging around their new topic Storing and Retrieving – a topic I personally found rather tedious. I thought, “If I can’t even enthuse myself, how on earth will I get these kids on board?

It was truly an inspired moment when I hit on the driving question of : “Can we trust the cloud?”

The task in a page - Can we trust the cloud?

Inquiry as context for learning

In just over 2 weeks, we studied our topic via the DQ: Can we trust the cloud?. The students went on to explore various aspects of cloud storage. Groups of 2 or 3 looked at several services: DropBox, iCloud, Google Drive and the internal Sharepoint-based intranet. They analysed the hardware and software involved as well as the issues relating to their chosen service provider. It was not surprising for them to conclude anyone’s personal data storage strategy should include more than one approach, ie have a variety of options such as portable hard disks, etc.

Ultimately, we covered everything in the syllabus and more besides. In fact, they also learned about the:

  • issues of working in groups
  • challenge of presenting in front of an audience
  • opportunities to teach and learn from each other
  • benefits of regularly reflecting on one’s work
  • benefits of regular feedback from the teacher as I checked in on their progress (I asked lots of guiding questions)
  • collaboration via the wiki
The wiki was another inspired move. None of them have ever contributed to one. So, I set up a sandbox version first, called About Me. I put my own entry as an example and got them to create their own pages. This allowed them to play with the Sharepoint wiki features as well as give me a quick way to get to know them. The lesson allocated to this “play time” was well worth the benefits. It was a good investment. In the end, the class had shared notes on the topic that each of them contributed to (granted in varying degrees of quality).
For a task that had no grade attached, I was pleasantly surprised and moved at the level of engagement. They worked; some harder than others but they all worked. Can they do better? For sure! I am so happy with and for them.
But my question remains, is this inquiry-based learning?
Is that question even important?

On Creativity – how?

I’m passionate about creativity so it doesn’t take much prodding to write about it.

@whatedsaid asked “How could these two videos help us improve student-learning? http://wp.me/p1ZuBL-ai / by@sherrattsam always guaranteed to make me think!”  Both of them encouraged me to write a post so here I am.  I will include the videos here but please do visit the linked post because it offers more things to learn.

My plan here is to express my thoughts on each video briefly and then go into answering Edna’s question.

Time and Focus

In this video, the kids were asked to complete the picture, twice. Once with just 10 seconds, the other with 10 minutes. The time was variable but the focus was constant, i.e. complete the picture.  What if time was constant and focus was variable? For example, keep the 10 seconds rule but say ask first to “complete the picture” and the other time to “draw a picture”.  Both approaches encourage creativity.  Play factors in too and that seemed more encourage for the second opportunity of longer time.  I reckon saying ‘draw a picture’ would give that sense too.  

My 10minutes sketchbook project is very much an experiment in creativity.  I change the variables and see what I come up with. Sometimes I constrain the time, as with the work on the cover.  Often, i change the focus. And often, too, with an element to play.

Inspiration

In this video, Louie Schwartzberg talks about gratitude.  The beauty of nature is all around us.  So is the beauty of man-made things and ultimately of people and our interactions with them.  He encourages us to have a closer look and  be grateful.

Inspiration is everywhere and sometimes we do have to look closer.  Just as important is this standing back and looking at what we have created, perhaps with fresh eyes and thus a deeper appreciation of what he have achieved as individuals and collectively.  Drawing such inspiration is critical to the creative process, an impetus to get the creative juices flowing.

In the classroom

So how can we use the two videos to improve student learning?

  1. Change the creativity variables. Change the constants. Ask the question differently.  It is okay to constrain time, really.  Creating artificial deadlines or time-chunking – is a good strategy for task and time management (read more here)
  2. Make time for play.  This is important, too, when introducing new technology.  Give kids time to ‘shake the sillies out’.
  3. Provide plenty of inspiration.  Point them out if you have to.
  4. Showcase work.  It is good to look at what has been created and share in the joy of having achieved something on one’s own or with others.  With technology, it’s even easier to widen the audience beyond the classroom or school.
  5. Encourage this action-reflection cycle and teach kids about this explicitly.  Creativity involves a combination of being-inspired and actually doing.  Action without reflection and inspiration will eventually burn out.  Reflection and inspiration without action will not lead to anything concrete or improvements.  We need both.

I’m sure more can be drawn from these two videos so please feel free to add your thoughts.

I think that these are good things to consider in Project-Based Learning as well so will add this to my PBL page.

UPDATE (5 Jan 2012)

I think this doodle by Giulia Forsythe captures the sentiment well, with a quote from Jason Zweig: “Creativity is a fragile flower, but perhaps it can be fertilized with systematic doses of serendipity.”

 

PBL in action – Pigs vs Birds

 

I had Ms10s Angry Birds birthday party yesterday.  One of our activities was “Who’s more clever – Birds or Pigs?”.  There were 3 logic/maths questions – in QR code form -and Q1 must be answered correctly before going on to Q2 and eventually Q3.  I needed to divide the 10 girls into 2 teams and initially planned to do this by drawing strips from a bag (strips with either pig or bird on it). With all the party preparation, I didn’t get ’round to making these so had to quickly think on my feet. I hit on genius.

I asked the girls, “How can we divide you into 2 groups?”

There were lots of suggestions including birthday month which eventually won.  Interestingly, there was a girl who pleaded not to be grouped according to size.  After they were split into two groups of 5, the next question was who will be the the pigs and who the birds?  Consensus could not be easily had, even within the groups.  In the end, a girl suggested a vote such that whichever gets the most vote for pig or bird wins it.  Brilliant!  A vote was done and so emerged assignment of bird and pig teams.

The next problems were: who’s going to write the answer? Who’s going to read the questions? Who’s going to announce we’re done?

Throughout, the girls negotiated amongst themselves and figured out their own solutions.  They decided that the fastest writer was the best thing to do.  They also decided to take turns being the reader.  They decided that they needed each other to answer the questions.  The objective was to get through the 3 challenges in the quickest time in order to win.  It was amazing to watch.

I like planning and organising parties and sometimes I do over-plan.  This became obvious when Ms10, then 6, asked for some ‘free play’ time.  I’d like to think that I’ve somehow matured in this process, helped by my teaching experience.  I am so proud to have ‘let go’ of control and allowed the kids to take some ownership and to struggle with the problem themselves.  I piped in every now and then to ask the “essential questions” but for the most part, they did the job themselves.

I’ve been writing a series of PBL posts but this is PBL in action.  Can you recognise the elements I’ve been talking about in the past few posts?

Now, this may actually be GBL – Games-based learning as well but I don’t feel knowledgeable enough about it.

For the record, the pigs won.

If you’re interested, here’s my epic post on Ms10’s Angry Birds party.