{"id":36,"date":"2015-11-26T20:52:10","date_gmt":"2015-11-26T20:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/?p=36"},"modified":"2015-11-26T21:07:52","modified_gmt":"2015-11-26T21:07:52","slug":"crazy-enough-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/2015\/11\/26\/crazy-enough-to-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Crazy enough to change&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We as educators are at a crossroads of change. We have a vague and blurred vision of where we should head, and a not so clear way to get there. We hear words like \u2018personalization\u2019, \u2018blended\u2019 and &#8216;mastery&#8217;, but all have our own interpretations of what those mean. The more articles or books I read, the more confusing but exciting it becomes.<\/p>\n<p>Before I even begin to talk about my action plan there needs to be preamble, so here we go&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong><del>A really long<\/del> Preamble:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the last three years a few of my colleagues and I have been a part of a large change in the way we teach math. I\u2019m no expert by any means, but just someone who is slowly working to chip away at the shift in math education (at least what I think it looks like). After a lot of research, tons of theoretical conversations with my amazing colleagues about pedagogy, and tons of adjustments\u00a0along the way, here are some of the changes that we have implemented:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_84\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-84\" style=\"width: 236px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/bef7ec51f4a9b2ce25fa8676bf53e411.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-84 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/bef7ec51f4a9b2ce25fa8676bf53e411.jpg\" alt=\"Image Source:http:\/\/scoutmob.com\/p\/change-the-world-print?ref=crssl_shp_artist&amp;medium=HardPin&amp;source=Pinterest&amp;campaign=type40&amp;ref=hardpin_type40\" width=\"236\" height=\"262\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-84\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/scoutmob.com\/p\/change-the-world-print?ref=crssl_shp_artist&amp;medium=HardPin&amp;source=Pinterest&amp;campaign=type40&amp;ref=hardpin_type40\">Image Source<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cMastery Units\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Units that have topics that lend themselves to tons <del>and tons<\/del> of practice, the students are put in charge of their learning where they work towards mastering \u2018topics\u2019 that are separated and displayed in the classroom at the beginning of the unit.<\/li>\n<li>Students work towards mastery by first watching a video, completing a worksheet to practice, then completing a formative to prove to themselves and to me that they understand it.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Students work at their own pace in their own time, with A LOT of support for me. They have guidance from me, and deadlines along the way. Often these \u2018deadlines\u2019 are vague like: \u201cby next class you should have 4 worksheets done\u201d. If I find a group of students are struggling with a concept or question \u2013 I use this opportunity to jump in and have a quick full class discussions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They can write tests early in the \u201cMastery Units\u201d &#8211; I.e. We have test deadlines not days! (AH!)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0Students can write tests early. This change was terrifying for me. What do we do if they\u2019re done early???? Turns out it doesn\u2019t happen too often, and those students are more than happy to practice some math contest questions, complete an extra activity, or use the time to complete their portfolio \u2013 more on this later.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Conversations<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We have gone through the curriculum and pinpointed specific or general criteria that meet our need to evaluate the students by a conversation. We do this once per student once per unit. Often there is criteria (even in the math curriculum) that uses words like \u00a0should be able to: describe&#8230;.&#8221;. This, in our eyes, lends itself well to a conversation instead of a test question. I really enjoy the conversations and find they are a valuable piece of evaluation for each unit, as I really find out what each student knows, not what they can memorize.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Personalized \u2013 When Possible<\/p>\n<p>Overall we\u2019ve found that certain units and content are better taught a certain way. Skill based units generally are best when students are given ample opportunity to practice \u2013 this works perfectly with the personalized units. Graphing data and relationships is perfect for projects! Everything we implement includes the thought process of how can we make this as personalized as possible. By personalized we mean that there should be multiple entry points and we\u2019re working on multiple exit opportunities too. We don&#8217;t even know what a truly personalized math classroom looks like yet!<\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019ve helped to build all of these changes, but now what?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Some challenges\u00a0we&#8217;ve had with the &#8216;mastery units&#8217;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Student organization\n<ul>\n<li>Students have trouble tracking what they\u2019ve done and where they have to go next. We\u2019ve tried paper tracking sheets as well as digital, but find the students need teacher feedback to really know where they stand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Going many places to work on the same thing\n<ul>\n<li>From the videos in Google Drive, to the worksheets on paper, to the formatives on paper or online \u2013 sometimes I can tell the students are frustrated with the gathering of information and resources to learn.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Linear format\n<figure id=\"attachment_85\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-85\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/0da2796.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-85\" src=\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/0da2796-300x188.jpg\" alt=\"Image Source\" width=\"300\" height=\"188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/0da2796-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/0da2796-1024x640.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/0da2796.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 960px) 75vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-85\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/20140710110554-28862059-reasons-why-i-always-welcome-challenges-in-my-job\">Image Source<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Although we consider it personalized, because the topics are listed in numerical order I find the students often complete them in the order they are listed. I would like to find a way to make it really seem like there are multiple entry points.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A lot of the same \u2013 need to switch it up\n<ul>\n<li>We know that no student learns the same way, so why would we teach every unit the same way? It\u2019s important that we\u2019re always changing, and that includes the structure of personalized \u2018mastery\u2019 units.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Student\/teacher tracking\n<ul>\n<li>I find myself tracking and marking constantly. This is fine when it sparks discussions between myself and students or students and each other, but can become a lot and would be great if there was a better way to track it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">After consistently researching and trying new things I\u2019m more confused than ever. What really works in the classroom? I find myself searching for an answer, but is there one? Am I really going to find something to help me solve all of my problems? Probably not, but all I can do is chip away at my goals, continue to solve problems along the way and be crazy enough to change my thinking and practice&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The only thing that&#8217;s crystal clear to me is&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">we want <em><strong>l<\/strong><\/em><strong><em>ess of this: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_37\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-37\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/Untitled.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-37 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/Untitled-300x205.png\" alt=\"Untitled\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/Untitled-300x205.png 300w, https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/files\/2015\/11\/Untitled.png 518w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 960px) 75vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-37\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.emaze.com\/@ALITQIOO\/TRADITIONAL-CLASSROOM-VS-21ST-CENTURY-DIGITAL-EDUCATION\">Image Source<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">And <strong><em>more of this:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[youtube]https:\/\/youtu.be\/_DFJMQogd_o[\/youtube]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We as educators are at a crossroads of change. We have a vague and blurred vision of where we should head, and a not so clear way to get there. We hear words like \u2018personalization\u2019, \u2018blended\u2019 and &#8216;mastery&#8217;, but all have our own interpretations of what those mean. The more articles or books I read, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/2015\/11\/26\/crazy-enough-to-change\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Crazy enough to change&#8230;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":87,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,4],"tags":[12,11,13],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-plan","category-classroom-reflections","category-face-2-face-sessions","tag-math","tag-personalization","tag-student-learning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/christinelovrics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}