How Do You Prioritize?

The standards outnumber the hours in a day and the stamina and energy of many students. The standards serve as guiding principles while good education demands a balanced approach that both engages and empowers students.

The standards continue to be a daunting algorithm for educators, not unlike the life algorithm in today's world - a world infused with seemingly infinite knowledge, choices and possibilities. How do educators navigate this complex arena?

The answer lies in patterns, prioritizing and focus.  It's the way we "walk the road" of schools and life that make the difference.  What are the essential ingredients?  How do you tackle each day?  What processes do you use to create vision, goals and priorities?

I suggest that the you identify the main ingredients of a successful endeavor, classroom, family, life.  Then create a pattern that includes essential ingredients. Be prepared to reflect, revise and revisit the vision, goals, priorities and pattern often.  Have a flexible attitude towards change which is the one aspect of life you can count on.  Seek out others online or in person to guide, support and challenge you on the way.  Make time for play and recreation which spark creativity and joy.

None of us can do it all, or be it all--there's too many things to do and people to be, but we can journey towards our best work and vision in kind and caring ways that bring light and make a positive difference.

Priorities become your pattern, and your pattern leads to your vision.

Classroom Teaching: A Balancing Act

Classroom teaching is a balancing act that requires continual reflection, prioritizing and revision.  It's great when the collaboration and balance work, and it's challenging when it doesn't.

Pacing is paramount--a too fast pace frustrates and hinders progress, while a too-slow pace dulls the process.

Focus is key--kindness, respect and care take center stage.  When that's forgotten, irreparable damage is done.

Coaching is essential--motivation, strategies, honesty and encouragement will move children along.

Teachers work tirelessly each and every day to create a balance that supports all children while meeting school, district, State and Federal guidelines.  It's a mighty task, and we need each other to do it well.

New Learning: Embrace!

New learning can be frightening especially when it's in your challenge area.  It's easy to point a finger at colleagues when they fear an area of new learning, but it's not so easy to recognize your own area of frightening new learning.  For me, it's the microsphere of instruction--the details related to good pedagogy. I can easily grasp the big picture, the new tech and multi-modal learning, but when it comes to the finer points, that's when I cower.

Hence, when our school system adopted the coaching model, I must say it fueled a waterfall of angst:  What will coaches have to say when they watch me teach and notice all the little details that I miss when it comes to instruction?  I can't be it all?  I know where my weaknesses are?  Do I have the time to finesse every single aspect of my teaching?  

Now, as the coach and I move down the coaching relationship road, I am embracing it step-by-step.  I know it's best for students if we work collaboratively, and I know there's always something to learn.  Hence, I'm slowly learning to navigate this new instructional path.

Today was yet another turning point in the journey.  The coach taught the lesson.  I asked him to teach after watching his last lesson and noticing many, many details of instruction that he implemented to better
students' access and learning.  Again today I noticed more details. Details that I want to better implement to develop my instructional repertoire.

The details of today's instruction included the following:

• Making Learning Safe: Friendly language and simple examples welcome students into the lesson.
• Explicit Instruction: Prior knowledge is not assumed.
• Wait Time:  Students are given the time to think and ponder.
• Specific Compliments: Model accurate language, strategy, behavior by pointing it out.
• Humor: Makes the lesson enjoyable.
• Setting Goals: Students are aware of where the lesson is going and what's expected.
• Storytelling: Makes the lesson "sticky" by adding an emotional, experiential connection.
• Blind Vote: Close your eyes, thumbs up if you understand, to the side if you kind-of understand and down if you don't understand.
• Mapping the Path:  Creating a strategy path with students to complete the task.

I have said it before and I'll say it many times again, teaching is an endless path of discovery and understanding.  No teacher ever reaches the point of all-knowing in education--it's an endless evolution of growth and development to best serve students.  The best reaction is to embrace a path of discovery and evolution that's part of your overall professional work.  As my father always says, "A little for today and a little for tomorrow."

Lesson Choreography

Most refer to it as a lesson plan, but it's much more complex than that.  It's not static, passive or unchanging, instead it's dynamic, ever changing and full of momentum.  Lesson intent does not equal lesson employed.  Why?  Because it involves people--thoughtful, active people with voice and response.

Particularly with respect to project base learning and a responsive approach, lesson plans become lesson choreography, and there's much to consider.

The first consideration is flow: the movement from introduction to activity to closure.  John Medina's presentation, Brain Rules for Presenters, suggests a ten-minute introduction as attention begins to drop dramatically after ten-minutes.  That's ten minutes to whet the learners' appetite, deliver instructions and answer questions.

The instruction list must be clearly written. If there's confusion with the "to do" list, the teacher will encounter unnecessary interruptions.  Rushing through that stage hinders the rest of the learning event.

Then there's placement in the classroom (the stage).  Young children do best when they have a good work space that includes distance from other groups, places to sit and work, and materials such as computers, easels, chart paper and more.  It's efficient to assign places, but choice lends itself to investment so that's an area for teachers to determine.

Routines and protocols for checking in are important too.  When and how should you question and check-in?  It might be good protocol to have students "ask three before me" which means ask their classmates before asking a teacher.  That builds collaboration and independence.

The edit process is similarly important.  Who should students edit with and when?  Also, where will the work be stored or showcased?  How will the work today inform future lessons and activities?  Students' closure routines will impact that.

When the lesson is well choreographed, dynamic learning occurs.  When the choreography is sloppy, frustration and missteps hinder potential.

I want to think more about lesson choreography.  After all, like parenting, teaching is a dance--a series of approximations as children reach deeper understanding and skill.

Do you have a better word for this process?  What are the essential steps you employ when designing a learning event?  As I think and analyze lessons more deeply, I look forward to your response.

Visual Literacy: Implications for Math Education

“Research has shown that visual learning theory is especially appropriate to the attainment of mathematics skills.” - Stuart Murphy

Lately I've been excited to learn more about the connections between visual literacy and learning particularly with respect to mathematics.

Again and again this year, I've read, heard and viewed discussions about the power of visual models when learning mathematics:

• I watched this Tedx video: "Teaching Without Words"
• Maureen Yoder explained the role of "hands-on observations . . . intuitions, conceptual thinking, and visual imagery" in Einstein's education as explained in Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson at the MassCue Conference.
• Steve Jobs relayed in his Stanford Commencement Speech how his experience studying calligraphy in college impacted his work at Apple.
• David Wees regularly questions, describes and blogs about the role of visual imagery in mathematics, and readily responds to educators' questions and needs.
• John Medina describes the role of visual imagery in his presentation, Brain Rules for Presenters noting that "vision trumps all other senses."
• At MassCUE, a research team from the University of Massachusetts presented 4Mality noting that children chose the visual coach most often when utilizing this web-based problem solving program.
• David Wedaman (@wedamen) sent me a link to another cognitive education site related to math which again emphasized visual literacy.

Then, this week while working on the Know Your Numbers Poster Project with my students, we came to a quandary when discussing factor pairs.  Often factor pairs are presented to elementary school students with a rainbow model:

, 

Yet the rainbow model misrepresents the relative distance between the factors. Is this important? What would a model look like that represents the relative distance.

As we discussed this with greater depth, we realized that the relative distance between factors for all composite numbers takes a similar shape?  Is this important?  

Over the weekend, I considered the models with greater depth, and wondered about the following questions.

1. Does a number line that only demonstrates factor pairs misrepresent the notion of what a factor pair represents: a number shown as the sum of equal groups?  Or is relative distance an important concept to convey?
2. Should I give more time and attention in the Number Posters project to exploring visual models by allowing students to play around with the many, many ways a number can be visually represented?
3. How will math instruction change and evolve given our current knowledge about the power of visual imagery?
4. Will teachers at every level begin to employ more and more visual models to efficiently and comprehensively relay the meaning of math concepts?

I decided to add more time to the project for visual model making. I played around with it myself so that I could model this activity for students.  This is what I came up with for 12.

I noted while making these models that this activity will strengthen students ability to grasp fractions, area and perimeter when we focus on those concepts.

Where will this exploration take us?  What are your thoughts with respect to integrating visual models into your math lessons?  How much time do you take to allow students to draw and explore math concepts with models?  In what ways will we bolster this aspect of mathematical understanding?

As an elementary school teacher, I am continually evolving my approach to instruction based on the latest research.  I look forward to your links, thoughts and ideas with respect to this investigation.  Thanks for your consideration.

Additional Visual Resources for Math:

• Animated math models 
• Scale link