Recently I began teaching a math course in the evening at a neighboring school district. The students within the Evening Scholars program needed to be there due to a failing grade, missed classes or a sub-par performance the first go around. By all means these students identify as reluctant math learners. As students entered the room, there was an equation posted to act as a number talk, the equation was 300 = 10(10 + x). This alone taught me so much about the students enrolled in the evening program. I saw fear and discomfort and I heard comments such as, "I don't know this" or "I am here because I am not good at math, I don't know anything". Fast forward to an hour into class and students were discussing scenarios with each other, asking questions of their peers and myself and growing increasingly comfortable with not being right.
This story is not told to brag about my success or offer some prescriptive method for engaging traditional non-engagers, because in actuality I play such a small role in this transformation. The students coming into the class already had knowledge and understanding. What mattered is the classroom was designed around a simple fact, you are going to make mistakes, in math, in life, in whatever. That's not important. How you react to these mistakes is what matters. In a math class, do you sit back and allow yourself to get frustrated and give up? Do you look at someone else's work and scribble down their thoughts? Do you ask questions of the people around you? Or maybe you trace your journey back to the point where things became muddled. By reinforcing this mantra, creating a comfortable place to explore, ask questions and seek understanding, this group of students were able to excel at a rate that they didn't believe they could. Lesson design as a focus. As students came in, I asked them if they had a phone and if it was charged. I then gave chargers to those you had low battery. I told them to keep their phones out because we were going to use them. Within the first 15 minutes we were completing The Red Cup Staking Challenge (something I do with all my classes the first day to reinforce group skills), then accessing a Padlet prompt through Google Classroom to have students write about their previous math experiences, then after a few additional transitions, a Quizizz about simplifying expressions, followed by another group task. I had observed these 3 hour classes before where teachers gave a pile of photocopies and students slugged through the work for 180 minutes. It was painful! I couldn't imagine being in school for 6 + hours, then having to come to a class from 5-8:30 and perform for a teacher that put in zero effort to creating a space that students actually wanted to be in and work that would actually engage a learner. This story is important within the context of my personal inquiry cycle because while I wouldn't have given a stack of photocopies or made students solve question after question just to prepare for an assessment, as recently as last year I wouldn't have folded in technology into my lessons. The group tasks were still in place, the room for discourse and mistakes was still at my core, but this Innovative Learning program program has unleashed a desire to do be better, be better. Bringing in technology in a meaningful way is engaging and plain fun. As I design units for my day job, where reluctant learner isn't even a title that would correctly categorize my students (I would say, disenfranchised learners) this integration of meaningful content presented in a way that allows students to build more than just content skills is what I am cycling back to. Being 3 designed units in, each one improves and seeing students gain digital literacy, content and interpersonal skills is what keeps pushing that cycle around.
4 Comments
Helen
2/25/2018 01:16:14 pm
Joseph what an inspiring story, I wish my son had had the privilege of you as a teacher. He is primarily an auditory learner in a visual world. I am trying to move closer to where you are. Right now all these concepts we are studying are very new to me and I am trying to get a handle on them, Much like the Chinese Finger Trap I am making lots of random trials to make sense of how to move towards student centered learning, it is not pretty. Thank you for your encouragement that it is possible.
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Stephanie Jones
2/26/2018 09:41:45 pm
It sounds like you are already integrating a lot of technology into your daily teaching. That's amazing! Allowing these adults to use their own phones really seems to be the buy in that they need to learn. You have taken away the stress or burden that comes with struggling students and provided a safe environment where they are able to fail and succeed. Thank you for sharing such an inspiring story.
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Emily Feil
2/26/2018 10:08:33 pm
Joseph, you do a great job creating an environment where students feel connected and like they have hope of succeeding. I am impressed at the way you weave in so many of the new tools we have been learning about. I suspect that many of your students came to class expecting a painful, three hour slog. What a relief it must be for them. I also notice that you are actively looking for ways to remove barriers to learning. The fact that you provided chargers for students who were low on battery life sends such a clear message that you want to give them the tools they need to win. That can only translate into a positive learning environment where they are willing to take chances and make mistakes.
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Jane Gallagher
2/27/2018 07:02:22 pm
'How you react to your mistakes." I really like this statement. In my classroom I have a poster that says Mistakes Are Proof That You Are Trying. Your experience is very real and your mind was open to see how technology can be woven into a curriculum/lesson to engage. Working on my End User Profile makes me think of each of my students' history and how they will use it to understand and engage. I feel like this should be a daily montra.
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AuthorHello, I'm Joe. Welcome to writings about my thought process throughout the journey of Touro's Innovative Learning Graduate Program. Archives
July 2018
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