Station Rotations in Math: One Month Update

On August 22 of this school year, Mrs. Allen and I began a new way of delivering math instruction to our 6th-Grade students at Pepper Tree Elementary.  First, we decided to treat the 29  students in each of our home rooms as one math class.  Second, we chose to open the divider between our adjoining rooms to create a large open area for learning.  Then rather than grouping students by performance level, we decided to group heterogeneously.   We wanted all students to help each other reach goals.  We wanted to decrease the idea that only a few students have the ability to succeed at math.  We believe that all students can and will acquire proficient math skills.  Finally, we settled on eight groups of 7-8 students in each group.  

Mrs. Allen would deliver the direct instruction to each group as they rotated to her.  The other groups we had designated were:  GO Math online work (2 different groups),  a group challenge station, an explore center, a prove it to me rotation, and then there were groups using Khan Academy and Prodigy.  I would like to give an update on challenges and successes we have seen over the first 19 days of school.

GO MATH ONLINE:    The information that Go Math online provides Mrs. Allen and me is useful.  We can see quickly which problem students are missing which allows us to talk about that the next morning before beginning our rotations for the day.  Also, the students are getting immediate feedback about how they are doing on a math question.  For instance, if a student answers a question incorrectly, they get a message saying Try Again.  If they miss again, the program shows them the correct answer and then allows them to try another question similar to the one they just missed.  At the end of online practice tests, the students get their results right away.  We are allowing the students to redo these practice tests up to 10 times.  One challenge has been that we are finding that not all students are completing the entire online assignment in a timely manner.  I will discuss modifications to our program at the end of the stations review.

GROUP CHALLENGE:  We set this station up as choose the challenge.  The students have the following activities to choose from:  KenKen puzzles, board game creation, tennis tournament design, and other math logic type problems.  We have been pleased with the collaboration in most of the groups.  One group has created a great game about absolute value.  Other groups have taken an interest in solving 3 x 3 and 4 x 4 KenKen puzzles.  They are working their way up to the more challenging 6 X 6 puzzles. There have been some challenges in this station as all students learn to listen and work together without being told directly by the teacher what they need to accomplish.  We do not mind this struggle as we feel it is important that all students learn to work together and produce results without constant adult guidance.

EXPLORE:  In this station, students are watching instructional videos that give real-world applications of the skills they are learning, or the videos are serving as introductory material for the math concepts they will be practicing or have been practicing.  These are links that we curated over the summer for each module with the addition of Edpuzzle videos that focus on specific concepts we want to reinforce for the students, such as Greatest Common Factor.

PROVE IT TO ME:  This station's purpose is to allow the students an alternative way of showing that they understand the standards taught.  Currently, each student is using Google Slides to demonstrate what they know about the standards in Unit 1.  There are 11 slides that the students will create using images, words, videos, etc. to explain the concepts.  We envision this expanding into a more creative station as the year progresses.  We would like to see students create books, videos, songs, newsletters, and so on to prove they've got it.  This group has been the most challenging because the students have never been asked to show their reasoning this way, and again they are waiting to be told what to do.

KHAN ACADEMY- We are using this station to reinforce Module skills.  For instance, in module 2 we are teaching the students the idea of Least Common Multiple and Greatest Common Factor.  We have used Khan to have students go to the 6th-grade math section of Khan to explore the videos and practice sets for Properties of Numbers.  Some students are having trouble demonstrating on task behavior for this center.  By that I mean let's say it is a 20-minute station.  We would expect the students to have 15 or more minutes recorded for that day.  We are finding some students have less than 10 minutes.  It makes us wonder what happened the other 10 minutes of the station.  It is our goal to reduce this off task behavior as the year goes on.  We like the fact that Khan gives us a daily report of activity, a report of students struggling with skills, a report of concepts mastered, and a report on skills that need to be practiced still.  It is one more source of data that Mrs. Allen and I can use to inform our instruction.

PRODIGY- The majority of students love playing this game.  We have set the skills the students will practice as they play for the week such as rational numbers, factors and multiples, and absolute value.  When they demonstrate a certain level of mastery, the game offers questions in other areas.

MRS. ALLEN- This center is for the students to receive direct instruction on the various math lessons.  The students take notes in their math journals as Mrs. Allen demonstrates and explains the concepts.  This station just reinforces the value of direct face to face instruction with a small number of students. 

After reflecting on successes and challenges over the first 19 days, Mrs. Allen and I have come to the conclusion that eight stations were just a little too many at this time.  Therefore, we have opted to go with six groups of 9-10 students.  We would want students to have more time with Go Math problem solving.  With that in mind, we have eliminated Prodigy as a regular station at this time.  The students will be allowed to choose this activity upon completion of Go Math activities and completion of other station expectations.  Also, we have suspended the use of the Explore rotation at this time.  We will add some of these videos to our morning video routine.

I have to say I am pleased with how the math program is shaping up.  I am enjoying working more directly with Mrs. Allen to help our students.  We meet every day after school to discuss daily progress and to make plans for the next day.  I should note that we are allowing the computer programs to grade all math work whether it be a Google form assessment, a Go Math online lesson, Prodigy, or Khan.  Without having to grade daily math assignments, this is allowing us more time to consider the needs of each student daily. 

Homework: The Elephant in the Middle of Elementary School

17+ years of giving homework. That works out to about 2,500 days of disappointment that 100% of my students did not turn in homework assignments. I'm sure there are a variety of reasons for why these students didn’t complete their homework such as I didn't understand the directions, I was busy taking care of my younger sibling, I had a game, a dance recital, music lessons, and so on and so on.

A more important question I’ve come to ask myself lately is why I have been assigning homework? The answer, if I am honest, is because I'm a teacher and isn't giving homework expected? I’ve reasoned with myself that I have to teach the students to be responsible, allow them time to do extra practice, and I should help prepare my students for the next grade level's workload.  However, when I examine these reasons, I’m not sure they stand up to scrutiny.  Let's look at each of those reasons in more detail.

First, homework teaches responsibility. After 17 years I have come to the conclusion that doing homework does not teach a student to be more responsible than any other activity they could do outside of school. In fact, I would argue that playing a sport, learning to play an instrument, being in children's theater, or following through with household chores teaches a child just as much if not more responsibility than completing homework.  Being a member of a sports team encourages an individual to be responsible to teammates, coaches, and themselves. It is an athlete's responsibility to follow the coach's directions to improve their ability. It is the athlete's responsibility to put in extra time practicing skills they need to improve on to become a better player. Also, athlete's learn time management because they are expected to be at practice and games at a designated time.

Secondly, homework allows for extra practice to improve skills. Of all the reasons for giving homework, I would agree with this the most. However, what I have learned is that not all students have the opportunity to receive adequate assistance or tools needed to complete their homework accurately.  What good is it to assign practice for a student that cannot do the assignment independently? If the student cannot do the work independently and he does not have someone who can provide support it can be harmful to the student.  Sure they can wait to get assistance the next day at school, but now they will have two days of work to complete.  On the other hand, what good is it for a student to complete the same assignment as everybody else if they have already mastered the skill?  Furthermore, a homework assignment that often takes the average student 1 hour to complete may take another student twice as long. What I have seen is that the student that does not complete the assignment is punished in the form of lower grades. That lower score has nothing to do with one's ability to demonstrate an understanding of the material, but rather indicates that the student has not jumped through the teacher's homework hoop.

Another reason I have given for justifying homework is that the next grade level was assigning homework, so I needed to help prepare my students for that workload. That sounds great in principal. Of course, I want my students to be well prepared for the workload of Jr. High, but I am no longer sure this is valid. If assigning homework in the previous grade is working then shouldn't all students that were 5th-grade students now be submitting assignments promptly as sixth-grade students? It isn’t happening, and I have to ask why do I consistently have 10-20% of my students not completing their homework?  Didn’t they practice that workload the previous year?

So, what would I have students do instead of homework? Students should read. They shouldn't read to complete a reading counts test or to fill out a reading log. They should read for the sheer pleasure that comes from losing oneself in a great book. I can sense some individuals saying, but students need to be held accountable for their reading. Then I would argue that we need to restructure our instructional time during the school day to increase the amount of time a student reads in class. Does it matter where a student does the reading? What is the difference between reading 30 minutes in class or 30 minutes at home? I just know that for some students when reading becomes a requirement rather than something to enjoy it tends to put a damper on wanting to read. On a personal note, I loved reading up until my sophomore year of high school when the books I read became my teacher's choice. Now, I still read the books as assigned, but there was resentment. I was completing these books because I had to. Now as an adult, I have rediscovered my joy of reading. Let's look at what we are doing to our students. Let's not squash the joy of reading.

Next, parents should have more control over how a child spends their time away from school. Many parents are not even finished with their work day until 5 pm or later. One parent still has to come home and prepare dinner.  Then parents don’t often just take a deep breath and relax.  No, now they will be rushing to make that 6 pm practice. Then when finally home after 6:30 exhausted from their work day they then often assist a child or two with some part of a homework assignment.   The student has already practiced educational skills for 6 hours that day.  I will no longer take precious moments from a family's dwindling time together. I will not add more stress than already faces every family today. With more "free time" a child may explore and use their imagination. Below is a clip entitled "cardboard adventures." After watching this, it should leave no doubt to the learning that can come from imaginative play.

In closing,  I may not be on the "right" side of the homework debate, but I would rather error on the side of trying to create an environment where students love coming to school, love spending time with their families, and look forward to growing as individuals.  If a family truly wants homework for their child, then I will work with them to meet the needs of that student and family.  However,  I will leave a student’s home life and the pursuit of passions to the guidance of their parents.  

Textbooks to Chromebooks 18- WeVideo

One of the 6th-Grade electives offered at Pepper Tree is videography.  The tool we are using to teach basic editing skills is WeVideo.  We are not experts in using this tool yet, but together the students and I have made good progress in utilizing this program.  The minimum system requirements as listed in the WeVideo manual are:

• Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10 is supported.
• Chromebooks and ChromeOS are supported
• Mac OS X Yosemite (10.10) is the optimal Mac version to use.
• Limited support provided for Linux distributions with chrome installed

WeVideo recommends that users use Google Chrome as the internet browser as it keeps flash updated to the most recent version for the client at all times.  Students can set up free accounts by going to wevideo.com/sign-in .  However, it should be noted that maximum storage monthly storage may not be adequate if the students use Wevideo frequently.  Also, only the WeVideo Education accounts include collaboration options. 

As the administrator of a WeVideo account you will have the ability to invite and manage members. You may then set permissions for all the users and define them by role.  You may also set up and manage groups.    According to the WeVideo manual these are the following methods for inviting members to the education account:

• You can manually invite members by sending them your unique account code or link.
• You can sync selected members from your Google Domain or Office 365 domain OR
• You can import a CSV file with the member details.

Once the students are set up they will be ready to get started creating their first video.  Here is what you will see after clicking on Create New:

Students will upload media from the following social sites or from media saved on their desktops:

The staff at Wevideo have put together quality tutorial videos for how to edit your videos.  So rather than explaining every step for creating a video at this time,  it would be better to let the creators demonstrate the process.

Here is an example of a video created early last year in our first videography class.

If you aren't sure WeVideo is the right tool for your class I would recommend that you sign up for a free trial and give it a try before making a final decision.