community.emmawillard.org/Math/Schettino/index.htm

It will make it easier for people to access my Motivational problems which work well with most Precalculus or Advanced Algebra courses. This summer I also plan to do this for my Geometry Motivational problems as well. If you follow the links on my Class Calendar, you can also find the link in my Algebraic Geometry course to the pdf files that are the curriculum and that my colleagues and I have written that I reference a great deal in my entries.

More to come soon…

The geometry teachers met to discuss a bunch of problems that we were planning to do very soon. Many of them included more difficult proof problems. Interestingly, we found that for some of them, we had all done them differently. I love when this happens, because it shows how differently we, as adults, all think. It helps to keep us in perspective about the students’ work. It’s so easy from our perspective, to know where a problem is going and what its point it. Can you imagine how the kids feel? It must be totally disconcerting to think you are going in one direction and then come to class and realizing your thought process was off track. It can be very discouraging.

That’s why attitude plays such a big part in this type of curriculum. A few of my students are definitely getting the hang of coming to class and being open to being wrong. They do not see it as a bad thing anymore, but as their learning experience enhanced. Yesterday in my class, we had a little time at the end of the period and I had them all start on one problem that was very abstract. The first part of this problem gave them four general points A(0,0), Q(a,b) and S (c,d) (where a>c and b<d). These three points were supposed to be three vertices of a parallelogram. They were asked to find the coordinates of R, the vertex not shown. I had them think alone for a little while and then I walked around the table and asked what they got. It was an interesting discussion and I thought it worked well, because now everyone had that part of the problem done and correct and could go back to their homework later and feel that they had accomplished at least a part of it. As the bell rang, one student said, “I really liked that” and she meant that it helped her feel better about her homework when we started discussing the problems in class. I think I might consider being much more deliberate about this in the future.

Another thing that worked really well this week was doing a Think/Pair/Share exercise. This is where I give them a problem and first have them think alone for 3-5 minutes. Pair up with another student (randomly by some silly rule that I come up with) and then the pairs share with the whole class. I believe I had everyone talking in the class at least once during this exercise, which is generally my rule of thumb for a good discussion.

I am encouraged by the positive feedback that I have received from not only my department colleagues, but colleagues in other deisciplines as well. I was approached by a teacher in the science department who said that they were considering teaching Biology with this method in the future and could we meet to discuss this. The Algebra I teacher is considering moving in a direction where there is much more problem-based learning going on. I feel proud that others are finding value in what we are doing and that we had the courage and deliberateness to create such a good curriculum that it has impressed others with its value.

Of course, no curriculum is perfect and my fellow geometry teachers and I are already looking to the summer to plan our work on our revisions of this curriculum…but that’s another entry!

“I like that it’s OK to be wrong in this class.”

“I like that we can share our ideas and don’t have to have the homework all right every day”

“I like that my opinion matters”

These were just some of the comments that she shared with me. I saw a weight lift from my colleague when she told me this and I feel like it was a turning point not only for the students, but possibly for her as well. I have the utmost respect for the two teachers who had faith in my ideas and theories around PBL and who were brave enough to take a chance on this curriculum with me. They both are pioneers in this method at our school and it has taken a toll on them this semester. But, no matter how down they got about the classes, they still believed that what they are doing is in the best interest of the students. We clearly have a strong team of dedicated teachers working on this project and I feel very lucky to have them.

So, as the kids say in the car, “Are we there yet?”. Have things settled and we won’t have issues with students for the rest of the year? Are we at our best in our teaching with PBL? Do we sit and rest on our laurels? Well, first we take a break and relax. Then we meet at the beginning of the new year and start again.