September 7

Happy Surprises from “You, You all, We” in the Classroom

I wrote earlier in my blog about an article I had read on “Why Americans Stink at Math” by the New York Times (you can read both the post and the article by following the blog roll to the right) and how it just may have revolutionized how I teach.  Well, I’ve been continuing to use this method and I’ve stumbled upon some happy surprises. Here are a few:

Everyone’s engaged.  Yep!  Everyone!  I ask students to work individually on each problem and I walk around.  This frees me up to see who is staring into space–which rarely happens. Most students have some ideas about where to start.  They also want to be ready to share something with their partner when we switch to “You all.”  It’s amazing!  If students are stuck, I’m freed up to ask them questions about the problem that might trigger a thought.  From my Honors Pre-Calculus class to my average Geometry class–it seems to put everyone to work.  During the “You All” talk time, students seem to all be talking to each other ABOUT MATH.  Awesome!

Problematic thinking is head off early.  Because students generate the ideas, the most common misconceptions quickly come to light during our “We” discussion.  We are able to discuss each of them and why the idea might not work.  In addition we tackle, as a group, the points where students get “stuck” and identify why it is a difficulty.  At that point, we generate ideas to respond to the difficulty until every student is satisfied with the solution.

I facilitate, they solve.  By the time we finally get to the “We” discussion, I am able to direct the discussion so that students alone are able to (1) solve the problem and satisfy student curiosity about the problem  and (2) flesh out all the faulty thinking and “stuck” points.

Obviously, I’m sold.  The one down side is that each problem takes longer.  As a result,  I’m trying to find the perfect problems that generate the discussion I want.  I end up doing about 3-4 examples only.  In the past I would have done 5-7, but I don’t think I had the engagement or understanding I am getting now.  It’s a trade off–one that I’m convinced I should take.

Have you tried it?  What do you think?

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August 21

“You, You all, We”

I have to tell you–light bulbs are going off here!  My mantra for math instruction this year is “You, You all, We” and I’m amazed at the response from students.  It’s absolutely fabulous!  It’s amazing how many years of mathematical knowledge is inside those minds–yet, for many years, I approached my lessons as though they’ve never seen the concepts before (i.e. right triangles, Pythagorean Theorem, radicals, slopes).

For years I’ve followed the “Me, You all, You” mentality.  By that, I mean I would model for students the appropriate technique (Me), have them practice with a partner or a group (You all), and then expect them to perform the skill on an exit ticket (You).  While I’m still entirely a fan of exit tickets, I do think my philosophy of instruction may have yielded to a great paradigm shift.

It’s not that I haven’t take advantage of Professional Development–I have!  I’ve gotten a masters degree in Teaching and Leadership, went to many conferences, but it is all coming together for me after I read this recent article about “Why American’s Stink at Math” in the New York Times. That simple phrase “You, You all, We” connected some of the pedagogical dots between my training in problem based learning (PBL), STEM and courses on collaboration and engagement.

The past two days I’ve posed difficult problems, knowing (okay, hoping) that there was some foundation my students could draw from.  They amazed me!  I gave them 1-2 minutes to work on the problem individually (You).  I told them it was okay if they weren’t able to solve the problem, but to draw as many conclusions as they possibly could (for example, I asked them to write the equation for the perpendicular bisector given two endpoints–they could perhaps find the slope of the line, or find the midpoint, etc).  Then, they were to spend 2-3 minutes sharing with their partners what they concluded (You all).  I was thrilled at how quickly they engaged (even though it has only been days 1 and 2!).   When the conversation seemed to die down, I brought their attention to the board and asked students to share what they could about the problem (We).  In the end, I did very little more than facilitate.  It was fabulous!  The fact the some students were able to solve portions of the problem, but were stumped on others, highly motivated them to listen to the solution.

In year 10 of teaching–I think I’m finally connecting the dots–“You, You all, We.”  That’s all it took!

Hope you are all having a great start to your year!  So pumped to make this my #bestyearever!

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