Implementing Math Stations

Implementing Math Stations

fashion style    6:48 PM   

I'm a big fan of Dan Bowdoin. His blog: "Technology Integration for Math Engagement" has some great ideas. Recently, I was inspired to trial math stations more systematically after his post: Ownership of learning during math stations. 

I've done some station activities in the past, but I've struggled with the classroom management of them so the class does not seem to resemble "total chaos". Mr. Bowdoin has some ideas for stations that I've already done at some level, just not all at one time. I took some of his ideas and made the lesson plan for my investigation on "Interpreting Tables and Graphs" while learning about functions.

• Station #1 – Review-Finish missing homework, watch any videos from your Holt Online

• Station #2 – Modeling-Debrief Homework White boarding activities with Mr. J

• Station #3 – Independent Practice-Individual, pair or group work on lesson worksheet objectives

• Station #4 – Application-"Focus on Problem Solving" Make notes on poster sheet to present to the class

• Station #5 – Content Creation-Record yourself solving a problem, Blog Post Title: "Exploring the Coordinate Plane"

Station 1 activities are generally for novices, beginners or for students who might need a little more support and front loading before independent practice. However, I am encouraging students work at a station that they feel ready for, and are engaged to explore. For example, a student that struggles in math might prefer to start at station 1 or 2 and work their way up. A high flyer might start at station 3 and work their way up, depending on their level of interest. Although these stations are labelled in the class, the activities may change from lesson to lesson. For example, the station on modelling might involved pattern blocks, or modelling scales for the next lesson, and so on.

Near the end of class, I administerered a formative assessment that links to educational objectives. I've recorded the students working as seen below:







Tips for Implementation

1. For Independent Practice: Consider having the answers on hand. As I was station #2 helping students with modelling, the students need to know whether they got an answer correct or not. I have the answers posted on a bulletin board for reference. 
2.  Emphasize that all stations don't need to be visited. Some students tear through independent practice, some need the entire period. Stations can be visited as based on interest. 
3. Encourage all students to stay on task. With either content creation or application problems, some of my students were weary of working on those particular problems as they felt their work would be scrutinized by others so some students were "standing around" until I reminded them that there were other projects on which they could work. Blog projects seemed less threatening for students that don't like public speaking.
4. Give about 40-50 minutes. Most of my students wanted more time to work today and time is necessary to debrief and share experiences and clear up misconceptions on what was learned during math stations.
5. Consider front loading (flipping) assignments prior to math stations. The jury is out on flipped instruction, but I like them personally as it limits the amount of teaching in the beginning of a lesson. However, some students still don't do the work, but station 1 and 2 are a nice option for these students that need a lot of support.

Although some parts of learning should be systematic, I personally like learning environments that encourage students to take risjs, and push the boundaries of their comfort levels. Station activities can be awesome as they offer differentiated tasks and roads to understanding which support struggling and gifted learners in an heterogeneous class population. I don't anticipate working in math stations every single class period as there is slightly more preparation, but every 2 or 3 lessons using it as a format for students to learn through many different pathways.

Related Posts
Formative Assessment Ideas for the Math Classroom
Morphing into a student centered environment
Flipped Lessons
Making Flipped Lessons Meaningful

Self-Publishing - Not for Sissies!

Self-Publishing - Not for Sissies!

fashion style    1:46 AM   

Overworked and stressed, with two babies and a child wobbling badly in school, teaching music by day and doing microscopy for leukaemia cases in the nights between 8h p.m. and 12h a.m., that decision came from the murky depths. It was made on a week's break, staring at the sea in the romantic light of a full moon. And it was the beginning of a journey that would boldly take me staggering on a road many have walked and more have failed on.

Did I reach my goal? Not by a long mile yet. But the landscape is beginning to look greener, and there are unexpected orchids along the way.

Writing has always been a part of my nature. A word of caution to would-be authors: If it comes easily, you're on the right road. At least one part of this journey needs to be easy. If you begin with a roll of the eye and a great big sigh, perhaps try your hand at something more lucrative, such as nuclear engineering.

Here are the steps, point-wise, that I have followed. I'll also outline the results of each step.

• Submitting to hundreds of agents and publishing houses in a climate of world financial crisis - not clever. Only now, since 2011, do I have a literary agent... unofficially.


• Self-publishing as ebook. Alright, that was seduction. The website was well-worded. It got me a couple of hundred views and some nice readers' comments; hardly any downloads but as I could see the other authors' stats too, I saw that I didn't fare too badly in comparison.


• Self-publishing as paper-book on Lulu.com. Good quality (though the binding could be improved); the books look good. Too pricey to offer to shops or sell directly, after shipping; even in "bulk". But handy for sending single copies overseas.


• Blogging. Careful: Blogging is addictive. The most important reason is the friends one makes online. One can easily spend days and weeks blogging, ultimately losing the way and forgetting that blogging is really a tool, not a hobby.


• Online networking. Once again: Careful, addictive. I use Facebook mainly for games now, though I'm thankful that I've found so many of my old friends again. Neither of these have anything to do with internet marketing though.


• After the necessary distractions of blogging and online networking, back to reality: Reviews. I got both readers' comments and professional reviews over time. Reviews are important; you paste them as advertisements wherever you need them.


• Professional editing and finishing: I met my editor on the blogs. This is why online networking and blogging is necessary despite the time factor: You meet important people who help you along your path. I also had the book covers professionally designed. You need that kind of finishing. A cover sells a book.


• Paper publishing. A friend helped me get started (she is a graphic designer, where would ptblishing be without them?) and I printed a run of the first book in the series. This small local print run brought the cost per copy into the sellable range.


• Launches: We launch each new book; the launch itself brings some much-needed capital as well as a bit of publicity. Book signings and promotions are on a similar level.


• Sales through shops: We were fortunate that our leg-work paid off and a number of our books were accepted in a number of shops. Frustratingly though the cost-per-copy of small digital runs is still too high for the large chain bookstores to look up. Besides, you'll have to be something special to get them to look at Science Fiction. The genre is... while not dead, badly abused and tattered.


• Direct sales at markets, events etc: A lot of work for very little reward. However it does raise awareness. We had a few sales every time we staged such a sales event.


• Newspaper and magazine publicity: This is a slow process. We have had podcasts, press releases and reviews in newspapers, and a popular magazine reviewed the first of the series; yet, sales figures didn't seem to reflect. However, the news is filtering through to people and over time, there is indeed a sales impact.


• Revisiting internet marketing: So far, all we explored was free marketing. Now we put up a website to showcase each of our books (by which time we had acquired a couple of more authors, and had added some music books to our stash). A learning curve how to program a website such that it works, across browsers. I doubt that many self-publishers actually design their own; but I'm headstrong and knew exactly which way I wanted it. Possibly this is a mistake; time will tell.


• Adding "freestuff" to our website: This brings eyes, and clicks. Inquisitive clicks who enjoy browsing. These clicks have in all probability browsed for "free books" or something similar. Previews on books are a must, but how much to tell, that is a pickle. The wording is still a learning curve. It's not a given that if you purportedly know how to write and capture a reader from scalp to toe, you'll also know how to write a good ad!


• Giving up and the angels intervening: Now this is the part you might hate to hear. So far, all has been hard and consistent work (though you have probably spotted all the holes by now). But it felt as though it were going nowhere; so I sighed pitifully and gave up. For a moment. I needed ten "Violin Tunes" as I use them in my teaching (and the music shop needed stock) so I trudged down to the local copy shop with my professional covers... ordered the insides and CD's... was referred to a sister branch of the shop for the insides, and met a lady who introduced me to a distribution agent for music books.

Using Student Blogs for Authentic Science Assessments

Using Student Blogs for Authentic Science Assessments

fashion style    10:11 PM   

We've come to the end of our unit on Biology in grade 6 science. In addition to learning about diversity of life, students have been discussing and debating moral ethics in science, such as why some forms of life seem to have precedence over others to live. For example, why do we abhor when a Panda bear population is pushed to the brink of extinction and we don't give second thoughts to stepping on insects? Students have debated the ethics of zoos as a tool of preservation and entrapment. Such essential questions make for fun discussions.



Our final investigation is an experiment centered around living things. Students design an investigation around a question and ultimately develop their scientific laboratory skills in preparation for their individual summative lab. Here is the outline:
Culminating Project Investigating Amphibians


I developed this rubric around the scientific method which I apply to all my end of unit summative labs. I think the language is pretty middle school friendly and hits the benchmarks well within the scientific method:

Investigating Amphibians Rubric-Diversity of Life

This is the second year that we've been 1:1 in the middle school. As our teaching staff learns how to best use student netbooks as learning tools, we are also looking for ways to incorporate them into authentic assessments that students will have in their digital portfolios. Such uses allow for keeping these artifacts rather than tossing them away after grading and sharing research with the greater world. Instead of giving a paper copy to the students, the students simply make a copy of the prompts and paste it in their blog for less paper output. See some examples below:

1. Does being in groups affect tadpole behavior?
2. Do tadpoles react differently to dirty or clear water?
3. Do dark or bright environments affect tadpole behavior?
4. How does population size affect tadpole respiration?

I think this connects "learning to life" which is in fact one of our mission statements. We cannot resign to having students produce work that is done in isolation. Scientists share their work with the world, invite peer review and know that the process of science is a collaborative one. There are so many collaborative projects that have developed online wherein students can share data from their home environment and laboratory with others on the side of the planet. If we want to develop scientists of the future, shouldn't this be a goal?

Lunch in the Park with Rational Numbers

Lunch in the Park with Rational Numbers

fashion style    7:39 AM   

The seventh graders have just had lunch in the park. This was our culminating project in our rational numbers unit in math. Math has so many practical applications and it's great when students have the opportunity to practice their skills in real world settings. I love it when students ask me: "What will we use this for? " and "Why do we have to learn this?" This is the hardest question that a teacher gets asked, but I like it, as it is important to always have relevance in mind when undertaking all educational objectives. As we have come to the end of our unit on "rational numbers" I designed an investigation with Ms. Cuthbertson and Mr. Elshoff to integrate some strands from health class into ones with math class to develop a rational numbers project involving shopping, the food pyramid, and of course, rational numbers. Students have to plan a meal around a healthy eating %, shop for a meal and stay within their budget and calculate differences involving rational numbers. See a project overview below:   Rational Numbers Project Rubric

We took all 66 seventh graders over to "Citimart" during "D Block" on Monday. The students planned a meal around the food pyramid and tried to proportionally build this meal around a group budget of 300,00 dong. Afterwards, students put their creation together and had lunch in the park.  
   

The kids had such a great time and the experience really brings learning to life. Where do we use math in our daily lives? Every time we go shopping! Some testimonials: Noah: "It was fun to learn and see how our budget added up."

MK: "It was inspiring to share and work with other people."

David: "It was fun discussing what we had to buy with our friends."

Doanh: "It was fun because our class got our and experienced a different style of learning."

Adam: "It was good to have a budget and it taught me how to use money and a budget better."

Seo Yoon: "It was fun, but the food was not that tasty. I will appreciate my mother so much more when she makes me lunch in the morning."

Soo Mi: "It was fun. It was fun shopping with others around."