Okay, I’ve realized this before. My 3rd period and 5th period, although both Algebra I classes, are two very different classes. Their behaviors are different, the way they respond to activities are different, and so it should have clicked earlier that the way that I teach them should be different. But hey, I’m still learning. Here’s my (very) long-winded story of my little frustrations/successes that lead me to realize what I need to work on.

When the school year first began, my 3rd period was the “better” of the two. They were less rowdy, and got more work done. On the other hand, my 5th period struggled to get ANYTHING done. However, once I started finding strategies that worked with them, such as the individual white boards (I don’t know why they love them so much, but they do) and activities that allow them to get out of their seats and move around, they started improving… so I continued with it.

Now, 6 or 7 weeks into the year, with two tests down, I only have ONE student failing in my 5th period. There are still more D’s than I would like, but still far less than when I first started.  On the other hand, my 3rd period has fallen far behind, and I only have six students with a C or better in that class, with nearly a third of them failing.

What now?

I changed things up again. I started doing more direct teaching, with the same old, “I do, we do, you do” routine, then practice, practice, practice. What happened? My 3rd period actually responded well to this! I saw improvement on quizzes and all the little informal assessments, as well as more confidence from the students in their work.  However, whenever I tried pulling off the same lessons with my 5th period, it was like pulling teeth.

Here’s what happened today. My very simple, straight-forward, nothing fancy lessons consisted of the following:

1. Practicing writing equations in slope-intercept form and point-slope on mini white boards

2. Taking notes of examples on how to convert an equation from point-slope form to slope-intercept form, by just distributing and solving for y. (Mind you, many of these students still have trouble just writing an equation in slope-intercept form when I explicitly give them the slope and y-intercept.)

3. More practice on the white boards, adding this step of converting to slope-intercept form.

4. A “Ticket Out the Door” assignment with both new and review problems due before the end of the period (complete and correct).

About 75% of my 3rd period finished the assignment on time. I also chose random problems from their paper where they had to explain what they did and why they did it before I would accept it, and I was actually impressed on how well most of them explained their work, including their use of vocabulary.  The 5 or 6 students who did not finish, I did hold in for a several minutes during lunch, as they scrambled to finish, or re-learn a concept so that they can explain to me in their own words how they completed the problems. Were they upset that I held them in? Well… they pretended to be. But at the same time, after I would let some of them go, a couple students still responded, “oh can I help ’so-and-so’ understand this problem better?” How could I deny them? The last student left 15 minutes into lunch.

My 5th period on the other hand… Well, let’s just say, they started off well, and they ended well, but the in between was very rough. This class already had a lot better understand of writing equations in slope-intercept form and point-slope form. A few problems in, and we were already into the notes. Here’s where it fell apart. The examples should have taken 5 minutes, 10 at the most. Yet, I stood there, waiting, and waiting, constantly stopping because the students could not focus. I already knew that NO ONE was learning.

I got through one simple example, and only half way through a second before I finally stopped and asked the class, “What’s the point in me trying to teach this if I know that I’m going to have to reteach it to everyone one individually?” Already, I don’t like to much direct teaching, but I did because I thought it would help them at least learn the procedural steps and we would continue to build from there. But now, I knew they weren’t even learning that, and the students knew it too.

My solution, whether or not it was wrong or right.

Me: Okay, let’s try this. I’m going to hand you the “Ticket Out the Door” assignment. I will not assist with this assignment in any way, but only tell you if your answers are correct or incorrect. If you need help, you may ask each other, use your notes, OR wait until after the bell rings when I will take the time to teach it to you after school.

What happened next amazed me.

The students got straight to work, trying to figure this out. I had probably three students complain to me that they didn’t know how to solve the problems. I just listed their options again on how to get help. After about 15 minutes, I had three students turn in their assignments, one I had picked up off the desk as he was kindly “sharing” his work with others (which didn’t really help them, since they would still have to explain their work). I didn’t bother those students once I had their assignments. But instead, as more people started finishing their work, I started seeing little study groups forming. In one corner, one student who had already completed her assignment was helping about 4 or 5 other students. And they sat their, with the white boards out, working on problems, checking their work and DISCUSSING what they were learning.

It wasn’t just, “Here, this is how you do it. Let me show you” type of help. It was the “Okay, think about what your next step is” type of discussion. This? Happening in my 10th-12th grade Algebra I class? Without me forcing them to?

In the end, I only had three students stay after class, and not longer than five minutes. And only two of them were because they could not explain how they got their answers.

Now how can I foster this type of learning environment every day in those classes? It’s easy in my Algebra II, but this totally took me by surprise in my Algebra I.

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Oh and just another little victory in one of my students in my 3rd period. This student, I didn’t even remember what he looked like for the first few weeks of class because he hardly showed up. When he did, he sat there doing nothing unless I stood over his shoulder as he wrote. These past two weeks, he now comes running to my classroom to be on time (even he exclaimed that he couldn’t believe that he’s literally running to my class), and he is working every day. His grade is improving although he is still failing, and he still has a lot to work on, but I hope we can get him to keep up his current habits and pass the class. Hooray.

Yes, another blog post on assigning homework. This time I have new issues.

In the years past, I’ve had the same problem over and over again. The students who know what they’re doing, and don’t really need the practice are the ones completing their homework, and of course the ones that aren’t doing well… well — aren’t.  I’m talking Algebra I here.

Now that was when I was teaching freshmen. Their first year in high school, and being thrown into a new setting. This year, I have the 10th-12th graders who are still taking Algebra I. On top of that, they are the group of Guided Study students, so these are students who are not only failing in math, but in most of their classes, in general. They are in this special program that gives them more support with an actual Guided Study class, where senior mentors assist them, push them, and even assist in the communication with their teachers.

This has changed my homework issue completely. I have almost 100% homework completion with my Algebra I, and I have Guided Study to thank. Finally, someone is sitting down with them, and forcing them to do their work and stay on track.

On the other hand, now homework is becoming almost useless. Sure the homework is complete, with work shown, but I see no increase in understanding. And when a student asks me a question about a problem not on the homework, I first refer to their homework assignment.

“Well, can you explain how you did this problem here?”, as I point to a similar problem on their homework assignment.

“Oh my mentor helped me with that problem…”

… meaning, your mentor told you how to do it without helping in developing your own understanding and so you’re just as lost now as you were before you tried the problem.  Okay, I see what’s going on here. It seems to me that the mentors are doing all the thinking… and thus the mentors are doing all the learning (it would be great to have them in my Algebra I classes then).

Homework scores are high, but test scores are low, and I know of at least one problem needing fixing, but I don’t know how to fix it. I suppose I will have to start by talking to the Guided Study teachers at our next meeting.

Ten years ago, I attended the high school at which I now teach. It was a different campus back then. The student population was much smaller, there was no such thing as the California High School Exit Exam, and we had traditional bell schedule with six period each day, 50-some-odd-number minutes each class.

Then ten years ago, my junior year of high school, our schedule underwent a dramatic change. We went from the traditional bell schedule to a block schedule with three classes per day, even periods, then odd periods. This schedule allowed for some great opportunities for both students and teachers — a one hour tutorial period before school on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and a one hour collegial period for teacher collaboration on Tuesday and Friday. This schedule lasted for ten years… until now.

Here’s our new schedule… it’s confusing as hell, but at the same time, there are some good things happening.

Monday
Period 0 7:00 – 7:55
Period 1 8:05 – 9:45
Nutrition 9:45 – 10:00
Period 3 10:05 – 11:40
Lunch 11:40 – 12:15
Period 5 12:20 – 1:55
Collegial 2:00 – 2:55

Tuesday
Period 0 7:00 – 7:55
Period 2 8:05 – 9:45
Tutorial 9:50 – 10:45
Nutrition 10:45 – 11:00
Period 4 11:05 – 12:40
Lunch 12:40 – 1:15
Period 6 1:20 – 2:55

Wednesday
Period 0 7:00 – 7:55
Period 1 8:05 – 9:45
Tutorial 9:45 – 10:05
Nutrition 10:05 – 10:20
Period 3 10:25 – 12:00
Tutorial 12:00 – 12:20
Lunch 12:20 – 12:55
Period 5 1:00 – 2:35
Tutorial 2:35 – 2:55

Thursday
Period 0 7:00 – 7:55
Period 2 8:05 – 9:45
Tutorial 9:45 – 10:05
Nutrition 10:05 – 10:20
Period 4 10:25 – 12:00
Tutorial 12:00 – 12:20
Lunch 12:20 – 12:55
Period 6 1:00 – 2:35
Tutorial 2:35 – 2:55

Friday
Collegial 7:30 – 8:25
Period 1 8:35 – 9:25
Period 2 9:30 – 10:25
Nutrition 10:25 – 10:40
Period 3 10:45 – 11:35
Period 4 11:40 – 12:30
Lunch 12:30 – 1:05
Period 5 1:10 – 2:00
Period 6 2:05 – 2:55

Highlights

Two days of collegial meeting times

Added a 20-minute tutorial help session following every class

Retain one 55-minute tutorial, but moved from before school to in the middle of the day.

Students who are receiving a D or F are assigned to a 55-minute tutorial.

I did a quick survey by raise-of-hand in my Algebra II class today, just to get a quick idea of what type of support the students may be interested in using this year.

Question 1. How many of you have access to the internet at your home?
Nearly everyone raised their hands. Good, much more students than I had anticipated.

Question 2. How many of you would be interested in online tutoring sessions?
Students were hesitant at first. I’m not sure they all understood what I meant by online tutoring with me, since it’s probably something they’re not used to hearing, so I may have to revisit this later. But I did get a few hands, so even if I can help one or two students using this, it would be worth the effort.

Question 3. How many of you have text messaging on your cell phone?
This one was no surprise. Almost everyone raised their hands.

Question 4. How many of you use Twitter?
They LAUGHED at me! I knew Twitter wasn’t as popular with the high school students, but I didn’t know that it was, in fact, UNPOPULAR. Then I heard students comment to each other. “I heard I shouldn’t use Twitter.” “Why would anyone want to use Twitter?” “What’s Twitter?” “Nobody uses Twitter.” “Twitter’s stupid.”

Okay, I was unsuccessful in using it in my classroom last year when students didn’t know anything about it. I think I’ll steer clear of it this year, too. But knowing that most have access to the internet (finally)… I am interested in exploring the idea of a class blog.

I know I’ve stumbled upon some before, but does anyone have any good examples of how a math teacher has implemented this into their class?

Meeting Successes

Hooray for a successful first week of school! But it seems that every first week is always successful… at least for me. The tough part is maintaining the motivation of the students until June (or at least until May, when we test!). Wait, I take that back. The tough part is maintaining the motivation of the TEACHER until June!

Anyway, over the summer, I found out I was selected to be one of the content teacher for our school’s Guided Study Program, a program geared toward supporting our freshmen and sophomores in danger of not graduating. The idea is to support them early before they become juniors and seniors, where it would be much more difficult to help them make a turn around.

Following the first day of school, the administration met with all of the teachers involved in this program, both content teachers and those who teach an actual section of Guided Study. What was supposed to be a “short” meeting turned into almost an hour, which was fine, although another teacher did mention to me yesterday that he saw me falling asleep. Oops.  But I was awake enough to grasp the two important points they were making.

1. Motivation – We will be working with the toughest population in our school (I can definitely see that in my 5th period). How did they sell it to us? “Each of you were HAND-PICKED because of your abilities to connect with students and make a difference!” They hyped us up. They praised us. They made us feel like we were the most AWESOME teachers ever. Funny though, because as much as I knew they were doing this just to make us feel good enough to welcome the challenge, IT WORKED. I really did feel I could make a difference. Maybe I learned a little something about motivation in the classroom, too. That those positive words I say, even though I feel the students think it’s part of my job to motivate them, still have an impact.

2. Support – This was interesting. Aside from motivating us, the administrators also explained that we would have a mind-blowing amount of support from the counselors and administration. If we research a technology and want to implement it into our classrooms, they said they funds to do so. They are giving us freedom to experiment and try new things, since this program is very much in an experimental phase, as well. I do commend the young admin team for being very supportive and open to experimentation and change.

My Worries…

However, one issue I did have with their whole point of support is their focus on support using technology. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a very big proponent for using technology in the classroom, especially if research supports its effectiveness in the classroom. But in the end, technology is just technology, another tool a teacher can use in his or her arsenal of teaching. It is not an end all solution to teaching students who are struggling. And in some cases, I can see it as being even counter-productive if it is not being implemented correctly.

Now, of course I’m always thinking from a math teacher’s viewpoint, but the focus of support for these students should not be the question, “What new technology can be used to support these students in learning?”. I have two Algebra I classes, each with 36+ students, and all of whom were unsuccessful in this class at least once before.

Technology vs. People Support

I would very quickly give up most of my technology for more PEOPLE support in the classrooms. And when I say PEOPLE, I mean people who understand at least basic Algebra, and that I can work closely with so that we are always on the same page.

I had just read about another teacher’s experience in team teaching, and I could see that it could definitely be a problem if you’re matched with the wrong person. However, I am constantly checking for understanding. And just in this first three days of school, working on basic arithmetic operations with integers, I find it such a task to be able to get around to each and every student to give them immediate and proper feedback (there are so many mistakes being made). Having another teacher in the classroom would definitely aid in being an extra set of eyes and legs. I’m very willing to try this out.

Utilizing an Additional Support Class

The students in the Guided Study program do have an additional Guided Study class that they are taking, and all the teachers meet about once per month. However, I’m not sure how useful this will be in helping these students succeed in my math class. What can I do other than provide these teachers with worksheets to practice and/or preview the math?

Now, yes, I am excited to teach these classes this year. As my department chair says, it will “make you stronger!” I’m also excited to be a part of the Guided Study program, but this will very much be a year of experimenting on how I could best utilize the resources provided. I still feel there is something else I need to focus on to really get these students to succeed.

My awesome partner loves to test my brain sometimes. At one point he was reading the book How Would You Move Mount Fuji, a book about the problem solving interview questions that companies like Microsoft and other big companies would use to “test” their potential employees. Now, it’s not always about getting the correct answer, but also about the thinking process that the interviewees used to achieve their answer.

There was one problem in particular that I remember being asked…

There is a row of 100 lockers in a school hallway; all of the locker doors are closed. A first whistle blows, and all the doors toggle — meaning if the door is open, then it will close, and if it is closed, it will open.  On the second whistle, every two locker doors will toggle.  On the third whistle, ever three locker doors will toggle. On the fourth whistle, every four… and so on, until the 100th whistle blows.  After the 100th whistle, how many locker doors will be open?

Now, I’m sure there are many people smarter than me that will solve this almost instantly. I didn’t. But that’s not my point.  What I did do is something is resort back to what I do know … using my fingers. It may sound kiddish, but it worked. I made the problem into a much smaller problem, thinking of only the first ten lockers and the first ten whistles (since I only had ten fingers), then used my fingers to track what happened until I noticed the pattern. From there, the solution made sense both logically and mathematically.

So, I guess my question is this. How do we teach this type of thinking in our classrooms?

I say this a lot in my classroom, and I remember reading it on another post from samjshah.com… “Take what you don’t know, and turn it into what you DO know.” I feel this concept of thinking and learning is more important than any content math standard being tested, because this is what matters. Everyone eventually forgets the much of the math they learned. But learn to think like this, and math will suddenly have purpose.

The data is in, the graphs and results are rolling out! I’m going to make this a quick post, but a post nonetheless, signifying the final weeks of summer and gearing toward the start of school again.

I received an e-mail a couple days ago showing the California Standard Testing math results from this past school year. First, I would like to clarify that the numbers for the department look really good! On the other hand, I’m still not where I want to be.

Yes, I know that these are just standardized test scores, and I don’t believe that they are an accurate measure of how much a student has learned throughout the year, but they are still important in measuring my progress and success as a math teacher, and have an impact on how I modify my teaching.  Each year, I see my approach to math education changing, and I’m not sure if I’m going in the direction I want. I’m torn.

On the bright side, I do want to note that I have shown significant improvement over the previous years, and I see my scores making great leaps each year. In 2008, I only had 16% of my Algebra II students improve their scores significantly enough to move into either one or two levels from their previous year.  2009 shows 44% have shown improvement of one or two levels from their previous year. I couldn’t find data from previous years actual score, but from what I can recall, I’m pretty sure there was improvement there, as well.

I have many ideas to start this upcoming school year, and even though I’m going into my 4th year with more experience, I still feel like I’m experimenting and learning while still trying to get a full grasp of my job as a teacher.  On the other hand, 20 years in the future, I hope to still be experimenting and learning, and continuing to improve my teaching. Good luck to all the teachers this next school!

Let me get the bragging out of the way first. One of my students took 1st place in the Computer Applications Event at the National Conference Awards last night! In high school, I took 2nd place in that event at the National level. Did I help him out at all to prepare? Very little — only with a few small questions he may have asked, but most of his preparation he completed on his own. Not by taking a class or having someone teach him everything there is to know about word processing, spreadsheets, and databases, but by picking up a book and being self-motivated to learn.

It’s interesting, really. My high school was once a powerhouse in competitive events when it came to FBLA. We dominated southern california, taking the most awards at the regional conferences. We were the last school to win the sweepstakes award at the state level before Homestead High School in Northern California started their so far 11-year reign. And always had nearly every competitor who qualified placed in the top ten at the national level.

Then over the next decade, the FBLA Chapter faced a serious decline. A decline not in talent, intelligence, or ability, but rather in self-motivation. Our school has never had the brighest and most talented students. You can look up the demographics, not that it matters much. The majority of our students are from low-income families, and over 90% are of some ethnic minority (85% hispanic/latino), and only 13% of students have a parent with a college degree.

However, a decade ago, the students in our school’s FBLA understood the meaning or preparation and the benefits of learning.  We practiced for our events 2-4 times a week for at least 2 hours after school.  Whether we were studying math, building web sites, or completing projects and writing reports, we were motivated to win, and motivated to learn. We had no idea back then that the schools we were competing against were often magnet schools, or other high-performing schools. Schools that others would say we had no chance of beating, but we did.

This past year, the students decided to practice once a week (which is a good step in the right direction), but rather than practicing during the scheduled times, they either socialized, did other homework, or just surfed the internet. I often felt it was such a waste of my time to be there with them.  What happened to the culture of hard work?  What happened to the motivation to want to achieve something? How can I reinstill those ideals into our school’s “cream of the crop” students?

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On a side note, can I just say that this was one of the most BORING conferences I have attended? I suppose it doesn’t help that it was held right here in my own backyard in the city of Anaheim. The highlight of my weekend was going into my student’s hotel room to play Wii Sports and Brawl.  I did have a bit of fun speaking with some of the older lady advisers from other states in the Adviser Hospitality Room, but I really felt like I did not fit in, being a young, Filipino adviser who is NOT a business teacher, but rather a math teacher.

Anyway, finishing up my third year as an adviser, I must say that it is still quite a different experience being on this end.  Conferences aren’t as exciting as they were as a student. Especially seeing most of the behind-the-scenes work, I feel like all the “magic” is gone. Strange, yes, but true.

I had an Algebra I student get a 0% on the last test we took — 20 questions, all multiple choice [a, b, c, or d], leaving none blank. You’re all math people, to be able to guess on 20 questions and not get a single question correct, that’s quite an achievement!

I once made a bet with a student that if he could guess an entire practice test and not get a single one correct, I would give him an A on the real test.  On number 2, he chose the right answer already. Good times.

When it comes to attitude and motivation, I see polar opposites in my classes.

My 1st and 3rd periods — Ouch. It feels like the class just drags on and no one is motivated to do anything.  As positive as I try to be, there seems to be two or three students whose negative attitudes just seem to bring down the entire class.

After lunch, though, I look forward to seeing my 5th period.  The students come in positive and ready to learn!  Then on the even block days, my 4th and 6th periods are also very motivated (I love Tuesdays and Thursdays!).

But then it makes me think… what did I do wrong with my 1st and 3rd periods?  How much of their attitude and motivation is within my control?  One thing I know.  My two brightest students in one of my classes are both have problems outside of class.  I don’t know any of the details, and frankly, I’m pretty bad at the whole counseling side of the teaching profession.  That’s just not me.  It’s not that I don’t care.  I just don’t have those type of people skills. (Is that something you can learn?)  But watching the once classroom “leaders” come in without their homework or not caring when they do poorly on a test seems to be taking a toll on the entire class.

As for the other class, I have no idea.  It’s not everyone, but I just don’t get that positive vibe that I get from my other periods.

As for my positive classes, I don’t want to lose that motivation, especially in these last two weeks of class.  I continually thank them and praise them for being so positive and ready to learn.  They know I’m being sincere and it seems to motivate them even more.

With only Finals Week left, there really isn’t much I can do to turn my 1st and 3rd periods around.  But for next year, I need to find a way to prevent this from happening.  One strategy I remember hearing about is letting the students know that I’ll be making a positive phone call home to parents for an outstanding student for the week.  I don’t know if that really works, but again, this is another weakness of mine. Making phone calls.  I just wish everyone used e-mail already.

…

Final thought: How worried should I be about tomorrow’s meeting with the Superintendent regarding our district’s budget crisis (or should I say our state’s budget crisis)? Darn these cuts to education. I can’t be angry, though. I think my attempt to solve the budget crisis [http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-statebudget-fl,0,95571.htmlstory] included cuts to education. I mean, it does make up the largest portion of our state budget, doesn’t it? But it hurts.