Introduction
Today is New Year's Day Observed. The federal holiday was on Sunday, so the observed holiday is today, a Monday. The Rose Parade and Rose Bowl game are also held today, since neither is on Sunday.
Even though we're done with Calendar Reform, note that this is why I don't always agree with calendars that start every year on Sunday. It would mean that the New Year's celebrations in Pasadena fall on Monday, January 2nd every year.
This is the first post of 2023, and I hope that this will be a better year than 2022. This is the (n + 4) year of the COVID-19 pandemic, although many people now consider the disease to be endemic like the flu.
Yule Blog Prompt #13: My Favorite Lesson of 2022...or One That Totally Flopped
Well, I've already devoted several Yule Blog posts to both my favorite and flopped lessons. But since it's the first post of 2023, I want to declare some New Year's Resolutions. So today's post will focus on a lesson that flopped -- and how the New Year's Resolutions seek to avoid a similar failure in 2023.
The lesson that flopped is, of course, the infamous Linear Art Project in Math I. As I've blogged before, my students learned very little about graphing linear functions during the project.
Let me state the New Year's Resolutions. Some of these have been renewed from last year, but some of them come from five years ago -- after I left the old charter school. As you might recall, I had problems with some of the projects back at the charter school -- and it's because I'm still having the same issues.
New Year's Resolutions for 2023
- We take pride in our work.
- We avoid arguing in the classroom.
- We remember math like riding a bicycle.
- We start our warm-ups and the main lesson promptly.
- We sing to help us learn.
- We implement all parts of our projects.
- We earn our grades through hard work and dedication.
- We are mindful of books and other materials.
- We value academic instructional time.
- We treat others the way we want to be treated.
- We follow all protocols for COVID.
Of these, I actually restored the old resolution about singing at the start of the school year, since this is the year that I started the songs again. Originally, this was written as two resolutions (one for math and the other for procedures), but there really only needs to be one rule.
And now I'm bringing back three old resolutions from 2018. Resolution #2 was originally written as:
2. Keep a calm voice instead of yelling at students.
I wish to write now these as classroom rules (or norms) for the students to follow, which is why I changed "yelling at students" to "arguing in the classroom."
All throughout the Linear Art project, many students were off-task. They spent entire periods playing on phones or talking non-math to each other. And every time I'd tried to get the kids back on task, I'd end up arguing with them.
Not all of these arguments involved yelling, so that's good. Still, I wish to avoid or eliminate arguments as much as possible, so the resolution now refers to arguing rather than yelling.
And of course, even though I'm telling the students not to argue, it's just as -- correction, it's more -- important for me to avoid arguments as it is for them. In reflection, there are certain things that I say that naturally lead to arguments, so the best way to avoid arguments is not to say those certain things.
Back at the old charter school, I often compared my students to my young self -- "If I could follow these rules when I was your age, than so can you" -- but this led only to arguing. This year, I was more careful to compare my current self to my former teachers (so that my kids aren't the ones compared), but this still wasn't enough to avoid arguments.
When I first came up with the old Resolution #2, I blogged that one phrase I need to say more often is "Because I said so." Students don't like hearing that phrase, but that's exactly the point -- hopefully they'll get tired of me saying it that they'll get back on task.
So in the New Year, if a student asks me why they can't, say, eat food in the classroom, my answer needs to be "Because I said so." And if they try to argue, I give them a "teacher look" -- and keep the look on them until the food is put away.
For the sake of avoiding arguments, the only time I should compare myself to other teachers is to say what the other Math I (or III) teachers in the department are doing. This is to remind the students that all of us agreed to teach the lessons a certain way, to prepare them for department (or district) tests.
Here is the original version of Resolution #4:
4. Begin the lesson quickly instead of having lengthy warm-ups.
I wish to bring back a version of this rule because I believe that Warm-Ups are part of the problem. As I wrote earlier, in some Math I classes I'm not sure whether even half of the kids are doing them. Some of them texted or talked during the entire Warm-Up time. And this especially led to problems during the Linear Art project -- they just kept on texting and talking throughout the project time.
On the other hand, if the students had been attentive and on-task during Warm-Ups, then they would have been waiting for further instruction when it was project time. They would have learned by now that class time isn't for phones or talking.
When I was a student teacher, my master teacher warned me about the start of class. She pointed out that I'll need to take attendance and deal with questions that students ask me, yet at the same time make sure that students are on-task with the opening assignment. The idea is to make sure that students know as early in the year as possible that they should be on task, before we get deep in the year and I'm inundated with questions (about grades, for example) at the start of class.
The plan is to give a definite time limit for Warm-Ups, and continue to remind the students that they should hurry and finish them. Also, notice that some Warm-Up questions are easier than others, and might take less time. If some of them have finished, I can start stamping the early finishers right away, so that the others know that they should start (as opposed to stamping all the rows in order, which requires that the first student be done with the question).
What's tricky here is when students ask me non-math questions at the start of class. Recall that blogger Fawn Nguyen often has conversations with kids at the beginning of class -- it humanizes the class and instills in them a sense of belonging. But Nguyen is a strong teacher -- she can have the discussion quickly and steer the class back to instruction. I'm afraid that I can't -- if I start talking non-math with my kids, they'd discuss it the whole time and derail the entire time.
Thus I need to figure out how to have those "sense of belonging" discussions with my students so that they'll want to listen to me, without taking too much time from class. One topic that's easy for me to talk about is sports -- so I can talk with my student-athletes about how well they played in their most recent game, and then remind them to get back to the Warm-Up. Once they get on-task, I can then take attendance and start stamping Warm-Ups.
Here is the original version of Resolution #6:
6. If there is a project-based curriculum such as Illinois State, then implement all components of it.
Obviously, we don't have the Illinois State curriculum at my current school. But the Linear Art project was, of course, a project. And I failed to implement all parts of it -- specifically the Desmos part.
Or, to be more precise, I implemented the Desmos component as a fill-in lesson between the district and midterm tests, and then agreed to give the full project after discussing it with my fellow Math I teachers two weeks later. So the students were unable to make the connection between the graphs of equations on Desmos and the graphs drawn on their paper.
As I've written several times on the blog, there will be a Stats project in Chapter 4, the first chapter of the second semester. And so, using the sixth resolution, I'll make sure that this project goes much more smoothly than the Linear Art project
For starters, I notice the timing of the project. There are two versions of the pacing guide posted by the Math I leader. One of them shows "Week 1" (of the semester), "Week 2," "Week 3," and so on -- with the Stats project listed separately between Weeks 1 and 2. On the other version, the project begins on the second block of Week 2.
But once again, I've agreed to follow my neighbor Math I teachers, not the leader -- especially when it comes to projects. That way, I can enlist their help when it comes to setting it up -- they can give me relevant worksheets, share a Desmos component with me, and so on. It does no good to show the kids the Desmos part, and then have my neighbors say, "Let's start the project the following week."
So the project might be the second block of Week 2, or it might be another day altogether. At any rate, the Chapter 4 project is likely to occur this month, since by February we should be in Chapter 5.
And so I'm keeping the old sixth resolution, except to delete all reference to "Illinois State." When it's time for the project, I should give the project -- when it's not time for the project, then I should teach any lesson from the pacing guide that's not related to the project (perhaps a lesson that might help the kids with the upcoming project). If we're going to do projects, then we must do them right.
Oh, and just like last year, I'll be using the Eleven Calendar to make sure that I'm enforcing resolutions (and following them myself). Today is Elevenday on the Eleven Calendar. The students return seven days from today, so it will be a Sevenday. Resolution #7 is a good one to discuss that day, since that's when I'll be inputting first semester grades. (At least one student agreed to do written work over winter break to raise his grade -- a Math III student who transferred to my class in December with an F. So the seventh resolution will remind me to check his work at least.)
The first Fourday of the semester will be January 17th. That's Tuesday of Week 2, as well as the day after the MLK holiday. So I'll be passing out new Warm-Up sheets for the week that day. It's a great day to enforce the new Resolution #4 -- I can say that they have ten minutes to get a new Warm-Up sheet, cut it out and glue it into their interactive notebooks, pass the scissors and glue sticks to another student, and answer the Warm-Up question. Since so much time will be used for cutting and gluing, the question that day will be easier. On days other than the first day of the week when there's nothing to cut or glue, I'll give less time for the Warm-Up.
The first Sixday of the semester will be January 19th, Thursday of Week 2. As I wrote above, it's possible that the Stats project will begin that day, but it's not certain. I might enforce Resolution #6 not on Sixday, but on the actual start date for the project once it's known.
But the first day to discuss Resolution #2 won't be until January 26th, Thursday of Week 3. Of course, I'll be trying to avoid arguments the entire semester. By the 26th, I'm hoping to show (not tell) the students that I'm actively avoiding arguments, and so they shouldn't argue either.
Revisiting COVID-93
Since it's still winter break, it's a great time to continue our COVID What If? -- and as I wrote over Thanksgiving, our focus What If? this year will be COVID-93. The current (n + 4) year corresponds to 1997, which was the second semester of sophomore year.
But I was reading some traditionalists lately, and some of them have pointed out that the current senior Class of 2023 has been struggling lately -- much more than 2024 or younger classes. The pandemic hit the Class of 2023 right at a bad time -- March of their freshman year, just as their high school careers were beginning. They spend the rest of freshman and all of sophomore year in distance learning, where they picked up bad habits (such as using the cheating sites on all tests). So they had trouble keeping up in their Math III/Algebra II classes last year as well as Pre-Calculus this year.
Last year at the small magnet school, I had almost all seniors (Class of 2022), and this year I have mostly freshmen (Class of 2026) and juniors (2024), so I've largely avoided the 2023 cohort. But even last year I noticed that something was up with 2023 -- when first semester honor roll names were announced, it was almost all seniors ('22) and very few juniors ('23).
This year, I do have a few seniors in my Math III classes. Most of the fifth period seniors are passing my class, but many of the first period seniors are in danger of failing (and that's despite first period being better behaved overall).
So I could do a COVID-95 What If? that will compare me to the Class of 2023 seniors. But I've already decided to do COVID-93 and I don't wish to change horses midstream -- especially not to do two overlapping What Ifs.
As I wrote earlier, COVID-93 compares my younger self to my current sophomores. Notice that I do have tenth graders in both Math I and III -- of course, they should be the strongest students in my Math III classes, but the weakest one in my Math I classes.
Here is my Grade 10, Semester 1 report card in real life (that is, on the original timeline):
1. French III: B
2. Health/Drivers Ed: A
3. Integrated Science II: B
4. Sports Tutorial (explained in previous posts)
5. English II: B
6. Pre-Calculus: A
7. Cross Country: A
But as I mentioned over Thanksgiving break, I've decided to change COVID-93 up a little in order to identify with my students a little more. I decide during the school closure to take Spanish as my foreign language instead of French -- and I end up struggling with Spanish, with grades one letter below what I earned in French on the original timeline. So now my report card becomes:
1. Spanish III: C
2. Health: A
3. Integrated Science II: B
4. Sports Tutorial (explained in previous posts)
5. English II: B
6. Pre-Calculus: A
7. Cross Country: A
Along with my second semester freshman report, this was my worst report card of my high school career, dragged even more with that C in Spanish. Math was my only A in any A-F (now A-G) class.
By the way, you might be wondering where History is on this schedule. Nowadays, World History in California is always taught in Grade 10, but back then, schools had a choice whether to teach it all in 10th, all in 9th, or even one semester in 9th and the other in 10th. The school that I attended as a young student opted to teach it all freshman year. (Instead, we had a one-semester Health class, with Drivers Ed and Career Guidance taking up the other semester.)
Now I can compare this to my current students. Let's start with Math III. Of the three sophomores in my two classes, one girl has a A, one guy has a C+, and the last girl has a D-.
I'm really concerned with the D- student. Indeed, her grade was an F for most of the semester, until she did well on the final exam (which raised her low midterm grade, as explained in previous posts). And I notice that sometimes she had her head down instead of paying attention to the lesson -- something I don't expect a Calculus-bound student to do. Her seat has nothing to do with it -- in fact, she sits in the same seat in fifth period that the sophomore with the A sits in first period. And this is nowhere near where the loudest fifth period students sit. In fact, I'm wondering whether she's struggling because she doesn't like the way I teach lessons -- and if that's the case, then I must find ways to improve.
As for my Math I sophomores, most of them as you expect are failing. My second and fourth periods have four tenth graders each -- of those eight, only three are passing (with a C+, D+, and D).
Sixth period has the most sophomores, with a whopping seven despite it being my smallest class. And despite this class having the lowest grades overall, the tenth graders are doing OK. Only one sophomore is failing (and he almost never does any work in my class). The other six have two C's and four D's among them.
The three top sophomores in fourth and sixth periods are among my hardest workers. Indeed, the two guys have C+'s, with the third girl almost a C+. I've seen this before as a student teacher -- these tenth graders know that they're behind in math, and wish to work hard to catch up so they can get back on track for graduation and college.
Conclusion
OK, so that concludes my New Year's celebration. The Rose Parade and Rose Bowl game are over, and my New Year's Resolutions are written. If I wish to enjoy teaching in 2023, I'd do well to fulfill those resolutions in the classroom.
And since we've entered the new year, my remaining Yule Blog posts will be less about reflecting on 2022 and more about planning for a much better 2023.
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