I want Time to Stop #StartOver Day 9 and Day 10

If you remember my post from Day 8, I woke up refreshed on day 9. I had a pleasant day.
I am still in the process of getting students used to my classroom procedures so they installed the Screencastify extension on their Chromebook and recorded themselves playing the 6 times table during the morning period on Day 9.

During the afternoon period, all students solved questions on the board. I really love #360math but it's difficult to manage classes where students don't work. Some students realized right away that the board work was the exact same questions as the test from Thursday. Answers were already provided for them. They had to show me work. Today was meant to teach the procedures for recording work and working on the boards. I told them they have to write their names on the top starting with their last names. They had to solve one question on the board and take turns writing on the board. They had to write big so I can see their work from the middle of the classroom. They also needed to have their Chromebooks with them since some teams solve problems faster than others so they need to scroll down on their own screen and not wait for the questions on my projector. They get credit based on working, not based on doing work correctly.

Surprisingly, 20 out of 36 students submitted their videos and worked on the board. The other students are still testing my patience or at the restroom when I approach them to help them. For a group of students who failed most of their classes last semester, they are really performing well. It makes me happy. I told students they can request good calls home. I had about 14 requests combined from both classes and I stayed after school Friday to share the good news with the parents of all 14 students. The highlight of the day was when Sarkis came up to me after the board work and told me that he realized he got the exploding dots questions wrong on the test. He said he realized he did it backwards. The whole point of #360math is students realizing what they are doing wrong and  learn from it or reinforce their correct work and I get to assess what I have to reteach. So I would say Day 9 was a success.

I ended Friday on a good note. What a huge contrast from Thursday where I thought I would have to quit teaching all together.

On Saturday, I graded the tests students took on Thursday. Now that I decided to enjoy the process and let go of things I can't control, more positive things were popping up. Even though I see the students for 4 periods, it is still only 2 groups of students. So when it came time to grade tests, I only had 2 classes to grade for. Most kids ditch class on test days so I only had to grade about 50 tests total. The ones who took the test tried hard. Out of my 67 students, 27 passed. It may not look like much to some of you, but to me, it is a huge victory. Let's not forget what I keep emphasizing. Most of the 67 students have failed almost all their classes throughout their high school years.

Today, which is now day 10 of my #StartOver semester, I was all smiles as I talked to my students about how many of them passed the test. Today, I wanted to make sure that students have the 20x20 times table in their notebook and that they understand how to glue the tests I return to them. I started the class by letting students know that I updated their grades. Then I told them I almost never give out extra credit. If their grade is low, they need to make up regular credit. The process is simple. They check their grades, if they notice a 0, they check the date and click on that date on Canvas. They make it up, then email me or show me so I can give them credit. I told them I take 20 percent off for late submissions because it's not fair to the students who turn them in on time. Today is a 40 minute short period day. I ended up spending the whole morning period returning their tests with a glue stick and times table chart and explaining to them how to glue it to their notebook. Don't worry. The students were copying 4 pages of notes that I planned on teaching today. We weren't wasting time. Plus, after today, all I have to do is tell them which page to glue their test and they'll know what to do. During the afternoon period, I was able to teach the multiplying and adding integer lesson from  exploding dots. Consistency really helps. Students are really getting this concept of exploding dots. There were no bad phone calls home today and three students requested good news calls. I realized I should stop taking requests since the same kids from Friday asked me to call again.

I think I lost a total of 5 children to Chromebooks today during the afternoon lesson. I actually joked around and messed with the kids today. They made fun of my high-pitched voice and I made fun of them trying to sound like me. I gave a few high fives to kids who were trying and I saw maybe a total of 40 correct answers from practice questions.

I am carefully optimistic about my 67 children. I learned that the pass rate for the class I teach at my District is at around 40 percent or lower. My heart flutters every time I see a child smile at me because she got the answer correct. And when they realize they made one little mistake, then fix it? I really do feel like a superhero.

Today is day 10 and I wish time will stop right now.

Visualizing Rate of Growth using #ClothesLlineMath

You know how there are some sessions you go into and you walk out thinking, "Wow, why didn't I ever know about this before?"
Yup. That was me at the CMC-South Conference at Chris Shore's session on #ClothesLineMath.

He challenged us to use what we learned within 2 weeks. I don't know if I'm within the timeframe, but it doesn't matter. Cuz I was excited. And I tried it.

In my classroom, we are learning that exponential functions grow at a faster rate than linear functions. What a great spot to use #ClothesLineMath!

First, I asked my math department friends to come visit me during periods 1, 3 and 5 so they can give me suggestions.
Then I came in super early to class to rearrange my room.

I have desks in groups of four for group work. The students face each other, not me. Today I wanted students to focus on the clothesline, so I set up the desks in an arc facing the front.
I haven't had my students face me all year, so when the students actually came in and sat looking at me, I felt satisfied. It felt like participation.

I went into  Chris Shore's website the evening before and practiced at home with my daughter, so I had plans to have students go on the board and work on their own number line in groups of 2. But I didn't implement that during my 1st and 3rd period cuz I was excited about the "perceived participation".

I didn't use fractions, decimals or negative numbers on this day. Just whole numbers. I was happy to see that the students who did participate used hand methods like Chris Shore mentioned in his session.

I used a word problem from my textbook(shown below). My students pointed out that soccer teams would never start with 1 minute of practice like it says in plan 2 of the question. I should have thought about the problem instead of only thinking about using #ClothesLineMath. Oh well. It was too late.

I had students place the numbers on two lines. One for Plan 1 and another one for Plan 2. As we added more numbers to the clothesline, we realized we had to rearrange ALL the numbers on the line(setting the benchmark). We saw that the space in between numbers on the line for plan 2 increased by two times. In plan 1, the increase in practice time remained the same. We saw that the space in between the numbers remained the same.

I felt satisfied with the lesson but was sad to see that students could not come up with an equation for the two plans.

For the remaining 5 to 10 minutes of class, students had to write down their observation and answer the question from the textbook in their notebook.

Then third period started and (yes!) my teacher friend Deatra Lee showed up to give me pointers. I also have a para-educator that period, which means I get an extra pair of eyes. Now that this is my second time doing the same lesson, the excitement of trying something new quickly faded and I started seeing what any normal person can see. Deatra kindly stayed after class and shared that she saw a few dominant personalities and they were actively participating, but others were not. I told her I had markers and cloths so students can work in groups on the board while I have other students come to the front to work on the clothesline, but I didn't implement it. What I did NOT tell her was that I really enjoyed having students face me and it made me FEEL like they were participating and learning. I was too embarrassed to share that. Deatra also suggested giving students time to talk to their elbow partners first then having them sharing out their observations to me. I was so glad that Deatra helped me see beyond my "perceived participation".

Of course I implemented her tips during fifth period.

I saw a beautiful room during fifth period with kids up, around and loud. Because they were in groups of 2 to 4, I think they felt more comfortable coming to the front to place the numbers on the clothesline.

I'm not going to lie. My pictures look so much more beautiful than the actual lesson. But anyhow.
This was how my first attempt at #ClothesLineMath went. It was fun for me. It was different for the students. I felt bad that my first and third period students did not get the same interaction that fifth period students got. But now I know what to do if I use #ClothesLineMath again.

How are you using #ClothesLineMath in your classroom? I'd like to know.
Pleases visit Chris Shore's website and see what you want to do in your classroom. Then share it with Chris, but also share with me. Cuz we all wanna be better at our craft. Right?