Make It Stick & Increase Perseverance MPM2D Gr 10 Course Redesign Lindsay Kueh Sheri Hill (Adrian Rawle)
We will give all of our materials at the end of the presentation. Link to materials: tiny.cc/10courseredesign * We will give permission to view files after the presentation
Frustration! ● Poor numeracy skills ● Poor retention for next year ● Weak problem solving skills ● Low perseverance ● ALSO any gaps from COVID-19 Improving these became our GOALS!
Academic goals ● The students should have basic skills they can take with them - numeracy, algebra, etc. (fill in gaps from last year) ● We want students to be able to perform the skills we teach them, any time that it is asked, and anytime it is useful. ● Students shouldn’t find the final exam frightening.
Atmosphere/Community goals ● The students should feel safe (physically and intellectually) in class - it’s ok to be vulnerable. (Brene Brown) ○ “Not yet” and “Celebrating mistakes” ● Enjoyable - exploration - desire to learn ● Student focused - teacher is NOT source of all knowledge
Evidence Based! ● We want evidence based solutions! ○ Make it Stick by Peter C. Brown ○ The Interleaving Effect: Mixing It Up Boosts Learning By Steven C. Pan ● Disclaimer: what we’re going to discuss is not a way to teach - it’s a way to plan a course!
Types of Practice! - How you practice matters! ● Massed/Blocked Practice (AAABBBCCC) vs Mixed Practice/Interleaving. (ABCDBCDB) ● Spaced Practice ○ Improves long-term retention *** Important! This doesn’t feel good
What we did ● Removed Unit Tests ○ Cumulative Weekly quizzes ○ Problem Solving Days ● Interleaved Homework ● Fast Fours, Fun Fridays
Our Weekly Schedule Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Fast Four Lesson Fast Four Problem Solving Fast Four Lesson Quiz Lesson Fun Friday
Our Weekly Covid Schedule Weekly 3 Lessons 3 Fast Fours Quiz In Person Time/If time allows online Problem Solving Day Fun Math Day
Freed Up Time! ● No unit tests meant that we had review days and unit test days free to do other activities ○ Quizzes take half the period ● Removed homework time from class
Lessons ● No major changes to lessons (you can use yours!) ● Lessons taught were the main skills, and not as much “Application lessons” ● Complete all skills a month before exams (practiced applications) ● Time to a variety of different summatives
Major Takeaway Point ● After covering a topic or skill, continually revisit it throughout the course. ● Remove the idea of only testing a Unit
Why Fast Fours!! U Waterloo’s article on the curve of forgetting.
Our Initial Goals for Fast Fours ● Review concepts from lessons. ● Increase basic skills. ● Spaced and Mixed Practice . &
Fast Fours!! Covers all Material to date Formative Assessment Only
Does this look like learning? ● Math talk!! ● Non threatening testing. ● Immediate feedback.
What we saw: ● Can do > 1 question. ● Peer- teaching. ● Math arguments. ● Passionate Math chat.
What we loved! ● Celebrate incorrect answers ○ Student get to see a range of common mistakes. ○ Perseverance. ○ Failing forward!!
What Students Thought
Additional Bonuses ● Helps create growth mindset ○ Students start to believe they can get better at ____. ● Time to circulate the room ○ 1 on 1 time. ● Provides productive class time ○ Time for us to set up ○ Answer students concerns
Similar Outcomes Online ?? ● Jamboard/Explain Everything (or some other platform) where small groups can solve and discuss questions ● Keep dialog up ● Constant feedback
Why did we change homework? ● Increase retention (spaced and mixed practice) ● Set the amount of homework to what is necessary to Check Your Understanding (CYU) and practice various concepts/skills
Growth Mindset ● Normally, you see the topic once in the lesson, once on a test, and once on the exam. ● If you don’t know it, once the unit is over, students are free to forget the material or never learn it! ● We emphasize that NO topic will disappear.
Homework Outline - Schedule Guide
Homework ● Pre-practice ● Mandatory Questions ○ 5 from the lesson ○ 5 from previous material ● Challenge
Why Check Homework?
Homework Checks *** Homework is critical in our redesign! How do we check? ● Online Homework Checks
Weekly Quizzes What does it do? ● Allow Mixed & Spaced practice ● Reduce Cramming - skill is expected ● No expiry date on skills ● Importance of Basic skills ● Low stakes = less stress
Weekly Quizzes What does it look like? ● Every Tuesday ● Approx. 40 minutes ● Front = mix/interleaving, ● Back = previous week
Embracing Mistakes
Students Thoughts
Why Problem Solving Days ● Increase Perseverance (More time) ● Change attitude towards problem solving
Problem Solving Days What we do: ● Every Thursday we solve problems… all period ● Math toolkit (gr 11 used the following year)
Benefits of Problem Solving Days ● Gives time to attack a problem with different strategies ● Allows for extended group work (but also did individual tasks) ● Explicitly makes problem solving a focus
Problem Solving Days ● Problem Sets - Application and Thinking marks ● Problems could be from any lessons taught, including previous units ● Focus at end of year
Problem Solving Days ● VNPS (vertical non-permanent surfaces) ● Jamboard/Explain Everything ● Student made questions
Problem Solving Days ● Video Explanation ● Help each other by posting solutions
Problem Solving Days ● Coding - Check Out Lkueh.wordpress.com
Levelled Problems ● Real challenges ● Weaker students can still be successful ● Students can sometimes attempt extra problems
Challenges ● Mark Inflation from Problem Solving Days? ○ Group work allowed for better learning, more math talk but it also inflated marks for some students ○ Individual in-class seemed more accurate, but sometimes felt less rich
Same But Different ● Different questions of the same concepts/processes
Why Fun Fridays? Our Goal! ● Excitement & Smiles ● Teamwork & collaboration ● ‘Buy In’ that math does exist outside the classroom. ● Focus & Interest.
Quadratic Modeling Making connections to real life . Car Launching
Community Speed Dating! Building “More Than One Story” Cards
Puzzle it up with Tarsia Math as a Game Tarsia Puzzle Maker
Rated as one of the top Fun Friday activities by students! Links to making jeopardy - Factile - Flippity
Trigonometry with Clinometers Fun & Connections Real life application
Pixar in a box
Teacher.Desmos.com ● Marbleslides
Teacher.Desmos.com
Being Creative in Desmos Creativity and Addiction
Students Thoughts ● It gives us a break from testing and hard problem solving ● It allows our brain to process and relax ● Time to relax and have fun after working hard all week. ● Helps us build relationships with other people in the class, which is important. ● It’s great when it’s applicable but the cups activities was a ridiculous waste of time.
Challenges ● Very time consuming! ○ We met 80 hours (10 days) over the summer to design the course structure and develop the first 2 units ○ Different objectives among teachers
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Challenges Fast Four Lesson Fast Four Problem Fast Four Lesson Quiz Lesson Solving Fun Friday ● Booklet/Schedule could get thrown off ○ Homework could get thrown off with an assembly/snow day ○ Thurs/Fri allows a day to catch up if necessary ● Each period felt tight on time (Teacher Feedback)
Possible Improvements ● Quiz ○ Focus explicitly on students correcting their own mistakes on quizzes - resubmissions ○ Standards Based Grading*
Possible Improvements ● Homework ○ More Challenge Problems ○ Include more repetition for practice (extra links) ○ Show connections between homework/effort and results!
Secret on HOW to learn. 1) Importance of struggling. Builds problem solving circuits. 2) Embracing my Mistakes. 3) Teach each other.
Revisit Goals 1) Numeracy and Basic Skills ○ Fast fours ○ Quizzes - first few questions
Revisit Goals 2) Retention ○ Mixed & spaced practice - homework, quizzes (low stakes & frequent, testing effect), fast fours ○ All topics are fair game - students knew that topics would return ○ Limited exam review - retention was amazing
Revisit Goals 3) Problem solving ○ Time permitted the opportunity to try different strategies. ○ Various tools - peers, toolkit booklets
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