The math department has been rethinking our math classes and
how we can personalize the learning for our students. Inspired by what we’ve
learned from Jo Boaler’s How to Learn Math forTeachers online course, we’ve decided to remove tracking
in our Algebra classes. We want to show
students that mathematics is creative and open ended. It’s
about identifying problems and working toward finding a solution. It’s
collaborative learning, real life problem solving, and sharing this information
with others. We’ve had the opportunity to spend time in a small group discussing
what we want Algebra (with the intention of expanding out to other classes) to
look like next year. Our work has just
begun but I thought it might be helpful to others to share our progress so far.
how we can personalize the learning for our students. Inspired by what we’ve
learned from Jo Boaler’s How to Learn Math forTeachers online course, we’ve decided to remove tracking
in our Algebra classes. We want to show
students that mathematics is creative and open ended. It’s
about identifying problems and working toward finding a solution. It’s
collaborative learning, real life problem solving, and sharing this information
with others. We’ve had the opportunity to spend time in a small group discussing
what we want Algebra (with the intention of expanding out to other classes) to
look like next year. Our work has just
begun but I thought it might be helpful to others to share our progress so far.
We really want to encourage our students to develop a growth
mindset. We believe that all students
can do math and we want them to believe this about themselves as well.
mindset. We believe that all students
can do math and we want them to believe this about themselves as well.
“When I asked over 800 teacher leaders in the
US recently which educational
US recently which educational
practices develop and maintain fixed mindset
ideas in students the number one reason given was ability grouping. I agree, it
is hard to give a stronger fixed mindset message to students than by putting
them into groups and telling them they have a certain ability. In a
recent study Romero (2013) found that significantly more students developed
growth mindsets after they were placed into high track groups. Students who
develop fixed mindsets will often do anything they can to maintain the idea
that they are ‘smart’ which can make them vulnerable to unproductive learning
behaviors and the avoidance of challenging work or higher-level math courses.
It is extremely important that schools communicate growth mindset
messages to students, and don’t limit students’ achievement by giving fixed
mindset messages through grouping and other practices. This is important for
equity, it is important for students of all levels, and it may be the key to
unlocking the potential of millions of students in mathematics.”
ideas in students the number one reason given was ability grouping. I agree, it
is hard to give a stronger fixed mindset message to students than by putting
them into groups and telling them they have a certain ability. In a
recent study Romero (2013) found that significantly more students developed
growth mindsets after they were placed into high track groups. Students who
develop fixed mindsets will often do anything they can to maintain the idea
that they are ‘smart’ which can make them vulnerable to unproductive learning
behaviors and the avoidance of challenging work or higher-level math courses.
It is extremely important that schools communicate growth mindset
messages to students, and don’t limit students’ achievement by giving fixed
mindset messages through grouping and other practices. This is important for
equity, it is important for students of all levels, and it may be the key to
unlocking the potential of millions of students in mathematics.”
We’ve decided that our Algebra classes
will all be of mixed abilities. Instead
of having Algebra with Math Lab, Algebra, and Algebra Honors, we will mix in all
of the students together. We will have 3
sections of Algebra during one period with 4 teachers team teaching these
students. The curriculum will be broken
up into units. We are moving away from
chapters and sections and instead we will be presenting the concepts in an
interconnected way so students see how one concept relates to another (we are
thinking of having the girls create their own concept maps and continue to fill
them in as we progress through the curriculum).
Each unit students will self-pace through the following items:
- Presentation of concept – this can be through a video or a discovery activity
- Practice Problems – this is where students demonstrate mastery on the basic idea of the
concept (can they solve an equation in one variable, for example) - Topic Challenge – these
are application problems where students work collaboratively in small groups to
apply the concept they learned. Many
problems will be presented as an open ended idea/problem and students will
develop the plan to solve it. - Unit Challenge – this is
a larger project that will connect all or most of the concepts from the
unit. This will also be completed
collaboratively. Some unit challenges
will be worked on throughout the unit while others will be completed at the end
of the unit. Here is where students can
really see how mathematics is used, how it connects big ideas, and how it
applies across disciplines. During the
topic and unit challenges students will be working collaboratively to solve
these challenges with the teacher acting as a coach to help guide them along
the process. - Unit Assessment –
Students demonstrate mastery on these short, application based
assessments. - Honors Challenge – If a
student wishes to have the honors designation on their transcript at the end of
the year then they need to complete this challenge. These are what we like to call the “wicked problems” where students really need to
persist and make connections in the data and apply it to concepts they may not
have initially been taught. In addition,
students will have a peer tutoring requirement and need to create instructional
videos for their peers.
We are envisioning using 3 classrooms where the students will move
fluidly among each one based on the needs of that class period (or a portion of
that class). The 4 teachers will be
moving among each room too each day (which means we will need to touch base at
the end of every day to determine who will be facilitating each room the next
day).
fluidly among each one based on the needs of that class period (or a portion of
that class). The 4 teachers will be
moving among each room too each day (which means we will need to touch base at
the end of every day to determine who will be facilitating each room the next
day).
Room 1: “Traditional,”
direct instruction
direct instruction
Topic challenges
Practice problems, collaboration
Room 2: Teacher coaching/guiding, student-centered learning
Unit challenge
Honors wicked problem
Room 3: Teacher monitoring, no direct instruction
Assessment
Practice problems for mastery
We have outlined the units for the Algebra curriculum and are now
beginning to determine which concepts will go under each unit and create the
assignments. There is still a lot of
work left to do but we are excited to continue moving forward!
beginning to determine which concepts will go under each unit and create the
assignments. There is still a lot of
work left to do but we are excited to continue moving forward!