Let's Talk About Flow

Both BTC and Visible Learning talk about flow.

This is that sweet spot in a lesson

Where students are being successful and challenged at the same time.

It's not too hard.

It's not too easy.

It's accessible.

But intriguing.

Just enough that pushes students forward,

Giving them confidence to keep going.

Today's first task was to demonstrate understanding from the day before.

Students solved a problem on an index card

And then on the back of the card

They communicated their struggles, questions, or what they hoped would be in the lesson today.

While I had a lesson ready to go,

This information gave me just what I needed to focus on.

As we worked through the problems,

Tackling the questions, the mistakes, and questions of the students,

Learning was moving them forward.

And pretty soon, in one class, students were asking for harder problems.

We had reached the point where the challenge was gone,

It was too easy now.

Unfortunately, I did not have other problems on the ready,

But quick thinking, allowed me to create a more challenging problem.

And as they worked this problem,

I quickly assembled a couple more that would push them.

The conversation that followed pushed thinking even more,

And pretty soon they were wanting another problem.

At the end of the hour, I gave them one that I knew they weren't quite ready for.

I prefaced it with this one was too hard,

And I doubted if anyone could solve it.

I would say about 80% of the class literally dove right in to prove me wrong.

Only a couple quit when they saw the problem.

But the silent pressure of their classmates working away got to them,

And pretty soon I saw them pick up their dry erase markers and start in.

How amazing is it to see the research play out first hand in the classroom!

When students are simply moving along in flow,

In the zone,

Where learning is visible,

As success is found,

And confidence is built

As the complexity grows.

Rubrics Making Learning Visible

Today we went over the quiz retake procedure.

We used the BTC rubric idea that I tailored a bit for our needs.

Students recorded their results for each question 

For the first two quizzes we took.

A checkmark for a correct answer.

An X for incorrect answers.

An S if it was a silly mistake.

And an N if the question was not attempted.

Students then analyzed the results

To find their strengths and weaknesses.

The areas to work on gave the students a visual of their learning

And what they need to focus on before the retake.

Observation

I was super impressed to see the focus for this activity.

But it didn't exactly surprise me.

This activity was directly related to their personal learning.

And they were taking it seriously!

Analyzing their own data happened naturally.

Students seemed to immediately focus on the X's.

Trying to figure out what they did wrong.

Students looked for areas of growth.

Students could see the progression of learning...

where they started and where the learning was going.

For example, a student noticed that they missed all the numeric expressions on the integer quiz,

But by the time we got to the Algebraic Representation quiz,

They realized they had gotten all those questions correct.

Growth. Had. Occurred.

And they were seeing it!

On their own!!!

Success.

Sharing Data

I also shared with the class the pre- and post-test data.  

And again, I was impressed with the conclusions they were making.

Sharing data that represents them is so important.

It puts an emphasis on learning.

On THEIR learning

On growth.

On THEIR growth.

Using Success Criteria to Help Students Visualize Their Learning

The Catalyst 

Word on the street was that the 8th graders were freaking out about the Algebraic Representation quiz coming up.

What great feedback for the teacher!

And what great feedback for the students!

This freaking out is exposing some learning gaps and students are paying attention!!!!!!

So today, we dove a little deeper to find out WHY the freaking out was happening.

The Plan

To start the lesson, I relied on the success criteria as my guiding factors.

I listed the success criteria on the board.

Along with another criteria "other".

This "other" category was used for students to share what other stresses they were feeling in this unit

(not listed in the success criteria)

or if they were feeling fairly confident, to just place a blank sticky note in this space.

So in summary, the goal was for students to reflect on where they were struggling

And place a sticky note...or two...to communicate this.

(Think...horizontal bar graph).

This immediately gave a visual for the focus of the lesson.

I had already created a Top Hat Organizer to address these concerns,

But knowing where the students wanted to concentrate,

Was a bonus in my book!

Student data chart for where the freak outs were happening.

Top Hat Organizer based on a question from the prior day about the difference 

between expressions and equations. The success criteria were also woven 

through the whole group discussion as we filled out the organizer. 

What Was Observed

Whoa.

I was not prepared for what was to come after the stickies had been placed.

As we worked on completing the Top Hat Organizer,

students asked specific questions,

aligned perfectly with the success criteria,

to help their understanding.

There was no, "I don't understand any of this!"

There was no, "This is hard!"

There was only questions when misunderstandings or confusion set it.

Clarifying questions.

Attempts to summarize their understanding.

Students had a handle on their learning

And could visualize where they were falling short!

The Results

After the short whole group lesson,

Students were able to practice.

Because this was their day to focus on what they needed,

I allowed them to choose between independent or small group work.

For some working independently to check their own understanding 

Would allow for more growth,

While for others, being able to talk about and work through with another would help them fill any gaps that still existed.

At the end of the class, 

Students were instructed to remove their sticky if they were feeling confident at this point for quiz.

If their sticky remained up there,

They could assign themselves homework tonight...

...finish the practice problems from today or complete another set of problems that I had ready to go...

to help study for the quiz tomorrow.

My Reflections

By starting the class with success criteria in this way,

I saw first hand how some other areas in the 10 Mindframes book are present in the classroom.

Feedback.  

What wonderful feedback for not only the teacher,

But also every individual student!

Gaps in the learning process are exposed to both entities,

Creating a need to learn to help fill that gap.

Learning made visual.

Nothing is more visual than a chart.

We use them all the time to analyze our growth.

Today, the students were an active part in creating the visual,

And seeing the benefits from concentrated efforts when learning.

Other Thoughts

One class did not follow the observations that I saw in the other four classes.

What was the difference?

One difference I noticed was when the stickies were placed on the board.

Comments were made by students as put downs for sticky note placement.

This created an atmosphere of distrust

Which essentially eroded the lesson that followed. 

The focus was not intrinsic anymore.

The effort was very lack luster.

With no one wanting to show that they cared about the learning.

We spent the first two full weeks working on creating a climate

Where mistakes are valued, sharing thoughts are encouraged, and work ethic is expected.

I will continue to reflect what I can do 

To help this class experience learning as the others do.