Leveraging Group Thinking on a working model

We launch into the final unit of the year – OpenSciEd Unit 7.5 – Ecosystem Dynamics – and find a shift away from lab table investigations to working with data, concept mapping and creating links within an affected ecosystem. The storyline of this unit makes a connection between orangutans, palm oil and the Halloween candy that students may be excited to eat.

As this unit kicked off, I felt that a platform for students to collaboratively construct their understanding was needed. In other units, students have done a bulk of work in their own notebooks with some collaborative modeling. Data collection was often done in groups and then students discussed to individually summarize the evidence and their take-aways. In this case, we are looking for connections and the conversations coming out of groups is focused and of high quality.

To set students up for success, I provided groups with a permanent work space in the form of posters. The goal is not a final, for-display piece of work but to document process and to use the space for groups to make meaning. It’s nice to see how groups choose their own display methods and as we share in class, this ups the quality of various groups. By repeatedly coming back to a growing project board, students are upping their connections and linking previous classes to the current ones.

Students had an initial belief that we should substitute palm oil for another type of oil. This was nicely questioned through the use of data regarding the productivity of oil palm trees; groups impressed me in their ability to analyze a data set and return with meaningful conclusions. Deciding that oil palm trees are quite efficient, we then wondered if there were places that oil palm trees could grow without supplanting native species. Variations of the following conversations happened across the room –

‘Frank! We figured it out. There’s a place in Brazil where we could plant the trees!’

‘Wait a second… why aren’t there rainforests there?’ queried another.

‘Maybe there were and they’ve already been cut down,’ chimed a third.

They then sprang to their laptops and figured out that their hunch was correct – that part of the rainforest had already been replaced by pastureland.

From student initiative to strong connections via readings and data, this unit is currently shaping up to be engaging and informative for these Grade 7 scientists!

Peals of thunder and flashes of light (#SOL23)

It’s early in the morning and the darkness from all the clouds makes it seem even earlier. I’m under the covered space on the roof pedalling away on my bike. There are wet spots around from the driving rain over night. One ear is connected to music but the other is taking in the sounds of the morning. Today, the few birds who love calling out before sunrise have been silenced by the rain and the stillness is punctuated by thunder. It’s music to my ears.

Kenya is struggling in a drought. I don’t have a lot of experience with the weather here but in conversations I realize how big of an issue it is. It doesn’t feel as if we’ve had good rain since August. The ‘short rain’ season of November and December was a bust and there has not been any rain since.

The drought, which is actually spreading over several years but has recently seemed as it has intensified, is wreaking havoc for wildlife species. A quick search regarding the drought and a major national park (Amboseli), provides pages of heartbreaking information.

As the rain intensified during my morning ride, I hoped that the water was coming down across Kenya and not just Nairobi. I hope that the animals and humans in the severe drought areas find relief and that water levels soon begin to rise.

Reminding myself – it takes minutes to make a day better (#SOL23)

Flippidity rolls the dice on seating most days. Students come into class and find a different place to sit with different people. These colorful tiles list groups of three that change daily. Many like the variation of partners and location though I know some don’t care for it.

My class is an active one. The goal is that within the first few minutes of starting, students are standing at whiteboards being mathematicians and doing mathematics. For the most part, groups work out and students stay engaged with positive discussions. Some times there is a bit of conflict and yesterday was one of those moments. In this case, the partnership was comprised of a student who was highly motivated though not too confident and one who was not so keen on working. Another adult in the class tried working with them for a bit and in the end, I needed to provide extra assistance. The motivated student was visibly frustrated to the point of a few tears eeked out. This is not the place where I want students to end the day.

As the class left, I quickly sat down to write the student a message. The response was amazing as the student saw it as a learning experience.

I’m not sure if we do enough of acknowledging the challenges, frustrations and successes that students (or teachers) go through on a daily basis. Taking a few moments to send a message calling out what happened can go a long way. Seeing this student’s response was that reminder that I should regularly send out these short messages. They don’t take time but mean a lot.

Finding pi on March 14 (#SOL23)

Onion pie. First impressions often include odd faces and even grimaces. Exclamations of ‘Oh no! I wouldn’t eat that!” follow and I’m left defending this delicacy. It’s really good. Other than my fickle daughters, I’m not sure if I’ve come across someone who has tasted an onion pie and continued a tale of dislike. Don’t think of eye watering, strong tasting onions but the yumminess of caramelized onions. But, 3.14 is not about this type of pie so let’s not continue down the path of how good an onion pie can be. Take that ‘e’ off and move over to mathematics.

I ask my students what is pi and immediate shouts of “3.14” ring out. Some puff up and ask if I am ready to hear how many digits they can recite. The clamor dies down and I refine the question to ask what do the digits stand for. Silence…Wait, there is meaning behind all those digits? Simply reciting 10, 20, even 100 digits isn’t the goal? Out comes the measuring tapes and we begin looking for pi. We measure circumferences and diameters – a bit more challenging for many than reciting values – and build on our understanding of ratio to find how close we can get to pi. Some groups average their values out to 3.19. Others are at 3.22. 3.08. We dance around the elusive 3.1415… but I’m hoping the idea of pi being a ratio of the circumference to diameter starts to take a bit more brain space over the endless stream of digits. (You can always head over to the pi-search page and see if your favorite string of numbers is in the first 200 million digits). According to the Exploratorium page, in 2019 pi was calculated out to 31.4 trillion decimal places.

Weekend bookends (#SOL23)

We are a sourdough household. At least one day of the weekend, breakfast is served up thanks to those little critters living in the sourdough culture. Early in the day, I get the batter going and let it sit to allow the culture time to do its thing – eat and expel carbon dioxide gas. After a run that get’s my own day going, I’m back in the kitchen to flip pancakes. Some are made with blueberries, some topped powdered sugar and others go classic though the syrup available in Nairobi has room for improvement. If only I could get into the Canadian Embassy – I bet they have rooms full of maple syrup!

Saturday morning is also time to get Sunday’s dinner pizza going. Sourdough work is all about time. The bacteria takes time to do its job and are generally flexible with schedules as long as adequate amount of time is provided. After mixing dough, a few turns every 30 minutes for several hours is all it needs. Then, pop the dough into the fridge for an overnight sit and by Sunday noon, it’s ready to be formed into dough balls for a final on-the-counter rise. Perfect timing for Sunday night pizza as a way to end the week!

Head over to The Perfect Loaf if you are into sourdough baking or want to get started. So many awesome guides and recipes.

Home Learning – what are the kiddos saying? (#SOL23 – Day 10)

I’ve recently had a lot of conversations around math work outside of the classroom and I’m truly conflicted on the topic. Kids are busy after school through clubs, sports, extra classes and more. Let’s also think of the need to be outside and socializing. It would be great if dinner time is always with family and that students can relax as the day comes to an end. Super important.

I also see students leaving math work for math class. In most instances, this means that they can go two days without thinking about math or even more if there is a special schedule, long weekend, etc. Fragile understanding need to be nurtured and ideas wrestled with. I feel my internal pendulum shifting and as my own daughters end their elementary school career, I find myself setting times for them to sit down and work. They typically do this without complaint and we try to make sure that they have time for themselves but building a culture at home of regular practice and the need to improve seems quite important.

As this translates to my teaching practice, I’m doing a bit more on the compliance side of home learning. To date, I have posted work for students but have not checked for completion. Solutions are posted as well and time given if students want to discuss their ideas. I felt supported with Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics seemed to follow along similar lines. We want students to do home learning for the intrinsic benefits but (and this is my new thinking), how much do the middle school years need to develop and nurture new habits. Is ‘doing the work for the wrong reason’ (I know it will be checked) a crucial step forward in forming the habit of practice?

After a couple of weeks, I asked students. It seems is if they are sensing a benefit. A few quotes from students to support their thinking…(bold added by me)

When I do the check your understanding I feel less confused and more confident when doing the problems in class

Being more focused on completing home learning helps hold myself accountable if I didn’t do home learning. It also helps with my understanding of what we learned in class.

Recently doing the home learning has helped me get some practice outside of class and that has really shown in class.

I feel more confident in Percent change

i don’t see a benefit but I don’t see a detriment

I defiantly think practice benefits my constancy. But sometimes the questions are not challenging enough and it does not add anything.

Practice makes perfect! I feel like the more math I do at home is really helping me to improve on various skills.

At the moment, my goal is to end the year with the hope that these soon to be 8th graders will develop habits around consistency of work.

If you value it, put it where it counts (#SOL23 – Day 9)

Today was an assessment day in math class. Students came in we did some ‘priming the minds’ work on the whiteboards as a quick review and then settled into an individual assessment. Fifteen minutes into the experience, I quietly interrupted students for ‘communication time’. They are familiar with this break by now. Students are invited to step away from their work and have a conversation with whomever they would like.

During this break, I listened to an animated conversation amongst a group that was debating what a question meant that said ’round to the nearest tenth of a percentage’. This is what I want! I want students to engage in discourse at all times. Yes, the goal is that students achieve full understanding of a topic and independently demonstrate this. A two minute talk does not detract from the goal and I would like to say that it enhances the process. A talk break stimulates thought processes. Students debated back and forth on what was meant and as a group reached a positive conclusion. This is a lot better than waiting to the end of an assessment and taking time to ‘reteach’ an idea. Since the focus in the class is on solving problems through modeling and explaining ideas, simply holding on to a number (an answer) isn’t enough so students verify ideas and discuss strategies.

My class is constructed around communication and collaboration. Having this time built into assessments sends the message that these skills are valued all the time. Some students choose not to participate in the process as they may be in the zone or not up for communicating at that time, but most find it a welcome addition to an assessment process.

A (rare) slow start (#SOL23 – Day 8)

Autopilot. That’s the typical morning. How many of us have the routine so engrained that we hardly think about the motions. For me…4:00 wake-up, brew coffee, deal with the yowling cat who has been trying for 30 minutes to get me out of bed for food. 4:30 plan for the day. 5:30 run or ride 6:30 shower, breakfast, pack lunch, wake up the girls and out the door by 7:20ish. Day after week day, this pattern flows and it is rare that a break occurs.

Today was different. Mt d’Or was off to the dentist and an 8:00 pickup was arranged. Fortunately, I had a bit of wiggle room in the morning schedule so stayed to see him off (it helps when the commute to work is a 5 minute walk from door to classroom).

The yowling didn’t stop and I was out of bed early but the pace of the morning was noticeably different. Relaxed, I went through many of the motions but then had time with the girls as they woke and puttered around the kitchen getting breakfast ready and then out the door. It was nice to chat with them about the upcoming day and then have some mental space as they left and I waited for the pick-up. My mind felt calm. Planning for the day was done and the space created by 30 minutes of slow-down felt incredible. Take a moment from time to time and slow down that pace – I bet you’ll feel great!

Just get out the door (#SOL23 – Day 7)

The excuses begin to line up and march towards me – the lesson for today is 100% finished (yeah right, 99.9% is probably good enough), I can go this afternoon (the sun is brutal – you don’t want to do that), it seems a bit cold outside (boo-hoo), it’s dark (yes, there is that)

A few minutes after my 5:30 goal, the running shoes are on and I’m out the door. The moment I begin moving, my mental focus shifts as I take in the early morning. The sky is absolutely beautiful. Did you see the moon? In one direction of running, the moon lights up the sky but in the other starts twinkle out in every direction. Cresting the small hill at the entrance to the school, I slowly warm up as I traverse the school parking area and onto the back road. As I continue down the road, I join the morning flow. It truly is a nice time of the day as people are mostly quiet and walking or riding their bikes to whatever may be their destination. Even pairs keep their voices low as if staying hushed until the rays of the sun light up the day.

An interval workout call my name today. 2.5 minutes on with 5 minutes rest in between. The hills and road conditions of Nairobi make it challenging to find a good place for intervals and I select a road that has some street lights. Surprises in the dark include speed bumps (one almost got me today!), pedestrians or bikers coming along the same side of the road, holes and uneven surfaces, an abrupt edge to the road and the errant vehicle or motorbike. For the interval, I run towards the moon though it’s already hanging low in the sky.

Three sets go by before the sky truly starts to lighten but I love this process. My eyes, already adjusted to the darkness, start to sense the extra light. I can tell where my feet are landing and my step gets a little quicker. Suddenly, the sky brightens significantly and my mind wipes clean the fact that I’ve spent the last 40 minutes in the dark. The day is beautiful – enjoy it!

The hard running is now finished and I continue on for a bit. The light now allows me to cut through a field on a trail meanders through corn stalks as the elevation increases. A bit further on, I turn about and point my feet towards home. So happy that this was the way that this Tuesday started for me.

Rockin’ the 1/2 container (#SOL23 – Day 6)

This massive container made its entrance on the small roads of our Nairobi housing compound a little over a year ago. Finally! After months of waiting and false starts, our belongings from China were arriving. As the container opened, we peered inside to see that there was a lot of empty room. We had surpassed the need for a 1/2 container but were quite under capacity of the full 40-footer.

Today, representatives from a shipping company arrived to do a walk through of our house. Carrying an ipad, the nice gentleman logged in each item that we indicated would make the trip and estimated the number of boxes for books, clothes and other belongings. He looked up after finishing the walk through, “3 cubic feet to spare!”

As we approach March break, the countdown to our departure is on and this walkthrough is a big step forward. Next up is working with global shipping schedules to plan when another truck will roll into our neighborhood to pack up our things and start the long process to the west coast of the US.