Do I Have to Assign Seats?

I hate making seating charts.  I hate enforcing assigned seats.  I came to the realization this year that this may be partly because I rely too much on a seating chart to do the classroom management for me.  As in, if I could just come up with the right seating arrangement, I would have so many fewer disruptions and issues in class.

Even after coming to this realization about how I (unrealistically) viewed seating charts, and knowing that a good seating arrangement is not the magic answer to classroom management, I still just don't like making seating charts.

After winter break, I had my students complete an anonymous "teacher report card" which I wrote a little bit about here (I hope to really dig through their responses and write more again soon).  One of the most common responses to what students thought I should change was the seating.

• You should change my seat. And the seating arrangement. It’s hard to see with the sun glare and also from the side it’s hard to see the do nows.  
• The seating chart because we would like to pick our seats.
• Ms Ess should change having assigned seats that she picks, but have us pick our seats and tell her that’s where we want to sit until otherwise based on behavior and work ethic.  
• Ms. Ess should change around the desks.
• Let people sit where ever they want
• you should let the good kids sit in the back where ever they want and have the naughty kids have assigned seats

You get the idea.  And I don't think this is anything we haven't heard from students before.  But what would happen if I actually listened to them here and made this change?

My favorite comment is the one where the student writes, "...have us pick our seats and tell her that's where we want to sit until otherwise based on behavior and work ethic."

What if I offered to let kids pick their seats under the condition that if I ask them to move for any reason, they move immediately and without argument to sit in the seat I assign for the remainder of the class period?  As always, when I have to move a student's seat or ask a student to leave class for disruptive behavior, I would tell the student that they can try again tomorrow in the seat of their choosing.

For the first half of the year, they have been forced to sit and work with people who are not necessarily their friends.  I think this is important so that they learn to work with other people, and they share ideas with people who likely think differently than them.  At this point, is it necessary to keep mixing up the groups and requiring students to sit and work with different people?  Are there major benefits to a seating arrangement that I'm missing?  Is it just laziness on my part if I decide to let students choose their own seats?

Teacher Report Card

Usually I wait until the end of the year to get feedback about my teaching and classroom practices from students.

Writing that sentence sounds crazy.  WHY would I wait until the end of the school year?!  I can't make any adjustments to my teaching practices then.  I can certainly make changes for the coming year, but by then I'll have a new group of students; some changes will still be for the better, but current students are telling me what works for them now.  It's like giving a formative assessment after the unit test.

A few days ago, I saw this tweet about giving students a Teacher Report Card.

And it just made so much sense!  Get feedback from students during the school year so that I can start making adjustments now.

While January 1 and the new calendar year are natural starting points, that's just not feasible for me right now.  I came across this tweet at the start of winter break, so I will not see my students until after January 1st.  However, second semester starts at the end of January, which seems to me a great alternative to the new year starting date.

I edited the Teacher Report Card google form slightly - I am not brave enough to ask my students if they think I have bad breath, and there were a few questions I wanted to add.  Then I emailed the link to my students.  I planned on explaining the report card survey to students when we return from winter break and let them know that they have two weeks to get me their feedback.  I was surprised to see that some of my students have been checking their school email over break and have already completed the survey!

Here are some of the comments on the open response questions so far.  The enlarged ones are the comments that had the biggest initial impact for me.

Sometimes, the teacher ________, but not always.

• Freaks out over small things
• has moments
• let's kids take advantage of her
• controls the class

  
Sometimes, the teacher lets the class ________, but not always.

• Talk while doing work
• Talk
• run around too much
• get off topic

 
What do you like BEST about the class?

• She teaches the lessons clearly and not rush the lesson.
• i like that i can learn the math at the pace that helps me but also at the same time makes sure the class is fun and a great class to come to each day
• She makes sure I get the help I need and she cares that I want learn a lot more about math. I like that she listens to me. I like when I am stuck she comes over and help me. I glad she is happy when I ask a question. ( I might ask too many, in my opinion, she might think differently)
• I like how she is involved in our lives and helps us no matter what 

KEEP: What is one thing Ms. Ess should keep doing in class?

• You should keep the number pockets with all the supplies and also keep doing the review on the do nows.
• Not giving home Work often.
• Explains things to a point
• Ms Ess should keep doing the same organizational note book for future reference or more help with units we don’t understand that well.

CHANGE: What is one thing Ms. Ess should change about what she does in class?

• You should change my seat. And the seating arrangement. It’s hard to see with the sun glare and also from the side it’s hard to see the do nows. 
• Ms Ess should change having assigned seats that she picks, but have us pick our seats and tell her that’s where we want to sit until otherwise based on behavior and work ethic. 
• maybe you should be a tad bit more strict to make sure kids listen to you and behave
• you aren't harsh enough on the kids if they're rude make them leave. none of them know respect sometimes including myself so just make them leave. 

START: What is one thing Ms. Ess should start doing in class?

• You should play calming music.
• give more harsh punishments/control the class
• Ms Ess should start having efficient time limits on assignments to keep the class on task at all times and to have more time to go over more thorough topics.
• putting percents on tests and quizzes.

STOP: What is one thing Ms. Ess should stop doing in class?

• stop letting kids take advantage of her niceness
• allowing kids to do what they please
• letting the kids that disrespect her get by with out a punishment
• Ms Ess should stop treating the kids that are misbehaving with such simple simple punishments so the kids think it’s okay to continue their same ways.

Anything else you want to tell me?

• You are a good teacher you just freak out for no reason
• I like the way the lessons go but I am confused on your grading system and wish it was more fair with the way we understand things on tests.
• you're an amazing teacher! if i'm having a bad day i always look forward to your class to make it better! you're so nice and a better teacher than a lot of the teachers i've had. thank you for being so great and never doubting me. p.s. i don't really hate math like i say i do i just get confused too much keep being a great teacher :)
• you're cool as heck

It's an ego boost and a lesson in humility all in one.  While I'm really not surprised that my students have identified the same weaknesses that I see in myself, there's something about hearing it from them that is a little more motivating.  Time to get to work.

Buddy the Elf's Journey to NYC

"First, I traveled through the seven levels of the Candy Cane Forest..."

I loved this holiday-themed assignment I created a few years ago for my students to practice finding the slope of a line.  But then the district changed the sequencing of our curriculum and I wasn't teaching slope until third quarter.  This year we were wrapping up the Pythagorean Theorem just before winter break and I realized that I could modify this old slope assignment to practice using the Pythagorean Theorem to find distances on a coordinate plane.  I think I even like this version better!

I am sharing a few versions of this assignment.

1. Slope Assignment
Version A asks students to plot points given the coordinates for each location on Buddy's journey.  You have the option of giving students cardinal directions or ordered pairs to plot the points.  Students then find the slope of each part of the journey.

Version A - cardinal directions

Version A - ordered pairs

Versions A and B slope calculation chart

Version B allows students to plot points for each location wherever they want.  Students record the coordinates for each point and then find the slope for each part of the journey.

Version B - student-designed route

2. Pythagorean Theorem/Distance Formula Assignment
Version A asks students to plot points given the coordinates for each location on Buddy's journey.  You have the option of giving students cardinal directions or ordered pairs to plot the points.  Students then create right triangles and use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distances for each part of Buddy's journey (or you may choose to forgo the right triangles and have students use the distance formula).

Pythagorean Theorem version

Distance Formula version

Version B allows students to plot points for each location wherever they want.  Students record the coordinates for each point and then create right triangles and use the Pythagorean Theorem (or distance formula) to find the distances for each part of Buddy's journey. 

Which version should I use?
Use Version A if you'd like all students to do the exact same assignment - same calculations, same answers, meaning that you can create an answer key.

Version A

Use Version B if you'd like students to have a bit more creative control, as they decide where to plot the locations of each stop on Buddy's journey.  Grading this version will definitely take more time, and you'll want to instruct students not to plot all their points on the same horizontal/vertical line.

Version B - Student Sample

Version B - Student Sample

Version B - Student Sample

View/Download: Buddy the Elf Assignments

Pythagorean Theorem Converse Maze

I recently tweeted a #teach180 picture of a maze I created for my students to practice using the converse of the Pythagorean theorem.  I had originally hand-drawn my version of the maze after seeing the Combining Like Terms Maze that Sarah Carter used with her students, but when my photo got a fair bit of attention, I figured I'd type up a nice copy of the maze to share.

Version 1 of the maze lists side lengths in numerical order, meaning the numbers can be substituted in directly for a, b, and c.

Version 1 - sides in numerical order

Version 2 of the maze lists side lengths in random order, so students will need to determine which sides to substitute in for the legs and which side to substitute in for the hypotenuse.

Version 2 - sides in random order

View/Download: Right Triangle Maze

The Power of a Note

I've been without internet at home for two weeks now which has made blogging much more difficult.  And planning.  And grading.  On the brightside, I've read three books!  Who has time to do that during the school year?!

A couple of weeks ago, I had been struggling with the behavior of and attitude from a girl in one of my classes.  Then one day, out of the blue, she walks in and says to me, "I'm going to have a good class today."  She sat in her assigned seat without complaint, completed all of the classwork, and ignored the poor behavior of some of her classmates instead of getting involved and arguing with them.  At the end of class, I thanked her and told her that I thought she had a really good class.  I really wanted that to stick with her, so that night, I wrote her a thank you note.

I used to have a memo pad of sticky notes like this; when they ran out, I figured I could make my own and just use regular paper.

In the note, I thanked her again for making the decision to have a good class, that I was proud of her, and that she really had made my day!  Since giving her the note, her behavior and attitude have really improved.  She came to academic support today after school and I noticed that she had the note I had written her tucked into her phone case.  It made me really happy to see that she kept the note in a special place, and it makes me wonder how many other "difficult" students I could reach in a similar way.  How much more of an impact does a written note have than verbal praise in class?

Cats Are More Loyal Than Men

I'm dying! 😂

My teacher is married to a cat.  Cats are more loyal then [sic] men.

Approximating Square Roots Question Stack

Lately I've been using a lot of question stacks with my students.  I like that this practice structure is self-checking and helps students gain confidence.

My students have learned to approximate irrational square roots to the nearest whole number.  In past years, my students have always done well with determining the closest whole number; however when I asked them to plot an approximate point on a number line, many students put a point right on the whole number.  For example, my students would tell me that the square root of 46 is between 6 and 7 (closer to 7), but when they plotted a point on the number line, the point was right on the number 7 instead of somewhere between 6 and 7.

This year I wanted to give my students more practice with recognizing and plotting these irrational square roots on a number line.  I created two question stacks with different levels of difficulty.  Instead of writing the approximate answers in words (between 6 and 7), all of the answers were shown on a number line.

When it came time for a quiz, I found that my students this year did a much better job with approximating square roots on a number line.

Level 1

Level 2

View/Download: Approximating Square Roots Question Stacks