Chapter 1 of the Algebra 2 curriculum is a review of very basic concepts from Algebra 1. As such, I employed a self-paced “review and practice”-style for this chapter. After a few work periods where students had time to get the minimal set of practice tasks done, we had a quiz. When it came time for me to make the test, I was struggling with how to make it different than the quiz (which covered the exact same content). Instead of making it a carbon copy of the quiz, I employed a different format. The test had just four questions that were all real-life applications of the basic Algebra skills covered in the chapter (yes, they were word problems!). Here is a copy of the test.
In an effort to boost their confidence, grit, and perseverance, right before handing out the test I told the students that the format was different, but that they knew the concepts required to solve these problems and that they just needed to apply them. And most importantly, I told them that I made the decision to give such a test because I believed in them and that I knew they could do it. And this last part was 100% true. I did believe that they had it in them to do quite well on the test and I was excited to seem them rise to such a challenge. Unfortunately, while I was emphasizing these uplifting comments, all they heard was “the test is different.” Needless to say, there was a lot of drama that day; girls in tears, girls registering their complaints and the injustice to both me and Lesley.
This all happened on a Friday and I spent the weekend spending a lot of mental energy on what happened and what I was going to do about it. Why were our girls so crippled by this test? The questions actually weren’t terribly hard; had I sabotaged the experience by naming this as a “challenge”? I quickly graded to see how they did and I rewarded perseverance in addition to correct calculations. They actually did quite well, with several girls getting 100%. Why was their reaction so negative to an experience where they were, for the most part, quite successful?
I decided it was worth a class period to talk about this experience and to try to convince them that Math is more than just calculations. It is a subject full of beauty, complexity, and connections to the world around them. And, that struggle is good for them and that we need to be brave and take risks to truly learn and grow. I rearranged our previously scheduled material to talk about these ideas. I started the class by giving them a short survey about how the test went for them. I then showed them Reshma Saujani’s Ted talk, Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection. They were captivated by this talk and the discussions after were positive and inspiring. I then showed them Jo Boaler’s, Four Boosting Messages Video. This video is a little cheesy, but the messages are important. Finally, I shared with them this slide show that was recently discussed at a Math Department meeting which presents quotes from Jo Boaler and others. I then gave them another survey. Both surveys were anonymous.
To say the results were fascinating is an understatement. The statistician in me is still crunching the quantitative data but it is the qualitative data (selected responses below) that are so telling. I’ve learned so much from this experience. Let’s start with the good. Some were on board with this style of learning:
I feel as though the test sparked a bit of inspiration after knowing more about the research. I already knew that women are raised to be perfect rather than brave because my dad would repeat that there is no learning without taking any risks. But, I like to see more in depth research about this problem. I happen to quite like this style because it gives you a chance to be rewarded for hard work!
I really like this style. At first before the test I was super nervous because I was worried that what I had studied would not be on the test, but to my surprise the test wasn’t too bad. Afterwards I felt accomplished and proud of myself. I feel like if you had not said that it was a challenging test, I may not have been as worried about it beforehand, but I did have a feeling of relief afterwards. Also, I REALLY liked the Ted talk and it empowered me to take on challenges and be more brave and willing to make mistakes.
Before taking the test I did not think I was prepared for it, but afterwards I felt more confident in my abilities because I was able to take on a challenge.
Some were negative and very resistant to this style of learning:
i don’t understand how the way math it taught can just change after we’ve been doing the same type of learning for the past 11 years.
The test was confusing for me becuase it was a format that none of us were aware that we would have to be tested on. Usually in math we are expected to have a test with problems and we solve those problems. I am not good at learning from project and I am not good at reading from the book. I do better when someone is up teaching it on the board.
Some were quite terrifying in their misperception of what Math is:
I think it is important for some subjects to have critical thinking skills and be able to do things without much direction; I do not think this is true for math. I think for math you need to be given the directions so you know how to do the problems. You can’t just figure it out for yourself. You have to be taught math and given instructions on how to do things. In english or history critical thinking is important, but math is much different. You can’t learn math yourself, you have to be taught math.
I do like the message and all that jazz about it but to start doing this now is unbelievable. Colleges aren’t going to give me a math problem to solve and see how well I can adapt to it, they’re going to look at my grades for junior year. The SATs and ACTs are the same way, I’m going to have to bubble in the correct answer to get the right answer and that will hopefully help me to get a scholarship that will get me into a good college that will hopefully set me up to live a good life. But I don’t believe it was fair to throw that type of test at us when you did. Not after that quiz since everyone expected the test to be like the quiz, just like last chapter. And we are already under a lot of pressure and stress and it’s not fun having something like that thrown at you. It was like standing in the dark and someone says “to your lefT” but instead drops a ton of bricks on you.
i agree with method but maybe in a different area. i think in math you have to practice and understand the problem you’re doing and if i just get a random problem thrown at me that i never practiced i don’t think would do well. and since this class is based on grades i don’t really think it’s the place to practice this method. maybe like one on a quiz or something.
Wow, we have a lot of work to do! But, most interesting for me from this experience were the messages from students that were conflicted:
I can see why the test was formatted like that after seeing the videos. However, because tests impact our grades significantly, I would appreciate if the questions like the one on the test were just classwork. I like the idea of this way of learning and agree with it, but sadly grades mean a lot for college.
So I did good on the test, but I still don’t like the format of the test. I’ve considered myself a math person, and I and always working as hard as I can on everything, but this format made me feel so dumb. I think having activities that challenge us and were me make mistakes is good, but getting good grades is so important to us. Like we hear over and over, “the grade don’t define us”, but they do determine our gpa, which is so important. The videos had really good messages, but our school world is just getting more and more competitive and harder and harder, and grades are becoming even more important. We already have so much stress in our lives and creating even more stress with a test felt really insulting.
Like I said in the previous survey, I enjoy these problems but I don’t feel challenged by them. I am all for trying new things and learning from mistakes but I don’t want to be making mistakes on the SAT/ACT. Are there ways to prepare us for the SAT/ACT while making us “braver?”
It is these last, conflicted, messages that I can’t stop thinking about. The girls understand they need to be brave, that challenge is productive, but they are burdened by the system, a system which requires them to be perfect, to get all As or as high of a GPA as possible. I don’t want to give up on challenging them, but I’m mindful of what they’re up against. And so I am brainstorming ways to measure and reward perseverance, determination, grit and innovation as much as (or maybe even more so) the right answer. It’s a really exciting time to be a new member at Carondelet and I’m riding the momentum of the school as I re-imagine what challenge (real, authentic, practical and productive, challenge) might look like in our math classrooms.
