Better Than I Thought...Not!

We just ended our second marking period, Midyear Exams and I had the opportunity to reflect on the progress we were making toward becoming proficient on our Standards or Learning Outcomes. I'm dismayed to realize that we're not doing as well in two of our classes as I had hoped. Our second marking period was focused on five Standards. I consider Proficient to be 3.0 or better. The following table represents the percentage of our students that demonstrated proficiency on each of our Standards during the second marking period.

Description	CCSS	B4	W2
Complex Number Operations	N.CN.2	30%	25%
Polynomial Operations	A.APR.1	55%	45%
Factoring / Roots	A.APR.3	40%	50%
Remainder Theorem and Syn. Division	A.APR.2	55%	40%
Solving Radical and Rational Equations	A.REI.2	50%	30%

I can now see that Operations on Complex Numbers presented a challenge to both classes as those percentages are the lowest. Therefore, I'm planning to incorporate more Operations on Complex Numbers in the spiral review portion of our daily learning. In addition, the Blue 4 (B4) class needs Extra Practice on Factoring and Roots, where our White 2 (W2) class needs Extra Practice on Solving Radical and Rational Equations.

After reflecting on this analysis, I am more aware that I need to work more effectively with our students to raise their Proficiency Levels for all our Standards. I'm planning to offer more differentiation during our class time to provide the opportunity to work with our students. During this time, students will have the opportunity to ask questions and complete Extra Practice on the skills on which they have not yet demonstrated Proficiency. They will also have the opportunity to work through Extra Practice (HW) outside of our class time.

In addition to the above analysis, I'm examining how each student's Proficiency Levels during the second marking period compares to what they demonstrated on our Midyear Exam.

I certainly welcome any comments or feedback that might improve my effectiveness, deepen our understanding and increase our Proficiency Levels. 

"First Class" Learning After Vacation

As students and teachers head back to the classroom after having been on vacation, I'm mindful as to how we might smoothly transition back to a more empowered learning experience for all.

Jeff Zoul (@Jeff_Zoul) recently shared a tweet entitled "11 Habits of Effective Teachers". I found the post by Carrie Lam (@Cs_Teaching_C) to be encouraging and inspirational.

After reading "Universal Design for Learning:Theory and Practice" by Meyer, Rose and Gordon and starting to read "Disrupting Class" by Christensen, Horn and Johnson, I became more aware of the need for a student-centered learning environment with variability built in to accommodate all learners. With this in mind, I'm considering starting our "first class" back in each of our courses in the following way.

We'll start our 84-minute class with a Proficiency Ticket, Formative Assessment (FA) to guide instruction and learning. Once each student completes our 2-4 question Proficiency Ticket, they will individually compare they work to mine. I'll have mine copied and available by the windows.

• Mastery (4.0) - If they demonstrated Mastery, they'll move on to our newest topic with minimal guidance. 

• Proficienct (3.0) - If they demonstrated Proficiency, but missed some details or minor processing, they'll have access to some Extra Practice for just that concept. That Extra Practice can proabably be worked on independently, though they could ask myself or any other learner in the room to offer some assistance. When they complete their Extra Practice, they'll also be able to check their work and receive feedback to guide their learning and encouragement to prompt them to reach even greater heights. 

• Approaching (2.0) - If their understanding indicates that they're Approaching Proficiency, they will also have access to Extra Practice after they've had the opportunity to have a brief conference with me about where their processing or thinking might have gone astray. After we've had the opportunity to guide their thinking, I'm suggesting they work through some similar questions to those initially missed. Again, solutions will be available to them so they can check their refreshed thinking and learning. 

• Beginning (1.0.) - If the vacation potentailly caused some memory lapse or they're just in need of a refresher, students will have the opportunity to get some additional guidance from me or one of their peers to help align their thinking. They too will have the opportunity to work through some Extra Practice. In this case, I'd be available to work through the first couple of new Extra Practice questions with them to hopefully shed some new light on their thinking. As mentioned above, they will then have the opportunity to check their thinnking with mine already made available. 

Once students have had the opportunity to self-assess and get any needed guidance, we'll assemble to transition to our next, but related concept. We have only 3-4 classes left before our Midyear Exams start. 

I'd welcome your thoughts as we venture back together to our learning environments! 

Thanksgiving Thoughts

While everyone I meet can contribute to my becoming a more effective lead learner, some individuals or groups deserve special recognition.

God - God has equipped me with compassion for others, a passion for learning and influencing learning, and a perseverance to always be improving. I am eternally grateful to God for the heart and talents with which He has blessed me.

Twitter Chats and our Professional Learning Network (PLN) - Our #ChristianEducators on Thursday nights are a dedicated group of believers, educators, administrators and caring individuals that continue to encourage us to always serve God and others with all we have. I am so grateful to God for allowing me to have a part in moderating this sacred fellowship. I am also thankful to Dr. Bill Ziegler (@DrBillZiegler) for trusting me to partner with him in leading this fine group. Our #COLchat or Culture of Learning chat on Monday nights encourages participants to initially build relationships to develop an interdependence that fosters a mutual respect and a love of learning. Our #SBLchat or Standards-Based Learning crew on Wednesday nights continues to show how genuine learning can be developed by focusing on standards or learning outcomes and creating an environment that is conducive to creating lifelong learners. I am thankful for the dedication of our co-moderators Darin Jolly (@drjolly) and Garnet Hillman (@garnet_hillman) for always focusing on what's best for our students, their parents, our teachers and administrators. Our #LeadWithGiants crew on Monday nights is always an assembled group of individuals that strive to bring leadership to the forefront, develop the leader within us and empower us to develop enduring leadership qualities in our students. Our #EdChatMA are educators primarily from Massachusetts gather on the first and third Tuesday nights to discuss how to best integrate the diverse components that can aggregate to create sustained learning and the love for it. I'm grateful to our founder and co-moderator David Hochheiser (@DavidHochheiser) for his commitment to the furtherance of our efforts and influence.

Family - Finally, at Thanksgiving, I chatted at length with a family member who provided several healthy insights into empowering learning, providing an environment where all learners are valued and encouraged to reach or exceed their potential and especially to develop the needs of individuals rather than those of the class. He reminded me that courses or classes are made up of individuals with varying backgrounds, interests, tolerance levels and abilities to focus. He defended his position by explaining how he struggled with school leaders who expected him to fit in, be compliant and just "play school" until graduation. Unfortunately, due to many challenges in and out of his control, he chose to withdraw from secondary school prior to earning his diploma. He has since earned his GED, become an entrepreneur and is maintainng a multi-million dollar company. He reminded me to not ignore the individuals in our classes that struggle to fit in as typical learners since those students often see learning differently and many are not willing to just comply with the requirements of "playing school".  I expect that integrating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into our learning environment will significantly help in this endeavor. He thanked me for being an educator who is focused on the learner, rather than on the currculum. He instilled in me a commitment to identify those atypical students and provide them with the resources and support to enable them to develop into contributing members of society, even though they struggle to comply with the rules of the road in our schools. I promised him I'd spend more time and energy on our student outliers to help them reach their potential. Will you join me in this commitment?

Top Twelve Observations from Our Day of PD

Several teachers in our school had the opportunity to observe classes in another district today. We left that district discussing that today may have been the best Professional Development (PD) that our district had provided in ten years! We have so many fresh ideas to bring back to our classes!

1. Some students may be lost or daydreaming even when others are very engaged.
2. Students can use their electronic devices appropriately when trusted.
3. Students can be at various levels of understanding at any given moment in class.
4. Using colors well during learning can highlight, differentiate and ignite learning.
5. Student desks arranged in groups work much more collaboratively than arranged in rows.
6. Announcing transitions is important to student connections and the flow of learning.
7. Students explaining and asking questions clarifies the understanding for many in the room. 
8. When students ask questions, we must verify that they really understand the answer.
9. The more student-centered the class is, the more engaging it is for students.
10. When teachers speak for more than 5-8 minutes without student intervention, student engagement decreases.
11. When students sense that teachers are approachable and trustworthy, learning ignites.
12. A Culture of Learning that is safe and engaging is required for retention and application.

Student-Centered Learning

Here are seven students and their journey through their recent challenges to their now success!

Student #1 - Soon after I tweeted the results from our #WHSPrecal Summative Assessment, this student asked me through @Voxer which student number he was in the list so he could identify his proficiency level. Through @Voxer, we discussed the misunderstanding he documented on his assessment. We worked through several iterations until he had his "aha" moment. He practiced several questions on his own. The next day he came to our classroom and asked for an opportunity to prove his heightened understanding. I suggested he create a question with some guidelines that I offered. He did. He completed it correctly. I asked him to defend his solution. He explained it thoroughly and earned back all the points that were originally deducted. One of his comments had been, "I really want to prove to you that I have an 'A' worth of understanding in our class. It's that important to me." He did. He expressed that he was thankful that he has missed this question since it provided him the opportunity to consult with me on some new strategies for checking his work!

Student #2 - As the student who has demonstrated the highest level of understanding in our #WHSAlgebra2 course, she requested some enrichment opportunities that would really challenge her thinking. I was thrilled for her request, though I was a bit disappointed that I had yet to challenge her adequately. I had been differentiating her practice, though now know she needs even more of a challenge. I will be providing her with more challenging learning opportunities going forward!

Student #3 - We recently has a Complex Numbers Summative Assessment in our #WHSAlgebra2 course. One young man missed solving one Quadratic Formula question with complex roots. He had a slight error at the start of his process that resulted in an incorrect solution. He knew something was incorrect, but was unable to find it during the day of our in-class assessment. When he received his assessment back with feedback, he brought it to me and began to explain what his error had been and asked for some Extra Practice to prove his understanding so he'd be eligible for a reassessment. He proved his understanding on the Extra Practice and, therefore, was given the opportunity to redo his Quadratic Formula questions with complex roots. He answered all of them correctly and was ecstatic to earn a perfect score on his assessment! He could not have been more proud of himself. He was almost glowing!

Student #4 - One of our seniors in #WHSTrig was distraught to receive a Not Yet Proficient (NYP) comment on his recent Proficiency Ticket. He has failed to make some important connections that caused him to miss almost all of the questions. He was stunned as he thought he really understood the process. He began to explain his thinking and how he arrived at each of his solutions. We had a great meeting of the minds as we discussed what he understood and the one piece he was missing. I shared with him that I wanted him to find the missing piece himself. He began to work through each of the questions when he stumbled over exactly the piece he had been missing. He couldn't thank me enough for encouraging him to find it himself. He did enough Extra Practice to be eligible for a reassessment on our Proficiency Ticket. He assured me he'd be able to demonstrate top proficiency on the eight questions. He made himself proud by solving each correctly and made me proud by asking to explain to me how he arrived at his thought process. His results were flawless!

Student #6 - One young man in our #WHSAlgebra2 course brought me his graded Summative Assessment on Complex Numbers. He explain where he his thinking had gone astray and asked for Extra Practice to prove that he really did understand this topic completely. He correctly worked through all of his practice questions. I offered him several different versions of our assessment for him to select one for his re-assessment. He asked if he could complete two different assessments to prove that he really had thorough understanding. I indicated that one was adequate. He insisted that I offer him the toughest two versions as he was thankful for the opportunity to prove his proficiency and earn back his 'A'. He did just that!

Student #7 - One of our #WHSPrecal students had failed to complete his recent assessment since he got hung up on one particular question and lost a great deal of time. He brought that question to me and explained what he had done and where his misunderstanding had been. He was pretty tough on himself when it came to the only question he had missed. He showed me the Extra Practice he had completed and asked me to confirm that his thinking was now correct. I agreed. He agreed to practice a few more and send me his results through an email or a tweet. He then wants the opportunity to demonstrate his proficiency on this last question. He was so thankful for the opportunity to discuss his misunderstanding and where his correct thinking had brought him. I'm awaiting his tweet and know he'll soon be reassessing on that final situation!

Differentiation to the Rescue!

Three recent tweets caused me to ponder in some new ways:

1. "Heading into another week of learning and teaching w/ @mssackstein & @WHSRowe on my mind." #influence by Mark Kuniya @MKuniya
2. "It would feel wrong if I didn't transfer along what I learned to our Students." by Mark Kuniya
3. "When we stop learning, we become irrelevant to our students." by Jasper Fox @jsprfox 

Differentiation - I've had the good pleasure of having more than one Google Hangout (GHO) with Mark and Jasper at different times. Both consistently cause me to reflect on my practice as an educator and open my mind to new learning opportunities for me and our students. I'm learning that with differentiated planning, instruction, practice, feedback and assessment, we can better meet the needs of our students with varying degrees of understanding. Both men have impressed on me our need to daily differentiate since we are aiming to teach individuals, not classes. When I realized that we have twenty or so students engaged in the learning with different background knowledge, different needs, different interests and varying levels of proficiency, we cannot expect one lesson to accommodate all students. Mark and I recently discussed the word "checkpoint" as another way of assessing student proficiency without using the often dreaded words "quiz" or "test" that can carry a negative connotation. I've started using "checkpoints" or "proficiency tickets" to formally assess our students. Our frequent "checkpoints" or "proficiency tickets" enable me to quickly provide timely feedback to students and guide me in adapting the lesson for our next class. Students appear more confident in their ability to demonstrate proficiency with some of their fear, anxiety or pressure minimized. Our students also know that reassessments are part of our learning process in our Standards-Based environment. Our students now know what Extra Practice they need before or after an assessment to improve their skills and the application and they're requesting it without my need to offer it. 

#GoodCallsHome - Our recently started nationwide movement of calling parents to share the great learning that's happening in our classrooms is having a huge impact on parents, students and teachers alike! I'd like to thank our co-founder Scott Capro, @ScottCapro, who has been very supportive and encouraging as we've worked on this undertaking. To date, there have been nearly fifty educators across the nation that have committed to weekly calls to the parents of our students to build relationships, encourage the parents for all their child is doing and to reinforce the need for parental support in the learning process. We are honored that so many teachers continue to make weekly #GoodCallsHome and write a generic post on our Google community page about the reaction or the feedback. This has fueled many of us to attain greater depths of learning in our students and in ourselves! 

Calling All Parents!

Being involved in #GoodCallsHome has transformed the communication within our learning environment, with their parents and is acting as a catalyst for learning that I had not anticipated. I'm experiencing more meaningful conversations with our students and with their parents because I care enough to call home to recognize our engaged learning, their willingness to struggle through challenges and our desire to raise the bar in education through relationship building, timely feedback and relevant learning activities. 

As of the date of this post, nearly 40 educators have "yielded to the calling" and are making two or more positive calls home to parents weekly as a way of keeping parents updated, leveraging their support for our students and simply recognizing the great learning and sharing happening in our classrooms! More and more educators are seeing the many benefits of taking the time to unite parents, students and teachers in conversation around our learning.

Every parent I have enjoyed speaking with has expressed appreciation for the call and for the engaged learning we're experiencing in our first month of this new school year. Our students are responding with a greater commitment to their education and have started asking, "Have you call my parents yet?". Every time I get off the phone after one of these uplifting #GoodCallsHome, I have a renewed appreciation for being a dedicated educator. I also appreciate the support that every parent is providing to our students on the home-front.

As one of the members of our Professional Learning Network (PLN) recently stated, "#GoodCallsHome is having a trans-formative impact on learning!". Thanks to Eric Turner (@_EricTurner) for this recognition and the reminder of how important it is for parents and teachers to be in regular communication for our students!

To fill out our #GoodCallsHome survey and ignite the learning, click here!