Wednesday, November 25, 2015

11/25/15 - Hello, I Love Google Forms

I have recently fallen in love with Google Forms. I use them all the time, for a variety of reasons. Here are some of the ways I have been using Google Forms this year.

Group Participation Feedback

I've mentioned before that my class runs primarily on small, cooperative group work. I organize each group of four students using a variety of methods: ability level, gender, learning styles and (seldom) random.  The "teams" collaborate for a unit which culminates in a team test. Each student in the team is assigned a role: Facilitator, Task Manager, Recorder/Reporter & Resource Manager.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that, while in a group, there are those who work diligently and those who don't. I do my best to circulate and observe behaviors during team interactions but I can't observe everything (My gamma ray exposure did not grant me this power.) Thank goodness for tattle tails!! There is always someone in a group that is more than willing to tell me everything that went on, especially if they feel their partners did less than their share of the work. I am not ashamed to say that I not only encourage this, I exploit this tendency.  I ask my students to honestly recount their experience working with their teammates. I also encourage them to describe their own participation. I am always surprised at the level of bluntness I get from students. They take this opportunity very seriously, offering specific examples to back up their analysis.

Here is the form I use for daily group work and one I used for a special project.



Presentation (Peer) Feedback

Recently, my students created a poster incorporating multiple representations of a function. They worked in groups of four and, after the posters were complete, they participated in a gallery walk to observe the posters of other groups and give feedback using a google form. After all the feedback was collected, I was not only able to use it to assist in my assessment of the posters, but I was also able to give the written feedback to each group so they could make revisions.

Here is the form I used for their poster feedback.



Data Collection

I recently did an experiment with my students called the Pumpkin Time Bomb. Thirty-seven groups collected pumpkin data including height, weight, circumference, diameter, rind thickness and rubber band dimensions. They also tracked the number of rubber bands needed to make their pumpkin explode. Initially, groups recorded their data on a paper data collection page and then submitted their data, for later use, through a google form. We used the data to make Desmos graphs comparing each variable to the number of rubber bands needed.

Here are the forms I used for prediction and data collection.



Rubrics/Grouping

I have the privilege to be a part of our one of my districts magnet programs. FLAGS stands for Foreign Language and Global Studies. The program is geared towards highly motivated middle schoolers interested in taking a foreign language in middle school. A long standing tradition of the program is the Multicultural Fair. This is a one night only event where students, teachers, parents and community members come together to celebrate cultural diversity. Each year, each grade level team of students are tasked to create a project that showcases an area of study. This year the 8th grade team recreated games from around the world.

This project was a true team effort for students and teachers alike. The four core subject teachers on our team took an entire school day away from our instruction for our students to work on the components of their project. Here's what we did.

Students were placed into teams of four and assigned a game using a google form. Each group was required to recreate their game, learn about its origin and history, teach others to play the game (in person and through video instructions) and create a Thing-link as the hub of all their work.

During our project day, each teacher had 10-11 groups of students working on the four components of their project. We spent weeks hammering out the details in the hopes that on the day, things would go smoothly and students would be able to walk away with a complete project.

The issue of grading was a big one. Each of the core teachers agreed to incorporate the project grade into our overall class grade. How to share the grades for all the components with each other in the most efficient way possible became the issue. We decided to use google forms, designing a form for each component of the project and sharing the forms with each other. This worked like a dream!! We all have access to the grades for all 44 groups (four parts each).

Here are the forms we used for feedback on each component.


Other

I have a ton of ideas rolling around in my head for using Google Forms. Our site's PD team has used them to gather interest data for future PDs. I want to create one to get feedback from my students on what they liked and didn't like about the course (what worked for them and what didn't). I am in the process of creating one to gather parent information for a number of volunteer assignments within our program and another to gather 6th grade teacher recommendations for program applicants

How do you use Google Forms?



Saturday, November 7, 2015

11/7/15 - Advice to My 1st Year Self - The Evolution of My Teaching


What a shock it is to realize after busting your hump to get your credential and masters degrees, you still aren't really prepared to teach. The first year of teaching was incredibly challenging for me. My assignment was technically only one prep of 7th grade math, but I was assigned to collaborate with the grade level special education teacher as our district had a long range plan of mainstreaming all high functioning special education students into the general education classes. Of the five periods I taught, the first two of the day were a combination of regular and special education students. Each period had about 42 students.

While this is not an ideal first year assignment, I feel, in retrospect, I did the best I could do with the preparation I had. I see these first two years as sort of a trial by fire. I learned quickly that I would never have enough time or resources to do everything that needs to be done. That I would always think I could have done "              " better.  These years, in large part, prepared me for the daily struggles of teaching.

What I know now, and I wish I knew then, is that I will always be my harshest critic. I will put more pressure on myself than anyone else. If I had it to do all over again, and thank God I don't have to, this is the advice I would have for myself:
  1. Pick a focus. You may want to do it all, but you can't.
  2. Adopt a Growth Mindset. You're learning and improving every day. Cut yourself some slack.
  3. Take breaks - Get out of your classroom! You will spend most of your time at school. Get to know your colleagues.  They may become your friends. P2LNs RULE!!
  4. Be the best "You" you can be. The kids will know if you're faking it and your teaching will suffer for it.
  5. Let the kids do the work (aka, Group Work is AWESOME!!). Don't say something a kid can say!
  6. Tech is your friend. Use it to your advantage.
  7. Its okay to try and fail. And you're gonna fail. Just don't give up.
  8. Don't take it personally. Especially if you teach middle school =-P
  9. It's your 1st year! Get over yourself. Learn to laugh at yourself or you'll spend your time crying.
  10. It's a process. What you do this year you will most likely never do again.
  11. Seek out a mentor. Observe veteran teachers. Ask for their advice. They've been where you are and made it out the other side.
  12. Theory and practice are two different things. What you read in books rarely plays out the same in the classroom.
  13. You're the adult. Behave accordingly. AKA: Fighting with a teenager is like wrestling with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.


Friday, November 6, 2015

11/6/15 - My One Good Thing For Today: BLOGGING!!


This will be my first post in 2 months. I haven't felt like I've had much to say lately, which has resulting in my dropping off of Twitter and the lapse in my blogging. I haven't been writing for a variety of reasons, some personal and some professional, but all of which can be summed up in just a few words.

The beginning of this school year was challenging. I found it difficult to bond with my students. We've had a rash of cheating and stealing and I found myself comparing this year's group with last year's group. This is never a good idea. Each group is unique and should be approached as such.

Several of my long-time colleagues and friends transferred to other sites within a few weeks of the school year starting. At the time I didn't think it would effect me, but now I realize it has.  An essential part of my support network was gone (or at least it felt that way). School wasn't the haven for me it had been for so many years.

You'd think in a time like this, writing would help me cope. You're right, it would have, but I have a tendency to retreat inside myself when things get stressful. My brilliant wife, Janet, reminded me that one of the reasons I began blogging was to reflect, to get out all the thoughts and hopefully find some meaning in the chaos. How ridiculous is it that when things get really chaotic I stop holding onto this life-line?!?!?!?

So, I'm back. So many amazing things have happened recently. I can't wait to blog about them. Not sure if I'm going to blog at the same level I did before, but it feels good to write again.  To get my blogging mojo going, I have a few questions for the blogger out there.
  • Why do you blog? 
  • What keeps you blogging? 
  • Where do you find your inspiration?