Ethical and Respectful Minds: Population Growth

Using Discovery Education’s Board builder, I was able to create a board to be used in my Algebra II class when studying Exponential Growth and Decay. One of the most common examples of exponential growth is population growth. I enjoy discussing this topic in my class because students tend to have an opinion on either side of the issue, that is, is population growth a problem and, if so, how do we ethically and legally combat the issue? This board present students with some facts, and asks them to think critically about the issue of population growth. There is an excellent video that briefly summarizes how we go to this point and allows students to see how the growth of medicine, agriculture, and other variables affect the growth of population.

The assignment section has a second video that really challenges several of the minds described by Howard Gardner. The video offers a great deal of information, so students need to be able to synthesize. Furthermore, this video is on the topic of China’s One-Child Policy and requires students to consider both the pros and cons of the law. The writing prompt does not allow students to choose only one side of the issue. Rather, they are forced to find the positive aspects of both sides of the enacted law. How is this policy favorable AND how is it unfavorable. This will challenge students to think ethically and morally about a law that has been around since before their birth.

The board also includes a ‘Food for Thought’ section that asks students to consider questions surrounding population growth that challenge their morals and will certainly spark debate. I plan to use this in my classroom and have a thorough discussion about students’ thoughts on the issue and what they thought specifically about the law in China. Students will learn that mathematics can represent the data, but the only respectful and ethical minds of our population can lead to a solution.

Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

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Video Blog - 5 minds

Want to know how I plan on incorporating Gardner's 5 minds?
Check it out: http://screencast.com/t/ocW7hWlo

Global Classrooms

The model described here by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay is extremely well thought-out, tested, and global. I have not participated in anything so grand in my teaching, although I am now very curious to learn more and see how/if I can implement a project or two in the coming school year. I have, however, collaborated with the other two high schools in my district on a much smaller scale. Students from my Geometry class have Skyped with 2 other classes in 2 other high schools to conducts a large scale competition at the end of the year. It was basically an online review completion, but it is a small step in the right direction to go from collaborating across town to collaborating across the globe.

To complete this simple, one class period activity, the three teachers had to work together to be sure content was aligned and students were assessed fairly. With different bell schedules, we had to coordinate our timing and be sure all technology was working and accessible in the rooms for each class. Although the student body is pretty similar in the three high schools of my district, I still needed to reinforce the idea of being respectful and fair when competing with the other schools. I understand working on Geometry with rivals on the football field is a change to most students’ mindset. Students and teachers both had to learn and respect the norms of the other classrooms, as well as the different approaches to learning/explaining a particular problem. This activity was both a review of mathematical concepts, as well as a lesson in respect, ethics, and fairness.  

I would like to expand this activity to include learning throughout the semester instead of just a review at the end. In my own classroom, I have had students teach/present certain topics that are review before I teach the new content. Perhaps my students can teach a topic, followed by another school for the next topic and so forth. Better yet, students can work in groups to create videos working with a student at each of the other schools. We can create an archive that students and teachers can access throughout the semester based on their curriculum and timing.

Working on these smaller, collaborative projects might be a good first step for teachers who are intimidated by the time investment or technology components required for a larger project, as suggested by the Flattened Classroom. Growing larger and going global is only a few steps away once an initial example is put to the test. 

Spotlight on Strategies

I remember sitting in a large conference room on my first day as a new teacher. It was the New Teacher Induction program for my district, and one of the sessions reviewed engaging instructional strategies. I immediately liked “I Have, Who Has,” because it was applicable to any topic and was relatively easy to create. Now that I have been intentionally integrating technology and media sources into my lessons, I have been looking for ways to keep old strategies that students liked and learned from, while somehow updating them by integrating a technological component.

Instead of always creating the “I Have, Who Has’ cards myself, I can use technology to have students create the cards. I can show a video and require, say, two pairs of “I Have, Who Has” cards from each student or each group. This strategy will keep students engaged throughout the entire video for two reasons: one, they need to create and answer their questions on the cards, and two, they know the game is coming at the end, so they need to know the answers to everyone else’s questions. A win-win for student engagement!

The adaptation of this activity also allows teachers to level based on student need. Perhaps your class is split into a higher ability group and lower ability group. Give the higher students blank cards that they have to create, and give the lower ability students a pre-made “Who Has,” and their task becomes listening for that fact and writing the answer (I Have). To avoid repeated questions, perhaps a few groups get questions/answers from the first 2 minutes of the video, the next groups from the next 2 minutes and so forth. If the information is really important to your content area, then don’t put parameters on the video and let there be repeats. It can’t hurt!

The added value to student learning and understanding is the wide range of learning styles this activity incorporates. The video caters to the auditory, visual, and logistical (depending on the content) learner. The actual game reinforces auditory learning and improves listening skills. Click on the link below to see a detailed example of  ‘I Have, Who Has’ for my circles unit in Geometry.

Link to Smore Presentation: I Have, Who Has?

Content Creation

I had a conversation with 3 students about creativity in the classroom. The students are members of my homeroom. I intentionally spoke with students who do not have me as an instructor so they would be candid.

The students noted that they wish there was more creativity in assessments. They said most of their teachers make learning interesting and engaging with different technologies and activities, but then issue traditional tests. One student was very insightful during this topic as she noted that, although she too disliked paper and pencil assessments, she was glad she was used to this format when it came time to things like SATs and other standard tests. I found this very interesting because I feel I would have more alternate/creative/non-traditional assessments if it wouldn't impact students’ performance on things like the PA Keystone Test and district-mandated final exams. Without this type practice, scores are certainly lower. Therefore, the traditions of standardized testing on the state and district level are hindering creativity to a certain extent.

I asked the students to expand on the kinds of creative and media-infused activities different teachers have used, and I learned some interesting stuff. Overall, it seems English class is a great platform for the use of media in conjunction with tradition. While students are still reading Shakespeare, they are seeing modern movies of the plays and creating mock blogs with the characters. In one class, students had to post updates on a class Twitter account addressing certain acts in the play using the vernacular of the time. How creative! It sounds like media is really encouraging creativity in these classrooms!

Although math does not lend itself to those exact examples, I notice that the more media and familiar templates/activities I use in things like chapter reviews, the more students are engaged. For instance, I have a review game that models Who Want to be a Millionaire with the slide displaying the game stage and the theme music at the intro of each new question. We play in teams and each student completes the problems on their paper. It is simply a worksheet in the end, but the delivery is familiar and engaging. This is one example of a very small creative platform that engages learners. What is lacking are the activities and assessments that allow students to be creative while still learning the content and showing evidence of learning in a way that can be fairly graded. I am hoping that networking with folks in other districts allows for more possibilities that can be implemented immediately.