Teaching or Testing?

Recently I went to see Margaret Kilgo speak, as I have many times before. She's a very smart lady and has truly figured out the connection between our standards and how the test writers must write assessment questions based on what they say--verb, concept, and context. However, add our process standards into the equation and it becomes a little more complicated.

Every time I hear her speak, I am reminded of important things that must be implemented instructionally, but I also feel the work we've done in our district is validated because we are doing many of the things in her research model.

Margaret Kilgo says, "No multiple choice practice." Why, you ask? She says multiple choice is testing, not teaching.  I agree with her. We cannot know what our students understand about a concept simply by looking at the answer they chose. We need to see evidence of their thinking to help them. Giving students open-ended problems to solve forces them to show what they know, even if that is they don't even know where to start.

The student tasks that a teacher plans should directly connect to the verb in the SE. If the verb is describe, then student task should have them describing. If the verb is identify or solve, then that's what the students should be doing in the task. But, wait. Here's where those pesky process skills come into play. Students have to use tools, representations, make connections, use a problem solving process to solve problems, and justify their thinking among other things.  They have to be doing that on a daily basis to be able to do it when test day comes.

Students don't magically connect the task they did with the way it's tested on the test. We, as teachers, have to explicitly help them connect the task to how it will be tested. There is a place for multiple choice in helping them connect task to testing, but that should be after they have demonstrated understanding and can show and tell what they know.

New Year's Resolution?

Most people make new year's resolutions in December as the year comes to end and a new one begins.  Having an August birthday which coincides with the beginning of a new school year makes it a natural time for me to reflect, both personally and professionally, on what I've accomplished and what my goals are for the coming year. When I was a classroom teacher, I threw a "Happy New School Year!" party complete with hats, noise makers, a cake, etc. to set the stage for establishing learning goals for the year.

This is will be my 23rd year as an educator and when I think about all the things that have changed in that time, technology is the most significant change. My last blog post was about my experience attending TCEA, which was amazing! It opened my eyes to the ways educators and students are using technology to connect, reflect, and learn on a daily basis. I just thought I was "techie", but TCEA definitely burst my bubble.

When I returned from TCEA, my goal was to utilize technology to be more productive in my job and provide support for teachers using technology. Here's what I've accomplished since February.

1. I love Twitter! I've participated in Tweet Chats and connected with educators across the country to expand my PLN. Twitter is a quick way for me to find information, articles, etc. on topics I am interested in currently. The trick to Twitter is that you have to know who to follow. 
2. I learned how to use a Swivl. The possibilities are endless for how we can use a Swivl to capture instruction, students explaining their thinking, model lessons, etc. I recorded some students playing a math game and explaining how to play so new teachers to the district can watch the video to learn how to play the game. 
3. Time for teachers is valuable and I frequently meet with teachers to plan. In an effort to maximize our planning time, I created a planning guide for my 5th grade teachers and used Movenote to create a video explaining the planning guide so they could view it before we met.
4. I discovered Pocket, which I love because it allows me to save things I find on the web, Twitter, Facebook, etc. to one place. Currently, our district is focusing on #growthmindset so I've been saving everything I can find from different sources. 

If you know anything about the state of things in Math in Texas this past year, then you know I had a busy year last year. In reflecting on the ISTE standards and how I'm implementing them, I realized I'm doing a better job at implementing some than others. I think my quest to better utilize technology was a good start but here's my list of "new year's resolutions" for this year.

• Last summer when CAMT was in Ft. Worth, several of my teachers met Kim Sutton. To them, she's a celebrity. She offered to Skype with some of them, but none of them took her up on it. We're doing that this year! Google Hangouts are something I want to learn to better utilize. 
• The possibilities with Swivl are endless! I want to utilize the Swivl to capture number talks so we have our own "vault" of videos to view and learn from one another. I want to capture teachers teaching problem solving and student dialogue. 
• As an educator with a #growthmindset, I have to continue to model the use of technology for teachers who will in turn utilize it with their students. Our 5th grade students will have iPads this year and our 6th through 12th grade students have netbooks so there are a plethora of opportunities for me to help teachers with technology integration through planning and delivery of instruction.   

Over the years, it's been my experience that I am better at keeping my new year's resolutions if I tell my friends about them. Someone please check in with me and ask for an update! Happy New School Year!

Twitter and Google Hangouts and Swivl Oh My!

This week I went to Austin for #TCEA15 and my first thought was, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz,"Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore!".  Although we've spent the last two summers as a leadership team focusing on acquiring technology skills, this week was like a big picture that suddenly came into sharp focus for me. I saw how others are using technology in innovative ways, not only with students but also for delivery of professional development.

My boss, Dr. Laina McDonald, gave me some really good advice for choosing sessions at TCEA--choose a focus for learning and attend sessions that fulfill that purpose. My purpose was to find ways to capture information and connect with my teachers without always having to be face to face. Google Hangout is going to help me do that. I can be with a group of teachers and do a Google Hangout so teachers from another campus can join in. I can record the session so those who can't attend can view it later. 

I went to all three of Todd Nesloney's (@TechNinjaTodd on Twitter) sessions and was so inspired to reach out to other professionals across the country and world to learn via Twitter and Google Hangouts. He says, "If you don't know something, Google it! We are in 2015. You can no longer claim ignorance, just defiance." Wow! Such a true statement! In fact, during one of his sessions I learned about how he and his instructional specialist use a Swivl with their teachers to improve teaching and learning. I tweeted about it and one of our instructional specialists tweeted me back and asked, "What's a Swivl?" My response was, "Google it!" 

Speaking of Swivl, I can't wait to get ours and start using it in the classrooms. The things I can capture with that are endless! Our teachers are kids are going to love it!. Not too long ago I told a 2nd grade classroom that I needed them to practice up on their number combination center activities so I could record them doing them and explaining them. I told them they'd be famous! Mrs. Wilson's class will be my first Swivl project. When we have new teachers who need to learn the activities, they can access the videos. 

Twitter...yes, I joined Twitter almost three years ago, but this week I learned its true value and how it could be a constant stream of information and inspiration for me as an educator, a math director, and a leader. Tonight, I watched/listened to my first @EduAllStars podcast and loved it! So inspiring!

Google....now there's something that could take a while to conquer. Google Hangouts, Google add-ons, Google Classroom...I can't wait to learn about it all and I'll be sharing more about it as I do. Even today as I was trying to figure out how to save stuff to my Google Drive, I googled it! 

Multiplication Madness

The TEKS say third graders should know their multiplication facts through 10 x 10 and fourth graders through 12 x 12. We are devoting forty minutes per day to developing fluency with multiplication facts in grades 3-5. Why? Students will use the facts to solve larger multiplication problems, in division, simplifying fractions, factoring numbers to find the greatest common factor, measurement conversions, and the list goes on and on.  Fluency is not just speed, it is having an efficient and accurate strategy, but it is also having flexibility in thinking.

For ten minutes daily, students focus on learning and practicing a set of facts. The teachers do various activities over a two week period to help students focus on the set of facts. In the video below, a fifth grade class is doing a Kim Sutton activity we call the Groups Of game. Each student has a game board they fill in with the products of the set of facts they are learning. For example, if they are learning the multiples of 7, they fill in their game board with all the multiples of 7.  The teacher uses the random number CD which calls out a number. The student then multiplies the number called by the number they are working on. For example, if they are working on 7's and the number called is 8, they would multiply 7 x 8 to get 56. If they have 56 on their game board, they cover it up. The first one to cover up all the products on their game board wins. The video shows a fifth grade class doing this activity. 

During independent learning time, students work independently or with a partner to practice facts by playing games, logging on to XtraMath, using iPad apps, etc.  Periodically students take a timed test to assess what they know and if they need continued practice or are ready to move on to another set of facts. 

We are tracking student progress and in May, we will have our first grade level, campus level, and district-wide Multiplication Bee. I can't wait to see how all the "time" we've put into learning our "times facts" pays off! 

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Being a Wise Consumer

In this district, we do not cross multiply to compare fractions, we do not invert and multiply when dividing fractions, and the alligator does not eat the bigger number. I also discourage counting on fingers. We want kids thinking about and making sense of mathematics, not using "tricks". 

Last week, I attended CAMT (Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching) and learned about some of the latest and greatest things in the world of teaching and learning mathematics. One of my colleagues told me about a session she attended where the presenter shared strategies for teaching multiplication. As I listened to her I was discouraged because some of the strategies that were shared were "tricks".

Pinterest is a great tool! I find so many useful ideas for teaching and learning there. In fact, I created math boards for grade levels and concepts and invited my teachers to pin to them as well, but not everything on Pinterest is good.  There are many tricks and a lot of "fluff". Teachers Pay Teachers is awesome and it has made some teachers millionaires, but unfortunately not everything found there is good for teaching and learning. 

Not everything out there is going to be aligned to the intent of our standards in Texas, nor is it best practice. We as educators have to be a wise consumer and choose things that will challenge students to think and help them make sense of mathematics. We have to think not just about what will help students in the moment but instead what will help them truly understand and also be ready to make connections to future learning. 

Discovering Opportunities for School and Community Partnerships

Our district leadership team has been engaged in digital leadership training for over a year now. Recently, we began reading Eric Sheninger's Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times.  Chapter 11 is about the importance of developing partnerships that enhance the mission and goals of the district and campuses. This week I attended CAMT, Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching, with over thirty of the teachers in the district where Kim Sutton was one of the presenters. We use many of her resources with our students and to the teachers, she's famous! I was so happy to make their day and introduce them to Kim, a truly brilliant mathematical thinker and a great mathematician. They took pictures with her, tweeted them, and posted them on Facebook. The most exciting part is Kim offered to Skype with their classes and do activities, discussions, etc. this year. We are so excited about this "partnership"!

Becoming A Transformative Digital Age Leader

According to Wikipedia, transformational leadership "enhances the motivation, morale, and job performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. These include connecting the follower's sense of identity and self to the project and the collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them and makes them interested; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with tasks that enhance their performance."  All of this applies to being a transformative digital age leader as well.

The ISTE Standards for Administrators outline five areas of skills needed to "support digital age learning, implement technology, and transform the education landscape".  As I read and rated myself on each skill in the five areas, I realized that although I have some strengths, I have not implemented many of the skills to a level that will affect change in my district. Also, there are many skills that our technology department has focused on, especially in the area of Digital Citizenship, that I need to involve myself in modeling to affect change. Although I rated myself a 3 on many of the skills because feel confident in the skill, I have not yet modeled or utilized the skill to a level that has transformed educational landscape in the district.

Although I feel light years ahead of where I was a year ago in becoming a digital age leader, I need to continue to model effective ways to integrate technology into my work on a daily basis, including professional development and planning, so teachers will be inspired to do the same in their classrooms with their students. Becoming a part of a larger conversation by accessing other leaders and resources through Twitter and blogging will also inspire and influence my journey. Being the change I want to see is the key to transforming the teaching and learning in the district.