"Teaching" Learner Dispositions

From my research I've learned

You

Can't 

Teach

Learner 

Dispositions.

Dispositions are a person's inherent qualities of mind or character.  

So in my mind this means they have to be developed.

And then adopted by each individual to employ at various times in their lives.

The research says we can teach techniques that lend themselves to learner dispositions. 

For example, we want our learners to persevere.

Teaching techniques of what learners can do when they get stuck 

Will help develop this disposition.

As we started this second semester,

I knew I wanted my classes to engage in the Painted Cube problem for two reasons:

1) Class schedules change at semester, so this non-curricular task would do the trick to get students working/thinking in random groups with new-to-them "class family members". 

2) I wanted to stay behind the scenes, hopefully collecting evidence of the six Learner Dispositions our staff had chosen for our school back in the fall.  

Speaking of the fall, we had worked hard at creating a BTC classroom where thinking, mistakes, and talking about the math pushed our learning.  So now that we had our learner dispositions identified for our Visible Learning journey, I was curious what our baseline data would show.

I was not disappointed!

All six learner dispositions were evident at times.

Not 100% of the time.

And not with every student.

But there were glimpses of each.

And I decided that's where I would start.

A resilient learner embraces challenges and perseveres. (Effect Size 0.56)

My students showed persistence in this low-floor high-ceiling task.  

Once they solved the 3x3x3 cube, I challenged them to find the solutions for the 4x4x4 cube.

100% of the groups stepped up to the task!

One student, one that does not seem to struggle much, simply quite when I suggested the larger cube,

Stating...since I didn't have a physical model or a picture for her to look at, she simply couldn't do it.

What to do?

I had seen teams draw a 4x4 and 4x4x4 models on their boards to get into the problem. 

But I didn't want to suggest that.

I wanted her to find a strategy to persevere.

As the rest of her group started chatting what they could do,

As she sat alone at a table,

I simply stated that I was surprised that she was the only student that day to quit so easily.

I reminded her that she could look at others' boards to get some ideas to help her move forward,

And then I walked away. 

As other groups solved the 4x4x4 and then ASKED if they could work on a 5x5x5 (making their own challenges),

I glanced back at my student whom I had left sitting at a table.

She was up at the board with her group sharing her ideas of how to move forward.

Perseverance.

Below are some of the comments I heard that relates to this disposition.

"First of all, I think we need to do this..."

"Let's try this..."

Team goes back to look at the physical model.

Team asks clarifying questions.

A curious learner wonders and wants to know more.

"Can we do a 5x5x5 cube now?"

Curious learners want to know more.

It is possible they were started to find some patterns/relationships in their work,

And were wanted to test it out with the next bigger cube.

This is exactly what I want my learners to do!

A reflective learner continuously thinks about, examines the results, and makes adjustments to their learning. (Effect Size 0.75)

This was the disposition I ended up being the most surprised about.

I never really thought my students were reflective learners.

Too many times I see students in my classroom come up with an answer and just accept it.

They throw out answers without any thinking behind it.

It seems like their goal is just to get it done at times.

So when I looked back at the data I had collected, 

my heart swelled that we were indeed on the right track.

Somewhere, this disposition had had seeds planted.

Was it in my questioning as I surveyed the work on their boards

That helped create this reflective nature?

"How do you know that's correct?"

"Tell me about your answer."

"Is that a correct solution?"

My data on the reflective learner.

"Wait...this should equal 27 [for the 27 total cubes]"

"This doesn't make sense." (erases answer)

"Look, this can't be right."

"Does this make sense?"

"We're still missing something."

"Ok, now we have to find out..."

"How does this equal 6?"

All around me I was hearing students reflecting on their findings,

And then questioning it!

Which prompted justifications.

* insert teacher smile here *

A creative learner is expressive and explores different ways to solve problems.

I will be honest.

This was one disposition that I wasn't sure how it would look like in the math classroom.

How could students be creative in solving problems while they were learning it?

Again, this low-floor high-ceiling problem opened the door to usher in the creativity.

Do these students understand the problem?

An emphatic...YES!

Do these students have the tools to extend the problem?

Yup.

Creativity.

In the math classroom.

For.

The.

Win.

A risk taker steps out of their comfort zone and overcomes their fears to make and learn from mistakes

As mentioned in some of the previous dispositions,

I saw risk takers eagerly embrace the challenge of a larger cube.

But there is one risk taker that stands out in my mind.

Remember that this was day ONE with new class schedules.

Students were in classes with new faces.

And new classroom climates needed to be established.

There was one class where this was very apparent.

No. One. Spoke.

As I introduced the problem and asked what they noticed...

No. One. Spoke.

As I stated the questions a little differently to help with clarity...

No. One. Spoke.

Just as I was thinking we may need to employ the Think-Pair-Share strategy,

One of my more anxious, not-confident students, raised her hand to share.

This was my risk-taker poster child.

I knew just how much courage she had to muster up to move class along.

And finally,

A connected learner relates prior knowledge and/or real-world experiences to their learning.

Again, this was one that I wasn't sure if I would see it in the math classroom.

As I introduced the problem,

I simply showed them this picture...

And asked the question, 

"What do you think today's task will be?"

After they described what they believed the task would be,

Dunking the red cube into yellow paint,

I asked them what already knew about the problem.

Their answers amazed me.

While I was expecting statements about the task

or that the cube looked like a rubrics cube,

The answers I got were all connected to math they had already learned.

Cubes.

Area.

Surface Area.

Volume.

Faces.

And the conversation that ensued afterwards

Supported their understanding of each term 

As they contributed to the discussion.

So moving forward.

Where to next?

I will share these exact findings with the students.

I will have them contribute their thoughts on their learning

Using the open-ended rubric.

And then have them individually assess themselves using the ranking rubric.

In future lessons,

I will be sure to reinforce these dispositions 

With specific feedback as I see them utilized in our learning.

Not sure how to remove this!

When a Mistake Reflects the Research

I didn't mean for it to happen.

As I answered my students question, 

I had no foreshadowing 

of what was about to happen.

To fully understand where I'm going with this,

let me give you a brief snapshot of life in my classroom.

Learning in my classroom looks different.

Students are working at vertical white boards.

Students are writing their OWN notes from what they've LEARNED.

Students are asking specific questions to further their understanding.

Students are getting immediate feedback on their work 

by checking the answer keys posted around the room.

Students are not graded on anything except individual work

which is usually quizzes or projects.

Until this fateful day.

When we were learning angle vocabulary through an EdPuzzle video.

Which was to be done individually.

One student in 4th hour asked,

"Is this for a grade?"

I answered honestly that "yes, it was."

And then it quickly became clear.

Crystal clear.

Why assigning a grade on learning is actually detrimental to the learning.

I first noticed students talking to each other.

Comparing and changing answers.

Hands were going up.

Lots of hands.

Needing confirmation from me that they were getting questions correct.

There was no individual reflective comments like,

"Oh...that's what it is."

"Oops...what did I do?"

There was a sense of tension to finish.

To get the good grade.

The focus was no longer on the learning.

It was solely on the grade.  

A grade that wasn't even going to change anyone's grades.

But if this focus on grades was replacing the focus on the actual learning????

Then.

That.

Is.

A. 

Problem.

What a wonderful accident to have happen!

To showcase that learning can occur without attaching a number to it.

In fact, more learning occurs when the percentages are taken away.

In the past years when I've taken grades on everything, 

I usually have anywhere from 8-15 failing grades each year.

HOWEVER, the last three years when I've implemented Building Thinking Classrooms,

The numbers have dropped dramatically!

This year, I have only 2 students currently failing math.

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.  

Visible Learning Meets BTC - Ch. 11 - A Vision

As I finish this book,

I won't lie,

I am a little overwhelmed 

At how to incorporate all ten mindframes

In the spiderweb approach they introduce.

But then I think about where my teaching is at today,

How all my experiences, learning, professional developments, book reading, and conversations

Have led to honing my craft.

To get to the point where I am today,

I have taken an idea,

Implemented it,

Tweaked it,

Reflected on it,

Until it became a part of my skill set.

One step at a time.

One day at a time.

One lesson at a time.

One mistake at a time.

One success at a time.

It's doable.

And I can't wait to see where this new journey takes my teaching!

Visible Learning Meets BTC - Ch. 10 - Learning

"Learning is an active and self-directed process".

BTC aligns with this same way of thinking.

Working in random groups at VWBs helps everyone to be active,

And being allowed to do their own thinking,

These small groups are self-directed...trying any and all methods they can think of.

And when mistakes are made,

Learning moves another step in the right direction.

BTC makes learning

"effective" and "enjoyable".

Finding that flow where the challenge keeps the thinking going is my goal every lesson.

As students connect to their prior knowledge and apply it to new situations,

This can be exciting to see!

I like how the book put it, what do they bring to the task in terms of skill, will and sense of thrill?

As I design learning activities, 

I am constantly thinking about WHERE their skill level is...

...will the task allow all students to enter the problem?

...how will prior learning be a stepping stone in the problem?

I am thinking about WHERE they are headed...

...how can I tap into their intrinsic motivation?

...how can I make this as parallel to real life that I can?

...how can I make this relevant to middle schoolers?

And I am passionate about interjecting fun into the learning process.

...how can I change up the learning activities?

...will the students find as much joy in the learning process as I did?

...what can I include in the lesson to hook them?

Visible Learning Meets BTC - Ch. 9 - Relationships

Relationships are important.

Even in learning.

The stronger the relationship,

The stronger the learning.  

Having high expectations,

for ALL students

is also important.

Believe ALL students can learn,

is essential.

This is one of my deepest philosophies,

wrapped up nicely in one chapter.

At the beginning of each year,

We work on creating our learning environment.

Through this process, 

Relationships are built,

Expectations are shared,

And students, hopefully, start to believe that they too, can learn math!

My promise to my students is I will always be watching and listening to them.

As I gather information from them,

I can better prepare for the next day's lesson,

Or even change midstream if the need should allow.

I am also passionate about math education

which in part, I hope, is passed along to the students.

There is so many aspects in the learning of math

That carries forward into life.

I want my students to see that.

The Checklist:

Take stock of the expectations you have for students.

1) FISH Philosophy! expectations - Focus on Attitude, Interject Fun, Serve Others, and Here and Now

2) VWB expectations - Share the marker, Work together, Try new approaches, Use others' boards when you get stuck, Be kind

3) Mistakes are valuable...they are the only way we learn

4) Pay Attention and Do Your Work

Visible Learning Meets BTC - Ch. 8 - Success Criteria

I have the learning goal posted.

Although it is more of an umbrella of all the learning that will take place.

It's not real specific.

This is something I could add in.  

Today's learning goal.

And then what it will look like if they are successful in achieving that goal.

How to show that though?

What if it's an open-ended problem?

What about a concept like the Pythagorean Theorem?

Solving Equations?

Angles?

To communicate the success criteria for an open-ended problem, I would stress the importance of showing all work on the VWBs and being able to explain their thinking process from start to finish.  It would be more of a verbal "this is what your success will look like" than an actual example.

For more concrete problems like solving equations and the Pythagorean Theorem, I could show a sample problem of what showing all your work looks like, the number of steps, and how to organize the work. 

Basically, involving the learner in all aspects of their learning process is what success criteria is all about.  This makes sense. Why do we keep all the goals to ourselves.  

1) Challenge: With the quiz rubrics, students already have a resource to identify their strengths and weaknesses.  But by also sharing the success criteria, the learning gaps will make more sense to the students, as well as the achievements!

2) Self-Commitment: I already feel like BTC places more of the learning responsibility on the student. By making these success criteria visible to them, it creates a more intrinsic motivation as well.

3) Self-Confidence:  With BTC, I have heard students working at the VWBs exclaim, "I feel so accomplished!" By understanding the success criteria, this should be even more evident as they gain understanding.

4) Expectations of the Learner: Reflecting on their learning is something we continually strive to work into our lessons.  Identifying success criteria should make this reflection an easier process.

5) Conceptual Understanding: Yes. Yes!  YES!!!!  Hopefully, this will aid in fluency as well. 

Visible Learning Meets BTC - Ch. 7 - Dialogue

This chapter had BTC written ALL over it!

From discussions at the VWBS to whole group consolidation discussions,

I was immediately validated with the BTC strategies I've been incorporating into my math instruction.

"Dialogic teaching aims to stimulate and extend student thinking allowing the student and teacher to more precisely diagnose what they know and misunderstand."

Consolidation or whole group discussions...have been a favorite of mine as we bring together the learning at the white boards.  Listening to the students and allowing their thinking to emerge, brings learning to the surface.  The best days are when the students start to lead the learning with their questions, observations, and summaries.

Peer tutoring or collaboration at the VWBs...is also a great tool for allowing math dialogue to take place.  What I love about this format is that any misunderstandings can be addressed for just the group struggling.  To help keep the focus in the random groups at the VWBs, I have devised an anchor chart with suggestions of what to do for the one that "gets it" and the one that is "struggling".

Direct instruction has it's place and it's time and has gotten a bad rap here lately.  To be honest, I rarely use it.  However, I do like the term "deliberate teaching and learning" (DLT) to be used in its place instead.  :)

Visible Learnings Meets BTC - Ch. 6: Feedback

Feedback!

Totally necessary when reflecting on learning.

Both for the student.

And for the teacher.

For a couple years now, on quizzes I will ask about the impact of the learning activities used

To gauge which the students deemed the most helpful. 

I have also found that with VWBs

I can give more individual feedback for what I'm seeing on each board,

Differentiating instruction instead of lumping it all under one umbrella with a whole group discussion.

This chapter had a lot to think about.

And new ways to look at feedback.

After a first read, I feel like I just partially understand it.

Will definitely need a deeper dive.

The main message:

"Teachers cannot answer the question of whether learning and teaching is successful on their own. They need to ask the learners what they think."

Yes.

YES.

YES!

Just seeing the lesson in action and moving along nicely is not enough feedback 

To truly assess the learning activities used.

When using the BTC methods, these are ways to incorporate more feedback back to the teacher.

1) When learning is at the VWBs, student explanations of how they solved the problem(s) is priceless feedback for the teacher to identify strengths, weaknesses, and misconceptions.

2) Entries in Notes-For-My-Future-Forgetful-Self offers a mirror into student understanding and if learning goals were met.

3) Simply asking students their thoughts on a particular learning activity.

4) Exit Tickets

Where Am I Going?  By going through this lesson/unit, what will I be learning?

How am I Going? What are going to be the instructional/learning strategies to help me understand the content?

Where to Next? Where will this content be seen again?  Why am I learning this?

Try to give feedback without praise.

This requires creating a culture where mistakes are valued, thoughts are encouraged, and input is sought out by those struggling.

This feedback gets even more diverse when you think about them in terms of task, process, or self-regulation.  And also, feed"back", feed"up", and feed"forward".  Using the matrices in this chapter, I attempted to think through one lesson in these terms.  

I also LOVED the coordinate system feedback grid (pg. 95) to assess group work at the VWBs for each day.  Place the grid with "Knowledge Gained" on the x-axis and "Group Work" on the y-axis and have students mark where they ended up after the lesson.  

Visible Learning Meets BTC - Ch 5 - I Strive for Challenge and not Merely "Doing Your Best"

Flow.

IYKYK, right?

This is almost verbatim with what is in the BTC book!

Not too hard.

Not too boring.

But juuuuuuust right.

But first...Goals

1) Consider prior knowledge.  

This has been a constant focus it seems here in these last couple years, as I have front-loaded my lesson with prior knowledge material to help cover some of the learning gaps created from virtual/hybrid schooling.  

Drawing the "learning map" so students can see the connections between what they've learned previously and how it will relate to their new learning today.

It's important to know where the lesson is going...and in many cases, I will ramp up the rigor to make it more challenging in the end.  But with consolidation, will always start at the bottom to grab all students that may have fallen in the gap.

2) Describe the observable behaviors the learners should exhibit (what you expect to see on the board, the calculations to strive for in thin-slicing...)

3) Name conditions for monitoring the learners' behavior (time frames to complete a problem, resources available, expected level of collaboration)

4) Specify standards of evaluation (what percent correct when completing CYUs)

5) Personal bests help make the students own the goal.  This was a crazy section to read as I used this exact vocabulary this year when administering the state assessments!  I will continue to use our growth charts for Test Trainer, Fastbridge, and State Assessments.

Flow

"a learner is deeply involved in the task, and in the zone, they can then experience the deepest and most lasting happiness."

This is always my goal for my students.

Nothing feels better than when I am "in the zone".

How to achieve this with BTC???

1) Low floor/High ceiling problems

2) Non-curricular tasks

3) Thin Slicing

4) Taking away homework so the need to "just complete it" is no longer a thing

SOLO

No ideas

One idea

Many ideas

Related ideas

Extended ideas

To be honest, I need more time to digest this particular concept.

But to me, this is the whole idea of concept fluency. 

When students stay in the unistructural or multistructural levels, the downfall happens when solving more complex problems in math where several concepts are needed.

I see this over and over again.

This is again why work on the VWBs with random groups is critical as knowledge can be passed more quickly to other students allowing for the math to become more about relationships and patterns then just stand alone concepts.

So here's where the magic happens...when we can "adjust the level of difficulty just above the learner's current achievement level". 

However, this is easier said than done.

As achievement levels are all over the place.  

What is too challenging for one student, may be boring for another, yet just right for some.  

With VWBs though, groups can push through

While allowing you a "white board window" of their thinking!  

Visible Learning Meets BTC - Ch 4: I am a Change Agent and Believe All Students Can Improve

By the title alone, I knew I was going to love this chapter!  Some of the quotes from this book that really seemed to hit home included...

"Aiming for students to have agency (includes asking for help, seeking to find out what they do not know, and working beyond what they can do now) in their learning is indeed a major aim in learning."

"How is it possible to convince learners to tackle a more difficult problem, fill them with enthusiasm, and inspire them?"

1) One moment where these attributes were all present was when we were working with solving equations.  We had a reached a point where the students were not challenged anymore.  In a tentative voice, I suggested that we could try fractions, but added that I knew they already struggled with fractions, so we might need a refresher course.  The students jumped all over moving forward with the fraction equations and using what they had already learned with a concept they had already identified as being one of their gaps in their learning.  Students were high fiving each other as they solved the problems.  The talk was all about the math, good questions were being asked...and answered by the students!  It was truly a glorious moment.

But how to create that day in and day out?  

Is that even a reasonable expectation?

"When confronting issues in schooling, we need to know how to ask for help, the climate of trust needs to be high to allow for the help to be asked and heard, you need to be put in situations where you are challenged to make mistakes, and there must be help there to resolve the dilemma.  This create a yes we can mindset to learning in a situation when we most rapidly need to learn and ask for help to learn."

This statement TOTALLY reminded me of when I decided to read the book and implement the BTC strategies.  Students were not thinking at the level I was happy with.  It felt like they were relying more and more on my questions back to them.  I thought I was helping them think more, but in reality my questions were guiding them far to much so they didn't have to think as hard.  At my school, my principal is very trusting in allowing us to take risks in the classroom.  And implementing BTC was a huge risk as I was changing a lot.  After discussing my view on the lack of thinking and what I wanted to try, he was on board immediately.  Taking a risk of implementing new strategies and revamping how your classroom operates, also includes lots of mistakes.  And we made mistakes.  But I ultimately believe it was in those mistakes that the strategies grew stronger.  

"Good classroom management is a scene-setter for trust to be built, for fairness to be dominant, and for learning to then occur."

This is probably the hardest part of BTC is creating the classroom culture where the class manages themselves.  At least it was this year, my second year of implementation.  I don't know if it was because I had become lax in the strategies, thinking I knew how to incorporate them after one of of implementation.  Or if it was a different group of students?  But, for whatever reason, this year had me focusing on the impact of classroom management and how it relates to learning in the classroom.

1) Focus and presence - I make a promise to my students at the beginning of the year and then remind them of it often that I am watching and listening to them at all times to best help them learn.  It's more than just the words...I back it up almost daily with what I witnessed earlier in the class or the previous day, and how we are going to tackle learning from that point forward.  In terms of classroom behavior, there are many times where I ignore the little disturbances and simply move myself closer to the misbehavior, give the student a look to convey that I know what they are doing, and then proceed with the lesson since that's the more important than their behavior.  

2) Smoothness and pace - When planning the lesson, I plan for the transitions as well.  Idle time never seems to serve the lesson well and always requires refocus which is harder to do the second time.

3) Group focus - With BTC, there are lots of small group discussions which are great as they concern just the misunderstandings at that particular board.  However, if I start to see the same misunderstanding board after board, we then pull together the whole group.  This year, we may implement the expectation that when whole group discussions/consolidations are happening, that students pull out their notebooks in case there is something they will need to jot down for future use.  

Advance Organizers - we have done something like this with the KWL chart or versions of it.  This helps students see how their prior knowledge lends itself to the new learning.

"Learning requires motivation and it is difficult to initiate learning processes without motivation."

Yes.

Absolutely.

Amen!

This has been my focus FOR YEARS...even prior to implementing BTC and knowing that the first five minutes are critical for grabbing the students attention.  My quest all these years has been to create a collection of strategies for my toolbox to add variety and intrigue to my lessons.  The following chart is based on Figure 4.5 ARCS model on page 51.  I added my own strategies to the descriptions in the chart.  These are not all the strategies, but the ones that immediately came to mind.  What was fun, was by the end of the chapter, the author suggests to do just this very thing!  One step ahead of ya!  Ha!  :)

"I am a change agent and believe all students can improve" requires both a constant search for evident and close cooperation with colleagues.

The "close cooperation with colleagues" is on area I need to work on.  I can get so focused on the analyzing and reflecting in my four walls that I forget about the importance of collaboration.  I wonder if this is also due to the fact that I am the only one implementing BTC in our district???

Visible Learning Meets BTC - Ch. 3: I Collaborate with my Peers and Students

With being the only classroom in the school, well, the district really, that follows the BTC strategies, I can see where this could open up a great avenue for getting collaboration started over our impact in the learning process.  With student thinking literally on the board for all to see, assessing our impact that all students can grow is so much easier I believe.  It takes a focus though for truly "seeing" (listening) to each and every student to more precisely account for our impact.  

We have to believe that "we cause learning".  This is greatest joy of teaching, I believe, that I have the power, the magic, the impact, the ability, to cause learning.  To see that light bulb of understanding...to hear a summary of their learning in their own words...to watch the successful completion of a problem is possibly the best feeling in the world as far as teaching goes.  

Sharing expectations...in the BTC classroom, I feel like this is ever so important.  Especially because when students come to my 8th grade classroom, the learning environment looks so different.  So clearly stated high expectations is a must for a focused lesson.

I love the change in thinking of "less about how to teach" and "more about the impact of teaching."  While BTC is a way of how to teach, there is a clear pathway to dig deeper into the impact of teaching.

Collaborating with Peers

I love the idea of the micro-teaching and viewing teaching videos under the lens of what is the impact of the teacher on learning.  By allowing the teacher to voice their decisions for how they conducted the lesson, is a lot like what I do with my student teachers.  Every decision I make, I feel like I must explain why I chose that one over the others I was mulling around.  This seems easier with a student teacher, as we are both focused on the exact same lesson.  With other teachers, either the same grade level or same teaching content/different grade levels, the dialogue will look differently than it does with a student teacher, but I think there is a benefit to having these conversations.  

I also liked the idea for collaborating on the impact we have with specific parts of the lesson.

• Importance of motivation for the lesson introduction - create a list of motivation strategies and then reflect and discuss each with colleagues
• Assess the effectiveness of the factors of Visible Learning (table on page 36) based on our own teaching and discuss with cohorts
• Scrutinize one's own thinking and action while teaching, asking the questions, "What is effective?" "What is not effective?" "Why?" and "Why not?"

All the Exercises on page 38 are good ones to use when collaborating with others to get the focus on the impact of our teaching and that we are the ones that "cause learning".

Since starting BTC, I have always gone back to the students to find out which strategies have the most impact on their learning.  Having students reflect on the use of these strategies gives me feedback on how they feel they learn the best.  I do this in various ways:

1. Reflection Question on a quiz
2. Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down if the activity met their learning needs
3. Rating various activities as to their effectiveness for helping them learn: VWBs, note taking, consolidation, CYU, quiz rubrics, etc

Collaborating with students using the BTC model is also good when addressing expectations.  For example, we have had whole group discussions on what it should look like when groups are struggling and actions they can take and then what it doesn't look like. This allows us all to be on the same page and when we post these discussions in the classroom, a focal point to look back on when things start to go astray again.

Visible Learning Meets BTC - Ch. 2 - I See Assessment As Informing My Impact

Checklist Thoughts

1) See student achievements as what they are: feedback about you and for you.

This is a blessing and a curse at times.  I always take student achievement (or lack of) personally.  I guess this is where I need to change my mindframe...instead of having it define me as a teacher, use it as constructive criticism to continue to improve. 

2) Consider the learning process in close connection with the teaching process. 

3) Interpret the mistakes your learners make with your teaching in mind.

When students show progress...

--> How did I design the lesson(s) to get this result?  

--> What did I do differently than in years prior?

--> How did I pay attention to the students learning during the process?

--> What went well?  What did this look like?  

--> What were the goals of the lesson(s)?

When student progress is lacking...

--> Where were the stumbling blocks in the lesson?

--> What could have been improved?

--> At what points was I not paying attention to student learning?

--> What other instructional strategies could have been incorporated into the lessons?

--> How can I reteach this in a different manner?

4) Include a phase at the end of the lesson in which you make learning visible.

This is important for both the learner and the teacher.

Exit Tickets - 

This, That, or the Other problem completion - 

Notes for My Future Forgetful Self

5) Unistructural Level - single, relevant aspect of a task or subject

     Multistructural Level - acquires a lot of knowledge of the content but doesn't know how to put it all    

          together

     Relational and Extended Abstract Levels

To me, this is where math fluency comes in.  We are good at acquiring one skill.  Two skills.  But when asked to put it together with other skills previously learned, that's when it seems to fall apart.  This is definitely an area that needs attention.

6) The questions listed in this checklist bullet are ones I ask myself ALL THE TIME.  They sit quietly during the first run-through of the lesson, and as aspects of the lesson continue throughout the day, the answers to these questions are the ones that guide my lesson for the next day.

• Which of my goals did I achieve in the lesson?
• What material did I successfully get across to the learners?
• Which methods turned out to be useful for fostering learning?
• Which media were useful for fostering learning?

7) Double check to make sure your students have learned the material, even if you believe they have: Knowing it is better than believing it in this case.  We cannot go by the simple adage, "well, I taught it".  Students need the repetition...what is it at least 6 inputs of new material and 6 activities to retrieve this material?  I would say teachers need the same to fully comprehend if students are learning the material.  

Visible Learning Meets BTC - Ch 1: I Am An Evaluator of my Impact on Learning

At first, it I will admit it seemed a little strange to focus on MY IMPACT on student learning.  Shouldn't the focus be on student learning.  But after reading, it is the impact that I have that will ultimately affect what the students learn.  I am the designer of the lesson.  I create the learning experience.  I choose the instructional strategy.  

So how do I make my impact on student learning visible?

With BTC (Building Thinking Classrooms), student learning is VERY visible on the VWBs (vertical white boards).  On CYU (Check Your Understanding) days, when students are working more independently at the tables, it takes longer to not only check in with each student but to see their work to see their thinking.  When we are at the VWBs, I can easily catch misconceptions and do either of the following for immediate feedback...

     1) Small Group Feedback - If only one group is struggling with a concept, we can easily have a quick conversation on the mistake or misconception that was displayed on their board.  With the mobility of learning utilized in the BTC approach, other groups can learn from these mistakes as well by looking/using the thinking of another group.

     2) Whole Group Feedback - There are times when most/all groups seem to struggle with a concept or moving forward when at the VWBs.  Going group to group is an inefficient use of time, with many students left spinning their wheels as they wait for feedback.  In this case, we refocus as a whole group.

       a) Students can ask questions whole group to get back on track

       b) The teacher can ask a question that ties to the misconception or the struggle.

       c) If thin-slicing, the teacher can provide another example that is not at the same difficulty stage of the one the groups are stumped on.  

Using This Information to Plan the Next Lesson

This just occurs naturally to me.  When a day's lesson is complete, I reflect on the learning that I've witnessed.  So when looking ahead, I immediately start the monologue of...

      Are students ready for this next lesson?  

      What adjustments do I need to make to make the lesson accessible/more challenging to students?

      Is a different instructional strategy needed?  Which strategy will be most beneficial to my students?

      What misconceptions/hurdles do I foresee the students stumbling on?

Intervention Phase

I'm not sure if I'm totally understanding this.  Are interventions the same thing as instructional strategies?  For example, if I'm wanting to make sure students are understanding new vocabulary, would an intervention be to draw what they see when I say the "designated vocab word"?  This would give me feedback, make learning visible, and also give visuals for students to attach meaning to the new vocab word.  

Using Formative Evaluation to Make Learning Visible - 

Ideas that I've already brainstormed in my BTC Year 2 Reflection.  

1. Exit Tickets
2. Favorite Mistake
3. Create a sticky note graph on VWB
1. Concepts "mastered"
2. Concepts still struggling with
3. Questions
4. This, That or the Other - Create a Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced problem.  Students pick the hardest problem that they believe they can successfully complete.  
5. Notes for My Future Forgetful Self
1. What are the students including in their notes that they have learned?
2. What are they excluding?
3. What questions are they writing down in place of notes?
6. Quiz Rubrics (this would be more of a Summative Evaluation) - students can see where their strengths and weaknesses are based on the quiz they just took
7. Check Your Understanding Accountability - when students complete a Check Your Understanding on their own, have them report in an exit ticket how many correct out of how many completed.  This will give feedback to both the student and the teacher. 

Thoughts on Thin Slicing

We have been thin-slicing our way through these first couple months!

Started with adding and subtracting integers,

And had students begging for harder problems. 

Brought in fractions,

And NO ONE BATTED AN EYE.

What?

No groans?

No freak outs when I mentioned the "f" word????

Who are these people????

Moved on to algebraic equations.

Thin-slicing for writing algebraic equations.

Thin-slicing for solving algebraic equations with like terms.

Thin-slicing for solving algebraic equations with variables on both sides.

Thin-slicing for solving algebraic equations with the distributive property.

It's amazing the material we can cover and master in a much shorter time!

My only dilemma?

All. The. Talking.

The extra talking.

The non-task talking.

I've tried various approaches.

One problem at a time announced verbally for all the groups works until I find myself having to talk over them.

Handing out problems has me running around the room like Hammie from over the Hedge.

What seems to work the best is posting the problems (listed from easy to more complex) along with the answers.

Students can answer at their own pace.

Check their work.

And move on.

I can work the room.

Correcting misconceptions as I see them.

In my books, this seems to be a win-win situation for all.

But with variety being the spice of life,

I will try to mix it up a bit

So we don't get bored with the same ol' routine.

My thoughts for today.

It's Friday.

We made it through another week.

And I am tired.

But not as tired as I could be if I weren't using the BTC approach in my classroom!  :)

The Power of Choice

For today's lesson, I offered the students a choice in the problems they solved.

We talked about closing our gaps,

With one of our gaps being fractions.

We also talked about where our lesson ended yesterday,

Solving operations with integers.

Today's assignment held problems with positive and negative fractions

As well as some fun integer puzzles.

Every small group chose to start with the fraction problems.

People.

In all of my years,

Students will shy away from fraction problems.

They will groan.

They will throw fits.

They will refuse.

Today...

They chose fractions.

#smallwin!

Ch 10 Reflection: Consolidate a Lesson

This is probably my favorite part of BTC.

Bringing the discussion full circle. 

The one thing that stuck with me though,

Was to level to the bottom.

How many times did I level to the top,

The place where we all needed to get to,

Only to have it flop, with everyone feeling frustrated.

By starting with the bottom of the tiered problems,

The ones that everyone successfully solved,

We were able to get everyone on the same page,

And then could slowly work our way through the more challenging ones...

And get more students where we needed to go in the process!

One thing that I need to work on is keeping the students standing next to their boards.

I started to have students sit back down at their tables, but according to the research, this drastically diminished the thinking.

Gallery walks.

I tried these.

What I learned is that I need to have a specific goal for the walk.

What specifically should they be looking for?

Are they comparing methods to find similarities?

Are they looking for differences?

Are they trying to find misconceptions or mistakes?

Something to work on this year!

Ch 9 Reflection - Hints and Extensions

"If we are thinking, we will be engaged."
"If we are engaged, we are thinking."

This is my goal.

Every lesson.

Facilitating this optimal experience can get a little tricky though at times.

Especially when frustration sets in.

Either on my part or the students.

Three things to remember when aiming for an optimal learning experience.

1) Clear goals

2) Immediate feedback

3) A balance between the ability of the doer and the challenge of the task

Creating clear goals seemed to get better each time.

I learned quickly where loopholes would be found

And addressed those head on as we headed into a task.

Immediate feedback was sometimes right on point

And sometimes left me feeling like I was playing whack-a-mole.

I soon realized that when I was found running around the classroom

In a state of total frustration,

It was actually because the task I had selected was not balanced between the ability and challenge level for the student.

As I got better with creating thin slicing learning activities,

I started to see the magic happen.  

Not only were students being more successful

Because the challenge was very small between each task,

The frustration levels decreased dramatically.

And then a wonderful moment would appear that would take me by surprise.

STUDENTS WANTED A HARDER PROBLEM!

The excitement at being able to solve more difficult problems was amazing!

You could hear it.

You could see it.

And I, as the teacher, just revelled in the moment.

This is what I had been seeking.

My goal for this next year is to create more thin slicing opportunities.

For some concepts, it's super easy.

For others, it takes more time to set up a series of problems.

I conducted the thin-slicing lessons usually two different ways.

Sometimes, I would have the problems written out on cards,

And as students completed one, I would hand them another as I made my rounds.

This was beneficial as I could address mistakes and misconceptions for each small group

Without having to drag the entire group into the discussion.

Groups could keep working at their own pace,

Slowing down only when they started to struggle.

Other times, each group worked the same problem at the same time.

This allowed for quick little popcorn whole group discussions as we compared the boards

Before starting on the next problem.