A Tasty Serving of Small-Group Instruction

Posted by & filed under Differentiated Instruction, Inspiration, Motivation, Small Group Instruction, Small Groups, Tabor Rotation.

“For some reason, when you become a support to others, you become bigger than you are.” -Susan Jeffers, from “Feel the Fear…and Do It Anyway”

This morning was spent filming parts of the new Tabor Rotation DVD Training Series. My cinematographer, Chris Shepherd [http://www.christophershepherd.net/], is amazingly creative and dedicated to making this an incredibly informative AND entertaining film. After spending several hours recording the intros and voice overs for the 14 Essential Elements of the Tabor Rotation Framework and a week’s worth of planning, I needed a break.

I headed over to a local restaurant for chips, salsa, and tortilla soup. Being after the lunch rush, the server spent more time making conversation. I was reviewing notes from the day and he asked me what I was doing. I gave him a brief explanation of my mission to help change the way we teach and learn mathematics in schools. I also told him about the schools who were currently doing their best to improve their strategies for using small-group, differentiated instruction in the classroom. He really enjoyed the analogy of math (a combination of declarative and procedural knowledge) and playing basketball (also a combination of declarative and procedural knowledge). He also agreed that the math teacher’s attitude toward and belief in the students is like a coach’s attitude and belief in her athletes–it’s the difference between mediocrity and greatness!

Five minutes after our conversation he came back with an “aha” look on his face. He said he hadn’t been able to quit thinking about the fact that what I was trying to help teachers do is what was happening to him in the restaurant business. He told me that he began working for one restaurant. The owners were more laid back and were extremely positive with their waitstaff. When training new servers they partnered them with a veteran to help them learn the correct procedures. The manager taught them how to learn the specials of the day, how to explain the menu, and how to give that “something extra” which would make the customer want to come back. He also said he felt appreciated at his first job…like he made a difference in people’s lives.

Because he had been trained so well, three weeks into his new job he was offered a job as a server at another restaurant. The person who offered him the job was a manager of another restaurant. He was eating at the first and was so pleased with the service that he offered the server a job.

Here’s where the server made the small-group instruction connection…his second job is frustrating, unrewarding, and sometimes extremely difficult. He said his training was brief and he didn’t receive the type of individualized instruction he needed. He said he had to learn a full menu with over 300 items and at least 10 specials every day. No one complimented him for his hard work. No one gave him any bit of attention or additional instruction. He said he needed both jobs, but only one inspired him to work harder and learn more.

“It’s like what you’re trying to help schools do. What works in a school would work in a restaurant.”

Now that is a tasty serving of small-group instruction! I’ll be back next week for another!

“When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…
And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life.”
– from Monty Python’s “Life of Brian”

Planes, Patience, & Purpose

Posted by & filed under Differentiated Instruction, Manipulatives, Math Activities, Mathematics, Motivation, Tabor Rotation.

“It’s been my observation that people who understand the to-do list and “two-fers” get the maximum benefit from their time.  What is a “two-fer”?  Example: I never get in a line at an airport without something to read.” -Zig Ziglar

Traveling has taught me a lot about patience, but it’s also taught me a lot about purpose. I never get in line at an airport without a bag of math manipulatives. My traveling adventures have become the perfect place to optimize the “two-fer” as I wait in airports and on airplanes. I try to make the most of my time by sharing the magic of math manipulatives at the same time as patiently waiting (OK, so I’m not always waiting so patiently, but it really works with the title of this blog post).

When I strike up a conversation with a nearby traveler, some of the first questions they ask are:

“So, where are you headed?”

“Is it a work or pleasure trip?”

When I tell people that I am an educational consultant traveling to another city to work with schools to help them build on their successes and implement additional best practices, they almost always answer,

“What a cool job!”

The next question is,

“So, exactly how do you do that?”

If I’m conducting Tabor Rotation Training, I give them a brief description of what small-group, differentiated instruction looks like in a classroom. I also explain how mathematics, even at the secondary and post-secondary level, can be made into something which is engaging and meaningful.

The next response is usually,

“I wish someone had taught me that way when I was in school. I never really understood math.”

And, that is when I bring out the BIG GUNS (sorry, the Texas in me just came out). I pull a bag of manipulatives out of my briefcase and share a way to understand a mathematical concept through concrete manipulation. Since the first time the TSA agents pulled a bag of manipulatives out of my carry-on suitcase and asked, “What are these things for?” I have carried at least one mixed bag of manipulatives with me throughout every trip.

Here is one instance when the magic of math manipulatives was apparent. Remember the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) agents who pulled my Ziploc bags of manipulatives out of my suitcase while hand searching my bags? The manipulatives which most fascinated that group were the spongy pattern blocks. They initially thought they were used to clean. I asked the three agents, who were standing closest to me, if they ever truly understood why ½ of ½ is Ÿ.

They all admitted they had no idea why the answer was ¼, but had just memorized the formulas their teacher had given them. I asked them if they’d like to see why ½ of ½ is ¼ if I could show them in less than five minutes. After they nodded I did the following:

  1. I set two yellow hexagons on the conveyor belt and put them together.  I asked them if they could agree that together they made one whole. Everyone shook their head yes.
  2. I took another hexagon and placed one red trapezoid on top of the hexagon. I asked what fractional part of the hexagon did the trapezoid represent. They all answered ½.
  3. Next, I pointed to one of the hexagons and asked what fractional part of the whole was it? All answered ½.
  4. I asked one of the agents to make another whole with two hexagons and place four red trapezoids on top of them to make the second one whole.
  5. I asked another agent to put one red trapezoid on top of one of the hexagons.
  6. I asked the next set of questions, “Do you agree that it takes four trapezoids to make one whole and that one of the trapezoids is ¼ of the whole?” If everyone can manipulate the pattern blocks and understand that, then we move to the next step.
  7. “So one of the hexagons is ½ of the whole and the one trapezoid is ½ of the ½?” If there are nods, all I have to do is give enough wait time and someone always bursts out, “So ½ of the ½ is ¼!

I wish I had a video camera to show the faces of the adults who now truly understand a concept. The light bulbs firing in their eyes makes it worth the minutes it took to show them. If my plane isn’t taking off for a while and the security lines aren’t too bad, I let them use rhombuses and triangles to discover why ½ of 1/3 is 1/6 and why ½ of 1/6 is 1/12. (This sometimes happens in small airports, especially if TSA takes their job very seriously and are determined to hand check all of my bags. If you’re going to search my bags…you’re going to end up learning something about mathematics!)

On my last few trips, I’ve also brought my Algebra manipulatives. This has caused the greatest stir and the most conversation in the seats around me. More on that in the next blog…

“History shows us that the people who end up changing the world – the great political, social, scientific, technological, artistic, even sports revolutionaries – are always nuts, until they are right, and then they are geniuses.” – John Eliot

Bottoms Flat or Bottoms Up?

Posted by & filed under Differentiated Instruction, Math Activities, Math Stations, Mathematics, Planning Effectively, Small Group Instruction, Small Groups, Small-Group Instruction in Mathematics, Tabor Rotation.

Why can’t students just learn the same way all of us did in school?

We sat. The teacher talked and wrote on the board. We solved problems. We came back and did it again the next day. We all did just fine.

Why can’t we do what we’ve always done? Because…we know more now about the way the brain learns. We know more about the needs of students. We know that we must differentiate instruction in our classrooms so that we can meaningfully and respectfully challenge all students. We can’t do what we’ve always done, because we can do better!!!

Not all students learn best with their bottoms flat on a chair listening to the teacher (even if the teacher is using technology to “spice” up the lesson via a document viewer or smart board). A great number of students sitting in our classrooms today are kinesthetic learners.

What is a kinesthetic learner? In her article, “Helping Kinesthetic Learners Succeed,” Shannon Hutton states,

“…many students…learn by doing and need to move around the classroom and touch things to better understand the lessons. They have difficulty sitting at their desks for extended periods of time. These students aren’t being difficult, they just learn differently.”

If you’d like to learn more, Hutton’s article describes characteristics of the kinesthetic learner and teaching strategies to help the kinesthetic learner.

[http://www.education.com/magazine/article/kinesthetic_learner/]

I was reminded of the power of movement when working with a first grade class a few weeks ago. The concept being explored was counting change from the penny to the quarter. I placed varied activities for counting change in the four stations, but the most powerful activity was at the Teacher Time Station.

I placed several vertical masking tape lines across the width of the classroom. On the number lines I drew slash marks and placed enlarged pictures of coins next to each. The objective was to have the students jump and count change at the same time. The activity Money Moves! builds on the prior experience students have counting by 5’s, 10’s, and 1’s.

To truly develop a student’s ability to count in multiples, the student must have opportunities to count by 5’s and 10’s beginning with any number. If the teacher begins with 3 and asks the students to count by 5’s they will begin to see a pattern almost immediately. Stop and try it with someone near you. It’s amazing to watch how this number sense is developed in a first or second grade student.

How do you count by 10’s? In most classroom situations the students begin with 0 and count 10, 20, 30…100. Instead, begin with the number 42 and count by 10’s till you reach 142. The learner will begin to see the pattern in this type of counting, too. I have to say that this type of number sense activity has had many students tell me, “You can’t do that!” or “Are you sure we can start with any number we want—I thought we had to start with 0.”

With a strong foundation for counting beginning with any number, the counting of money on a vertical line can begin. In Money Moves! the student looks at the first coin and says that amount as they jump and land on the coin. Then they look at the next coin and say the amount when counting on that much more. After the student jumps and counts, they go to a nearby table and create the amount they just jumped with real coins. They practice using their fingers to “jump” and count the coins the same way they jumped and counted on the vertical coin line. The next week I’ll place this activity into the Manipulatives Station and ask the students to draw what they jumped. This will take them through the stages of learning a complex concept from the concrete to the pictorial to the abstract.

Every time I use the vertical counting coins line I see more success in the understanding of how to count change and being able to repeat the process with real coins. A page with pictures of coins grouped together just doesn’t work the same way…and, even if you aren’t a kinesthetic learner, it’s just more fun to move!

I don’t know if any secondary teachers read to the end of this blog post. If they did, I’d like to pose this question. “Does a student, who is kinesthetic and needs to learn by doing, moving, and experiencing, change when they reach junior high and high school?”

This question, and many others, were asked by a secondary math department in Orlando, Florida at Lake Nona Middle/High School. They are doing amazing things with their students and I can’t wait to see the impact of their hard work!

Picasso, Prisms, & Oatmeal!

Posted by & filed under Differentiated Instruction, Geometry, Math Activities, Math Games, Mathematics, Middle School Math, Secondary Mathematics, Small-Group Instruction in Mathematics.

“There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun.” -Pablo Picasso

When was the last time you sat around with your friends or colleagues and asked ANY of the following questions?

“What do you think the lateral area of this side of the cabinet is? I’d really like to get enough stain to refinish it.”

“Is your modern table a true example of a right prism or is it really just a cube?”

“I’m thinking of giving someone a gift in a cylinder. Does anyone know the surface area of a 5-lb container of oats?”

“Aren’t surface area formulas fun to say? Which ones are your favorites?”

I don’t know about you, but I have NEVER had this conversation with a group other than my students who had to learn it to pass a state test. If you teach middle school, junior high, or high school math, your students will benefit from learning the language of geometry. Who knows?  After your dynamite unit on area, they might even begin to ask each other those kind of questions!

Some students have a good spatial intelligence and will immediately understand these concepts. Others will need to be provided with concrete, meaningful, and purposeful experiences as they explore areas of prisms and cylinders.

My mathematical history is sometimes bleak. It rarely included concrete experience of any sort. But, I have one really strong memory about geometry. In 6th grade we were all required to take an intelligence test–I think the district got some kind of special funding to teach those who were gifted in the arts. I remember being asked to choose the correct 3-dimensional shape which was represented by the “unfolded” figure. This question was followed by several other questions about the total surface area of the shape which had been created.

I studied all of the possible responses and really wanted to add my own…

d. I don’t play with blocks, so I don’t care. Next question, PLEASE!

Hopefully, the following resources will help you and your students as you explore the area of prisms and cylinders.

1. This activity is part of the TCS FREE high school mathematics ‘How-to Library’, and will help students find the surface area and volume of prisms.

http://www.teacherschoice.com.au/maths_library/area%20and%20sa/area_9.htm

2. Another dynamic set of activities from Gizmos. This set asks the students to vary the dimensions of a prism or cylinder and investigate how the surface area changes.

http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?method=cResource.dspDetail&ResourceID=349

3. This page has a set of problems for determining the surface areas of prisms and cylinders with self-check. This is probably a little bit more fun than completing a worksheet.

http://hotmath.com/help/gt/genericprealg/section_9_4.html

4. This site is a part of the self-check quizzes from Glencoe. It only with only five problems, but the hints and illustrations are really helpful when exploring surface area of prisms and cylinders.

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/math/studytools/cgi-bin/msgQuiz.php4?isbn=0-02-833240-7&chapter=12&lesson=5

5. This slide show explains how to determine the surface area of prisms and cylinders. The slide show could be used as a great introduction, whole-class review, and as a resource for developing conceptual understanding.

http://www.slideshare.net/jessicagarcia62/122-surface-area-of-prisms-and-cylinders

6. Think Zone is website developed by Keith Enevoldsen which is loaded with LOTS of great resources. If you’ll scroll to the bottom of the page, the information about area is available in PDF format. Be sure and read his terms of use as you share this site with colleagues and students.

http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/Area/AreaVol.htm

7. For those of you have access to SMART boards, the SMART Exchange website helps you find lesson plans for your SMART board and helps you connect with other teachers who use SMART boards. One post is concerned with finding the surface area of prisms and cylinders using nets.

http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=x585ab67bf9134a97b6e90f9b12a35e71

8. Learner.org has an excellent explanation of surface area of three-dimensional prisms and provides animations to explore and play with surface area. It even gives hints and a couple of chances to find the correct answer.

http://www.learner.org/interactives/geometry/area_surface.html

Maybe this response would have been better…

e. I don’t know now, but if you give me some concrete experiences with the concept I’m pretty sure I can figure it out.

Math is Supposed to be FUN!

Posted by & filed under Classroom Management, Differentiated Instruction, Fundamentals of Differentiated Instruction, Math Activities, Math Games, Mathematics, Middle School Math, Planning Effectively, Small Group Instruction, Small Groups, Small-Group Instruction in Mathematics, Tabor Rotation.

This week I traveled east on TX Highway 150 to the small town of Coldspring, Texas. Although the downtown shops and restaurants looked quaint and inviting, I drove straight past them to one of the best parts of Coldspring–its students. I had the honor of working with a fifth grade class from Coldspring Intermediate. We had a BLAST!

I was there because a couple of dedicated new teachers have been eager to learn how to differentiate instruction in their classroom–even before they had a signed contract in the district! I was impressed with their enthusiastic determination to do what is best for all students, and, being on the same mission, I scheduled a visit.

The demonstration of the Tabor Rotation Framework began, as always, with the Leadership Academy. The leaders and co-leaders of each of the four heterogeneously mixed groups were immediately enthusiastic and took on their roles very eagerly as they learned about the activities they were about to do with their teams.

The demonstration continued with a Whole-Group Mini-Lesson. During the lesson the students were working in pairs and stopping to think with their partners. They really enjoyed the Think-Pair-Share structure since it gave them an opportunity to communicate with others during the teacher-directed portion of the lesson.

Watching the teams move into the four Tabor Rotation stations and begin to work together took my breath away! You would think they had been doing it since the beginning of school! As I went clipboard cruising [https://glennatabor.com/2010/02/clipboard-cruising-using-a-learner%E2%80%99s-permit/] around the stations, I heard some amazing statements from students.

While playing “Fraction Flip” with fraction bars the students called me over to confirm what theyy were thinking about which part of a whole was the greatest amount. One student was explaining his answer to his teammates and using the conversion of fractions to percents. He even got a 3/4 fraction bar and showed them how “each of the shaded sections was 25% of the whole and by adding them together you have 75% shaded.” Note in clipboard…student is converting in his head with complete accuracy and is readily able to justify his thinking.

One of the best parts of the day was listening to the students share their thoughts of “doing math this way.” One student said he really liked it because he had learned math and had fun at the same time. His entire table agreed with him. One student looked at him and said,

“Yea! Math is supposed to be fun!”

I couldn’t have said it better myself!

The 100th Post

Posted by & filed under Inspiration.

I’ve been”madly” writing  for the last few months trying to complete a goal I set for myself on January 1, 2010. On that day I determined to write at least 100 blog posts. My family thinks I’m crazy. My friends think I’m crazy. Even the dog has wondered through my home office carrying his bone and trying to convince me to stop and play.

In January, 2010, I told one faculty about my blogging goal. Later in the training session I described myself as being a “recovering Type A personality.” One of the teachers laughed and said,

“100 blog posts in one year…I don’t think you’re doing a very good job of recovering!”

It is now the last day of 2010. I made my goal and have written all 100. They are stored on my computer (and backed up on a hard drive). I was going to post all of them, but during a teleconference with an administrator last week, it was suggested that I wait to post the last of 2010 until everyone returns to school. Since most educators are spending time with their families and enjoying their winter break, the remaining posts will go live in January & February, 2011.

Thanks for reading, thinking, and letting me converse with you this year! Here’s to the 100th blog post and to another ??? blog posts next year…I’m going to have to think about that one…

The gift that cannot be contained…

Posted by & filed under Inspiration, Planning Effectively.

“Time cannot be contained, only the memories caught within that time can be!” -Diane Dutchin

What do your children want for a present? I am asked this question frequently, especially around the holidays and their birthdays. For the past few years I simply answer,

“They want you. They want quality time with you. They want you to listen. They want your undivided attention.”

I was reminded this week that time and someone to listen is the desired present for “big people,” too. I was in a store shopping for great bargains in the after holiday clearance aisle. I had noticed an older woman pushing a shopping cart around the store doing the same.

As I paused in front of the gift cards she mentioned that some of the cards were pretty enough by themselves without having money credited to them. I nodded my head in agreement and started to continue shopping. But, after glancing at her face again, I realized that she needed to talk to someone.

I asked her how her holiday was. Then I truly listened to her response. It had been a very difficult and challenging time for her family. Since the summer there have been six funerals. Last month she lost her husband. Her children were unable to visit her during the holiday season. She was at the store because she was lonely.

I spent the next 30 minutes conversing with her. Mostly, I listened. At the end of our conversation she apologized for taking my time, but said she was grateful for it. I asked if I could give her a hug and have my family pray for her. She said yes with tears rolling down her cheeks.

What do most people want? What do most students want? What is the priceless gift you have available for your students?

Educators, as you begin the spring semester, you may ask yourself what do my students want? They want the same as this woman…

“They want you. They want quality time with you. They want you to listen. They want your undivided attention.”

Here are just a few simple ideas for giving your students your time.

  • Try greeting your students at the door as they enter your classroom.
  • Be at the door as your students exit. Smile at them, make eye contact, and ask them to tell you something they learned that day as their “ticket” to leave.
  • Call your students by name. Use their names in stories, word problems, and on tests.
  • Notice something personal and specific about each person. As you circulate around the room, share this with each student.
  • Use some method for randomly calling on students so that each person feels they are called on with equity. You could put all the students’ names on wooden sticks and pull a stick after asking a question.
  • Use wait time after asking an important question. Allow at least 15-20 seconds for students to think.
  • Write a note to at least 2 students per day.
  • Cruise around the room during independent work time and write down at least 5 positive things you notice about your class. Read these to the class during closure activities.

You wouldn’t think just one of the above strategies would change the dynamics in a classroom, but it will. Try one and see how well received your “gift” is!

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” -Carl Sandburg

What is the “small stuff?”

Posted by & filed under Inspiration.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine suggested that I “take it easy and not sweat the small stuff” in my life. I looked at my “To Do” List and wondered what I could eliminate. Her comment made me think about a book I read this year called, “Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism.”

I bought this book after reading an interview of the author, David Whitman, conducted by Michael Shaughnessy.

“The one little-known common factor at these schools was that they practiced a form of benevolent paternalism or what has been dubbed the “new paternalism.” All of these schools are highly-prescriptive institutions that aim not only to build students’ academic skills but to shape their character.”

I’d highly recommend the book, but to whet your appetite, read more of Michael’s interview. [http://ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-david-whitman-on-sweating-the-small-stuff.html]

By the way, I did put stars next to the most important things on my list. I tried to accomplish them. At the end of the day my daughter asked me why I was writing things on my list and then immediately marking through them. I gave her a hug and told her that it made me feel like I had done a lot that day since more things were now “off my list.” She took the pen from me and added,

“Hugged daughter.”√

Cooking, Cookies, and Concepts

Posted by & filed under Differentiated Instruction, Ideas for Parents, Math Activities, Mathematics, Motivation, Problem Solving.

This summer I wrote blog posts for parents. As I spent time with my own children over the past two weeks I thought I would share a few ideas.

How does a parent cultivate a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts without using a textbook? Winter break is the most wonderful time of the year to meaningfully apply math! Here are just a few examples of ways parents can use “what they’re already doing” to help their children.

When you’re going to bake a batch of cookies, let your child help and:

  • If they are able to read the recipe, have your child read it to you to practice their comprehension of a problem solving task.
  • If your child is an emerging reader, have them find letters they know and then help them say the word or the sound the letter makes.
  • Explain what the symbols in a recipe represent.
  • Discuss what acronyms are and make up some of your own.
  • Place measuring tools in front of your child and have them find the one which goes with each symbol. Have them tell you why they chose the tool they chose.
  • Have your child count the number of tools in front of them.
  • Ask your child to group the tools in at least 3 different groups based upon at least one characteristic. Have them determine the characteristic and the groups.
  • Have your child write the grocery list. Using the ads from the newspaper, help your child create a bargain shopping list.
  • Let your child find, cut out, and use coupons to help save money on the needed items. Have them create number sentences which show how much they were able to save using coupons.
  • Recipes call for different sizes of pans. Give your child measuring tape and have them find the sizes of all the pans in the cabinet. Ask them to find the pans which could be used for baking the cookies.
  • Using a non-standard unit of measurement (beans or paper clips work great), have your child measure and record the perimeter (the measurement all the way around something) of at least 5 pans.  Have them use measuring tape and compare the differences.
  • Have your child select one pan to find the surface area of using non-standard units of measurement such as beans or paper clips. Ask them whether or not this is the most accurate way to determine area.
  • Have your child measure the ingredients using measuring cups or measuring spoons.
  • Develop a readiness for multiplication of fractions by having your child “double” the recipe and write the new amount for a double batch.
  • Let your child practice pouring different amounts of water into a measuring cup and read the amount poured.
  • Have your child guess how much batter will be made based on the amount of ingredients. Write the estimate down and why they estimated that amount. Measure the final amount of batter.
  • Based on the final amount of batter and the size of each cookie, have your child estimate the total number of cookies the recipe will make.
  • Practice multiplication by arranging the cookie dough on the pan in an array. Make each pan a different size array and have your child count the total number of cookie dough portions on each pan. Ask questions about the arrays. For example, “6 rows of 3 cookies will make how many? What is the multiplication number sentence that goes with this?”
  • Before starting to make the cookies, have your child estimate the amount of time it will take, from start to finish, to make all the cookies. Set a timer to count up till you finish.
  • Have your child read the recipe and determine the amount of time each pan of cookies should bake in the oven. Ask them to read the time on the clock and tell you the exact time when the cookies should be removed from the oven.
  • Have your child set the timer and have them check the oven window when there are two minutes left on the timer.
  • Create rough drafts of cookie designs on graph paper or scratch paper. Use icing to create the design on a cookie.
  • Help your child place decorated and/or baked cookies in containers in arrays. Have them create one stack in the container and then use “what they know” to determine the total number of cookies the container will hold.
  • Allow your child to give a container of cookies to a neighbor. Ask them to estimate how far it is to walk to the neighbor’s house and how long it will take. Use a watch and some type of measuring device to record the results.
  • After cleaning up, help your child write word problems for the math used when they were baking. Create a “Cooking Up Math Problems” book and share it with family members when they come to visit. Ask them to solve the problems and write comments in the book.
  • Brainstorm with your child and list all the mathematical concepts he or she used when baking cookies. Post these on the refrigerator and give each other a hug—GREAT JOB!!!

“What a glorious thing is parenting when done right. No kid wants to clean or do homework, quit the beach when it’s fun, or be a good sport when they’re mad — yet that is often what’s needed. So the parent has to make it happen. Everyone wants to be liked all the time, but parents must learn to tolerate being the bad guy occasionally.

So to all parents who do the rarely acknowledged work of staying connected to a kid while getting the daily business done, thank you. Literally nothing is more important.” -Julie Steiny

Help for the Common Lecture

Posted by & filed under Comprehension & Connections in Mathematics, Differentiated Instruction, Fundamentals of Differentiated Instruction, Mathematics, Planning Effectively, Secondary Mathematics.

“I’m a high school teacher who teaches Algebra. There is so much information to cover, that I really need to lecture. I know I shouldn’t just lecture…HELP!”

I’m glad you’re thinking about ways to “shake up” what’s going on in your classroom to best meet the needs of your students. The brain learns best when it is kept at instructional level and challenge. When the brain goes into coast mode, then the learning decreases.

“Not all students are alike. Based on this knowledge, differentiated instruction applies an approach to teaching and learning that gives students multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas. The model of differentiated instruction requires teachers to be flexible in their approach to teaching and adjust the curriculum and presentation of information to learners rather than expecting students to modify themselves for the curriculum.” -Tracey Hall

To change up their didactic instruction, some teachers place the cardinal directions in their room on the four walls. After 6-8 minutes of lecture, the teacher moves to a different side of the room and the students all turn their chairs in that direction, too. The change in background helps the brain refocus.

Another tool used by teachers is the 3-Minute Pause. After giving students an amount of knowledge, the teacher pauses and asks the students to discuss what has been learned with a partner. The teacher might pose a question or ask students to clarify what has been learned, what gels with their thinking, what they agree with, or what they think doesn’t make sense. The ideal is to have the students talk instead of the teacher.

The Centre for Teaching Excellence of the University of Waterloo states that,

“There are many different activities that can be integrated into a lecture-based course to encourage the students to engage with the subject material, to facilitate interaction among the students and between the students and the professor, and to revitalize the course by providing a change of pace.”

They give nine alternatives to lecturing:

1.    Questions
2.    Pro and Con Grid
3.    Debate
4.    Guided Analysis
5.    Case Study
6.    Field Trip
7.    Role Play
8.    One-Minute Paper
9.    Ungraded Quiz.

You can find a more detailed description if each on their website. [http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_resources/tips/varying_your_teaching_activities.html]

I know the following saying has been quoted many, many times, but it’s the simplest for explaining why lecturing alone won’t complete the circle of learning…

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” -Confucius