Category Archives: Kristina Levesque

Cross-Curricular Projects: How??

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I always want to show the students how math is connected to other subjects and the real world.  Frankly, one of my big dreams for our math program is not to get more girls to calculus (but YAY! if that happens).  Rather my dream is that it starts to blow up the idea of “time” and “school day” enough that we can start to incorporate cross-curricular time in the day.  How cool would it be if instead of teaching dimensional analysis in physics and again in algebra, we taught it concurrently in the context of a bigger problem?  But how do we inch towards this?

This year I have tried two cross-curricular projects:

  1. Math (Financial Algebra) + College and Career: Ginger helped me design a unit about the realities of paying for college.  She taught the introductory lessons (on block periods) and popped in as I continued this mini unit through the following week.  The feedback was very positive and many thought that all of their junior classmates should have access to this unit too.
  2. Math (Algebra Readiness) + Religion: Adam and I got our classes together in the Innovation Center to explore examples of the Fibonacci Sequence in nature and discuss the implications.  Is this mathematical pattern proof of a common creator?  This was really fun, but the feedback that I got from my freshmen students was that it was awkward to work with a different class of students (in this case a mixed-gender class of seniors), especially for just one class period.  My personal feedback is that the lesson we designed should’ve been spread out over a week or more — it was really dense.
Moving forward I have questions:
  1. What is the most logistically efficient way to do a unit/project with another teacher/department?  Working with Ginger was easier than with Adam (no offense Adam!) simply because she did not have a classroom full of students that were expected to collaborate with mine.  I know my colleagues all have prep periods (which would eliminate the concern of having to join classes) but that’s a big ask and I’m just not there yet.
  2. Does a cross-curricular course make more sense than a cross-curricular lesson or project?  Yes, if the only concern is finding overlapping time and a similar student population.  No, because creating a new course feels like a huge barrier to cross-curricular work.  Also, if we keep increasing our course offerings do they eventually get watered down?  
  3. Anyone want to try another cross-curricular project/unit with me?

Twelve Dots, Infinite Possibilities

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I often joke that my job is 50% math teacher, 50% motivational speaker because most students come into my classroom with their minds made up … they are not a math person.  Don’t even get me started on the ridiculousness of that statement 😉  Other than the two periods I teach in our new math program, I teach Algebra Readiness to freshmen (and some select sophomores) that do not demonstrate a strong math foundation and I teach Financial Algebra to juniors that are not tracking towards Calculus (for whatever reason).  I tell you this to illustrate that I teach a particular cross-section of students that are VERY mathematically-adverse. Many of them have felt beaten down by this beautiful subject that I love … so how do I bridge that gap?


I intentionally do a lot of “low-floor, high-ceiling” number puzzles to engage my students at the beginning of class.  For example, “Use four 4s in an expression to equal any number between 1 and 20.” Everyone can engage in this type of problem, even if it is just with addition, but some will venture to include exponents, radicals and factorials.  I opened up my classes with puzzles like this everyday this week and last, but never were they more engaged than when I put the numbers down and replaced them with dots. Yes. Dots.


I projected this image for about 30 seconds and asked the students to figure out how many dots are in the picture without counting each one individually.  


Look at how many different ways my students saw this problem!



I used this activity to build culture and illustrate the things that I value in my math classroom:


  1. Everybody can “do math”.  When we restrict “math” to memorizing formulas and solving equations, it is boring and so challenging.  Remember the last time you had to memorize something that didn’t matter to you at all? It’s nearly impossible.  Math is about finding patterns! When we show examples of math as a creative and visual subject that is all about figuring out patterns, it opens up the content to students that closed the door on it a long time ago.
  2. Visual math is the best math.  When we teach students to see math visually they are using more pathways in their brain (think “right brain vs left brain”) and learning at a deeper level.  If you are interested in reading more about the importance of visuals in mathematics, this is a great article: Seeing As Understanding: The Importance of Visual Mathematics for Our Brain and Learning
  3. There is more than one way to solve a problem.  12 dots and almost that many different ways of seeing the arrangement — in one class!  When I showed the original dot diagram after we share strategies, the students enjoy trying to see it in the different ways their classmates saw it.  There’s a lot of “Oh yeah!”’s and “I see it now!”s. Many students believe there is only one way to solve a problem — the way the teacher did it. The problem with that is if the student sees it differently than the teacher, they immediately think they are wrong, 
  4. Listening to multiple perspectives helps everyone to have a better understanding of the problem.  Have you ever looked at an optical illusion and searched for a face when all you can see is a vase?  Sometimes it doesn’t matter how long you stare at something, be it an illusion or a math problem, you just.  Can’t. See it. That is often what happens in math. The teacher explains one way to solve a problem and you just can’t see it that way.  When we encourage students to share their thoughts and strategies, it opens up possibilities for understanding. I looked back at the 11 strategies on the board and reminded the students that if all we hear all year is 2 or 3 of these perspectives, we will be failing to make the learning accessible to everyone.


How did you see the dot diagram?

What activities or discussions do you do/have in your class to build culture at the beginning of the year?

Algebra – Initial Thoughts

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Now that we have survived the first 5 weeks of our new Algebra program, I thought it would be helpful to write down some initial thoughts on how things are going.  It has been really exciting to see something that was just a crazy idea last year morph into a real program that we are already really proud of now.  There have been some adjustments already and there are some things we are still trying to figure out but overall the feedback from our students and the teachers involved has been positive.  

Here’s what has worked well:
  • We spent the first two and a half weeks establishing a group culture of the class.  We discussed growth mindset and had all of our students take the “How to Learn Math for Students” course.  We spent time discussing the messages from this course with our students. 
  • There are a lot of moving parts to this course (online learning through Carnegie Learning, collaborative activities, how Schoology is organized, GoFormative exit tickets, topic guides, etc.) which can be overwhelming if everything was explained at once.  Instead we used the first two and a half weeks to chunk things out and explain each one separately before putting it all together. 
  • We had all of our students take the Mathematic Diagnostic Testing Project High School Readiness test.  We will also test them again when they complete the Algebra program.  This will be one way we measure the success of this program.  
  • Students are truly moving at their own pace.  Those who are familiar with the concepts in the first topic have moved quickly through it and already taken their first assessment.  We also have some students who need the extra time to really master the content and are moving at the right pace for them.  This wouldn’t happen in a traditional classroom.  
  • The four teachers who are implementing this program (shout out to Mary Beth Dittrich, Kristina Levesque, and Christy Marin!) work well together.  We communicate often with one another.  We are all flexible with what we need to do each class period (even when it’s decided 10 minutes before class).  We do not always agree with one another but we are comfortable speaking our thoughts.  We are able to discuss things openly and honestly to come to a solution that is best for our students.  
  • Carnegie Learning is a good tool for our online component of the program.  The problems are rich and require students to be engaged.  The reporting section allows us as teachers to determine where they are struggling and what the students need extra support with.  Students are also able to go back into the program in review mode without losing their saved data which is a huge plus. 
  • The new furniture is amazing.  This program would not be what it is now with the old desks.  The new furniture allows students to work well in groups, using their smaller white boards when needed.  The individual desks work well for the online learning or assessments.  Plus the colors of the chairs brighten up the room and change the learning environment.  
This is just a short list of what has worked well.  There are so many more including hearing students comment that they really understood something or watching them work well with their groups on collaborative activities.  
We do have some challenges:
  • We have 4 teachers for over 94 students in period 3.  Sometimes we need an additional teacher (or two!) in the classroom to work with students, particularly those who are struggling.  In the past these students would have had 2 periods of math in a smaller class setting.  One requirement we’ve established in our program is that a teacher signs off on the collaborative activities.  When doing so we ask each student in the group to explain to us what they have just learned.  This is a great way for us to gauge student understanding and to see that everyone is responsible for their own learning.  However at times multiple groups need to be signed off and we just don’t have enough teachers to get around to everyone.  
  • Space is an issue.  The new furniture is great but having separate classrooms isn’t as ideal.  As teachers sometimes we are in one classroom but can’t necessarily see what is going on in other classrooms.  We try and pop in and out of the classrooms during the period but it’s not always possible.  If we had a larger, open space we would be able to  spread ourselves out to help the students more.  
  • The 45 minute class periods are tough.  It’s not quite enough time for students to transition to more than one activity once you account for taking attendance in the beginning, explaining which classrooms are for each activity, and ending a few minutes early for the exit ticket. The block periods work better for this program.  
  • As teachers we need to find more time to meet to discuss how things are working and what adjustments we need to make.  It’s hard finding that time even with a common 7th period prep.  Teachers have other classes they are teaching and need to use this prep for those classes at times.  We also have so much to discuss that even if we used every 7th period, there’s still always more to talk about.  This collaboration is so important though.  Yesterday we graded our first topic assessment together and this was necessary to make sure we are all grading the same way.  But it takes time which has become a precious commodity.  
Despite the challenges I am so excited for what we are doing.  I am loving watching our students engage in mathematics in a totally different way.  I’m inspired by the dedication and commitment from my colleagues.  I know that we will continue to reflect on what we are doing and revise it to continuously improve as we strive to meet the needs of all of our students.  
We would love you to come visit the organized chaos of our Algebra program.  We meet periods 3 and 4 in rooms 2, 5, 6, and MacLab.  Come by anytime as we would love to hear your feedback on what you observe and any ideas you may have to improve on this program.