Where's Andrew Been? I'll Tell You

Hi everyone,

I've been quiet lately, but there's been a lot happening.

Some upcoming opportunities:
I'm excited to be giving a two-day workshop here in California on October 6-7, 2017 through Grassroots Workshops.
This two-day workshop is near and dear to my heart because it's designed with math teachers in mind. The purpose of the workshop is to strengthen the teaching tools of those who attend so they can go back to their classrooms and:
  • help students strengthen their number sense
  • use student thinking to drive their math instruction
  • use problem-solving as a vehicle for conceptual understanding

I share more in the video below. I really hope you can make it. Bring a friend!
You can register by clicking here.

Grassroots Workshop Promo from Mr.Stadel on Vimeo.

Family (math) Fun:
This summer I've had a blast doing mathy things with my kids. Thanks to Christopher Danielson and John Stevens. Danielson shipped us out some really cool math boxes that included really cool books, puzzles, and wooden tiles for us to play with. Learn more about them here. John Stevens wrote an awesome book, Table Talk Math. Recently, my kids and I have had some fun and low-risk math-type conversation over these sweet placemats he recently made available. Check them out!

My new-ish role:
I'm starting my fourth year as an instructional coach in my district. We coaches will be expected to support teachers in all subject areas. Our work with teachers will be to focus on specific teaching goals and objectives of their choice while in conjunction with their site goal. It's a new challenge for me and I've already learned a great deal from my fellow coaches and the teachers I have worked with.

One part of my new role is to support a small cohort of teachers who are working with 9th grade students in an algebra enrichment type course. The purpose of the course is to provide students with the conceptual understanding and number sense necessary to transition successfully to a full year of Algebra in 10th grade. We've already explored Number Talks, Clothesline Math, and Which One Doesn't Belong. Visual Patterns is on the horizon and we are using a Standards-Based-Grading model with reassessments to provide ongoing support for student.

Maybe you have seen my Clothesline Integer Game. Leave it to the awesome math community to make it better. I recently had the pleasure of meeting up with Geoffrey Dean and he shared his adaptation of the game; students could play in small groups and try and get 5 In A Row. I'll ask him if I can share it on the page above. I took his adaptation and made a desmos version of it.
In the algebra enrichment course, we will also be trying out this desmos activity on multiplying integers using a number line.

My Master's:
I'm pursuing my Master's in Educational Technology.
Talk about adding even more to my workload. Ha!

That's maybe a fifth of what I've been up to lately... but who wants to read more? Ha!
Hope you are doing well and your year is off to a great start.

Role,
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Polygraph Vocab Jar

If someone is trying to curtail their use of profanity, they might set up a Swear Jar. Every time they use a swear word, they deposit an amount of money inside the jar. Since there are a variety of swear words, the incentive is to consciously be aware of your profanity with the intention to minimize your profanity and find other (less colorful) ways to communicate.

I'd like to introduce the idea of a Polygraph Vocab Jar when playing Desmos Polygraph activities. Whereas the Swear Jar might have a negative connotation to it, I see the Vocab Jar as having a positive connotation. The purpose of the Vocab Jar would be to invite and encourage students to increase the frequency of use and variation of math terms when playing Polygraph activities. Check out what I mean in this video:


You might remember I blogged about the power of Command-F (Mac) and Control-F (PC) when finding a specific term within Desmos activities. I'm utilizing the same tool here when looking for specific math terms in student conversations when playing Polygraph. I also like the idea of keeping track of the frequency of terms used from the word bank. If you want a math swear jar, I added two columns to keep track of taboo words. On a related note, I recently blogged about word banks and taboo words in Polygraph. Check it out.

In the video, I mentioned the idea of having some incentives in your math classes. For example, if you're a single-subject teacher and have multiple sections of Algebra, you could turn it into a friendly competition between class periods. The class with the most variation and use of terms from the word bank with successful polygraph games gets [fill in the blank].

Click here if you want copy of the spreadsheet featured in the video above.

As much as I love the Command-F feature to find terms on a webpage and keeping track of them in a Google sheet, I would love to see a Vocab Jar integration into the Desmos Polygraph. I think it would be a valuable tool for teachers to continue their formative assessment of student conversations and use of mathematical language.

What do you think?
If this is something you would find useful, would you send a +1 to Desmos for me?
If you have a way to improve this idea, leave a comment below and Cc desmos.

Swear,
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Polygraph Word Bank

Have you ever wanted your math students to get better at using math language?
Have you ever wanted your math students to be able to compare attributes of visual mathematics?
Desmos Polygraph activities supported through word banks is your jam!

Over the past three years as a Digital Learning Coach in my district, I've been able to see Polygraph used in a variety of ways. This post will share a few of the many things I've learned.

My first year, I supported a high school Algebra teacher. We debriefed after she ran the Parabolas Polygraph activity with students. She was a little bummed that students weren't using more of the academic language they had been learning. For example, minimum, maximum, x-intercepts, roots, vertex, etc. I offered the suggestion of providing students with a word bank, possibly carved out on a section of the whiteboard, with the words she wanted her students to use. She one-upped me and put them on a half sheet of paper and printed them out to give to her students next time she played polygraph. I'll revisit this technique in a few paragraphs.

My second year, I supported a Math 8 teacher. She was running the Lines Polygraph activity with her students. I looked at the dashboard while students were playing and many of the students were asking questions about the slope using either "uphill" or "downhill" as their descriptor. I asked the teacher about this. She said this is the way she taught it. I asked her about the mathematical association with uphill and downhill and she replied, positive and negative, respectively. I paused the class (before the pause feature existed, ha!) and drew two lines to represent the "uphill" and "downhill" slopes on the whiteboard. I told the class I noticed they have been using the terms uphill and downhill to describe these slopes. I went on to tell them, this is a great place to start, and now we're going to make your language even stronger by referring to uphill slopes as positive and downhill slopes as negative. For the remaining time, we're inviting you to use positive and negative.

I love this experience, because it validated the work the teacher did while raising the bar for the students to strengthen their mathematical vocabulary. I believe if you set the bar low for students, they'll often meet it with a high success rate. If you set the bar high for students, they'll work toward that high bar, often with a comparatively high success rate.

Back to the word bank.
My third year, I supported an Algebra teacher at our continuation high school. She ran the Parabolas Polygraph with her students and had a word bank up on the whiteboard. We debriefed and talked about making a half sheet of the words she would like students to use. Furthermore, let's make a Taboo list of words we want students to avoid using. She tried the Polygraph again, using the word bank handouts and noticed students were using the academic language a lot more than when the words were up on the whiteboard.

It's not enabling the students by providing them with a half-sheet of math terms you want them to practice and use. It's enabling if you're the one telling them what questions to ask their partner, or worse; you're typing in the questions for them. Providing students with the half-sheet, a physical token, places an emphasis on your invitation to students to practice and use specific math language associated with the concepts at hand.

I've learned a lot over the past 3 years, implementing both Desmos Activities and Polygraphs. I would say the use of a word bank handout is one of the most effective ways to get students practicing and using the math language you want them to use. Here are my current word banks (and Taboo lists) for Parabolas and Lines. You'll notice I intentionally left some blank spaces in the tables so students (and teachers) can add their own. I can't think of everything.

Consider the Low-Tech versions of Desmos Polygraph so students can practice using academic language more frequently without devices.

What words would you add to my word bank (and taboo) lists?

Bank,
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BONUS feature:
You've heard of a swear jar, right?
When someone is trying to curtail their swearing and/or use of bad words, they'll set out a swear jar, placing an amount of money in the jar every time they use a bad word.
*Consider the idea of a VOCAB jar in your math class. (future blog post coming soon)

Low Tech Polygraph

Imagine classrooms full of math students without devices missing out on opportunities to play wonderful Desmos Polygraph activities. It's a miserable thought, right?

Unfortunately, classrooms like this exist. I've been extremely fortunate the past three years to work in a district where every secondary student is provided with a device and can enjoy playing (and learning from) Desmos Polygraph activities. What can we do for students and teachers who aren't 1:1 yet?

I've also been honored to provide professional development for math teachers in various districts across the country. They LOOOOOOVE playing (and learning about instructional uses of) Polygraph during the workshop. However, I often hear comments from teachers like:

• We're not 1-to-1 yet
• We're BYOD and many students just bring cell phones
• I have to book the computer lab because we're not 1:1

I also get questions like:

• When do you recommend we do Polygraph? We have limited time.
• This [Polygraph] is a great tool, what if students are absent?
• I love the idea of students playing Polygraph on more than one day, but how do I do that?

Here's my idea:

Provide students and teachers with a low-tech version of Polygraph. 

Here's the setup I've tried with teachers and the response has been fantastic.

1. Print out four different versions (A-B-C-D) of the sixteen Polygraph graphs
1. I've already made Lines and Parabolas
2. Make double-sided copies of {A-B} and {C-D}
1. Make enough {A-B} copies for half your class and {C-D} copies for the other half
3. Insert one copy into a plastic sleeve
4. Store in a highly accessible place in your classroom
5. Have some dry-erase markers nearby
6. Provide students with a word bank & taboo bank (follow-up post)

You can have students play Polygraph at anytime!. Imagine the possibilities. Imagine even MORE students being able to play Polygraph. Just remind students they can play any other letter besides their own letter. For example, Page C can play A, B, or D. 

Have a go and let me know!

Low-tech FTW,

1104

Estimation 180 Bins

I'd love some feedback on this tool I'm tinkering around with right now.

I was inspired by Graham Fletcher, seeing him place student estimates inside ranges, or bins if you will. My goal was to make a tool that replicated this experience, is efficient for teachers to use, and added some visual enhancements. The tool could be used with Estimation 180 challenges and was made in Desmos.


What successes might you see happening in your classroom when using this tool?
What challenges might you see happening in your classroom when using this tool?
What advice do you have for improving it?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Bins,
303

Math Confidence Dilemma

I'm hoping you can help me think through this dilemma I have right now:

Let's go at it in the comments.
Thanks in advance.

Get Tracy Zager's book here.

Andrew

My Future Class

During the past 2.5 years as a Digital Learning Coach in my district, I've had the great fortune to work with some amazing teachers doing great things. I've tried my best to share their ideas, activities, lessons, and experiences with each other and other teachers throughout our district. However, if/when I return to the classroom, I really need to help future Andrew by capturing and sharing with him all the awesome things he'll need for his future class. I mean my future class. Here's what I've started to do:

Create a Google Form:

Question 1: Multiple Choice 
List your classroom categories. Be sure to include "Other" for any categories you can't think of ahead of time.


Question 2: Paragraph
Tell your future self everything about the activity you saw, the classroom routines you witnessed, etc. Be as detailed as possible. Describe what you'd like your future self to do and use.


Question 3: Short Answer
Provide the teacher name(s) of this great idea. Chances are future Andrew will want to contact that teacher and ask questions about it. Chances are also good the teacher has made some refinements or found something better.


Question 4: Short Answer
Paste a URL to anything related to this idea, activity, etc. When editing the form, click on the three dots to tell the Google Form the text must be a URL.



Question 5: Add a File
*This feature exists for Google Education and not personal accounts, yet.
I will take pictures of the activity, handout, student work, whiteboard, etc. and upload it here. This way I can capture evidence of what I like and share it with the future Andrew. This is money!



All of these beautiful entries flow into a spreadsheet I can organize by category and/or create individual sheets for each category using the Add-On rowCall.


[UPDATE]:
I forgot to mention I have a shortcut to this form on my phone so I can submit these ideas as soon as possible, not having to wait to sit down at a computer. There's no excuse for me missing an idea.

Connections to #ObserveMe
If you're doing #observeme at your site, use this Google Form to track ideas you get from other teachers when visiting their classrooms. Not familiar with #observeme, check out Robert's post.

Connections for current classroom teachers:
Capture amazing things you and your colleagues are doing this year. Capture things you'd like to refine for next year and add them to Your Future Class form.

Hope this inspires you to do something similar. I'm curious what ideas you might have or any suggestions you might have to improve my Google Form.

Future,
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