Math Instruction - We need sharp tools.

Well, the EQAO (Ontario's provincial testing) results are out.  Although there are a lot of things I could rant about (like how we should scrap it altogether, or decide to keep our children home during the testing, etc.), I just want to address the discouraging trend of our grade 6 math scores getting increasingly lower.  

I have been an elementary school teacher for 20 years.  My degree is in Music (which will actually be relevant as you read), but I am a classic "left brain" kind of person.  I think mathematically.  In fact, my career path into teaching was an 11th hour left turn from a career path in engineering, which occurred about mid-way through grade 12.  My commentary is not founded upon any research but on my observations.  However, if the current approach to math teaching is to be measured in a scientific way, using actual data, ten years of declining math scores should be all the evidence we need in order to suggest that, whatever research the current methodologies are based on, they aren't working.    

First, the differences in math and music are not as vast as one might think.  I would even suggest that the differences between so-called "right brain" and "left brain" are also not as vast as one might think.  If you can't see that a good math solution can involve elegance and creativity, then you are probably not very studied in math.  And if you can't see how any of the arts (ie. visual art, music, dance) depend a good deal on patterning, logic, sequence, shape, proportion, and physics, then you're probably not very studied in the arts either.  

I was talking to a music teacher colleague of mine about how we learn music.  At first, much of it is  by rote.  We don't have kids figure out through discovery how to read notes on the staff.  We teach them by giving them explicit strategies.  We don't have kids figure out through discovery how to play a Dm chord on the guitar, or how to play a G on the trumpet.  We teach them explicitly.  At this point, our students are mostly just parroting the things they have learned by rote.  No problem.  

And bit by bit, we get less reliant on the rote stuff and we begin to internalize things.  We understand it, not merely academically, but intuitively.  After a while, we can pick up our instrument, and all that rote learning and technical practice coalesces into something more, and music just begins to "happen" - almost as if it were just a part of us.... as if our hands were guided by the musical impulses in our brains.  

But wait!  We're talking about math.  

First, let me be clear.  We absolutely MUST engage our students with genuine problem solving that connects to their real-life experiences.  This is not only about making math relevant to our learners, but this is also about bringing students past the rote learning and into actual the actual thinking that is required in order to actually *do* math.  Just because you can plunk out Happy Birthday on a piano doesn't mean you know music, and just because you can multiply 3-digit numbers doesn't mean you know math.  It just means that you can follow a rote series of steps.  

Before asking kids to solve problems, though, we need to give them the tools to do so.  Good, reliable, sharp tools.  This means being able to recall from memory what 7 x 4 is, or how to divide one number by another - automatically.  The current state of teaching puts the cart before the horse.  We ask kids to solve problems, and in the course of solving those problems, they discover clumsy methodologies to circumvent their lack of basic tools.  And we call that learning.  

Let's say we ask two people to build a table.  That is the real life problem.  It has to be big enough to seat four people comfortably, and sturdy enough to support a weight of 50 kg.  Just like in math, there are a lot of possible solutions to this problem.  Just like in math, my solution might not be the same as yours, but as long as we achieve a solution that works to the same problem, then we are both right.  If your table falls down, no matter how fancy you got with it, it's still a failure of a table - just like in math.  

But our current (as in for about the last ten years or so) methodology of math instruction will say to give kids some wood and a variety of found objects and have them use their "existing schema" to go build a table.  So, they'll lever pieces of wood with rocks and stuff to try to break the wood into the appropriate sizes and shapes.  Maybe they'll gouge away at it with a spoon from their lunch, eventually wearing through something vaguely resembling a cut.  They'll glue and tape the corners.  And it will be an awful little table on virtually any measure - except it was one that they did themselves without any help.  And then we'll de-brief at the end and talk about what strategies they used, what worked and why, and what didn't work and why, and what we might be able to do in order to make a better table as a next step.  

I say, give them tools - sharp tools, and precise tools - and teach them how to use those tools.   Practice cutting a few scrap boards.  Practice drilling.  Be by their sides while they do so to make sure that they are doing it right.  THEN ask them to build a table.  They will make far superior tables in considerably less time.  THEN they can talk - knowledgeably - about what strategies they used, what worked and why, and what didn't work and why, and what we might be able to do in order to make a better table as a next step.  

As we begin to internalize those rote strategies used in math, we begin to understand it, not merely academically, but intuitively.  After a while, we can pick up our pencils or our calculators, and the math - like the music - will just begin to flow out of us in a way that seems natural and intuitive.  But it won't happen without developing and practicing the foundational skills first.  

    

  

"Do it for the Kids...." - I will not apologize

Well, folks.... it's collective bargaining season again, and that means just one thing - a grand heaping and steaming serving of teacher-bashing rhetoric served up by the fine puppet-masters of the political right, brought fresh to your table by their sensationalism-loving lackeys in the media who would rather provide us with click-bait than to actually research anything.  (no, not all media matches this description...)

The two things that really get my goat (well, this week anyways) are the old tired lines of "doing it for the kids" and us "being paid too much already."

First, there is hardly a job in this world, except for those who submit themselves to a life of religious servitude, where the worker does it merely for the value it adds to their quality of life and for the satisfaction of bettering the lives of others.  Does that mean that doctors, nurses, social workers and teachers are just doing it for the money then?  Of course not.  They do it because of the satisfaction it brings them, AND because they get paid for it.  How many dentists, do you figure, would want to go fishing around in people's mouths if they were only paid $15/hr?  Not bloody many.

I could have done pretty well anything I wanted.  I had the marks to get into law school.  If it was my ambition, I could have been a surgeon, or a suit in a corner office at a bank.  In any case, I'd certainly be making more money - maybe even another $100k more a year than I'm pulling in now.  THERE is the "do it for the kids" piece.  THERE is the "do it because you love teaching" piece.  By making the choice to teach, I'm probably earning half of what I could otherwise be making.  Never mind the hours of time and money out of my own pocket I spend making the learning experiences of my kids better.   I enjoy teaching.  I don't resent or regret my choice for a minute.  But I'll be honest - if all it was going to provide me and my family was $40k at the peak of my career, I'd have found something else to do.

I think the wage of a teacher is respectable.  It's probably about what your electrician makes, or the entry-level junior account slugger at the accounting firm makes.  It's probably more than, say, the manager of a shoe store in the mall makes, and less than a middle-tier accountant at a corporation makes.  It's enough for me to maintain a traditional middle-class lifestyle in an age where the middle class is being redefined increasingly downwards - as long as my wife also works.  It's enough that I didn't feel I needed to go into law or medicine or to get my MBA.  It's not enough for me to be a sole wage-earner and still take my family on holidays.  Heck, it's not enough for me to be a sole wage earner and pay the mortgage on a 1.5 storey three-bedroom house and still manage to feed everyone and keep the lights on.   My kids are all either teenagers or soon to be as such.  We go on road trips for holidays.  None of them have ever been an on airplane.   There is enough, but there's not much extra.

If you don't think that the person who you entrust your children to for as many hours out of the year as they spend with you; the person who spends 50 hours a week providing their education; the person who spent upwards to six years of university and probably three years of supply teaching; the person who probably could have chosen something more lucrative instead of serving kids deserves that, then I really don't know what to tell you.   I will not apologize for what I make.  It's reasonable, but it is not even close to what I could be making, had I made a choice other than to "do it for the kids."

Make On-Line Portfolios Available to Parents - Secure and Easy

Wait!  Don't be afraid!  Trust me... this is so easy, I can't believe I haven't tried this until just now.

As teachers, we often want to collect samples of student work into a portfolio.  Traditionally, that means gathering some sort of folder-type organizer and occasionally selecting work to put into it so that we have something to share with the parents at interview time, or with an administrator or resource teacher, or even with the students themselves.

"Folders?" you ask.  "Sharing?"  So, we want a shared folder, right?

Exactly!

So, enter my good friend Google Drive (formerly known as Google Docs).  You have 30GB of storage there, where you can upload any kind of file.  You have the functionality to create and share folders.   That's all you need!

So, if you haven't already, check out my blog and accompanying video on using Google Drive.  It also explains how to share a document.  Folders are shared in exactly the same way.

So, very simply, here are the steps:

• Create a folder in your Google Drive for each student, and name it accordingly.  I create a master folder called "Student Portfolios", and then put the student folders inside it... one for Kelly, one for David, etc.  
• Collect email addresses from parents.  
• On each student's folder, right-click on it, select "share" and type (or paste) in the parent's email address to share the folder with them.  
• Check the box "can view", but I wouldn't allow them to have the "can edit" permission.  
• Click the checkbox to send them an email, and then click "Done." Now, anything you place into that folder is automatically shared with that student's parent!
• Now, you can photograph any written work along with the evaluations (rubrics, checklists, success criteria... whatever you think is relevant) and upload the photos to that folder.  Parents will have immediate access to the items you put in this folder from anywhere in the world!
• If your students are using Google Drive themselves, they can create a document and hand it in to you by sharing it with you.  You can then make a copy (right-click and "make a copy") and put that into their electronic on-line portfolio!

The students' work is privacy protected, as only the person who has access to the email address that was used to share it in the first place will have access to the folder!

Cameras in the classroom

There is much ongoing discussion about the use of cellphones in the classroom.  People reflexively dismiss the use of them with the ready retort of, "Why do kids need to phone people from class?"  Well, they don't, as a rule.  But when you consider the reality that many of us use our smart phones for a LOT more than just their phone features, it all starts to make sense.  In fact, I use my phone very rarely to make telephone calls.  Kids are using them for the same reasons we are - clock, reminders, calendar, flashlight, calculator, mail, social media, and quick, handy internet access.

One of the handiest things to consider the use of cellphones in the classroom for is the fact that they all have cameras.  In fact, there are very few now that won't even do video too.  Here are a few ideas for using cameras in the classroom:

• oral presentations for students to record instead of presenting them live.  If you don't like the first take, you can do another... and another... and another...  (IEP accommodations!)
• Be in two places at once!  Record your lesson and play the video, freeing you up to either monitor student progress, or even provide instruction in an alternate location.
• Recording and evaluating musical and drama performances.
• Documenting peer or teacher feedback.  Set it up to record, and get a chance to observe that group providing their peer feedback at some point later.
• Students can draw diagrams and make models to post to a blog, or they can even describe what the viewer is seeing in the format of a video.
• photographing the blackboard, paper notes, etc. for later recall.
• photographing student work for an electronic portfolio

These are just some more examples of some *very* simple things you can do to start integrating simple but authentic and useful technologies in your classroom.

Getting Started - Technology in the Classroom

If you remember one thing in your entire life about using technology in education, it is this... "Don't jump in with both feet and try to revolutionize your program in a day."  Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say.  The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  Or, my personal favourite (can you spot the "Kids in the Hall" reference?) - "Snowflake becomes blizzard."  Haha.

I know as well as anyone how intimidating and how baffling various technologies can be.  I was a moderately hard-core computer nerd in high school (wrote a program where you could play Yahtzee against the computer... rolling dice, score cards, etc.), but circumstance saw me wander off and not use a computer at all throughout university.  Well, a lot happened between 1989 and 1995.  I was in teachers' college and had a single page assignment to submit.  I was sure it was due tomorrow, but no.... as it turns out, I had about three hours.  I figured that "everyone else is doing stuff on the computer.  I'm good with the computer.  I'll do that."  What an experience!  I had never seen Windows 95.  I had never seen Word Perfect.  I had no idea what reveal codes were.  Two hours later, and I came out further behind than I was when I went in.  I ran home and got out my manual typewriter (no, I'm NOT making this up!), bashed out the paper, and drove back to hand it in.  I went from hero to zero in five and a half years.  That experience in the computer lab was humbling to say the least!

But at the same time, this is important.  A student entering university has never known a world without Windows.  A student in grade 8 has never known a world before Windows XP.  A student in grade two has never known a world without the iPhone.  While older people sometimes have a hard time imagining what computers can do, our kids are often surprised about what computers CAN'T do.

Start with something simple - something that is pretty close to your comfort zone, that you will feel confident with, and that you know you can do.  Keep it simple.  Don't force it by using technology for technology's sake, but apply it to something real.  Consider the voice memos app found on virtually all iDevices.  It's dead easy to use (hey, they kid'll show ya!), and has some powerful and authentic applications to enhance your programming or assessment.

One step at a time, keep moving up... but keep moving.  You'll get there.

Using the iPad in the Classroom - Voice Memos

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the latest gadgetry that we overlook the power of the very simple things.  Let me present to you the "Voice Memos" app found on virtually any iDevice with a screen.  Some of you might remember "the old days" when we thought, "Gee, it would be nice to have a tape recorder, except the last time I wanted it, it was down at the other end in the building in the library, and when I got it, and finally found the blank cassette tape in the bottom of that one drawer, I found out the tape recorder didn't even work!  Argh!"

Enter "Voice Memos."  Whip the iDevice out of your pocket or your drawer, zoom along to the app, press record, and you're off!  No mussing about with blank tapes (oops.... I was sure that one was blank....), no looking for a place for students to work that is near an outlet, and no traipsing to the other end of the school to round it up.  Some considerations for this app:

• oral quizzes, reports for students to record instead of writing them down.  (IEP accommodations!)
• Be in two places at once!  Record your instructions and then send the students off to go listen to them and work in an alternate location.
• Documenting oral reading.  (DRA anyone?)
• Recording and evaluating musical performances.
• Documenting peer or teacher feedback.  Set it up to record, and listen back to that group providing their peer feedback at some point later.

Here is a neat thing I did with this app.  I recorded students playing recorder pieces while I accompanied them on the guitar.  I then brought those clips home, imported them into Cubase (a music editing/recording program), synced them to a click track, programmed some drums, recorded a bass guitar part and a couple of guitars, and shared the track with the kids on our class website as an mp3.  Parents, family and friends could all hear them "Rocking out with the band" from anywhere in the world.  Yay!

Create an On-line Survey with Google Forms

I have used Google forms for all sorts of different applications.  I have had students complete them as on-line quizzes (you can even get paid plugins that will mark them for you!), I have used them for having parents sign up for interview time slots, and for getting staff feedback on school issues.  In short, anything you can think of for you to conduct a survey on can be easily done in Google Forms.  Once the data is collected, it can be easily analyzed in charts, graphs, or within a spreadsheet.  My junior level students have created surveys and collected data as part of their Data Management unit in math.  My students last year got people responding to their surveys from as far away as Australia and Africa!  How's THAT for going beyond the walls of the classroom?  And hey... if your junior level students can do it, then so can you.  Give it a try!