7.31.2017

#MTBoS Magic


If you are a reader of my blog and you have ever found anything helpful, I would like to say this is just the tip of the iceberg and there is a whole family of people just like me who share rants, lessons, documents, tips, pictures, hacks, and more.

We are the #MTBoS.


I am officially declaring myself as a #MTBoS Rockstar because I am always trying to improve so I just decided I can be a Rockstar. See how easy that was? Now you can be part of us too, just by deciding you are.

You don't have to have a blog and you don't have to tweet- although we HIGHLY recommend it.


  • We want to hear your thoughts and perspective- even if you don't have an awesome project or curriculum or resources to share, you have YOU- and that is worth sharing! 
  • If you feel like everything you've used was taken from someone on the Internet, you still made decisions and introduced it and asked questions that came from your brain. 
  • Even if you tried something new and failed, SO HAVE WE. And talking about it together is probably the quickest way to find out why it failed and how to make it better.
  • If you're very traditional and all these thing seem weird/crazy/hard to you, ask us some questions because we felt scared to try things at some point too. Look for small teacher moves that you can try that don't freak you out so much.
  • If the technology seems too hard to figure out, you can google things to figure them out or you can follow me here or even comment on this blog. My email is miss.calcul8 at gmail and I would love to answer any questions you have that you aren't ready for the whole world to see

Some benefits of being part of this community:
  • Endless sharing of resources
  • Endless answers to questions you have on any topics
  • Endless insight in to other teacher's classrooms and teaching strategies
  • Endless support and encouragement from people around the world who are very much like you and not like you at all and still support you
  • Endless understanding of the job, the ups and the downs, the changes, etc
  • Endless community, an extended family across the world whose heart is to share and rise by lifting others
  • Endless energy to try something new, to learn, to change, to take that leap, hope that there is always more to come
The disadvantage of being part of this community:
  • Losing sleep because there are so many tweets and blog posts and great ideas to read and think and talk about
  • Losing the old you. Because now you know there is a whole world waiting out there who values your words....so it's time to start saying them.
Every year we hold a four day math conference called Twitter Math Camp (TMC). We do math together, eat dinner together, go sightseeing together, play games together, etc. Everyone is worthy to present or talk but everyone is also eager to be in the audience. It is a great way to learn with people you are connected to and can continue learning with all year long. It costs $20 to register and then your travel. Next year we are meeting July 19-22 at St. Ignatius in Cleveland Ohio and YOU ARE INVITED! Here is the website for more information. http://www.tmathc.com/


If this sounds like *HEAVEN* to you, here are some next steps.

  • Follow me on twitter @misscalcul8 and ask me anything. I would also like to introduce you to the community if you are okay with that. (follow means click follow by my name and picture and we are like Facebook friends now who can read each others posts)
  • Check out this website https://exploremtbos.wordpress.com/ which explains more and has lots of activities
  • If you are already on twitter, follow the hashtags #mtbos and #iteachmath (follow means you can click on that phrase and it will show you every time someone said those words and you can read it, like jumping to a specific chapter in a book)
  • If you are scared to ask questions, start by giving compliments or likes of other teachers comments or posts
  • Start reflecting. Whether its on a blog, whether its public or private, start thinking about yourself and you classroom in a way that helps you process.
This year at TMC was the first year that I didn't leave overwhelmed and feeling like I need to redo my whole everything. And this was my fifth time going. I finally changed my perspective and thought about how much I've learned. My morning session leader Chris said that we can add layers of (insert new strategy here) to the things we already love. So that's what I'm going to do. Isn't it exciting to know that my teaching and classroom will get better and better every single year and I DON'T HAVE TO FIGURE EVERYTHING OUT ON MY OWN?

This was the first time I never felt anxious. I made lunch plans with people. I talked to strangers. And guess what....it didn't feel like small talk. It felt like friends.

This was the time I commented and actively participated in each session I went to the most. I finally realized that I have insight into a classroom my twitter friends will never see- mine- and it's my duty to share it.

Because of this community I have tried, succeeded and failed, at so many different things and because of that, I have things to share.

So many people at TMC came up to me and told me things that they see in me and admire about me. WHO DOES THAT? I mean where in the world can you go and have people honor your gifts and speak life into you, personally, and professionally, who don't even live near you or work in your building?

Investors. Investors do that. And that's what we truly are. We are investing in ourselves by investing in others and then the payoff in the end is....WE ALL WIN. We all grow together.

So if you noticed my last 11 blog posts started with #TMC it's because I blog every session I go to. I've done this every year and you can find the past ones by clicking the TMC label --> on the right side of this page. See for yourself what kind of things we are learning about together.

Here is a YouTube playlist of 90 presenters who had something worth sharing.

Here is my sprinkle of #MTBoS Magic!


7.30.2017

#TMC17 My Favorites

My Favorites

Thursday

Lisa Henry
Thursday Lunch- having lunch with different groups each week to build relationship

Sam Shah
1. Making math joy public- use a hotel bell to share a moment of joy during math class; debrief when a bunch of bells ring if anyone wants to share; not every day, kids want to ring it even when they're not out. Moments of joy become the norm!
2. Never forget exit slips again

Matt Baker
DeltaMath- online homework and review, create free account, 900 different modules, shows solutions, some with video, shows data on each problem students complete @mrdeltamath

John Stevens
Who is the mtbos anyway? MTBoS search engine and database Join and contribute!

Friday Morning

David Butler
Sqwigles- Guiding one-on-one tutoring

Speak your thinking
Questions are open-ended
Write
Information
Guide the student
Listen to students' thoughts and feelings
Explain concepts in a different way
Summarize

Jennifer Fairbanks
What Else Can Google Slides Do?
Class Scrapbook- get to know each other, make one slide per student including teacher
Class eBook for Midterm and Final Exam Review- one problem per student, one sheet of paper per problem with directions, create table of contents, graded handed in papers, used Adobe Spark to create and upload explanation of their problem, then link each problem slide to the video explanation

Karim Ai
Offer tasks that aren't just hard but where answers don't exist

Friday Afternoon

David Petro
Dynamic Web Sketches- engaging-math.blogspot.ca 5 to 10 minute activities practicing skills, can be used on any device, made from Geometer's Sketchpad

Joel Bezaire
Tinkerplots-pull in data from excel to create animated graphs for analysis
Codap.concord.org- sample data sets, bring in own data

Pam Wilson
Make a Difference Monday- book by Barbara Lewis "What Do You Stand For?" Give short articles about students who overcame obstacles, especially similar obstacles that they are facing
5 Focus- thumbs up for self-efficacy, pointer finger for being thoughtful, middle man for standing tall and taking pride in your work, ring finger for flexibility, pinky for interdependency as a promise that I'm here for you and support you while you work on the other four.

Saturday Morning

Johnathon Claydon
Simulation of buying a house and car, build excel spreadsheet, present monthly payments

Kat Glass
A Different Approach to Student Intervetions- group goal-setting meeting with failing students, "mandatory" weekly after school session, my goals < their goals, giving them ownership of their own goals makes it easier to hold them accountable without it feeling like scolding, don't use code words for failing which can make it feel shameful, swap reviewing with previewing

Bob Lochel
Use how-old.net , find difference between perceived age and actual age, make scatter plot, dot plots, line of best fit

Saturday Afternoon

Joey Kelley
Play With Your Math


David Petro
Practicing math on a continuum- envelopes with strips of practice problems that get increasingly incrementally harder, do five on each card and move on after you get five right, if wrong get help on the remaining five, check answers with UV pen

Benjamin Walker
Peer-to-Peer Math Partnerships- Identify students, students shift from tutee to tutor over time, "mathematically powerful"

Sunday Morning

Deb Boden
Mixed Review HW- document of daily homework (one weeks worth) from past lessons

Anna Scholl
Learnzillion- guided collaborative tasks, free K-8 curriculum, two students per device

Connie Haugneland
Rwanda- share small moves like thumbs up, thumbs down, I notice, I wonder, which one doesn't belong and encouraging teachers to read the Internet for ideas, they are the experts in their classroom and they know what resources they have

Alli George
Study Break- draw at least 4 lines all across the paper, color each shape so that two touching shapes are different colors, then answer 7 questions for data collection, and turn into stats analysis

Anna Blinstein
Desmos Entrance Tickets- bit.ly/EntranceTicket Place a dot on a number line to rate how you feel about the math/hw

Sean Sweeney
Marbleslides Challenges- one slide challenges, create competition by posting scores to past week challenges, one point per star, more points for less functions or creativity, for early finishers, added benefit of learning more about graphing, gives students a chance to learn math on their own, can be mostly completed with linear equations, challenging to complete with fewer equations bit.ly/MarbleslidesTMC

Sandra Miller
Lesson planners- planbook.com $12 a year, color code, post online

Anna Vance- difference of squares rap

Candace Bell
Superheroes- project to measure and create prototypes on grid paper to copy on fabric for capes, interviewed their 'client', measure the clients, writing thank you notes,

Glenn Waddell
Change your language- change students to learners, don't say guys, change all to each

Bit.ly/TMC17Chorus


7.29.2017

#TMC17 Going Vertical - How I Started Using #VNPS {Jennifer Fairbanks, Kathy Campbell}

Going Vertical - How I Started Using #VNPS
Jennifer Fairbanks
Kathy Campbell

(They handed out bookmarks with a QR Code to all their resources. 😍)







The person with the marker is recording others thoughts but should pass the marker off when they have a thought.

Hang vertical borders with magnets to divide large whiteboards into 4x4 spaces. (Love this 😍)

See slamdunkmath.blogspot.com and peterliljedahl.com

Start with groups of friends (to lower stakes) and after one problem, randomly choose one person to rotate to a different group, keep rotating so that groups are all different by the end of class.

Use flippity.net for visible random grouping.

Give problems students will get stuck on.

Students take risks, start writing, and start discussing sooner.

When standing, students cannot hide, must participate.

Allows for greater freedom to explore non-linearity.

Have groups rotate every two spots and check their work.

Students can erase their work but leave the problem and answer so that another group can rotate and work a new problem.





Number boards so groups always know where to go.





Giant magnet graphs!!!!!!

#TMC17 Hitting the Darn "Send" Button {Carl Oliver}

Saturday Keynote
Hitting the Darn "Send" Button
Carl Oliver

How did you overcome barriers to pushing send? What barriers do you still struggle with?

Do you feel not ____________ enough?

If #MTBoS is only for people that are _________ enough, how would we know for sure?

How many of "us" are there? How many people have ever tweeted #MTBoS?
How have we grown?
How much do we tweet?

It's important to push send so you can learn something or celebrate.

Twitter is a place of learning and a tweet is an opportunity to learn.

Pressing send opens a window to our classroom.

Opening yourself up to feedback and saying you want to get better is leadership.

#pushsend

#TMC17 Talk Less, Smile More {Matt Baker, Chris Luzniak}

9:30-11:30
Talk Less, Smile More
Matt Baker and Chris Luzniak

#talklessAM
@pispeak
@stoodle


Chalk Talk- writing answers to questions silently, +1 next to ideas you like

-What is thinking? How do you "see" student thinking?
-What are your concerns with facilitating discussions?
-What does your ideal classroom look like?

Use structure and routine to build safety and to lower defense mechanisms.

Talking Points- three rounds of agreeing or disagreeing, taking turns justifying answers without responding in time
See: http://cheesemonkeysf.blogspot.com/2014/07/tmc14-gwwg-talking-points-activity.html?m=1

-How does changing agree/degree/unsure to always/sometime/never change or enhance the conversation?
-Do you want to add the words always or never or leave statements ambiguous?
-Working to actively not respond while listening
-Tally whole class responses and call on people to explain the argument, even if it wasn't their argument

Soapbox Debate- stand up and share your opinion

Debate has two parts:
argument = claim + warrant

Saying 'my warrant' makes opinions sound more formal and less personal so it feels safer. 'Because' and 'I feel' makes it feel like your answers HAVE to be correct. Using fancy words like claim, warrant, concur, on the contrary etc makes students wants to say something.

All speakers stand up and all eyes and knees toward speaker.

Mistake Finding- use student work to ask students to debate the BEST mistake

Circle Debate- summarize what you heard, then make your claim + warrant

Point Counter-Point- you have to give the opposite claim of the person who went before you

Use 'would you rather' questions about different ways to solve problems.

In geometry, rename two-column proofs 'claim' and 'warrant'.

Debate and justification spill over into group work and other courses.

Use estimation180 in Desmos AB with median to split the class and cause debate.

There are so many nuances in our word choice, body language, and movement.
See Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools
See Intentional Talk: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions

Help lower the stakes by making an effort to speak to each student in some way, every day.

Give kids a safety net with a 'life happens' pass to throw out an assignment or to not call on them that day.

To avoid cold calling:
-Have students debate in groups first, then give a 'group' claim.
-Tell quiet students the day before that you are going to cold call them so they can be prepare
-Give question stems for structure
-Have students write in different pen colors to ask questions if they don't want to speak out loud
-Share any positive contributions from quiet students to show they are valued
-Start with things students can't get working, opinions

See Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Use Which One Doesn't Belong for debate.

Assessment question: current content answer is between what two integers.

Table Debates- a deck of cards about current content where Team A always debates one side and Team B always debates the opposite. Great for: systems of equations, sin/cos/tan, composite area, geometric/arithmetic sequence, classifying numbers, distance formula vs Pythagorean theorem





Add debate-y words to math problems to make it debateable:
Which number is most important or has the most influence?
What is the weirdest way to solve?
What's the easiest mistake to make?
How much information can be taken away before it can't be solved?
Hide a number.
Compare student work.

Some factual things within one answer can be debateable based on the misconceptions of the students.

Add layers of debate on things you already like and use! (I need this reminder for my whole life!!!!)

Rumors- answer questions on index card, find a partner and spend 90 seconds sharing and discuss, trade cards and find new partners, repeat, trade cards and find new partners (use for homework answers, characteristics/transformations of functions, WODB, estimation180,

See alled.org Rhonda Bondie

Ways to spice things up!
-visually random groupings
-vertical non-permanent surfaces
-clothesline math
-mistake game (good questions should lead them to the answer, don't just add ? to a statement)
-Socratic seminar

Great Debate Project- three day project, two days of prep, one day to present, groups are assigned, choose roles, use math as evidence




7.28.2017

#TMC17 Rational Function Graphs For Dummies {Meg Craig, Sheri Walker}

Rational Function Graphs For Dummies
Meg Craig
Sheri Walker

Bit.ly/TMC17rationals

Use Desmos AB before unit starts before they have the language to create the headache. Spend 15 minutes or less.

Investigating Rational Functions handout printed on legal paper.


Numerical Division Investigation 



Technical term for point of continuity "stupid point" ;)


Don't need that pee in the ocean! 😂

#TMC17 Standards Based Grading in a Traditional Setting {Jennifer Brackney, Tony Riehl}

Standards Based Grading in a Traditional Setting
Jennifer Brackney Tony Riehl

Paring down standards based grading into objective based grading

Tinyurl.com/tmc17sbg

Change test names to objectives.

Multi color grading- grade each skill in a different marker, even if included in multi-skill problems 

Tony's methods: Label grade book with name of skill and Q1 and T1 etc in front to show progress over time.

After testing over skills, make the quiz grade not count toward their grade but still show in grade book.

Students who are absent on test day get their quiz scores as a test grade and don't take test unless they go through the retest process.

Process: show all completed assignments and class work even if it wasn't graded

Jennifer's methods: Email parents after grades are in letting them know grades are in and the retesting process and your availability.

Highest grade possible on retest is a 90% because there is something to be said for being prepared the first time.

A 100% is misleading to future teachers about their knowledge if they had endless retakes compared to first time. Retakes are informal problems on the board, graded on the spot.

#TMC17 All I Really Need To Know I Learned From The MTBoS {Graham Fletcher}

Friday Keynote
All I Really Need To Know I Learned From The MTBoS
Graham Fletcher

1. Surround myself with people smarter than me. (In your best Zoolander voice)
How do we invite people from outside of our circle?

2. Netflix adapted, Blockbuster was static. #mtbos doesn't allow us to be static.              
3. Be vulnerable.

65% of children entering primary school today will have jobs that don't exist today.

Asking for estimates gives everyone a chance to dive in. Instead of asking individually, ask for ranges of answer. Then when you're the 'loser' you have friends like you.

4. The less I talk, the smarter students sound. (I think this is a mantra for me this year as well.) How are we supposed to know what students are going to say?

5. All of us are smarter than one of us.

7.27.2017

#TMC17 My Mini Revelation


Day one, hour two of #TMC17 and I had my first revelation.

Our two hour session over structuring debate literally flew by and our exit slip question was something we've learned.

I stopped to actually think and it hit me...

I don't have to go all or nothing with every idea.

That may seem obvious to you but if you're reading this blog then you should know my personality by now. In the few seconds I started to frustrate myself with how to incorporate debate into every lesson, I chose a different path.

I could do this one or twice a unit.

We covered talking points which I tried and failed at a couple years ago. In the few seconds I started to frustrate myself with how to bring those back and do a better job, I chose a different path.

I could do this once or twice a unit.

Suddenly I saw  my math "toolbox" in a different light.

I've always looked for new tools to add to the box. But when it comes to using the tool, I want to use it for every job until I die or it does. Now I can see how I have enough tools (thanks to my Twitter teacher lounge) to choose them strategically. I can rotate the tools and no one has to die!

The tools will last longer!

They will seem fresh each time I use them!

My skills in using them will stay sharper!

I won't get tired of using one tool forever!

I won't feel guilty for not using the great tools that have been shared with me!

I won't feel guilty.


#TMC17 Informative Formative Assessment {Mary Williams}

4:00-4:30 
Informative Formative Assessment 
Mary Williams
tinyurl.com/tmc17-fa

The purpose is to gather data!

Use Kahoot to build Jumbles where students put answers in order instead of just picking one correct answer.

Make a selfie Kahoot for students to get to know you or each other.

Use Kahoot ghost mode for students to challenge them.

Quizizz- individually paced, good for homework, questions on student screens, meme options, and teacher sees live data.

Quizlet- competitive and cooperative, one player in group has correct answer, back to zero if you use one, shows correct answer, play same twice with shuffled teams.

Plickers- no technology needed, scan multiple choice answers, live and downloaded data

Google Quiz- grade MC automatically, immediate feedback; flubaroo add-on able to grade more than MC, share through email or google drive

Go Formative- make live comments, attach standards, integrate already created worksheets

Education- input own standards, assessment library


#TMC17 Teach Me How To Factor {Anna Hester}

Teach Me How to Factor
 Anna Vance

Patterns and puzzles help kids become successful with factoring.

Progression:

  • GCF 
  • 4 Terms 
  • Trinomials 
  •  Difference of Squares 
  • Perfect Square Trinomials 

(I call it the un-distributive property)

Phrase as multiplication helps eliminate mistakes with positives and negatives.

Cover up the bottom row in a 2x2 to start!!!!


Factoring is just moving puzzles pieces around until you find what fits.

Rigor doesn't mean making things arbitrarily difficult.

Try using x-box for both cases of a = 1 and a > 1.



DOS Rap:



#TMC17 The Politics of Mathematics Teaching {Grace Chen}

1:30-2:30 Thursday Keynote
The Politics of Mathematics Teaching
Grace Chen

All history is political history. We have to be able to hold multiple truths simultaneously. But not all truths are equally valid.

Who you are is influenced, but not wholly determined by, people or policies.
Who you are as a math teacher started generations ago. My students' stories didn't start when they entered my classroom.

Are you challenging or reinforcing ideas?

1. Create a microcosm. You bring ideas and belief to your classroom whether you know it or not. Stereotypes aren't hurtful JUST because they're untrue, but because they recall and recite histories of oppression. When you think you know about people, it shuts down the opportunity to get to know those people. Shut down and disrupt the shadows of problems.
2. Teach the gray areas. Actuarial racism penalized black people for the poor health outcomes that were politically motivated instead of looking for ways to support and improve. What do algorithms not take into consideration?
3. Explore alternatives. The Algorithm Collection compares things we take for granted and how they're done in different cultures. Remember the context! Our way is not the only way.

We are influenced but not wholly determined.
We can make our choices conscious and communicable.

7.25.2017

X-box Factoring with Color


I tried using the area model this year for factoring GCFs and ax^2 + bx + c in addition to already using it for completing the square.

I felt like there were so many steps that color would be helpful in 'seeing' what we were doing.

I love using concept attainment when I can so I start with students noticing three things that all the 'yes' column problems have in common that the 'no' column problems don't.

   


From there, we went through an example and wrote down the steps in color {which of course took longer than it should have}. I did the rest of my examples in color and let them decide if they wanted to use color or not.



I was finding the gcf of each row and then dividing to find the top of each column. It took weeks until a student pointed out to me just find the gcf of the rows AND columns.

Overall, I haven't been a huge fan of the box method. I felt like students got mixed up with where to put the numbers and how to find the answers. They're never going to see an X and a box on any other math problems. If I don't put it there for them, they don't know to do it. 

I think I'm going back to my old method of slide divide bottoms up.

Factoring is the bane of my existence so in an attempt to be proactive, I'm going to do factoring Friday's with three problems per week for EVERY course, Algebra I and on up. Hopefully doing 3 problems a week for years in a row will finally give them a solid foundation for Algebra II.

Hopefully.

Word Doc:

   


PDF:

   


Notebook:

   


7.17.2017

Bell Ringers 4.0


It's time for my annual bell ringer giant powerpoint update! {See the original, version 2, and version 3}

Here are the categories:

Mental Math Monday: 10 middle school mental math problems that I read aloud (no repeats!)
Tough Guess Tuesday: estimation180.com photos that students estimate how many
Which One Doesn't Belong Wednesday: wodb.ca four photos that students can name something unique for each
Test Prep Thursday: practice questions from the SAT, our state test
Factoring Friday: factoring has been a huge pitfall for me so 9-12 will be doing 3-4 factoring problems every dang week!

Here's the breakdown:

Monday and Tuesday are repeated from last year.
Wednesday I used all new pictures thanks to the website updates!
Thursday are mostly questions from SAT Practice Test 1.
Friday factoring problems all came from Kuta. They follow the progression of

  • GCF 
  • Four Term 
  • Four Term with GCF 
  • Trinomial a = 1 
  • Trinomial a = 1 with GCF 
  • Trinomial a > 1
  • Trinomial a > 1 with GCF 
  • Difference of Two Squares 
  • Difference of Two Squares with GCF 
  • Mixed (last 6 Friday slides)


Here's the powerpoint:

   


I made the factoring progression in a separate powerpoint in case that would be of any use to you.

   


I'm hoping to use Google Classroom for bell ringers this year. I don't know exactly how that will play out yet but students will definitely be answering digitally in some form. I've always had a section of their binders for bell ringers and printed out a front and back paper every week. But 90 x 52 is 4,680 pages too much. I have dry erase desks that students are obsessed with so they will work them out on the desk and only have to type in actual answers. My vague idea is scheduling the bell ringers to post during the passing period of each class, students answer digitally, and I show the answers on the powerpoint on my SMART board.

Any suggestions would be great!

Font used in all powerpoints is ForgetMeNot.