MPM1D1 - Day 56 Another Kick at Success Criteria & Standard Form

Last week students looked at an incorrect (level 2) solution to the problem below.

They did a good job with it, but I wanted to take some time today to model how to solve a problem and to develop some success criteria for problem solving.

I gathered students at a whiteboard at the back of the room and we started working on the problem. As we worked through the problem I would periodically stop and ask what we had just done. The peer tutor wrote a list on a different board of all the things we talked about. Here are some of the things we talked about:

Once we were done most students really wanted to get a picture of the list. I guess something about our process spoke to them as being important. We'll come back to the criteria next time I give out a problem.

The plan for today was to look at the equation of a line in standard form. I had groups do the following:

Some of them struggled a fair bit with part b, but other groups blasted through it quickly. Once they were finished we talked briefly about what standard form is and consolidated how to convert from standard form to slope/y-intercept form (since many groups ended up doing some rearranging when making a table of values).

We did an example, then I gave out some practice questions (question 1).

MPM1D1 - Day 53 Barbie Bungee

We skipped the traditional warm-up today and got right into Barbie Bungee. Our warm-up was co-constructing the success criteria.

As students came into class they received a card (as they always do) that would assign them to a random group. After the bell went I had students gather at a white board at the back of the room. I explained that each group would receive a Barbie and they had to figure out how many rubber bands to tie onto Barbie so that she got as close to the floor without hitting it when she was dropped from the stairwell. I told them that this was an assignment and I wanted them to go to their boards and come up with a list of criteria that they thought should be included in their assignment. I felt like after the time we spent working on the success criteria  for the Pumpkin Time-Bomb assignment, students had a good sense of what should be included in an assignment.

I was not disappointed. The results were far better than they were the first time we co-created success criteria. Each group created a good sized list of useful criteria this time around. After about 10 minutes I stopped them and had them group their criteria into categories of their choosing. As it turned out most, if not all groups, created three different categories. The categories were roughly Data (needed/given/measured), Mathematics (graph, table, equation, line of best fit), Report (description of task and process used, showing your work, proper terminology, units etc.).

I brought the class together, we talked about the categories and some of the items in their categories. I told them that I would organize all of their ideas and send them a written copy via email.

I handed out the Barbies and seven rubber bands and let them go. There were lots of ideas floating around that led to some great thinking.

• We could measure one band and multiply by seven. 
• Should we measure them stretched or not?
• Let's measure from the floor up.
• Our measurements weren't very accurate (In one case adding a 10cm band only added 2cm to the distance Barbie fell).
• Let's do three trials at each level and take an average.
• We should each trial, then watch the video to see how far Barbie fell.

The data collection was time consuming and messy at times but in the end every group came away with a set of data they felt comfortable with. Although it was time consuming I think having students struggle through those difficulties and errors was very worthwhile.

Tomorrow they'll start to analyse their data and begin putting together their individual reports, which will be due sometime next week.

MPM1D1 - Day 49 Area Models, Exemplars & Success Criteria

We started the class with a number talk. I asked students what 5 times 18 was. They thought quietly about it for a bit and when everyone had an answer we started sharing strategies. I told students that if they found an answer early they should try to come up with another way. I love that my students feel so comfortable with this. They work quietly and for the most part are willing to share their strategies. I also love how there are a huge number of ways to get the answer. On a previous number talk I mentioned the 'doubling and halving' strategy. It was neat to see some students using that strategy today. At the end of the talk I even had a student say "You could also double 18, halve 5 and multiply those together", which led so a good discussion about multiplying by half. Lots of great conversations.

After the number talk we revisited the distributive property, but this time using an area model. I pulled out the algebra tiles, we looked at an example as a group and then I let them try a few examples. Reactions were mixed. I heard "This is really easy" but also "I hate using these. Do we have to use them?". I think having multiple tools (the area model being one) to use can be very helpful.

Once we had practiced with the tiles we revisited our last assignment (Pumpkin Time-Bomb). The results of the assignment were not very good. My favourite was an email with one phrase in the subject and nothing else, followed by another email with another phrase in the subject and one final email with a link to a graph in the subject line. This was one student's assignment. I don't recall multiple emails using only the subject line being a success criterion.

I figured I had two options for this assignment: leave it and move on or spend some time getting it right. I opted for the latter and that's what we did today. I provided an exemplar to groups and asked them to identify the parts or characteristics that make it a good assignment. They came up with some ideas and I helped them notice a few others. They now have a good model. My only fear with providing this is that I'm going to get a class set of assignments that look essentially like the one I did. I'm willing to take a chance on this to see what happens. We will have more assignments later so I'm not too worried about a single assignment. They spent the rest of the period reworking their assignments.

I'm struggling a bit with wrapping my head around success criteria. I've had some great conversations both online and in-person with a ton of people who have more experience with this than I do. These conversations are helping me sort our some of the details but I think I'm just going to have to try a bunch of things, fail at some and repeat.

Some of the questions I had were:

• What happens when the success criteria is all 'fluff' (neatly written, includes units) and no math?
• Do I give the exemplar before we develop the criteria or after? If I give it before then am I just paying lip service to their contributions (since they have the standard in front of them)?

Some of the responses I have received are:

• Provide students with exemplars at different levels and have them assessed by students. -Melanie
• Try giving a Level 2 exemplar and asking what needs to be fixed. -@chrisleechss
• Model the creation of the exemplar with students. -@klaunderville

That last one is a big one! I think I'd like to try it but I'm worried that in doing so I will suck the thinking out of the task. I suppose I could model for a similar task and then give them the actual assignment, which would have the same or similar success criteria. However I decide to do it I'll think I'll capture some video and try to get some feedback from the video.

Thanks to all those helping me along this journey. If you have any other suggestions or comments please feel free to add them below.

MPM1D1 - Day 31 Truck and Bike Task

We started with this Two Truths and a Lie:

The slope of the following relations is 2.



I sent them to the boards to work in their groups. There was a ton of great discussion and arguments. There were lots of questions between group members. At one point a couple of groups had gathered around the board to listen in as the peer tutor provided some explanation. 

All groups were able to figure out the correct answer. I really liked how this activity made connections to the different representations. I think my students are starting to make some headway in terms of connecting these representations.

 After the warm-up I handed out Bike and Truck Task. I gave very little in the way of instruction to see what they would do. Some students started working away dilligently. Others seemed to be filling out the handout without really reading (or perhaps understanding) what the questions were asking. I let them work for about fifteen minutes then interrupted them. Now that they were familiar with the task I wanted them to work in groups at  the board to create some success criteria for it. I've never created success criteria and I've never had students do it but I thought I'd give it a shot. I was surprised at how quickly things were appearing on the boards. As I looked around I noticed there were lots of great suggestion.

But as you can see very few of the suggestions have anything to do with the task. I was surprised at the lack of connection to the actual work we were doing. I commented to the class about their great list of criteria and asked if they could also add items that were specific to the task. A couple of groups added some, but the success criteria seemed to be lacking detail.

Tonight I'll make a list of their criteria along with my criteria and share it with them tomorrow. I'll do this because tomorrow they will get an assignment that is similar that they need to complete and submit.I'm not convinced that having the students come up with the success criteria was very useful, but maybe they we will get better at it over time.

With success criteria on the boards it was time to move on. We did took up the mastery test on slopes and equations of lines that they wrote yesterday and then they wrote it again.



For homework I asked them to finish the Truck and Bike task by adding to it to meet their success criteria.