Surface Area Tin Man Project

I've never taught my area unit very well or went beyond basic area formulas that students have been learning for years. This year I heavily focused on composite areas and perimeters, surface area, and volume.

I did my first real project of the year (um, my career) on surface area.

Each pair of students built a tin man out of boxes, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, Styrofoam balls, and cones. They had to use a formula sheet to first measure the surface area of the parts, showing all of their work for each part. Next they had to tape the parts together. The tin man had to have all parts attached and be sitting or standing on its own. Then I would give them the exact amount of foil they measured for, no more and no less. They had to cover their tin man as completely as possible without running out of tinfoil or having extra leftover.

After their project was complete, I had them answer twelve reflection questions about the project. I also created a rubric that they used to self-assess and then I used the same rubric to assess them as well. This was the first time I've ever used a rubric myself, and also the first time having students self-assess using a rubric.

If none of the above links work, please try this one :)

 

The students worked hard and really enjoyed the project. It was complete insanity while it was happening but the students were so engaged and surprised by how little their tinfoil was and yet it still was enough. They finally figured out that math actually works. 

I really didn't have the time to spend on this but measurement is a weakness in our curriculum throughout all courses and plus, they deserved it. This was my big crazy geometry class of 24 students who all hated the class because it was so loud and chaotic. I wanted them to have one good memory of this year and this class and I think I succeeded. I actually got this idea from my English teacher bestie who did it in high school. She hated math but that really stuck with her and I want to do something each year with my students that will stick with them that long as well.

I felt like they answered the reflection questions honestly and thoughtfully. My objective  was for them to summarize their learning throughout this process. I think it was a good way for them to switch from active, hands-on builders to serious, reflective thinkers. I also think I need to add something into the rubric about how much work they did. In one instance, a girl did all the work and the boy was just getting supplies and doing whatever she said. But, he ended up with a higher grade than she did because he did better on his reflection questions. She was upset and I knew she would be. On one hand I understand. On the other hand, I clearly explained the things I would be grading on so she can't really argue with me. But I hated that she felt I was being unfair.

Overall, the project was a success and I will definitely be doing it again. My algebra I and II classes are totally jealous now and want to build one as well. Some students suggested that next time we create accessories as well or maybe even a heart. Cuteness.

Good times...

Dichotomous Rubric for Assessing Math Portfolios

My final project for our Writing Across the Curriculum class is to develop the template for my math portfolio. It's due May 5th (I think?) which means I haven't really started on it yet. I have ideas in my head and a few resources. I plan on it being a mix of data (graphs from Lee Jenkins) reflections on that data, the math part, and reflections about the math part. A lot of writing, but not an overwhelming amount. It has to be doable. And my goal is not just for them to write but to use writing as a tool for learning. I may or may not have that part figured out yet.

Anyway, Lee Jenkins came a couple weeks ago to meet with us again and even though I haven't started any of his ideas yet, he did introduce me to the dichotomous rubric. The examples he showed me were about writing but so is my math portfolio so it wasn't too far of a stretch.

So I've made my own and it's the first real contribution to my portfolio but hey, it's a start.

It's pretty and it's colorful and I quite like it.

Feedback?

Post It Note Answer Key

I first read about this idea from Amy Gruen's blog.

During my area unit I was teaching composite areas for the first time. I found a worksheet on BetterLesson that I really liked so I edited it and made a powerpoint to go along with it. The worksheet has a direct instruction, guided practice, and independent practice section. I've never taught this before and I was really nervous that everyone would be lost and confused. I was expecting tons of questions and chaos. So I needed some kind of structure or strategy that would keep me from pulling my hair out.

Here's what I came up with. I worked out the answers to each problem individually on a post it.

On the chalkboard, I wrote numbers with a square under it and put each post it inside the square.

I told the class as they worked to check their answers with the post it. If they were stuck then they could also go look at how the problem was done. This is better than letting them take the post-its to their seat which would mean temptation to copy every answer. If a student stood up there long enough to copy down every problem, I'm pretty sure I would notice that. 

It would have been a good idea to spread them out more but I only have one chalkboard.

It turns out that since my students are so lazy, most of them didn't bother to get up and look but instead just asked the student sitting closest to the board to tell them the answer. And that was okay, because they were still able to check their answers and I knew they weren't cheating.

I also told students I would not be answering any questions like "Is this the right answer?" since they could easily answer that themselves.

What went wrong is that since we were doing composite areas, there are many different ways to getting the answer. Which is good. But looking at my post it note with only one way to do it...not so good. 

In theory, the idea was great and it's a strategy I will try again. But probably on something that's a little more...straightforward.

Summer 2012 Goals

I found out I should be teaching the same subjects next year- hoorah for no new preps!
Also, my instructional coach has written my End of Course exams for Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II based on Common Core standards and including performance events and extended response. This will be the backbone of my curriculum and my guide for everything I want to do. Here are my goals to accomplish this summer:

• Design math portfolio (I'm actually doing this for my master's so hopefully I will be done with that in early May)
• Tweak and tighten my pacing guides from last year
• Use the pacing guides and backwards design strategy to create unit plans with essential questions and key concepts list
• Create performance events and a rubric for each unit
• Use the above to finally implement standards based grading
• Create questions/system for Lee Jenkins formative assessment idea
• Fix sucky lessons

I know and accept the fact that I will not fully accomplish all of these things. But my list is the shortest summer list I've had yet which is a good sign. We get out of school the 21st, about 2 weeks earlier than usual. The rest of that week is a teacher work week so I hope to tackle as much of this as possible in that week before I lost my motivation.

I'm taking two grad school courses this summer (I'll be two-thirds done at the end of summer!!) so I'm not going to pretend that I will do much classroom stuff after June 11th.  Nevertheless, I'm feeling excited, underwhelmed, and counting down the days.

43!

SBG Exemplar and Rubric

I hate the new Blogger interface. It deleted my post that was supposed to be a draft and then published it so that only a title showed up. Boo. Luckily I can still revert to the old Blogger interface. If you clicked through to this before and saw nothing, my apologies.

After my SBG brainstorm post, I really started to zero in on what kind of rubric I want to create. The main thing I want my rubric to do is to easily show anyone who looks at it (parent, student, teacher, administrator) exactly what the student has done right and exactly what the student has done wrong. I want my rubric to give clear feedback and possibly even cues or questions that instruct students on what to do next.

Is this even possible? I think the thing that has been holding me back is that I thought I could create a rubric that would work for everything (ala a writing rubric, a team work rubric, etc). But that is just not true. I'm looking for different skills for each concept I teach and so the rubric must be adjusted accordingly. Another hint that I must do backwards design: I have to clearly outline the outcomes I want students to achieve (a key concepts list), the method I will use to determine if they learned it (the performance event), and the method of communicating to students if they were successful (the rubric).

Another thought that has held me back is thinking that I should be able to look at a student's grade and immediately know where they went wrong without looking at the rubric. I know, I know that makes no sense. But it kinda does. If you create a rubric like I've seen elsewhere, such as

• 4- Performs skill with no errors. 
• 3- Perform skill with minimal errors
• 2- Performs skill with major errors
• 1- Cannot perform skill

then technically, you could know how much a student messed up, but not at what exact point. So my new idea is actually better than the idea I was trying to live up to! Twisted.

I really liked Lizzy's comment about giving students one point for different steps in the process like the AP world does on a regular basis, Kristin's comment about giving students a basic, proficient, and advanced problem, and Adam's comment about having students use rubrics to make test corrections.

I'm going to combine these ideas into a giant megamind idea!

My exemplar will continue to be on system of inequalities and will now be accompanied with pictures.

Here we go:

#1 Basic

#1 is the most basic problem. Students would be graded as follows:

• Graphing inequality 1 with correct slope and y-intercept (2 points)
• Graphing inequality 2 with correct slope and y-intercept (2 points)
• Determining if inequality 1 is solid or dotted (1 point)
• Determining if inequality 2 is solid or dotted (1 point)
• Plugging in test point for inequality 1 (1 point)
• Plugging in test point for inequality 2 (1 point)
• Shading in the correct direction for inequality 1 (1 point)
• Shading in the correct direction for inequality 2 (1 point)
• Stating an ordered pair from the solution set (1 point)

These are the most basic skills to solving systems of inequalities. #1 is worth a total of 11 points.

Moving on to problem #2:

#2 Proficient

The only difference in this proficient problem is that now the inequalities are in standard form and must be put into slope-intercept form. Grading as follows:

• Solving inequality 1 with correct slope and y-intercept (2 points)
• Solving inequality 2 with correct slope and y-intercept (2 points) 

#2 is worth a total of 4 points. Students will only be graded on the new part of the problem because they have already completed the basic skills on #1. Students won't know this and won't know that I'm only grading part of it. This prevents students from doing the bare minimum.

On to #3:

#3 Advanced

The new skill in the advanced problem is that the student must write the system of inequalities from a word problem. Grading:

• Writing inequality 1 with correct slope, y-intercept, and inequality sign (3 points)
• Writing inequality 2 with correct slope, y-intercept, and inequality sign (3 points) 

Students will then have to solve (like they already did on #2), then graph (like they already did on #1.) Problem #3 is worth a total of 6 points.

The entire performance event would be worth 21 points.

Students would receive a rubric at the beginning of the unit to monitor their progress along the way and to give feedback. They would check off skills as they learn them and write the date. I could use this rubric to grade quizzes along the way, using the bottom section for specific feedback. Then I would use the same rubric to grade their performance event at the end of the unit. 

Rubric:

Rubric

Does this seem clear and easy to understand?

Do the grade ranges seem fair? For example, a proficient student scoring 12 out of 21 points would receive a B on my rubric but normally a 12 out of 21 would be a 57%. That feels crazy. Am I totally missing the mark here?

I actually did grade this way, I just didn't give students a rubric. The assessment really was worth 21 points and I really did just give percentage grades like the aforementioned. The difference is that I would now be clearly communicating what I expect students to be able to do and clearly communicating how I am assessing those abilities. The grade is the only thing that is throwing me off. Am I out in left field here?