Authentic Project- School playground, gr 7 Structures

One project my grade sevens threw themselves into and just loved was their playground design.  We are a new school without a playground and our parent council is working tirelessly to fund raise for one.  I took the desire for a recreational space for our students as an opportunity to weave some authentic learning into our Structures and Forces unit.  This was my first real attempt at project based learning.  I had no idea how much work it would be!  In the end, the students loved it, they learned many learning objectives at a deep level and they felt connected to their school community quickly.

I am very grateful for my 3 day training with Charity and the Buck Institute on project based learning.

Here are some of the handouts and student samples from the project.

Ideal Playground

Grade 3 Buddy Questions

Key Ideas Checklist

Self Evaluation

Data Reflection

Exam analysis

So the learning does not stop when the exam is given back...

Depending on how I approach things with my students, everything become assessment for learning. A good example would be my grade nine students' unit summative assessment- a "typical" unit exam with multiple choice and numerical response questions to mirror our Provincial Achievement Tests they must write in June.  I could simply mark it and pass it back to the kids- they look at their mark and the learning stops.  Instead, I incorporate an effective strategy I learned from a colleague.  The students get back their exam booklet and an analysis sheet.  They look at each of the learning objectives that were on the exam and reflect on how well they understood.  I am not sure where my colleague got the idea, but it does a great job of keeping the focus on students' mastery of learning outcomes.  My students appreciate the time to reflect on their learning and set goals for specific areas they need to still learn.  I have valuable conversations with my students about learning, not about marks.  The added bonus is that my students feel less pressure from the exam- they know it is to check for their enduring understanding and not to generate a percent for a report card per se.  For students with anxiety or who struggle, it takes off a huge stress for them and refocuses their attention on what counts- their learning.  Here is an example from my grade nine chemistry exam.

Chemistry Exam Analysis

A day with an astronaut

It was a fabulous time listening to and being inspired by Major Jeremy Hansen, our newest Canadian astronaut.  My students were enthralled with his stories.  He also spoke with them informally and graciously posed for pictures with them after the event.  Such a great learning day!

Structures Scavenger Hunt

As a review activity for their Structures and Forces unit, my grade sevens worked in teams to do a school wide scavenger hunt.  I gave them a list of key word wall words we learned, a mini whiteboard and sent them off to find "real life" examples around our school.  Each team had a phone with a camera as well (not a problem in this digital age!)

The students set out after reviewing how to be respectful with other classes in session.  When they discovered an example from their list, they had to write on the mini white board and take a picture.  They shared their pics on a shared Picassa album that we then went over in class as a whole.  It helped to facilitate discussion on each key term and the concepts surrounding each.  They loved to see their pictures up on the smartboard!

Ion dice

To help my grade nines learn how to create formulas and draw models of ionic compounds, I created ion dice.  A simple way to spice up and add a tactile component to the worksheet.

Assessment Practices

This school year, I am really focusing in on assessment practices and strategies to increase student engagement and self awareness. I want my students to internalize their own learning and achievement. I want them to articulate what essential learnings they know and what still challenges them. I want them to think about the learning outcomes and not a mark.

Some successes I have used this year-

- I continue to use learning passes, Do Now Activities and end of the lesson reflections. Here is the journal sheet my students use at the start and end of each class.

- I continue to use exit slips and learning passes to check their understanding. Here are a few. I cannot take credit for the ideas or sentence starters- I have come across good ideas from books, websites and colleagues.

summary triangle (format seems to be a bit asew when converted from word to google doc)  I borrowed an idea from a talented math colleague I have the pleasure to work with and have put bins at each of my class tables (we do not have desks at our school), with the necessary supplies I expect them to use regularly.  I will stop during class and ask them to draw on their mini white board, write on one of the stickies, calculate on the scrap paper and so on.  I can do quick assessments of their learning without losing time for them to get up and gathering materials or me passing out mateirals.

I like to call the exit slips "learning pass"  instead because it is another avenue to help my students focus on what is important and why they are there.  "Exit slip" has a more of a punative conotation to me.

exit slip cards  Here are a few prompts I have gathered from various sources or thought of to use with my students.  I have a bunch cut out and stored in labelled envelopes to pass out when needed. 

- As the research says, I am using comments only on all of my formative assessments and many of my summative assessments as well.  My students have responded well, even though it is different for them.
- As colour is so key to kids, I use green, yellow and pink highlighters when looking at their products. I have them use the colour codes to self assess their work. I put a traffic light on each assignment or assessment they do and either colour it myself or have them colour it to show where they are at on that learning outcome.  Recently, I have added blue to communicate that they are ready for some challenge work.
- I have created flip cards with these colour codes for them to communicate their learning during team and independent work. I have replaced the red/green cups from previous years with the 4 colour coded flip cards as the cards communicate much more than the cup. The added benefit is there are no more "cup song" renditions before and after class! (Some of my colleagues are using the Marzano work of green, yellow, red and platinum cups)
- I have co-constructed criteria with my students instead of giving out a pre-made rubric on many of my assignments and projects.  It does take time, so I cannot do this for every product. 
- I have been creating checklists and self assessments to focus on 21st century skills (competencies) and essential learnings.

Self assessment rubric

- Aside from the traditional paper copies, I have made checklists on google forms and use my ipad to record observations as students are working. No paper is needed and I can look back on the spreadsheet to see trends and transfer observations to my gradebook to provide feedback to students and parents.

What counts for students?

As I talked with a fellow teacher about using project based learning and technology with my students, he commented that it really didn't matter how I taught because they wouldn't remember it anyway.  His opinion was that it was all about how I treated them that really mattered and they would learn just fine with any teaching style as long as I continued to focus on positive relationships and mutual respect.  He said I really shouldn't do what I do and spend the time I do on my classes as it really didn't make any difference in the long run. 

Now, if these comments came from someone I did not know and respect, I would have most likely brushed them off.  However, this particular teacher is incredibly strong- students, parents and staff love him.  Students and parents request him for a teacher.  Students do well and achieve under his care; 100% success rate with his Science 10 and 30 classes.  His main teaching method is "chalk and talk".  He tells stories, makes the students laugh and cares about them all, but his teaching style is quite traditional.  No computers or cross curricular projects at all.

His opinion really made me pause.  I teach grades 7 -9 while he teaches high school.  I told myself he can say that because he teaches high school.  But, he was the same with his junior high students as well.  He definately does not put in the hours I do, yet his students do well.  In a time when the demands keep increasing on teachers and our job continues to grow in complexity, maybe he is right.  Maybe we are inflicting many extra work hours and work worries on ourselves with our methodology.  We are not focusing on keeping teaching simple so we have something left in ourselves at the end of the day.  My gut says no; what I and countless other teachers do above and beyond the old stand and deliver does matter to our students.  But a small voice says maybe not... maybe it is just personal ego and professional pressure.  Hm.

Sites I love to use in teaching

Like any teacher, I am overwhelmed by the number of excellent websites out there that can be effectively used with my students and to better my teaching practice.  Beyond the whole Google apps offerings, there are some that have become a regular part of my prep/delivery.  Here is just a short list that is by no means comprehensive or complete.

1.  Schoology  https://www.schoology.com A collegue of mine introduced me to Schoology 3 years ago, and I love it.  My students love the discussion feature (it is an excellent way for my introvered students to contribute to the converstation).  I use it to post resources and quick check reviews for my students.  As my school district has many district-wide programs for homework. communication with parents and grade tracking and so on, I do not use all of the Schoology features.   Although I do not use it to its fully potential, it has become a regular tool for my students.

 2.  Urlist - http://urli.st/ As I came across excellent websites/ videos/ articles to use with my students, I found I had bookmark lists on my home laptop, my school computer, my ipad and my phone.  It was a challenge to keep all of the resources I wanted to access in one place.  A collegue showed me how she used urlist to organize her math resources for her students and I was hooked.

3.  echalk- my students absolutely love to games and interactive whiteboard resources on http://www.echalk.co.uk/  There is a yearly subscription cost to access the resources, but it is well worth it. 

4. Brainpop -  http://www.brainpop.com/ My junior high students also love Tim and Moby on Brainpop.  The short animated videos, the quiz feature and the resources are excellent.  It is also a yearly subscription site, but each school I have taught at has purchased access for teacher and student use.  Well worth every penny.

Ionic Compound Models

Having grade nines understand ionic charges, ionic bonding and the resulting chemical formula can be challenging.  To help my students visualize and understand how ionic binary compounds are formed, I created styrofoam and velcro balls as models.  I used the fuzzy side of the velcro dots for the metals and the hook side for the nonmetals so that the students could only "form" ionic bonds.  They could "see" the amount of electrons to transfer from the metal to the amount taken by the nonmetal.  They could "see" the resulting model in the proper ratio that is formed.  I used to use mini marshmallows and toothpicks or styrofoam balls stuffed in coloured balloons joined with toothpicks, but it did not help students see the ratio needed to bond.  This was more straightforward and far easier for them to understand.  From this process, it was much more clear when we wrote simple ionic charges and simple formation reactions.

Element Family Trading Cards

My grade nines are working on making meaning and learning about the periodic table.  They created trading cards of elements from the four groups/families.  It was their way to show what they know after videos, a graphic organizer and demos on the organization and properties of the 4 groups.  My English language learners and students with learning challenges could demonstrate their learning through pictures instead of struggling with words.  All students had fun being creative and showing off their cards to their peers.  Hopefully the essential learnings stick as we go deeper into chemistry.

Element Trading Card

Element Trading Card Rubric

Building geodesic domes

On Hallowe'en day, most of my grade sevens were involved with helping the kindergartens with their kinder-cooking in the junior high foods lab.  As a result, I only had 10 - 12 students in each of my science classes.  I wanted them to do something connected to our unit of study that would continue their learning, but I did not want to move on to the next concept without the entire class.  I also wanted the remaining students to have a little fun- it was Hallowe'en after all!

I decided to give them gummy candies and toothpicks to create their own geodesic domes.  We first talked about what a geodesic dome was and what made them so strong. We then looked at examples in "real life" and then got to work on building our own.  (After washing hands just in case they wanted to eat the joinery parts at the end of the lesson!) They had to apply their understanding to build the best triangle dome that they could.  We took pictures of our creations and then used the remaining class time to try and build other structures with the supplies.  A good way to spend what could have been a "wasted" or "free" period!

Cantilever Discovery Activity

My grade sevens were busy doing their great spaghetti cantilever o'science building challenge.  We talked about cantilevers while making a human cantilever in class with a long 2 x 8 board, a classroom table and the students as parts of the cantilever.  Then, it was time for them to try one for themselves.  They were given 25 pieces of uncooked spaghetti, 30 cm of tape and 60 cm of string.  After we tested their creations, we then did our notes on cantilevers and did a little classroom/school grounds search-and-find for cantilevers in real life.  Two periods of fun and learning.

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Get Crackin' Egghead Helmet Project

We  had fun learning about material science by designing, building and testing a helmet for our egghead friends!  (Most named Shell-don, Shelly or Egg-bert.)  The students had fun drawing on a face before their egg  was dropped through the test chamber in the drop zone we made from an old packing box.  

I am adamant that the kids must be immersed in essential learning outcomes from the program of studies while doing project work.   Without an emphasis on content through the project, I fear the students will be engaged and have fun, but with a shallow understanding of science.  The students used their word wall words in planning and explaining their design.  They used the key terms and the accompanying concepts as parameters for their helmet (i.e. they had to describe how they made it aesthetically pleasing, how it was environmentally friendly and they had to work within a budget of $50.00 "Bill Bucks" in honour of our favorite scientist, Bill Nye.  They loved to come to the materials store and purchase supplies with their Bill Bucks! Students had to pay an environmental levy if they wanted to use materials that the class deemed to be bad for the environment.  They used terms like composite, layered, aesthetics, durability, and function in their write ups.  They are getting better at explaining their thinking with correct science vocabulary.  I refer often to the anchor chart we co-constructed on how to communicate like a scientist.   Students incorporated their numeracy skills by compiling data, calculating averages of success of different material types and drawing a graph of their final data.  A fun few class periods of learning with lots of rich learning (and lots of splattered eggs in the drop zone!)

Get Crackin' Project

budget list

notes chart

Why I Do Performance Based Assessments

My grade sevens were finishing up their interactive notebooks on shapes in structures and how to reinforce them.  They were very proud of the work they had created and felt confident in their learning when I talked with them.  Looking at their Do Now answers from the start of the class and their exit slips, they appeared to know the content.  It was time for a summative assessment.

I told them that their assessment would be a building challenge.  One student asked me if it would be multiple choice!  I explained that they would show me what they have learned and what they still need to work through by building a structure using the knowledge they had just been working through.  I introduced the building challenge and had them working through their designs in their teams.

One student asked me if it was cheating by working together on an assessment.  It was clear that my students had preconceptions about what an assessment should be and that I had not done a very good job of explaining why I wanted them to build instead of circling "c" on a paper.  I stopped the class and the students at her table team to answer a few questions about what we were learning.  They could tell me what the strongest shape was, how it was strong, how to reinforce it, how to use it in a building  design, etc.  They answered each question I asked them beautifully.  Then I asked them to look at what they were designing for their challenge.  None of those ideas were present.  I asked each team to look at their design- were they applying their learning from the textbook tower challenge, form their notebook work and from the discussions we have had  to the new situation?  I told the class that THIS is why were doing our assessment this way.  I told them that they have memorized the vocabulary wonderfully, but we needed to see that they truly LEARNED the concepts.  It was a beautiful moment of clarity for them.  We briefly discussed memorizing vs learning and why we do assessments that check how well you learned the vocabulary (like exit slips and multiple choice tests), and how well you learned and can APPLY the concepts, like team assessments.

I will continue to be overt in explaining my assessment methods to my students throughout the year.  I hope it helps them be more cognizant of their role in their own learning and to wean them of the do a test-get a mark way of thinking about learning.

Here are some pictures of a straw bridge building assessment in which teams of students had to apply their knowledge, build and test a structure, then write about it using their word wall words and key concepts.

Setting criteria with students

I was fortunate to attend an Anne Davies conference in August with a few wonderful colleagues from my school.  As my school district has done much work on assessment, much of the conference was reaffirming and a reminder of powerful best practices.  One that I was excited to learn about is a twist on my practice of creating rubrics with students.  I have been doing this for years, but the method Anne taught us takes the students away from grades and focuses more on student analysis of their essential learnings. It frustrated me when I spent time with my students creating rubrics and providing written feedback to their work when all they would do is look at the number when they got their work back.  "I got a 3; that means 75%)  Urgh!  Much of Anne's work presented at the conference focused on creating criteria with students around the outcomes from the program of studies with no numbers attached (including a 1-4 rubric scale).

With my grade seven students, we co-constructed criteria on what it means to collaborate.  My school  has a strong focus on 21st century competencies that provide a strong base for project based learning.  I am hopeful that having the students consciously think about what it means to collaborate before we begin our first project will result in deeper learning for all.

With my grade nines, we co-constructed criteria on what a lab write up should look like.  As we are starting our year with chemistry, it was a logical fit.  Students then self assessed their first lab against their criteria and made improvements.  The resulting lab reports were of higher quality than I usually see at the start of the year.  More importantly, however, the students can articulate what their strengths and areas of challenge are when designing and conducting a lab.  We will continue to work through similar processes as the year progresses.  It seems to be quite a successful strategy thus far.

Criteria for Lab Write Up

Criteria for Collaboration

Criteria for Communication

Leaning Tower of Textbooks Mini Project

I began the Structures and Forces unit with my sevens by introducing their first project- the Leaning Tower of Textbooks.  I have used the same activity in the past, but not in the framework of PBL and not with the same lens of student competencies (AKA 21st century skills).  As this is the second year of operation of my new school, I wanted to see what my sevens internalized from a year of PBL and competency work under their belts.  I also wanted to see if the learning was different when the tower challenge was presented to them in PBL fashion.  The students did a fabulous job and demonstrated reflective thinking on what they were learning.  It was indeed a deeper level of learning for them than my former students, based on the conversations we had and the analysis of the success and failures of each structure tested.  Having a driving question, creating questions we wanted to answer, and other aspects of the PBL model created a framework to take the task to that higher level for the students.  It was more than just a fun activity that they had to debrief at the end.

The students also did a good job working on their collaboration competency.  We co-constructed criteria on what effective collaboration looked like and students self reflected on how well they met the criteria at the end of the process.  The act of making the competencies so transparent and upfront with our students has been beneficial to them.  I am looking forward to diving into our next project.  I know my students will do great things!

Leaning Tower of Textbooks

Update on student notebooks

My students and I are still new at building notebooks that are more interactive and meaningful to them than ones filled with  note sheets created by me.  We all have much to learn and perfect, I expect.  With only a few weeks into the experiment, I have to say that they love doing the creating!  I also gain valuable feedback from seeing what they are doing with the information, seeing what misconceptions they may have, and seeing how they process the essential learnings.  It is assessment without a worksheet in site!

For their latest concept, my grade sevens chose from 4 formats to create meaning on common shapes used in structures.  They came up with some wonderful ways to sort their research and enjoyed sharing their ideas with their peers.  We discussed the many ways to organize their learning and they shared supplies with each other as well as using the common supplies I have in my classroom.  It will be interesting to see how the engagement in this process impacts their sustained learning, if at all.  At  first, I was reluctant to "give up" photocopying my notes sheets that I have constructed over the years, as I felt they were well thought out, organized and required student input.  This bit of ego was fleeting, replaced by my strong hope that the messy business of students creating their own meaning would lead to deeper understanding.  (And hopefully having them see value in their notebook and pride in the work that they created!)

Experimenting with Interactive Science Notebooks

One teaching/learning strategy I am exploring more this year is the creation of interactive notebooks with my students.  Like blogging, it is another idea that I have known about for a while, but did not commit to really pursue until this school year.  It is a logical fit to the work I have been doing in my class around assessment practices.  Being in a brand new school, it is an excellent opportunity to take this journey with my students.   I am interested to see if the incorporation of interactive notebooks helps to deepen my students’ understanding of the concepts.  I also am excited to use them as another source of evidence when assessing their understanding of the essential learnings. 

I started out small, working on a flip chart of process skills with my grade sevens.    We started by  discussing the scientific method, exploring their prior knowledge, working through some examples and activities with the Smartboad, and, of course, watching Scientific Method on Brainpop. We then did a quick little finger of five to check what they thought they knew- what their confidence level was.  Often, I find my students think they know more than they actually do at first.  I then hammed it up and did a terrible experiment in for the students and had them pick out what was wrong.  They love to point out all of my mistakes!  We had a terrific conversation through this process.  From that, we then moved on to the creation of their flip charts for their binders.  My parameters were a definition of the stage in their own words then pictures/examples that helped them understand and remember.  I was pleased with the end results and watching the students work really showed me who  needed extra support/ clarification and who did not. 

The students who struggled with the task initially asked me to just tell them the answers to write down.  We have lots of work to do on teaching them how to make meaning themselves instead of copying words in thier notebooks.  We’ll see how it goes!

Here are some samples from our study of the 3 classifications of structures... Not bad for students and teacher learning how to do interactive notebooks for the first time1

Make it so...

Looking back, I set up my blog site way back in 2006, but did not do anything with it until now.  Thinking about it, I really wondered what I could say that would have meaning for others.  I wondered what I do in my classroom that would be of interest to others. I love to teach and put my whole heart into it, but so do millions of teachers out there.  Does the internet really need one more blog?

I finally decided that this blog was not for others but for me.  A place for me to think about classroom, my students and my teaching practices.  Like all teachers, I reflect after each lesson- Did my students learn?  Did I help to move them forward?  Did I connect with each student at least once?  Did I waste their 50 minutes (and mine)?  What will I keep for the next class?  What will I improve or just toss altogether? What can be done to help that little one who seems so lost?  The one who seems so disconnected?  The one who seems to just need a hug?  At the end of the day when I finally close my classroom door and switch roles to a wife and mother, do I walk away feeling that I have done some good, or do I walk away frustrated?  These are the things I ask myself and the blog is a place for me to try and find some answers.  Or, at the very least, to record my thoughts so I can see patterns and learn.

To be frank, I often close my door frustrated...  There is always so much more to do!   My students are complex and teaching is complex; more so each year.  I often think that after 23 years, I don't have the energy to put my heart into 180+ more students one more time.  To put on the energetic, optimistic smile at 8:00 AM and pour all of myself into their learning day after day.  Maybe this blog is also a way to find out if I can or want to one more time.  In any event, it will be an interesting experiment...  how it will evolve is a mystery to me for now.

Engage!