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Math is Messy. So Are Gender Roles.

I have been absolutely humbled by all of the positive feedback I have received from my previous post.  Thank you to infinity for taking the time to read, write, and share.  I believe that it is our common humanity that makes it possible for us to learn from one another, not necessarily our knowledge of content.  There is so much of my sobriety that goes into my teaching.  It is an incredibly freeing feeling to be able to be honest about that part of my life as I blog.

Rose Eveleth wrote a great piece about the roles that girls find themselves taking on in group work.  In short, Eveleth focuses on acknowledging that girls often self-assign the “recording” role, absolving (and downright excluding) themselves from a problem solving opportunity.  The end result, career-wise, may lead women away from high-profiled positions.   As teachers, it’s easy for us to overlook this discrepancy because girls, generally speaking, are neater and more organized, and may seem like the best fit for the job.  In a related article, Dale Baker does a great job of asking teachers to examine gender preferences that exist in our classrooms in order to help encourage all students to step into the “lime light.”

On Friday, I tried a simple version of this.  First, students were presented this scenario (taken from the Math Forum POW section):

The Student Council at Rahkenrole High School is planning a concert.  They’ve hired the Knox Mountain Boys, a popular local band, for $340.  A poll among the students has shown that if tickets cost $5, 140 people will come to the concert.  For every dollar the ticket price goes up, 10 fewer people will come, and for every dollar it goes down, 10 more people will come.  

I’ve been a huge fan of the Math Forum, long before I joined Twitter (and got to fangirl Max Ray at TMC14).  The reasons might not seem obvious from this scenario, but kids noticed right away that there was no question asked at the end.  What’s brilliant here is that there is literally an infinite number of questions that we could ask here.  Granted, some questions are more important than others, but I framed the task in a way that elicited what I needed.

I handed out a big white piece of paper to each group of 4 and had them divide the paper up into sections.  This way each person in the group was both the recorder and the problem solver.   I asked them to write down 2 questions they think that I would ask about the scenario and one question (anything) that they would ask.  They identified their group’s most important question and put it up on the whiteboards on the wall.

Low and Behold!  They READ MY MIND! They asked about maximizing profit, income, and people, and also requested modeling equations for each.  The excellence in this scenario (and the Math Forum in general) is that it can be applied to so many levels of math for so many reasons.  For example, most high school kids can make a table and figure out a reasonable answer for the maximization questions, and kids with more know-how can develop mathematical models.

Some great things happened:

  1. They knew they needed ONE set of answers in the center of their paper.  This meant they had to communicate the work in their section. The traditional group roles dissipated, and they all had equal stake in solving the problem.
  2. They solved the problem in so many different ways.  (Do you remember these types of questions from Algebra 1/2?  I’m sure they have a trendy textbook label that alludes me at the moment. But they are solved by making the variable “number of price increases. Interestingly, very few students solved it that way successfully.)
  3. They were messy. And I loved it.  In fact, I made the second class use markers exclusively so that they could not erase.
  4. They were uncomfortable leaving some of the questions unanswered.  When I didn’t label certain questions as “bonus” or “extension” they felt that all were necessary to be successful.  My goal was for them to collaborate with ownership in their individual contribution.  I may have gotten more joy out of this part than I should have 🙂

Here are some fun photos of their work:

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Algebraic Anguish

The following prompt presented at Twitter Math Camp by the Mighty  Max Math Forum (aka Max Ray) has been rattling around in my brain for the last few weeks.  Here a grid representing streets in Ursala’s town:

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The problem-solving session, masterfully orchestrated by Max, allowed each group of teachers to develop their own representation of the situation and think about what questions could be asked. For example, if Ursala is at point 1 and needs to get to point 19 along the line segments, without backtracking, how many ways are there for her to travel?  Lots of discussion ensued at our table including the definition of backtracking.

I’ve been at school the last few days and anyone who has sat near me at a meeting in the last few weeks has seen me doodle this scenario, I’m sure wondering what my nerdy math-brain was concocting:

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Simplifying the grid and turning it into a pattern expanded the questions that I wanted to ask.  For instance, how many line segments (or streets) in Ursala’s case) are used in step n?

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What I’m still grappling with is how to expand my wonder about this scenario past the algebraic representations.  In talking with other teachers recently, it seems as though many of us have been programmed to solve these, and many other problems algebraically.  I recognize that many students won’t reach for the algebraic aid.  So my next step is to try to see this situation in other ways, sans algebra to better understand how my students are likely to see it.

 

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Thanks, Jenks

When you build up a future experience in your mind, it is not often BETTER than how you envisioned it.  Twitter Math Camp was that experience for me.  It was so much better than it looked on a hashtag.

In 2008, I began my twitter journey.  I mostly followed celebrities and friends.  My brother swore that twitter’s true gold was in following real people that have similar interests and ideas.  As it turns out, he was right.  Since jumping head first into the Mathtwitterblogosphere, I’ve experienced nothing but a genuine willingness to help one another become better educators.  TMC solidified my understanding of this network of delightful people that make up the math-educator-online community.

Recently, twitter was abuzz over the thought that TMC should be more theory, less play.  Part of the beauty of this experience was the organic nature in which everyone gathered and collaborated.  At professional conferences, you never see groups of teachers still talking pedagogy at 6pm, still at 8pm, and at midnight, and still at 2am. This went on for FOUR solid days.  Can you imagine this happening at school:  students staying after school into the night to work on the math investigation that they can’t stop talking about?  It doesn’t happen.  But anyone who’s been a summer camp counselor knows that there’s always that group of kids that can’t get enough interaction with their peers and choose to forgo sleep to soak it all in.  That’s why the C in TMC stands for CAMP and not Conference.

Some highlights for me: 

  • Justin Aion is the same ball-of-fun in person that he seems online.  I’m grateful for getting to spend time with him.
  • Max Ray is an artist at facilitating problem-solving.  His session was masterfully orchestrated.
  • Steve Leinwand is a humble communicator but an electrifying presenter.  I was moved by his keynote very much.
  • Malke and Christopher’s willingness to teach Math in Your Feet afterhours was generously spectacular. I was skeptical at first about my ability to engage, but I’m so thankful that I was pushed to do so.
  • Bob Lochel knows more stats activities than pages in a textbook.  I enjoyed working with him in the morning sessions very much.
  • Glenn Waddell is an amazing human being.  I’m humbled to have gotten to steal some of his attention this weekend.
  • Eli Luberoff is a humble genius and a class act.
  • I have the two greatest coworker friends, Teresa and Dianna, who came with me to Jenks and dove head first into the awesomeness of this community.

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I had hundreds of interactions with some fantastic people.  This isn’t something that can be re-created online, despite the fact that the community began there.  Thank you, Jenks, for hosting such an incredible event.

 

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Notice and Wonder with Gusto

My daughter was very content on the airplane ride from Fort Meyers to Minneapolis watching Frozen for the 102nd time.  I took this opportunity to read the Noticing and Wondering chapter of Powerful Problem Solving, the superb new publication from Max Ray and the Math Forum crew.  I took so many notes on this chapter since this is a strategy that I think every teacher can implement, no matter their apprehension about new strategies.  It is such an easy set of questions to ask:  What do you notice?  What does that make you wonder? Those two questions can open up an entire class period of rich discussion and mathematical exploration.  No one explains this classroom strategy better than Annie Fetter of the Math Forum in her Ignite Talk.  (Seriously, if you have not seen this 5 minute, dynamite, game-changing video, stop reading and go there now. ) 

Last Thursday was day 1 of our high school’s third trimester.  The first day of the slide into the end of the year. Regardless, the first day of the trimester always seems like the first day of school: the anticipation of a scenario that’s been played over and over in the minds of teachers and students becomes reality.  For me, this day meant the last hour of the day I would be met with 38 (you read that right) “lower level” Algebra 2 students.  My class is most likely the last high school math class that these juniors and seniors will take, and many of them do not like math or are convinced they are not any good at it.

This class has been in the forefront of my mind most of the year for a lot of reasons.   One of those reasons being that after Jo Boaler’s class this summer, I know that a huge barrier to raising the achievement levels of students in this class is the students’ beliefs that they are capable of doing high level mathematics.  And I also know that a key component to getting these kids to perform better is to give them feedback that allows them to believe that they are capable of it in the first place.

Because of the structure of some of our high school courses, most of these students have not had experience with higher degree graphs, equations, or functions.  They may have seen something similar in their science coursework, but quadratics have not formally been introduced.

I gave them the following graph along with the scenario and let the noticing and wondering begin:  Mrs. Bergman likes to golf and her golf shot can be modeled by the equation: y= -0.0015x(x-280).

A couple of them stuck to non-math related Noticings (the graph is in black and white), but almost all of them noted multiple key characteristics of the equation and/or the graph.  Some highlights:

  • The graph doesn’t have a title and it needs one.
  • Both heights are in yards
  • Horizontal distance goes up by 80.  Height by 5.
  • The peak is in the middle of the graph.
  • The graph is symmetrical
  • The maximum height is about 28 – 29 yards
  • The distance at the maximum height was about 120 yards
  • She hit the ball 280 yards.
  • The number in front of x is negative
  • The graph curves downward
  • It has an increase in height and then a decrease in height.
  • As the ball reaches the peak height, the rate the ball climbs slows.

The list of Wonderings was even more impressive to me. A lot of them wondered things like what kind of club she was using, if the wind was a factor, did she have a golf glove, how much power she used to hit the ball, the brand of her tees, clubs, glove, ball, etc.  Then one student laid out something so profound, it made the entire class stop and and acknowledge the excellent contribution:

“What distance would the ball have traveled if the maximum height were 20 yards rather than 28?” (audible ooo’s here)

After this student said that, the floodgates opened with great questions from others:

  • What was her average height for the shot?
  • What is the maximum height that she is capable of hitting the ball?
  • Is this a typical shot for this golfer?
  • If the maximum height was higher, like 35 yards, how far would she hit the ball?
  • What is the exact maximum height that she hit the ball and how far did she hit it when it reaches that maximum

There were still a few that couldn’t get passed what kind of glove she was wearing or tee she was using, but most of the students stepped up their Wonder Game when one single student demonstrated a rich example.

What I really love about this strategy is that it is so easy to implement into your classroom routine with the resources you already have.  For example, rather than starting with a procedure for solving quadratic equations, simply ask the students what they notice about the structure of the problem.  How is it the same or different from problems they have done recently?  Ask them to list attributes of the equation.  I have found most often, the noticing of one student triggers the noticings of others and the list becomes progressively more sophisticated.

I have heard from some teachers that they do not use try this strategy out of fear of students making a list of trivial noticings (like, the graph is black and white).  They will include those every time; expect it.  But by acknowledging those seemingly trivial items, that student, who would not have dreamt of entering the conversation before now has received validation of his or her contribution to the discussion.  And when students feel heard and their opinions valued, their contributions will start to become more profound.

I’m very proud of this class.  I’m really looking forward to the creative perspective that their noticing and wondering will bring.

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