Philosophy Without A Home

Another Reason Democrats Keep Losing

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 12:13:00 +0000

This is why I think democrats are missing the mark.

They claim to be for the people, but let's use my recent example of interaction with the government for the people.

I opened an account with an online bank almost 5 years ago. They were FDIC insured so I thought I would be ok.

About 6 months ago they went bankrupt. I was one day late in transferring my money out, damn.

After almost 6 months of little or no useful information I'm finally told I will be informed of a way to get my money back.

During this time senators on the banking committee were aware of this farce and supposedly on top of it. I made a complaint with several different government agencies. I also wrote a letter to my congressman.

I got a form response from one government agency, telling me they were aware of the situation, but could not give me any specific information on my particulars. I got other responses saying they didn't deal with banks.

Finally, I got the long awaited email saying I could apply for my money back. This bank, which claims to be cleaning the mess left by the original bank. They made a point to tell me they spent months trying to figure out the balance sheet. It was oh so hard and they did this at their own expense.

They also made a point of telling everyone that you could appeal but if you did so they probably wouldn't accept said appeal based solely on the record of transactions.

They offered me 1/3 of the money in my account. There was no justification for it, except their word that they went through all of the messed up records and this was my actual true balance.

Now I assume I have to find all of my old pay stubs and prove that the amounts on them are equal to the amounts of deposits made at about the same time. I'm not sure how I'm going to prove that the withdrawals that are there are the only withdrawals. Perhaps there are others that were not recorded. I doubt it.

What has my congressman done? Well after the third email where I started with this is the third time I've written to you, someone contacted me. Nothing since, but hey its a start. I actually worked with her a few years back with some IRS troubles and she got someone from the IRS to call me and explain what was wrong. I haven't heard back from either senator.

Why hasn't the FDIC stepped in and just said make people whole because they are insured and stop whining? Why don't my representatives respond to me? Why does a large corporation get to just dictate terms to me without any proof whatsoever? Why is it on me to prove what they owe me? Why don't they have to prove that they owe me less than what the official record is?

Democrats have created rules and safeguards to protect the average citizen. Those safeguards make it more difficult for smaller independent entrepreneurs to get started unless they borrow tons of capital from predatory investors. Then when they fail those safeguards are ignored and the regular citizen is left twisting in the wind and then dumped on. What do our representatives do? So far nothing? I imagine if I didn't write to my congressman I'd have no hope at all to get my money back. Currently all I have is a glimmer.

Writing my lessons with OpenAI

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 14:58:00 +0000

Good unit plans require backward planning so let's create an assessment.

Write a performance task for the mathematical standard Solve linear equations in one variable.
Performance Task: Linear Equation Word Problems
You have been hired by a furniture company to help them price their products. The company has determined that the price of a table is directly proportional to its length. They have found that a 6 foot long table costs $300.
You are given the following information:
The cost of a table is directly proportional to its length
A 6 foot long table costs $300
Using this information, you need to answer the following questions:
Write an equation that represents the relationship between the length of a table (in feet) and its cost (in dollars).
A customer wants to purchase a 9 foot long table. How much will it cost?
The company wants to sell a 4 foot long table for $200. Is this possible, and if so, what will the cost be?
To complete this task, you will need to use your knowledge of linear equations to solve for the unknown variables. Be sure to show all of your work and explain your reasoning.

Going to need some lesson objectives

Write lesson objectives for the mathematical standard Solve linear equations in one variable.
Here are some potential lesson objectives for teaching students how to solve linear equations in one variable:
Students will be able to correctly set up and solve linear equations in one variable using the proper techniques and notations.
Students will be able to understand the concept of solving an equation as finding the value(s) that make the equation true.
Students will be able to use the process of isolating the variable to solve linear equations in one variable.
Students will be able to solve linear equations with fractions and decimals, including those that require the use of the distributive property or combining like terms.
Students will be able to check their solutions to ensure that they are correct.
Students will be able to accurately interpret and communicate the solution(s) to a linear equation in the context of the problem.

I also need some language objectives

Write language objectives for a unit based on the mathematical standard Solve linear equations in one variable.
Here are some language objectives for a unit based on the mathematical standard "Solve linear equations in one variable":
Students will be able to define and use the terms "linear equation" and "variable" in context.
Students will be able to write linear equations in standard form, using proper mathematical notation.
Students will be able to solve linear equations using various methods, such as graphing, substitution, and elimination.
Students will be able to interpret the solutions to linear equations in the context of the problem.
Students will be able to communicate their understanding of solving linear equations using proper mathematical language and notation.

A few essential questions I thought these were supposed to be one big essential question for a unit, but now they want one per lesson. that seems redundant with the objective, but ok. Also now we have 3 goals for each lesson which seems to be overly complicating things, but hey Hattie and Marzano and any other geniuses who write books can't be wrong.

Write some essential questions for a unit teaching the mathematical standard Solve linear equations in one variable.
What is a linear equation in one variable and how do we recognize one?
How do we solve a linear equation by using the properties of equality?
How do we use the concept of inverse operations to solve a linear equation?
How do we check our solution to a linear equation to make sure it is correct?
What is the difference between a consistent system of linear equations and an inconsistent system?
How do we solve a system of linear equations using graphing?
How do we solve a system of linear equations using the substitution method?
How do we solve a system of linear equations using the elimination method?
How do we use linear equations to model and solve real-world problems?
How do we use linear equations to make predictions in real-world situations?

Each lesson should prepare for student misconceptions so let's look at those

What are some misconceptions when teaching the standard Solve linear equations in one variable.
There are a few common misconceptions that students may have when learning how to solve linear equations in one variable:
They may think that the only way to solve an equation is by using the "balance method," which involves setting up an equation and then manipulating the terms on both sides until they are equal. However, there are actually many different techniques that can be used to solve linear equations, such as graphing, substitution, and elimination.
They may think that the solution to an equation must be a whole number. However, it is possible for the solution to be a fraction or a decimal.
They may think that they can only use the properties of equality (such as the addition property and the multiplication property) to manipulate the equation, but they can also use the properties of operations (such as the associative property and the distributive property) to simplify expressions within the equation.
They may think that they have to use the same operation on both sides of the equation in order to solve it. However, it is often necessary to use different operations on different sides of the equation in order to isolate the variable.

Lets write the unit

write a unit of lessons for the mathematical standard Solve linear equations in one variable. using the lesson objectives Students will be able to correctly set up and solve linear equations in one variable using the proper techniques and notations. Students will be able to understand the concept of solving an equation as finding the value(s) that make the equation true. Students will be able to use the process of isolating the variable to solve linear equations in one variable. Students will be able to solve linear equations with fractions and decimals, including those that require the use of the distributive property or combining like terms. Students will be able to check their solutions to ensure that they are correct. Students will be able to accurately interpret and communicate the solution(s) to a linear equation in the context of the problem.
Lesson 1: Introduction to Solving Linear Equations in One Variable
Objectives:
Students will be able to understand the concept of solving an equation as finding the value(s) that make the equation true.
Students will be able to correctly set up and solve linear equations in one variable using the proper techniques and notations.
Materials:
Graph paper
Calculator (optional)
Warm-up:
Review the definition of a linear equation.
Ask students to provide examples of linear equations in one variable.
Direct Instruction:
Define the term "solution" to a linear equation as the value(s) that make the equation true.
Discuss the steps of the process of solving a linear equation in one variable:
Isolate the variable on one side of the equation by performing the same operations on both sides of the equation.
Simplify the equation by combining like terms, if applicable.
Check the solution by substituting it back into the original equation and verifying that it makes the equation true.
Guided Practice:
Have students solve the following linear equations in one variable:
3x = 9
5x + 3 = 2x + 9
2(x + 1) = 10
Independent Practice:
Have students solve the following linear equations in one variable:
4x - 2 = 6x + 3
(x + 3)(x - 2) = 0
2x + 4 = 6x - 8
Closure:
Review the steps of the process of solving a linear equation in one variable.
Ask students to share any questions or difficulties they had during the independent practice.
Assessment:
Collect and review the independent practice problems for accuracy.
Lesson 2: Solving Linear Equations with Fractions and Decimals
Objectives:
Students will be able to solve linear equations with fractions and decimals, including those that require the use of the distributive property or combining like terms.
Students will be able to accurately interpret and communicate the solution(s) to a linear equation in the context of the problem.
Materials:
Graph paper
Calculator (optional)
Warm-up:
Review the steps of the process of solving a linear equation in one variable.
Ask students to provide examples of linear equations in one variable that contain fractions or decimals.
Direct Instruction:
Review the distributive property and how it can be used to simplify linear equations with fractions and decimals.
Discuss the importance of keeping the same units when solving linear equations with fractions and decimals.
Guided Practice:
Have students solve the following linear equations in one variable:
3/5x = 6/10
2.4x + 3.6 = 1.8x + 9
2.5(x + 1) = 5
Independent Practice:
Have students solve the following linear equations in one variable:
4.3x - 2.1 = 6.6x + 3.3
(1.5x + 3)(0.5x - 2) = 0
3.2x + 4.8 = 6.4x - 9.6
Closure:
Review

Ok I don't like direct instruction lets change the prompt to include inquiry based instruction and let's ask for essential questions and language objectives for each lesson. Just do everything at once.

Notice I meant formative assessment, but wrote formal assessment but that didn't bother the AI

The unit is only three lessons, but hey I guess it will work. I doubt it will win any awards or be a successful unit for most students, but it's a start.

Write an inquiry based 8th mathematical unit of study teaching the standard "Solve linear equations in one variable" include essential questions, objectives, language objectives, formal assessments for each day and a summative assessment at the end.
Unit Title: Solving Linear Equations in One Variable
Essential Questions:
What is a linear equation in one variable and how can we solve it?
How do we use the properties of equality to solve linear equations?
How do we interpret the solutions of linear equations in real-world contexts?
Objectives:
Students will be able to solve linear equations in one variable using the properties of equality.
Students will be able to interpret the solutions of linear equations in real-world contexts.
Language Objectives:
Students will be able to read and understand mathematical notation and language related to linear equations in one variable.
Students will be able to communicate their understanding of solving linear equations in one variable through written and oral explanations.
Day 1: Introduction to Linear Equations
Begin by introducing the concept of a linear equation in one variable and provide examples.
Have students work in pairs to solve a few simple linear equations.
As a class, discuss the steps used to solve the equations and any difficulties that arose.
Formal Assessment: Observation of student participation in class discussion and solving equations in pairs.
Day 2: Using the Properties of Equality to Solve Linear Equations
Review the properties of equality (reflexive, symmetric, transitive, and substitution).
Have students work in pairs to solve linear equations using the properties of equality.
As a class, discuss the steps used to solve the equations and any difficulties that arose.
Formal Assessment: Observation of student participation in class discussion and solving equations in pairs.
Day 3: Interpreting Solutions in Real-World Contexts
Introduce the concept of interpreting solutions in real-world contexts.
Have students work in groups to solve linear equations and interpret the solutions in the context of a given scenario.
As a class, discuss the different interpretations and any challenges that arose.
Formal Assessment: Observation of student participation in class discussion and solving equations in groups.
Day 4: Practice Solving Linear Equations
Have students work independently to solve a variety of linear equations.
As a class, go over the solutions and discuss any challenges that arose.
Formal Assessment: Individual practice solving linear equations.
Summative Assessment:
Administer a summative assessment that assesses the students' ability to solve linear equations in one variable and interpret the solutions in real-world contexts. This could be in the form of a written test or a group project where students must solve a series of linear equations and present their solutions in the context of a given scenario.

Well the lessons are pretty basic, but on par with the stuff I turn in for my weekly lesson plans. It's difficult to put that much time into a fill in the blank lesson plan, not that my daily lessons are not actually planned. I just do most of the individualization the night before or the morning of because I use what happened in class the day before to inform me of that.

Asking for each part individually does give a nice run of the mill lesson. There isn't much thought into the individual students, or differentiation, or motivation, etc... basically what I expected. I might look at the objectives and language objects for inspiration. It also creates some simple basic performance assessments I can use for students. That may be the best part. In my school students tend to jump to doing work before they try to learn and expect to get a passing grade. Having a million easily created tasks for students who like to scribble answers that have nothing to do with the actual problem will be useful. Maybe I can finally convince students who do that, that it will never improve their grade until they start actually giving me reasonable answers that I can at least give feedback on.

Finally getting around to playing with CHATGPT

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 16:16:00 +0000

My first question and answer. so the question is from a performance task I set for my students. I think if they followed the directions they could turn in a piece of work that I would grade as acceptable. Often I try to get my students to write or verbally explain their thought process and I would be looking for this exact answer. Well maybe I would expect them to tell me to draw a line up three boxes on a graph paper and over 4 boxes to make a right triangle.

Draw a right triangle ABC.side lengths of 3 and 4. Draw a dilation of triangle ABC with a center of dilation at A and a scale factor of 2 label the new vertices B’ and C’ Write a similarity statement for triangles ABC and AB’C’

To draw a right triangle with side lengths 3 and 4, start by drawing a horizontal line and a vertical line. These two lines will represent two sides of the triangle. Next, draw a diagonal line connecting the two lines to form the hypotenuse of the triangle. Label the points where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect as A and B, and label the point where the diagonal line intersects the vertical line as C.

Next, draw a dilation of triangle ABC with a center of dilation at A and a scale factor of 2. To do this, you will need to draw a new triangle with sides that are twice as long as the sides of triangle ABC. Connect the vertices of the new triangle using straight lines. Label the new vertices as B' and C'.

The similarity statement for triangles ABC and AB'C' is: "Triangles ABC and AB'C' are similar, with a scale factor of 2 and a center of dilation at A." This statement tells us that the two triangles are similar, meaning that they have the same shape, but not necessarily the same size. The scale factor of 2 means that the sides of triangle AB'C' are twice as long as the sides of triangle ABC, and the center of dilation at A indicates that the dilation was centered at point A.

Learning Loss and The Stolen Year?

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 21:00:00 +0000

This morning, I was as usual listening to NPR. This morning was a story about how closing schools for the pandemic was a "calamity" for students. This afternoon was a story about how closing schools for the pandemic was a catalyst for many parents to enroll into virtual school or join a home schooling group.

Some random notes from the first story which ran about 7:30 AM August 22, 2022. https://www.wbez.org/schedule

Its a calamity

Anya Kamenetz, author of a new book "The Stolen Years" tells us, according to Steve Inskeep that, "Extended closing were a calamity for education."

A couple of interviews with kids who struggled mightily with school during Covid. "Its hard to see the best of your life go down the tubes. "

Many years later standardized test show kids have not recovered. (has it been many years yet?)

Experts described this disaster before it happened. Evidently they know from school closings in places like: Syrian Genocide, Rwanda, etc.... (is Covid to be compared to genocides now?)

We knew kids were at risk for toxic stress and it would magnify inequality and teens would drift out of school and into paid work.

Which is worse Covid or educational calamity?

The fact that this was driven so much by politics. The more likely a district would go for Biden the more likely it would stay closed longer.

She tells a story of a teacher and mother in DC schools watching rats run over children as they nap. Are you going to trust this district with your life?

Where it went to far is the lack of awareness of just how many basic needs schools were providing for children.

Steve asks, "Do you think most kids will overcome that". - Anya replies, something to the effect of it is not automatic, with help of therapists etc... we can.

Its an opportunity

This afternoon about 2:45PM on the show Here and Now.

Students are leaving Florida schools in droves to go to home school or online school.

Students voices, "The good thing about it is everyday could be pajama day."

"You have more time to do what you want."

Some parents left because the lack of mask mandates made them feel uncomfortable. Some left because they saw how much better homeschooling or virtual schooling could be for their children.

In Florida homeschooling, like so many other things is loosely regulated by the state.

No requirements for teachers, subjects, schedule, or number of hours. The basic requirement is to be certified by teacher once a year through test or portfolio.

Florida's home school population has grown from 2.5 million in 2019 to over 4 million now.

More voices of families,

"We like this, this is good for our children good for our family."

"You can go outside take a break go for a run even come back with a fresh mind. "

From interview with an expert on home schooling in Florida. The pandemic is just part of it. Its also school violence, bad schools, lack of flexibility.

My thoughts for what it's worth.

I hate when people over hype how bad closing schools was.

Yes, it was bad for many, but not because the schools failed them. These were for the most part students who didn't have structure at home, didn't have food, didn't have internet, didn't have a quiet place to study. For many of the students who struggled the most school, even the one where rats are running over sleeping kids, is a refuge. A place of safety where they can learn.

We as a society were failing these kids long before the pandemic. the only thing the pandemic did was to bring those inequities to light. I suspect the falling test scores weren't so much students learning less, it was teachers not being there to physically push students to stay after school and study during the year, or skipping lunch to help students finish work, or just being the one caring non-family person they might have in their life.

Also did test scores actually go backwards or did they basically stay stagnant? I don't know my students didn't change at all, as a group.

Let's remember this was a pandemic and an emergency closing of schools. How can the usual measures mean anything?

Take for example Michael Jordan's flu game. Here is a playoff game where he scores 38 points while sick. Everyone at the time and still consider this a miracle performance. By most measures that was a great game, but it wasn't a 63 point performance that we know he is capable of. We also know that he had a ton of help from his teammates and he didn't play all the minutes he would normally play in a game. "Scottie was all about, 'We'll take care of the defense. Don't expend yourself. Save yourself for the other end of the floor where you can score'"

You can debate whether closing schools was right or wrong, you can debate whether schools stayed closed too long. The thing is it happened. Students didn't lose learning, they just didn't learn all of the things you wanted them to learn in that time period. Will they recover? YES a thousand times yes. Could things have been done better? Yes again. Closing schools was not the worst thing for everyone and not the best thing for everyone, but it was the right call.

Virtual Learning is Real Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 22:06:00 +0000

A lot of people are worried that virtual learning will be a lost year. As if it is a given that in person education is better than virtual. I'm not so sure about that. #education #virtuallearning #2020
— Brendan Murphy (@dendari) September 13, 2020

Of course in person is better for some, but not all. This rush to get back to in person learning is not only dangerous health wise, but could have a negative impact academically as well.

Most teachers and schools seem to focus way too much energy on students turning in cameras, and then being dress code compliant and all that. #why
— Brendan Murphy (@dendari) September 13, 2020

Less than half my students turn on their cameras. Even the students who think I'm the best thing since sliced bread rarely show me their face. #middleschool #peerpressure #hormones #shy
— Brendan Murphy (@dendari) September 13, 2020

I have not written a single refferal this year. I haven't felt disrespected. I'm never fighting for control of my room. #discipline #classroommanagement or #soemthingcompletelydifferent
— Brendan Murphy (@dendari) September 13, 2020

You know who turns on their cameras in my room? All of those kids who can't sit still. They sing (on mute) they dance, the drum, they mean in close. In the classroom I'd be begging them to stop so everyone else can hear me. #notinthevirtualclassroom
— Brendan Murphy (@dendari) September 13, 2020

(they lean in close, I can't type on mobile)

I had to teach on student how to hide other people. But there are not distractions in my virtual classroom. Students get a lesson. They attempt to answer questions. They even ask for help. #studentsliketolearn
— Brendan Murphy (@dendari) September 13, 2020

Well yes there are distractions. I often here others in the background in students homes and I sometimes wonder how they can pay attention through all that noise, but they are not distracted by what is going on in my classroom. Except one time and I taught that student how to hide the boy who was distracting her and she is all good now.

Honestly I hope we stay virtual for a couple of months more. I want my students to get used to a classroom that focuses on learning, not distractions.
— Brendan Murphy (@dendari) September 13, 2020

The Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 18:35:00 +0000

I'm trying to put some thoughts down on paper and see if they are good or not, I'd love some feedback as well.

As the Coronavirus rips back the band-aid of inequity in the public school system I fear that we are squandering the opportunity.

Yes I know students in undeserved neighborhoods are taking the brunt of the negative effects of shutting down schools and the economy. I know too many students don't have solid internet, don't have a device, don't have a quiet place to learn and study. I know so many have to take care of younger siblings. I know so many adults in these homes are essential workers, leaving their children to fend for themselves because they cannot take a day off, even when faced with sickness and death for going to work. And all of that is not even half the problems these children are facing right now.

Yet it is still an opportunity being squandered. The traditional school, with it's emphasis on tests, rigorous curriculum, unyielding rules, and so on and so forth has been failing for the 20 years since NCLB and it was failing for decades before that. Yet, still people argue for more of the same. Even when discussing remote learning the stepping off point is recreating the same classroom model.

Why?

Why are teachers who have half the class in school and half remote live streaming instruction? We already know teacher directed lecture instruction is one of the least effective models of teaching. Why when we talk about remote teaching do we even consider teaching 4 separate classes as I would at school?

I teach math and when I introduce a new skill it can be very difficult to get that down to a 5 minute lesson, but that is what I aim for. I'm really breaking down my skills instruction to the smallest possible bit because I don't intend to teach it live. Then I wonder if I could do this in a live classroom what would I do for the next 50 minutes of class? Would they practice the skill, seems a bit of overkill there. Even those who swear teaching math is all about practice probably think that is too much.

What do I do with all the extra time? Especially when I'm remote and this 5 minute lesson goes to everyone at the same time. I've suddenly freed up about 4 and a half hours. How would discussion work? Can I do that? If I were teaching live I'd have students quickly break into small groups of 2 to 4 and talk for a minute and then return and share. We can't do that in Google Meet. We can break off but just for a minute and back might not be feasible (It could be but would require some strong discipline on the part of the students and that might not be where I want to spend my time).

No, right now I have my 100 or so students watching a 5 minute video (or 4), and doing a bit of practice. How do I get some quality discussion in? In the classroom they would be sitting at a table, and naturally in groups of four. We can do this remotely too. Instead of synchronous session where I live teach and stream to some I'm kind of flipping my classroom and now I will ask student to meet in groups of 3 to 7 (less than 3 and there is no discussion more than 7 it gets unwieldy). They can watch the video right before, or even together, then answer some discussion questions together maybe writing down the answers. A Jamboard with a slide for each group and each group can peek into someone else's group if they get stuck (make sure to create clear expectations of not messing with other people's stuff).

This works pretty well, but I want to listen in to each group. Should I require everyone to do this at the same time? No way, let's have each group schedule their math lesson when they want it, but with me so I can monitor each group (I'll probably have to have two or three groups going at a time, but this could work). With 100 students and 5 students per group that is 20 groups, too many for one at a time and 5 at a time might be the limit for effective facilitating by me. What to do?

It is time to really break out the small group discussion and facilitation strategies. Sure I can just give out a worksheet and have each group work through it. I can even differentiate and give out one of three or so group worksheets. What I really need to do is play around with some class discussion models and adapt them for virtual work. My students need to create something, not just fill out worksheets. I've already talked about a shared Jamboard, but what would a gallery walk look like when not everyone in the classroom is meeting at the same time in the same place? Could we do a fishbowl discussion? How about a think pair share? I'm not sure how all of this works just yet, but I do know we need to build the sense of community because we won't be in the same groups all year.

Small group work is tough in the classroom. Often we are afraid that the students won't be on task. Can I get some help from a paraprofessional? Maybe they can help monitor some groups. Can I change the lessons up a bit? Instead of four 50 minute time periods a day we think in terms of the week? Jeff Utecht suggests 2 days a week focus on two or three subjects and rotate through the subjects. If I'm introducing new material for math on just Monday and Tuesday. I might introduce a bit more, but then expect my students to spend a bit more time on the math during those days, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday would be time for me to check work and give feedback and allow students to make, hopefully, minor adjustments.

With a weekly schedule like this there are more staff available to monitor small group discussions. Ok maybe they can't do the math, but they hopefully can utilize the parent and student resources I've provided and if they still can't help they can send me a message. Sure they are also looking at student work from their part of the week and giving feedback, but we should be able to work something out. In any case the teaching time I am doing is basically the same, but the schedule can be more flexible for the students. I know most of my middle school students hated getting up before 10AM or noon, so why do they have too? I can put in my 5 teaching hours but I might do an hour in the morning with the early risers, then 4 later in the afternoon for my later students. (Yes I know not everyone wants to split their schedule like this and it isn't a requirement, but not everyone has to start at 8AM either.)

Now instruction by the teacher is way down and small group work is way up and most groups have an adult actively monitoring the discussion or just a quick message away. Behavior is still going to be an issue, but a completely different issue. The majority of referrals (when a student gets in trouble and they refer them to the office) is for disruption and disrespect. It will be next to impossible for a student to interrupt a lesson (often the disruption or disrespect depending on how the teacher views it). In the groups they could cause havoc, but their influence is limited to just 2 to 6 peers. Perhaps Google can add a moderator level to a group function and we can assign a student as group leader, then they can mute or even kick anyone who is disruptive. Not the best solution, but allows students to be active if they want to be. It also puts these students into higher focus. Many disruptive students are less disruptive when in small groups, especially if partnered with a peer they like and respect. In our virtual small groups it won't be the teacher who calls a student out for disruption and make a scene it will be the student's peers and they will be more effective most of the time. Yes, there will be those who cannot be in any group and it is not the students responsibility to police each other. On the other hand part of the reason we put students in groups is to build those soft skills. Not just teach each other, but to learn to work together and overcome obstacles. If some students cannot work in small groups then they work one on one with the teacher as often as possible.

It seems to me that the largest problem most school districts had during emergency remote learning was students not turning in work, not showing up, or turning in unfinished work. In case you didn't know, this is a problem in live classrooms as well. It's just that we stop students in the hall, catch them before or after school, we sign them up for homework help or tutoring, we require them to come to class during lunch and sit them down and make them do work. This has been masking the real problem(s) the entire time. What those problems are have to do with, not knowing how to do the work, not having time or a place, not caring, etc.... Remote learning hasn't created those problems it just made it harder to cover them up.

I'm really big on using administration to work closer with these students. They obviously won't have students being sent to their office all the time. Now instead of calling these homes ans saying, yes your student is in my office again for disruption they can have a "wow I missed your student in class today>' The conversations are less about how are we going to stop your student from causing havoc to I really miss your student and want them to succeed.

I am also imagining more one-on-one time. It won't be much, but even 5 minutes a week can mean a lot to students. Think about my teacher schedule for a minute. I am expected to teach 5 hours a day, give or take. I have another 3 hours a day for planning and grading. Sure I could spend all this time doing that, but maybe I can also spend more time requiring each student do a one-on-one session with me. At five minutes a meeting I can get in 36 meetings in 3 hours. I can meet with my 100 students in 3 days a week. If the school has shifted schedules I might even have more time to meet with students. If I have to I'll cut a bit of small group discussion time to put for this. Why, because this is relationship building time. In my school we had advisory type class one period a day. I'll use that advisory time for relationship building. Maybe discuss an SEL lesson, or just how are you doing, what have you learned, what are you working on learning, how's the family. etc... (In Scouts we cannot meet one-on-one with kids for their protection so maybe this would be small group as well, but as all the technology can be monitored by the district I am less worried about this).

It may seem that all this small group would leave the students who are farthest behind alone to fail. I say no. First smaller groups without distractions of being in a class can hopefully focus more on helping each other. Having more adults monitoring means hopefully more teacher help. Finally, a bit part of this is creating or curating resources students can go to for help. If the choice is sending a message and waiting for the teacher to come help maybe they can spend that waiting time going to a suggested resource and seeing if they can answer their question on their own. This all really depends a lot on building strong norms, but that is the same in the classroom as well.

Let's recap how we can change teaching:

Reduce teacher talk time (or more aptly student boredom) by keeping videos down to 5 minutes or less.
Increase small group time by allowing students to work basically the whole class in a small group.
Focus more time on facilitating discussions and student creation.
Increase adult facilitation by playing with the schedule so that more adults are available when students are in these small groups.
Increase student participation by allow for more flexible schedules.
Reduce behavior by limiting the ability to disrupt.
Build student relationships with more one-on-one time.
Increase completion rate by helping students be more self sufficient.

Ok I admit there are a few details I haven't gotten to yet. Like I said I'm just putting this down into words to see if it makes sense. Please add your two cents here in the comment sections or on twitter or Facebook or where ever you see this.

What to do about Systemic Racism

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 15:57:00 +0000

It is a new century. Being anti-racist has changed.
Sure in the late 1700's just saying slavery is bad was good enough.
Then in the late 1800's giving people the right to vote was all in vogue.
By the late 1900's integrating schools, and diners was progressive.
Now we are in the 2000's. What is anti-racism today?

Recognizing and rooting out systemic racism

Except too many people have no idea what that is.

Feagin defines systemic racism in the introduction to the book:

Systemic racism includes the complex array of antiblack practices, the unjustly gained political-economic power of whites, the continuing economic and other resource inequalities along racial lines, and the white racist ideologies and attitudes created to maintain and rationalize white privilege and power. Systemic here means that the core racist realities are manifested in each of society’s major parts [...] each major part of U.S. society--the economy, politics, education, religion, the family--reflects the fundamental reality of systemic racism.

So how do we fix it? A woefully incomplete list so please add

Require police forces to take deescalation and cultural competence training
Changing the way we evaluate and test students
Changing the way we discipline students
Changing hiring practices
An overhaul of the financial system
An overhaul of the mortgage and home owner what ever
Prison reform
Voting reform
Changes in drug laws
Sentencing reform
Teaching cultural competence to doctors
Actually doing something about racial profiling
Add yours here

So many people think ending racism is just stopping their own individual actions. It isn't. Not anymore. We have to actively work to make changes in the systems and the processes around us. We have to make our friends a uncomfortable. We have to make our jobs a uncomfortable. We have to put our own necks out there.

We have three choices.

We can be an active racist,
We can be a passive racist, or
We can be anti-racist.

Teaching in the Pandemic Period

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 23:10:00 +0000

How has teaching changed.

I used to get 15,000 steps about 10,000 of them within a 25 by 20 sized room.

I used to stop drinking coffee at 8:30 because I just forgot or didn't have time.

I can go to the bathroom at any time and that is awesome.

I don't plan a daily lesson.

So much of my time was spent planning and reflecting on my daily lesson. Then grading exit slips and homework. And of course about 5 hours a day was actually required to be in the classroom. Way too often those 10 or 15 minutes quick lessons dragged out to 45 50 minutes because:

Someone wasn't listening so I had to repeat.
Someone was late.
Someone was goofing off.
Someone had a question.
I was too long winded.
We went down a rabbit hole.
The instructions were unclear.
Someone felt turn and talk time meant a discussion of birthday plans.

Today I am doing my best to shrink those 15 minutes lessons into a 5 minute video.

Instead of spending all my time corralling restless middle schoolers I can stalk GoGuardian and ask them if they need help.

I'm changing my teaching into a more coherent week long project based lesson with optional skill and concept building lessons on video.

It took forever to teach students how to be students in my classroom. Now I have to teach them how to be students in my online classroom.

They need to learn these life skills.

There are no classes - self directed learning with support from me
Time on tasks is less important. Quality of learning is more important
Organization is key. Tracking of assignments - calendar ?

Take notes
Set goals

When you need to get help

Anyone can be a resources, friends, family, college professors, Reddit
Google the answers, I'm not there to stop you
I have office hours, I'm around most of the day send me a message. Seriously yesterday I spent an hour one on one with a student. We never got frustrated we didn't feel pressed for time.

How many hours do you spend on learning? You should put in a few, but it probably won't be as many as if you were in school to get the same benefit.

I have the opportunity to try different things.

School now has to be more focused on results and less on time in the seat. I know the standardized testing culture was supposed to make us focus on results. What it did was scare administrators who pushed teachers to spend more time gathering and analyzing data to show growth then they spent planning quality lessons. I guess they figured if we spent 30 hours a week gathering and analyzing data we would use it, instead we cut down our lesson planning time because we were over worked.

Now I'm not expected to run a tight ship of a classroom. I don't have to spend all my time crafting scripted lessons and worrying if students were doing exactly as they were expected. I can spend more time developing a well crafted project. Create a few skill building videos, Then spend the rest of the time actively connecting with students.

All of those things that I was told are hallmarks of good teachers, but I didn't have time to actually do. I get the time to do it. I'm just not physically in the room.

The two problem areas. Not enough students are showing up, and I'm not getting enough work that I feel I can give high quality feedback.

The Silent Apocalypse

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 12:22:00 +0000

It is so surreal. The silence.

I've been home during the week before and for the most part it was normal. You could hear people in other houses and yards working. the occasional delivery vehicle or something. This shelter in place feels different.

It's quiet. I sit on my computer studying or writing and watch as families walk together down the street. I've seen people walk before, the occasional family, but almost always in the evening and most likely one person walking a dog. Now you'll see an entire family walking, kids up front goofing and the parents together following behind. When they pass another family it's always on the far side of the street. I'm am not on a cul-de-sac but close enough that there really is no reason to pass my house if you don't live in the neighborhood.

I've been out a few times. It's quiet, but not quite as dead as you sometimes see on social media. I not alone on the road. The cops are in their best speed trap spots. I think they are pretty bored as well. It was weird to pass the mall on a Sunday afternoon and see an empty parking lot.

The stores that are open aren't very busy (at least the non-grocery stores). People react weird when I stop 6 feet away. No thanks I don't want to get any closer to you. I actually backed away a bit when the hardware store clerk who was helping me stepped into my 6 ft bubble.

I went to borrow a tool from a friend. No hand shake, he didn't offer to help put it in my car as he normally would. The kids went off to play a bit while we talked, everyone for the most part observed social distancing. It was kind of strange seeing someone in person who wasn't family.

Everyone seems to be preparing as if riots will start and governments will fall, but we know that won't happen. The fall of civilization isn't quick. It's a death of a thousand cuts. At any time we can stop. We can step back and change course.

Civilization, society, government, it's supposed to help us. There will always be those who use this service for personal gain, but for the most part they are held in check by a communal agreement on what is right and wrong. Most of us just want to leave the world a bit better than we found it.

Lately it feels like those who lust for power or wealth or fame have become more numerous and more entrenched. As if we are reaching a tipping point where the majority who don't wield such personal power are at the end of their rope and might start doing something about it. I don't believe it.

There is an election here in just about 6 months. We can change. We can change a little bit. We can change a lot. We can step closer to the knife so it cuts deeper. We can make minor changes and hope someday things change. We can make a major change and heal. It isn't about the person it's about We The People.

Will we finally rise up and require our own government serve us? Will we stop blaming each other and trust most people are doing their best? Will we respect ourselves? Will we stop fearing people? Will we realize that life can be different, life can be better, life doesn't have to be, shouldn't be the same for our kids as it was for us?

Can we finally really believe that the future is bright? (I gotta wear shades)

Making Myself a Better Teacher Episode 1

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 20:31:00 +0000

My first podcast with a friend Joy Kirr.

The audio file

Podcast page

Joy is a local teacher whom I was following on Twitter. I don't think I even realized she was local when I first started following her. One day she tweeted out an activity she was hosting at the school she worked at the time. I was like, hey that's right down the road I should go. And so I did, with my wife and kids in tow we went. I just really love making these connections.

We haven't talked much in the last few years but when I decided to start this podcast series and I was trying to think of teachers that I would like to chat with I remembered Joy and thought, "Yes, she is a teacher I would like to learn from." So here we are with my first episode.

As I reviewed to the chat I thought I would mark down some of the parts I thought were good.

Around minute 3 we talk about low and high points in education and she really embodies a growth mindset.

Keep those keepsakes, you meant something to your students and those things will remind you in years to come.

Minute 6 what does good teaching look like. Not every student will like you because they have different preferences for types of teachers. It's going to be hectic. I would love if I could learn to help students transition from one activity to another.

Around 10 minutes talk about classroom management strategies. She had an idea for a change to make in her own classroom. A few days later she shared it with me via Twitter.

Thank you to @dendari for helping me name a problem in our ELA class and motivate me to DO something about it! Instead of our class binders in the back of the room, students now grab them when they walk in! 👍(Door deco to celebrate!) #ShiftThis #reflection #justkeeptweaking pic.twitter.com/VL9ycTy8i9
— Joy Kirr (@JoyKirr) February 25, 2020

A bit after 15 minutes we talk about why we still teach in classrooms and not with video lectures.

Around 18 minutes I ask her how do you know your successful? Surprise it has nothing to do with grades.

I follow up with an ask about grades near minute 20.

Minute 25 was a really funny quote from a student.

Finally I asked her to share some of her resources.

Here are the resources I curate and share with parents and teachers:

Feedback LiveBinder - tinyurl.com/FeedbackBinder

My own grading explanation - tinyurl.com/ShiftGrading

My own books - shiftthis.weebly.com/

Education Could Transform in the Wake of COVID 19 But it Probably Won't

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 21:28:00 +0000

Check out the 7th grade e-learning plan from a local school district.
Do you notice the nice mix of technology and non-tech work?
Do you see the choice?

Wouldn't it be great if education was more like this?

I'm not saying kindergartners can be expected to work with this level of autonomy. I'm also sure many parents are working their butts off trying to keep their kids motivated and doing something constructive. To this end I'm sure many parents are sacrificing work. I also have to admit, in my own house my kids are not being very productive. That being said wouldn't it be great if schools transitioned to this model as the standard rather than the exception? Not the work from home model, but the choice and independent work as the rule rather than the exception.

What if the expectation was that students would be spending the bulk of their time in a classroom working independently? What if students had projects all the time? Big ones, small one, individual assignments, and group assignments, and anything in between. What if they were asked to explore the almost limitless knowledge gathering dust on the internet first, then asked to apply it, and then got feedback from the teacher? What if we only gave feedback and not grades until the students felt they mastered a topic. Can we change the gradebook so students and parents could see the progression of work and feedback with a rubric and examples good bad and ugly so they have an idea of what high quality work looked like?

I don't know about you, but when I try to give a short ten minute example on the board it always turns into a 30 minute tooth extraction, mostly because I can never get more than half the class to pay attention at the same time.

When students in my class don't know an answer more often than not the response seems to be, let me chat with my friend. I'm mean what is that? Not a raised hand, Mr. Murphy how do you do this? Not asking said friend if they know how to do this. Not even a quick search on the internet. Just an off task chat and annoyance when they are asked to get to work. Or sometimes the other extreme, after explaining in detail the task ahead, giving an example or two, writing the directions down, as soon as I release student to work I'm inundated with questions and no I can't start until you answer my question. What do you mean I'm third in line already can't you see I jumped out of my seat the second you stopped teaching to ask you a question. Fine then I'll talk to my friend.

In my school students are always surprised when I give them permission to look things up on the internet. I'd love it if, when they pulled out their phone, it was to google how to do the day's work, not to FaceTime someone in another classroom.

I know, I'm supposed to teach these things, and I could do a better job. The thing is, we aren't consistent. Some teachers are all about giving students the freedom to use their independent brains to explore and expand their learning, but why does everyone always assume its wrong if they don't get the answers from the teacher?

Is I do, We do, You do. the best method of teaching? I find getting past the I do stage gets harder and harder as the year progresses. Students learn, if they never actually do the We Do part nothing happens and they don't have to do the You Do part. Well they fail, but they aren't making that connection.

And does any curriculum really get into this project, problem based teaching? Well yes, but not the one we use. To be fair I have been told problem based learning is part of the plan. I've also been on standards based grading committees. I also built a curriculum from scratch using projects (it needs a lot of work). yet here I am using a curriculum that doesn't have any projects.

So I go back to the beginning. What if school were like this COVID-19 interruption? What if students were given choices every week and told to pick one a day? What if they were asked to use a set of resources to explore and learn skills on their own, or with a couple of peers? What if they got feedback but no grades? What if the teacher was a knowledge base of last resort?

Could we do this in kindergarten? Yes, with a modification. The last time I was in a kindergarten classroom we spent quite a bit of time in centers, thanks to parent volunteers. What if the school set up the expectation that students would learn to be more and more independent each year so that by the time they were in high school almost all of their work was independent or group projects and almost no teacher directed learning? What if they could miss a day, or even a week of class time, but still be productive and learn? What if...

Trauma and Teachers

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 04:38:00 +0000

The new big thing in education the last few years has been trauma informed education. an interesting take on how children's lives and the trauma they experience effects how they act and react. As Alex Shevrin Venet says in her article, The How and Why of Trauma Informed Teaching, "...traumatic life experiences can sometimes emerge as behaviors that we might otherwise label as challenging".

The insight I would like to point out is how all reactions, both good and bad, are strategies our students learn to succeed in their situations. The student who never turns in work, she's learned that if she just doesn't do work she won't get in trouble for doing a bad job. Or maybe something like that.

In any event the point I want to make is that students who experience trauma, when stressed, often respond with actions that can be detrimental to their ultimate good. However these responses work in most other areas of their life so they won't change them for one teacher whom they see one hour a day.

Why is this important? Emelina Minero, also from an Edutopia article, When Students Are Traumatized, Teachers Are Too, says, "Trauma in students’ lives takes an emotional and physical toll on teachers as well"

If students who experience trauma develop strategies that work in their main environment, but are detrimental at school, couldn't teachers be following a similar model? What if teachers who work in high stress schools develop teaching strategies that work, but in the long run are actually detrimental to their students' education?

When leaders come into an environment like this and aren't looking at teachers through a trauma infused lens, can they be effective leaders? What if everything they do just triggers these traumatized teachers, triggering negative reactions when they wanted to inspire?

When Some People Think They Are Right They Force Their Belief Down Your Throat. This Means You Are More Free.

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 16:25:00 +0000

The Illinois Association of School Boards or IASB has resolutions, "If approved by the Delegate Assembly, resolutions become Position Statements or Belief Statements in the IASB Constitution, and thus give IASB staff direction on legislative positions."

Resolution number one proposed by Mercer County School Board would "allow voluntary district employees, in any capacity, the ability to carry a concealed firearm on district property,".

This resolution failed last year, but they came back with added rationales.

Their rationales:
"In our district, we could allocate funds to hire a full-time SRO in each of our five buildings, but it would do no good, because there aren’t enough officers or deputies on staff in our community to fill those positions. "

"Another problem, mainly found in rural areas, is the distance school buildings are from local law enforcement teams. " ... "response time" of 10 to 21 minutes.

First let's just ignore the fact that they could fund a position to be filled by a professional and what the local police force would refuse to hire a new person(s) to fill it?

Now I am what most people call a "liberal" or "progressive". While I'd like to be a conservative, seriously who isn't for smaller government, less taxes, and more freedoms, Since I started voting in 1986 most politicians who reflect those values have been Democrats. And yes I even joined my local county Republican committee because I too believed that they were the fiscally sound group. It turns out that even in most local elected positions there are a bunch of Republicans who feel the need to apply strict national litmus tests restricting freedoms and increasing spending (and taxes), or they don't believe you are a real Republican (RINO).

I'm throwing that out there as a caveat so you don't necessarily toss out my position here as just another dumb liberal. Some may and probably will disagree, but that isn't the argument I want to make. I'm just trying to say I am not knee jerk against guns in any and all forms. I've been hunting, I've been to the range, I even took a riflery course in college. (I earned an A). At one time I was a member of the NRA. I have no problem with guns and most definitely am supportive of safe use. Both of my children have gone to gun safety classes and my wife has her FOID card.

With that being said I am against this resolution. While Mercer County seems to have a good reason for wanting staff to have the choice of carrying their rationales do not extend to every school in the state.

I am very concerned that they may have an ulterior motive for presenting the resolution for the second time in two years. Mainly that they want to inject these divisive 2nd amendment politics into local school boards.

If they had simply added a stipulation that schools with an average police response time of just 5 minutes or more I would vote for this resolution. I still don't believe it is the correct step in making schools safer, but I also understand that it might. We don't really know because we don't study these sorts of things.

Yes, I recognize that 5 minutes is a very long time, but I also realize that unless the person with a concealed weapon is right there they are probably going to take 4 or 5 minutes securing their own space before attempting to help, if they even do that. (In Parkland there was a trained and armed policeman who choose not to confront the gunman)

This resolution as it stands forces me and my school board to choose between doing what Mercer County thinks is right for their school district and doing what we think is right for our school district and we are miles apart on circumstances. In my school district police response time is just a couple of minutes at most. We do not feel the need to have an SRO for any reason on campus full time, we haven't even discussed it as far as I recall. We have not ignored the ugly specter of school shootings. We have defensive measures and regularly practice responses as well as consult with local and county police.

Mercer County makes a big deal of pointing out that their resolution leaves the choice up to local school boards. They aren't forcing anyone to vote for concealed carry in their school district. This is true, but it is also forcing us to bring a politically charged question into our schools for no good reason.

Their are two things I am firm in my beliefs about. First, any guns in our local schools would increase danger to our students. Their aren't studies on gun violence that really tell us what is the best thing to do, but one thing that is conclusively true is that more people are harmed or die from their own guns than by stranger's guns.

"Those people that die from accidental shooting were more than three times as likely to have had a firearm in their home as those in the control group."

The second is that people who want to argue about guns do so out of emotion instead of logic. There is little or no good data that shows having a concealed weapon in a school would do anything to prevent or mitigate the danger of school shootings, but there is strong evidence that having more guns in schools would make it more dangerous for students.

The Secret Service did write a report on Enhancing School Safety. Not once did they suggest that staff members carry weapons, even if they were trained to do so. Instead most of the report detailed creating a safe school environment where students felt safe to talk if they felt violent, or if they thought someone else might be a danger and then getting them appropriate help.

I cannot get into the heads of the people in Mercer County who are proposing this resolution, but in my experience most of the time arguments are put forth in an attempt to force change in areas outside of local needs. If Mercer County felt their district really needed this then they would have focused their efforts on making it possible to make changes in their own local school district (such as adding the change I suggested above). They also could have done like Peoria did in resolution 4. They proposed a resolution to fund a school district police force. A resolution that would be controversial in many districts. Yet, their resolution is worded such that is basically only affects Peoria.

I may be wrong, but I have evidence to back up my reasoning. First when this resolution was presented a year ago there was a huge and contentious debate that included protestors and TV cameras. So they knew they were going to face resistance this year. They even made a big deal of pointing out that they aren't forcing local school district to have votes, just giving them the ability. Second, they didn't even attempt to find data that shows that this resolution will do anything except make it more dangerous to go to school.

My conclusion, and this is my own conclusions not part of anything else, is that this resolution's purpose is to force school districts in Illinois to argue 2nd amendment rights on the school board. A very inappropriate place to have this discussion.

This also scares me a lot. It isn't hard for a couple of committed issue based people to get elected on a school board. It usually takes just a few dozen signatures to get on the ballot and only a few hundred votes to be elected. And these are elections most people don't take notice of until too late. Think about that for a second. Four people in your area who believe guns belong in school could easily get elected and not only force the discussion, but they would be a majority and would win the vote. Would this be the in the best interests of students?

The Big Test

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 15:45:00 +0000

Not my test the students took a test. We covered area, surface area, and volume or everything we focused on during first quarter. Oh my was that difficult. I called 16 of 62 parents, these were not the only failing grades these were the tests with nothing. Like what did we do for the last 10 weeks because they had no idea. 26% of my students seemed to have no idea what we did for the entire first quarter of math class. On the flip side only 21% passed. 79% of my students could not pass a 7th grade math test after spending an entire quarter learning and 3 days reviewing.

Through my disappointment it occurred to me that if this many students failed maybe something else is wrong. Could I be failing as a teacher? Probably, I'm mediocre at best.

All my innovative thoughts of differentiating down to the level of my students and building from what they know to what they need to learn just failed miserably.

Did they just freeze on the test? Were the questions too complicated? Did they not know the material?

Maybe a combination of all three depending on the student.

I am sure there are a few students who just don't know the material.

Of the 17 students who failed at 25% (minimum score even for blank tests) there were 67 missed days of school. Average of about 4, with a minimum of 0 and maximum of 20. Take out the outliers (16 and 20) and we still have an average of 2 missed days of school. Remember this is just the first quarter. These students are on a pace to miss 8 days of school and they are in serious danger of failing math already. Students who passed the test had a total of 15 missed days of school. An average of 1 day.

The average MAP score of a student who scored 25% (the minimum) was 198.5. Equivalent to about 3rd or 4th grade math.

So now I don't feel so bad.

The average MAP score for all students is 211. This is saying the average student in my class tests a the equivalent of 5th grade in math. The average grade on the test was 43%. When they take a 7th grade level math test is it so surprising that they score below a 50%?

Of the 13 students who passed the average MAP score was 223 which is equivalent to 7th grade math. Their average test score was 71%.

For the rest of the class (those with a grade of greater than 25% and less than 60%) the average MAP was 206, average grade equivalence between 4th and 5th grade. Their test average was 46%.

So did students know the material? If they missed a lot of school and had a 3rd or 4th grade math equivalency (often still struggling with multiplication tables) then they did basically nothing on the test. If they were 2 or 3 grade levels below 7th grade they scored an average of 46%, still failing, but almost double the lowest students. Students who were at or above grade level 60% passed the test (Only 4 with MAP score below 7th grade passed the test). The other 13 who passed were at or above grade level. Grade level for 7th grade is 223 to 226 a small range and only 2 students are actually in that range. Six of 15 students with a MAP score at or above 7th grade level failed the test. Average MAP for those students was 228. Of those six there were 11 missed days of school or almost 2 each. Almost double the average absences of students who passed. The class average for missed days was 2.6 or 2.2 with the outliers (16 and 20) removed.

My conclusion, if students were close to grade level, did not miss too many days of school, they had a decent shot at passing this test. This is not good enough for a "failing" school of course.

Now was the test too complicated? This is where I can make the most improvement. We spent the bulk of our classroom time working area of shapes and very little time working word problems. Most of the problems on the test were word problems. Two of them were asking students to use area or volume formulas as a means to solve a logical problem. These are depth of knowledge 3 (DOK 3) problems, they ask students to solve a multi-step problem of which one of the steps requires the skills learned in the unit and they other steps use logic and skills learned previously. We did do a few of these DOK 3 problems in class, we just didn't do many. When we did do them we were rushed to finish and didn't really have time to think about them.

I know why we didn't spend enough time on the more complicated problems, I felt my students didn't have a strong enough grasp of the fundamentals so we never moved past them. I can't do anything about the low MAP scores, but I can introduce more complex problems earlier and more often.

As a final note, I always give my students the opportunity to make corrections on any test. They must not only provide the right answer, but also an explanation of what they did wrong or what and why they did their specific calculations on each step. (I still have trouble explaining this to my students. I feel if they could understand this better they would do better overall. My latest attempt is this graphic organizer). Anyway, during at least the first period I overheard a several great math conversations about what went wrong and how to make it right. The other 3 periods are all afternoon and tend to be less enthusiastic about math. There were pockets of great math work, but also pockets of students who did their best to avoid math.

Wait the quarter ended already? I'm not ready.

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 23:25:00 +0000

I spent all week telling students that the quarter ended on Friday and if they want to change their grade they had to turn in work on Friday. Still at least three students asked if they could turn in work today.

I did have a big pile of work to review on Friday. Much of it was not good enough to make much of an impact on their grades. I try to use grades as a measure of student knowledge. Instead of making 25 packets of missing work, most of which will be thrown out, lost, or scribbled on and then deal with students demanding to know why their grade hasn't gone up because they "did the work", I make a review test of sorts. I offered it on Wednesday for students to take it home and prove that they know and understand the concepts I taught. Every single question included a second question asking how did you solve this question. Then I gave everyone the opportunity to work on it in class on Friday.

This test could take anyone from an F to an A depending on the quality of the work. I encouraged students to Google how to solve problems, I made videos and posted them on Youtube, Google Classroom, and a Google Web site. Still for the most part students did not finish the test and many of the problems answered were riddled with mistakes.

I spent 8 weeks on a topic that is scheduled to take 7 days in my grade level book. I spent weeks starting at 5th grade level attempting to build up background knowledge of multiplication and division, attempting to build fluency. I spent hours organizing and reorganizing my classroom to facilitate learning. I bought vertical whiteboards to allow students to work in temporary space and then share easily with the class. I gave students time everyday to work, independently and/or in groups. I gave homework everyday, mostly practicing basic skills. I spent time with various formative evaluations and used the data to help students. (observations, exit slips, practice problems that I took home and wrote individual notes for every student who turned in their work). I talked at least two students into coming to after school tutoring twice a week, once with me, once with the 8th grade math teacher. I spent so much time kneeling with small groups, and individuals to work together on a problem that I bruised my knees.

Did any grades change? A few, but mostly because I gave the benefit of the doubt.

I love teaching middle school.

Third Week in and I'm Already Behind

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 03:03:00 +0000

I meant to sit down Sunday and write, but well you know life happens.

So the new curriculum is really going well. We had our first common summative assessment last week. Most students did fairly well.

I know most 7th grade math curriculum starts with ratios and use that as a theme, because it leads nicely into expressions and equations which are the starting point for 8th grade. Then a lot of intervention focused curriculum usually start with number sense and then on to ratios. I wanted to start with area.

First of all most of the time students are short changed with area and statistics because they come at the end of the year and are most often left out because the teacher runs out of time.

More importantly I know from experience that I have a lot of students, sometimes up to 50%, who struggle with basic math facts. I wanted my students to spend a lot of time practicing those math facts to start the year.

There are also a ton of ancillary skills that come with multiplication with the area model.

For example. Decomposing composite shapes leads naturally into decomposition numbers. Which leads naturally into the distributive property. Which is a great way to work with multiplying fractions especially for those students who can never remember all the complicated rules.

In just five weeks we have touched on a ton of topics I rarely get to in the entire year. We had a great discussion of rational and irrational numbers. Usually I introduce this with circles and I did this time too, but we flowed into circles by relating them to rectangles. At the time the mantra was everything is related to rectangles. So when we watched the usual video on how a circle is cut into infinite pizza slices and fits together as a rectangle it was easy to see that hey maybe each of those slices still has a bit of a curve so maybe that is why pi is a never ending never repeating decimal. Boom irrational numbers explained in a way everyone understands.

Later while decomposing rectangles with mixed numbers into a whole number and a fraction and we stumbled on 1/3. We saw that this decimal ended up being a repeating decimal. And that sometimes it is actually easier to use fractions instead of decimals even though they don't have fractions on the calculator. (Surprise they do, but I haven't shown that trick yet). Usually students don't care about these funny decimals, but maybe this time they did.

Anyway there is a lot of stuff that just seems to flow so much easier with area. I'm glad we started with this focus. I'm excited tomorrow we get to introduce our first variable. Well see if it is as exciting for students.

Image from study.com

Week 4 Just About Halfway Through the First Quarter

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 00:06:00 +0000

Wow was I busy last week. I usually had time to stop at home and grab some dinner, but 30 minutes later I was out the door again and not home until at least 8:30. The weekend didn't bring any respite, we drove to Lisle for a marching band competition and picked up a dryer along the way. I was up until 11:30 catching up on laundry, then up again at 5:30 to clean the basement and backyard for a some up coming construction. I did finish by 3 so I could grade papers and go shopping which is good, at least I won't go hungry next week.

The problem with such a busy week it that I also had to spend hours on Sunday grading papers. I would rather return the work the day after with notes so we can integrate the feedback into lessons. Come Monday morning most of my students, and myself, will have forgotten what we did on individual days so looking at old papers is hard. You have to remember the assignment and think back to what you were thinking at the time and then try to make sense of the feedback. It really isn't an ideal situation.

I'm contemplating adjusting my schedule so we can review the work together. Or maybe just those students who haven't gotten the hang of it yet. So I just took the time to review my lesson plan for the week and it's like I was planning for this on Friday. Most of my students have the area idea down, not just for rectangles, but triangles, and circles as well. We started some fractional areas last week, it is a great way to explore multiplication of fractions and the distributive property. I think I will let some of my students work independently on those projects while I reteach students who still struggle with the basics. I had even made a list, just seconds before starting to write this blog post, of students who need one on one help so I'm ready to go. Just have to remember to make two different activities for tomorrow.

I think one more whole class exploration of fractional areas especially multiplying two fractions and we will be ready to go. In the middle of the week I am going to introduce a thought process graphical organizer. Then end the week with a summative quiz on finding area/multiplication. My only real worry is that I gave out a homework assignment with area problems, but it didn't use graph paper and quite a few of my students were completely confused. I'll have to make sure to review that homework before Friday.

I'm a bit proud of the problem solving worksheet, I'd love to have a bit of feedback on it.

Starting Over in 7th Grade

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 13:04:00 +0000

I've been in the education field for almost 20 years, but in the classroom only about 11. Five years ago I took a position as a 7th grade math teacher. For the first few yeas we had no curriculum and were expected to build everything from scratch.

Holy smokes starting a new grade after being out of the classroom for 7 years and creating everything from scratch is tough. Especially in a school/district renown for it's constant change. I thought, shoot if we could just get a decent curriculum we'd be great.

I should have been more specific. The school choose an opensource curriculum known for it's rigor. Personally I hate it. Not nearly enough concrete work. I struggled each day trying to get through the lesson and keep the students engaged, while they struggled to understand something speaking in a language they can barely understand.

So this year I went back to building my own curriculum, not completely from scratch. I will still use the content in places, but starting in a more relevant area for the students. I know many of my students struggle with basic math facts. I know 7th graders who aren't automatic with something as simple as 3 X 2 is crazy right? Well it happens. So we are starting with area. We are just practicing multiplication, but we don't realize we are practicing multiplication. Of course two weeks in and I still have students asking if they can count the boxes, but we are getting there.

In years past I would start homework with a couple of days of multiplication, then division, and fractions. Just to get the practice in and then homework was relevant practice to what we learned in the classroom. Not this year. Homework has been almost nothing but multiplication practice. Which has actually been good in that most of my students are returning homework everyday.

So everything is multiplication multiplication multiplication. I really thought we would move quicker through this, but I have a few students who are really struggling. I know this because starting with area, a skill 7th graders should have learned 2 years ago, allows me to work in groups and about half the students are able to work independently. Now my group work is actually starting to function and I can get to those struggling students and get to know them.

I've also changed my focus on group work. I've always wanted group work and quick presentations, but I've never been able to achieve that. So many students have refused to speak or discuss or risk an wrong answer. I started the year with a classroom saying,

"I give myself and others permission to make mistakes."

Then I reiterated on a daily basis that we would work in groups almost everyday and someone from each group would be expected to share what the group talked about and it couldn't be the same person everyday. Then we did it. At first with the start of school expectation lessons that lasted two weeks. then with math. It's actually worked. Students share and it's not always the same person. Though I've noticed it slowing down in the last week so time for a reminder. My focus switched from making sure students have mastered this new skill in math to making sure students are comfortable sharing with the class.

The school also bought me a couple of vertical non-permenent writing surfaces, whiteboard easels. This combined with the familiar work means students are happy to take risks and write stuff on the boards in full view of the entire class. Then they share because everyone can already see what they wrote. Plus they have looked around the room and maybe changed an answer a time or two, or their answer matches a few other answers, even if they aren't 100% perfect.

The year is starting better than before, but 4 weeks in I see I am started to get caught up in the usual drama and its time for a restart. Mostly what is happening is a few students who enjoy drama are starting to feel comfortable and are attempting to derail the classroom. They don't really do it on purpose because they want to mess up my teaching, they tend to do it because they need to slow down learning, or call attention, or some other need. It is time for me to regroup and stop falling into these traps. Now I just have to figure out the best way to do that.

If you have suggestions I'm open. I know I can write a few behavior contracts, but in my experience many of these students will break them before the ink is dry because they know I'm not really organized enough to be consistent and calling them out for minor transgressions. I can write referrals and send them to the assistant principal, but that takes away my power in the classroom. I need something that allows me to teach and not be a constant behavior guard, and also helps some of these students learn to monitor themselves. Anyhow whatever suggestions you have are much appreciated.

Data from Illinois Report Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 10:56:00 +0000

All data from https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/
All data specifically 7th grade math in 2018.

If you are a 7th graders in Illinois and you are low income, you are probably not successful in school. There are only two 7th grade classes with more than 50% poverty above the 50 percentile on PARCC in the whole state.

What can we do about this?

This is schools so if your school has more than about 10% of students chronically truant, your school is in the bottom have of proficiency.

How do we fix this?

Having an all white school is not a guarantee of proficiency, The best school in the state is only 40% white.

At actually looks as if as schools pass the 90% white percentage they start falling. Of course the schools that are less than 20% white are all below the 50th percentile. I wonder if they correlate to the high poverty threshold? My point here is that diversity is a strength, I don't know why I feel it necessary to explicitly say that.

Schools with high rates of mobility (students moving in and out of district) perform worse on the PARCC test.

At about 10% it looks like all schools are below the 50th percentile.
Would helping people find and keep housing over the years help improve grades?

My Week in Tech Integration – Formative Assessment

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 23:06:00 +0000

Classroom Action Several teachers have been using http://bit.ly/1IaPjRX during RTI. A great way to get that math practice in while working with a small group. All of these researched based help usually say something like students who put in 75 minutes a day have shown improvement in math. Well if you practice 75 minutes a … Continue reading

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I Am Not A Twit

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:34:00 +0000

Originally posted on my work blog http://techintegrationblog.blogspot.com/

Some basic resources for effectively using twitter as a teacher.

http://twitter.pbworks.com/w/page/1779796/FrontPage
A wiki to introduce people to twitter. Yes, you can tweet all about your boring breakfast (and worse) but if you would also like to get past that you can.

http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/w/page/22554534/FrontPage
A wiki specifically for teachers to learn about using twitter in education.

The real question is:

Why would I bother using twitter as a teacher?

It does make one wonder. This Internet time suck used by celebrities and sports stars, how can it possibly be an effective tool for a serious endeavour like teaching?

That is the beauty of twitter, you make of it what you want or need. Twitter, along with many other similar social media sites (Google +, Facebook, “yes, facebook”, pinterest, scoop it, etc...), has the ability to connect like minded people. Imagine if you will the teachers lounge, except the other teachers don’t know your students. All they can do is respond to questions with best practice advice, what I did in similar situation, what worked for me.

Twitter in this case has suddenly become what they call a Professional Learning Network as described in “The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age” by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall.

Professional Learning Networks are about individuals gathering information and sharing resources that enhance their personal and professional learning.

That’s great if I want to spend my evenings with teacher talk. Is it possible to be a bit more formal with our professional development?

As a personal learning resource use one of the links up top to find thousands of quality teachers to follow then check in once a day to see if there is anything interesting. Of course going through thousands of tweets is time consuming. We can sort through all of that by getting out daily twitter paper delivered right to our laptop.

http://paper.li/dendari
Paper.li collects all the links and articles referenced in my twitter stream and organizes them in a newspaper format based on how often they were tweeted out.

Still that isn’t formal learning. It isn’t professional development.

Social media is about connecting like minded people. Twitter and other media are great places to begin, to get ideas, but they are also great places to meet and connect while working as a more formal group. Below are a list of great weekly teacher meetings held on twitter.

General chates

#ntchat - New teacher chat - learn or mentor - http://newteacherchat.wikispaces.com/

#edchat - The grandaddy of them all a general education chat - http://edchat.pbworks.com/w/page/219908/FrontPage

#ptchat - parent teacher chat - http://efacetoday.blogspot.com/p/eface-chats.html

#cpchat - connected principal chat - http://cpchat.org/

#spedchat - Special Education chat - https://spedchat.wikispaces.com/

Subjects

#sschat - Social Studies -http://sschat.ning.com/

#engchat - English - http://www.engchat.org/

#musiced - Music

#mathchat - Math - http://mathschat.wikispaces.com/

#scichat -Science

There are hundreds more find and learn about them here

http://www.cybraryman.com/edhashtags.html

Spending an hour once a week chatting on twitter doesn’t seem too big of a deal at first, but then again when it becomes a requirement it can be a big deal. Imagine this scenario though: This weeks #mathchat is "Is mathematics more important than numeracy?" this would be a great topic for elementary teachers to discuss. We decide to discuss it as part of our regular professional development in school.

A professional learning community, again defined by Beach and Hall.

Professional Learning Communities are traditional school-based structures in which staff--both teachers and administrators--learn together with the goal of improving student achievement.

A teacher(s) or principal could participate in the #mathchat (held at noon or 7PM) then during regular team meeting times a discussion could be held. If nobody can make the chat, or even if they did, the archive can be distributed to the team and a discussion can be based on that. http://mathschat.wikispaces.com/Archive+of+mathchat

Discussions are held, teaching practices are modified or strengthened, and the school as a whole is improved.

So there you have it, two, of many, ways twitter can and does provide professional development for teachers. There are more, many more ways networking through twitter and social media can be a catalyst for growth in our personal and professional lives. I can directly connect my twitter use to a graduate school program, CPDU opportunities, and and even a few job opportunities. In the end though twiiter is what you make of it, good or bad.

Competing Philosophies of Education

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:09:00 +0000

Perhaps this is just my view, but it looks like education is slowly inexorably changing and we have two choices competing for the dominant theory of what constitutes a quality education.

TECHNOLOGY BECOMES THE TEACHER

This is a nice model for the business community, because, eventually, the costs will drop. The basic premise is that if we design adaptive software students can sit in front of a computer all day and just follow the learning program. Costs will be limited to the hardware (less than $1,000), software, ($5 per student), and a person to monitor students (minimum wage). $45,000 for a class of 30, or $1500 per student, $65,000 for a class of 60 or $1,100 per student. Or about 10% or less of the cost to teach a student now.

TEACHERS AS MENTOR / FACILITATOR.

Instead of the presenters of knowledge teachers become the facilitators of knowledge. Experts in their craft who guide students through individualized learning experiences.

Teachers of young children focus more on learning milestones and owning the skills that are the building blocks of different subjects.
Middle school teachers focus more on developing burgeoning critical thinking skills.
High school teachers give students a wide latitude in finding, creating, and solving problems that are central to learning standards.

Students use technology to explore, question, collaborate, practice, and create.

Which system of education seems better to you? Why?
If you had the choice which school would you enroll your children?

The Best Teacher

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 13:24:00 +0000

I've read a several times in different articles this week the author saying something to the effect of If a student can learn from the best teachers then why shouldn't they?

This is a great sentiment, but I find the underlying assumption being that the idea of a great teacher is a person who wrote a great book, made a great discovery, presents a great lecture.

I think they are missing the point. Teachers don't present the material so much as they set up the learning environment. Teachers facilitate learning.

Sure it could be a lecture, or a presentation, or a power point-keynote, whatever. On the other hand it could be a project, or following a misconception all the way to it's end.

Teaching is more than filling the empty vessels, it is igniting the fire.

"For the mind does not require filling like a bottle, but rather, like wood, it only requires kindling to create in it an impulse to think independently and an ardent desire for the truth."
Moralia, On Listening to Lectures 48C (LCL 1.256-259)

Teachers respond to students questions, follow tangents, and allow the student to determine the direction of the class.

On the other hand we can just lock children in the classroom turn on the TV and let them be educated.

Master Learners

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:02:00 +0000

Master Learners, a photo by Clint Hamada on Flickr.

Dont Give Up

noreply@blogger.com (Brendan Murphy) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 02:15:00 +0000

So I get this in the mail the other day.

Dear Friend:

Today, we are excited to announce that more than 1,700 schools will plan and hold events during National School Choice Week 2013 (January 27-February 2, 2013). Please check out our press release below.

National School Choice Week 2013 is going to break all records — so please help spread the word on social media about our big news today! If you're on Twitter, be sure to retweet this tweet. I know many of you are on Facebook too, so please like this post. You can also check out our new video.

Now is the time to start thinking about how you will participate in National School Choice Week 2013 — and we're excited to have you celebrate with us.

Best,

Andrew

And I think to myself. What do they mean by school choice, don't they really mean I give up?

Our public schools are what we make it. We vote the school board in and we sit on our butts and watch Tuesday night TV while school boards decide what to do with our money. We didn't care as our schools went down the tubes. And don’t let me hear any excuses like my kids weren’t in school then or I didn’t live here then. We all live in a school district.

Oh, but this doesn't include school districts like Chicago and New York. They were taken over years ago by mayors who ran their little dictatorships right into the ground.

Nope this isn't school choice this is giving up on our local, community school.

Please oh please let me give my tax dollars to some "For profit" education company. I want them to cut costs so my tax dollars can actually fund some rich man's yacht. While my kids continue to get a sub-par education.