In my previous post, Applying Digital Learning in Algebra 2, I began the process of brainstorming and drafting my expectations and goals for my Canvas course for the next school year. Naturally, the next step is getting into the work of actually creating a "prototype" of what I envisioned to get feedback from others reviewing my work. Initially, I just started making modules and throwing some pages in here and there with no sense of direction other than my 2024-2025 3rd Nine Weeks Course Outline.
When I go into tornado mode of throwing everything into the whirlwind and brain dumping my ideas, I tend to shut down due to the overwhelming crush of disconnected ideas. This is something I definitely do not want for my students, confuddling their understanding and perception of math and consequently limiting their opportunities to acquire 21st century skills, but what are some ways to address this? I learned from Darren McNelis's TEDTalk on cognitive overload that stepping away from the thinking to reflect can support our working memory, so being purposeful with dedicating time to do so is critical. Using the guidance of my graduate program, discussion boards, and this particular video, I found myself refocused when intentionally writing out my 2024-2025 3rd Nine Weeks Implementation Considerations as I reflected on my work. This created a structure within my modules that built over the progression of the 3rd nine weeks, as you can see from my screenshots of Week 1, Weeks 2 and 3, and ending with Weeks 8 and 9. It starts with some of the traditional math classroom elements, like objectives and learning resources (i.e. videos, written out examples, practice problems, etc.) but starts to extend towards a blending learning environment where students have choice, ownership, and voice over how they can apply their learning within the math context and beyond. Here are some screenshots of what a learning resource page and applying activities page look like: If you have followed along with my work through this program, you know I am implementing Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics by Peter Liljedahl. Consider what you might see, hear, and feel in a traditional classroom. Now, consider the opposite. That is what a thinking classroom looks like. Transitioning components of this into a digital platform has a lot of promise and I hope that the "course" I have created will develop student's math and 21st century skills with fidelity. A part of this includes experiential learning, particularly with thinking tasks. Just imagine the "puzzles" that go viral on social media regarding math (Math.Number.Puzzles Instagram is an example of a social media account dedicated to these things). These tasks are non-curricular and curricular where students start building their classroom culture and really developing a sense of critical thinking, communicating, and collaborating through problem solving and open tasks. Here is an example of a curricular task from Robert Kaplinsky's Open Middle website I have embedded in my course, along with its asynchronous discussion board: Why don't you try a non-curricular task like I would ask of my students? Use the following link to try the Wolves and Sheep Thinking Task in a Desmos activity. Once you think you have a solution, make up your own wolves and sheep thinking task and solution: Wolves and Sheep - Change Parameters. In the corresponding discussion board, I ask students to share what task they came up with, so feel free to comment on this blog post what you created! There are so many other things that I would write about regarding my implementation, but recording a video, 2024-2025 3rd Nine Weeks Modules and Implementation discussing the details and adding other thoughts and reflections can give you a better sense of what I expect out of my course. Now that I have a plan and have drafted my initial course, the next steps are to edit and refine my work. I have already started using ChatGPT to prompt my thinking, but I also plan on getting some other stakeholders, like my instructional coach, fellow Algebra 2 teachers, administrators, and graduate classmates, to provide feedback on the usability and ease of my course so I can continue editing and refining this curriculum and structure to further enhance the opportunities for student success, not only in acquiring math skills but the 21st century skills everyone needs to thrive in life.
References
Cognitive overload -- rewire your brain in the digital age | Darren McNelis | TEDxTallaght. (2014). [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0ztO86ImQg
Kaplinsky, R. (2021, May 19). Square Root Function Features 1 | Open Middle®. Open Middle. https://www.openmiddle.com/square-root-function-features-1/
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Every so often, my writing has incorporated how my perspective on my master's program shifted from what I expected to the reality, especially as I reflect on my journey in COVA. What I expected was a bunch of reading, a little writing, and taking assessments where I just recalled theoretical practices in a multiple choice format. From time to time, I also anticipated creating materials for a digital platform and figured I would just use what I already had created and implemented in my classroom. Campus and district colleagues consider me a technology guru and my itsLearning and Canvas pages have been used as exemplars for what an effective use of the learning management system should look like, so they should be good enough for a master's program, right?
What I have learned is there is so much more to building effective and significant learning environments where students can be vocal and engage in choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities. A blended learning environment is not about taking what is done on paper and putting it into a digital format for students to access (think how textbooks have just gone from physical copies to digital versions), but leveraging the digital resources to enhance student learning. While we are still in the last few months of the school year, I am already thinking ahead to 2024-2025 planning and how to truly implement what I have learned in my graduate school courses to enrich future students beyond the methods and structures I have used so far. Fortunately, this term I am in a course that is exactly what I expected a part of the program to be... creating materials for a digital platform and organizing it as a course in the digital learning platform! Perfect! Beginning the work now, especially on the content we just finished covering in this school year, allows me to immediately reflect and implement feedback on the successes and areas of improvement for this year towards next year. Starting here with the third nine weeks content will establish a foundation of the processes and structures I can use to strengthen my changes, adjustments, and enhancements to the other nine weeks when I am not officially in the graduate program anymore. To start this process for 2024-2025 3rd Nine Weeks, I answered some underlying instructional design questions, created a Fink's 3 Column table, and wrote a course outline to get feedback from peers in my graduate program. Most of the peer feedback addressed the strengths of being realistic about the limitations of grading policies and procedures but not letting that deter me from seeking opportunities for outcome-based learning in the context of acquiring and developing 21st century skills and finding appropriate activities and resources to meet this lofty goal. This 2024-2025 3rd Nine Weeks Planning video walks through these materials. Recently, I have been using ChatGPT as a resource to generate questions or ideas for me to consider. Sometimes, I will submit my writing and ask ChatGPT to generate what questions it thought I was trying to answer to see if my responses truly capture my intention. Other times, I will ask it to create its own rubric and then grade me on the rubric, with suggestions on how to improve my score in certain categories. For this assignment and what I have created so far, I simply asked what I should consider to enhance my work further. Here's its response.
I think what I do with my 2024-2025 3rd Nine Weeks components will address these concepts. When implementing the outline, I will show explicit samples of the learning and assessment activities that address scaffolding techniques, differentiation for remediation and extension, and digital resources. I also believe my Week 1 with the community building component will speak to fostering the collaborative learning environment. Something I had not considered is incorporating possible obstacles that could arise from this structure and the associated resources but as I proceed through the work, it is something I will explicitly acknowledge and proactively find options and solutions to these potential problems.
As the 2023-2024 school year comes to a close and I graduate in May, looking forward to the future and what I could do better brings a renewed sense of purpose and hope. Of course, I am still trying new things every day in my classroom and with my Algebra 2 team to better serve students and engage them in significant learning environments for authentic learning opportunities, but through reflection, I know how I could adapt, enhance, and enrich student lives further through a more intentionally designed blended learning environment. While I look forward to the summer, I also look forward to applying what I have learned through my experiences in the classroom as a teacher and as a student for the future.
References
OpenAI. (2022, November 30). ChatGPT. Chat.openai.com; OpenAI. https://chat.openai.com/
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My husband lovingly teases me when I reflect on my day with him and say "I learned something new today!" because he would be surprised if I didn't learn something new.
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