This Week: One Question and some Shuffling!

Edited By Sahar Khatri @MyMathscape

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Online Professional Development Sessions

#LessonClose: Math coach Tracy Zager sees a pattern in lessons: teachers often put far more energy into planning and implementing the open of the lesson than they do for the close. The open is essential for engagement, motivation, and access, but the close is where students have the opportunity to take a broader perspective on their learning, make new connections, cement understanding, and generate new questions. In this session, we’ll explore different purposes, techniques, and formats for lesson closes. We’ll also discuss different strategies for dealing with the main obstacle to thoughtful closes: limited time.9 PM EST!

Last week we took a break. Make sure to join us for the webinar tonight.

Great Blogging Actions

4 Students, 1 Question, 1 Wish

A recent blog post by Joe Schwartz reminds me how important it is to both learn about and care for our students as much as possible. In his post, 4 Students, 1 Question, 1 Wish, Joe details his teaching relationship with 4 students, their personality traits, and their math thinking around one single question.

Imagine knowing as much as Joe about all of our students so we can teach to the student. Imagine writing a blog post about 4 of your students each week detailing your experience and journey both of you are on. Imagine finding out as much as possible about four of your students and then being able to teach them math better as result. I find Joe’s post inspiring, refreshing, and encouraging. Thanks Joe!

~by Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel)

The Shuffle Test

I’m always looking for new ideas for assessment, and Joe Herbert’s recent posts found here and here give an outline of something called a shuffle test. Joe says “Not only is a shuffle test a great way for all students to access and demonstrate mastery of challenging content, it also has the added benefit of being a very effective status intervention.”

I myself have realized in the last couple years or so of my teaching how much status can make or break a student’s experience in my classroom. Joe mentions the wonderful work that Ilana Horn has contributed to this. If you haven’t read her book yet, Strength in Numbers, it is definitely a must-read for any math teacher.

Definitely go check out Joe’s post, because this looks like a great opportunity to offer more challenging content than usual on an assessment, get students working together, and reduce status all while still under the umbrella of students demonstrating mastery.

~ by Matthew Engle (@pickpocketbme)