Personalized Learning: Math Menus

Introduction. I want to start off by going back eight years ago, when I was in the seventh grade. My middle school was in a 7-12 school. My entire seventh grade class had 53 students from four different towns. I was sitting in the front of my math classroom, with my hand held high. I knew the answer to the problem on the board, just as I had known the answer to the various other problems before. My teacher casually looked over me, and later reminded me that I could only answer one question a day. I gradually became bored in class, and stopped being eager to answer questions. I sat at the back of the class and started on work. I began to hate math class. I found it frustrating and boring. I lost a passion for the subject, and it took until my senior year of high school to find it again.

My experience is a common example of middle level math teachers refusing to differentiate and personalize learning for students. This is a time period where students are thinking about themselves. Young adolescents must see relevance in what they are learning. Math has traditionally been a one size fits all class. It is filled with lectures and worksheets. Those who understand are often left bored and unengaged. Those who are falling behind are left feeling confused and defeated. In my experience many students begin to lose interest in math, because there is a lack of relevance and differentiation for students in the classroom. I believe the key to fix these problems and cultivate a love for math in young adolescents instead of extinguishing it is through differentiated and personalized learning. A great way to put this into practice is through Math Menus.

What does the Research Say? In February 2012 a research study of 1,000 schools nationwide conducted by an independent research firm called ResearchNow surveyed middle school students around 10-14 years old to learn more about math relevance in middle schools. This survey found that 48% of middle school students preferred to learn new subject material through hands-on activities and only 11% of middle school students prefer to learn new material through lectures and textbooks. The sad news is most math instruction is still mostly administered through lectures. There seems to be a gap between what research says for best math practice and what is happening in classrooms. Math menus are a solution. They are great way to incorporate more hands on activities in math.

Math Menus. The short two-minute video below from Teaching Channel gives a great description of menus in a math classroom. Menus are becoming a great way to differentiate and personalize learning for students in all subject levels. Most of the time they will take an entire class period or more. There a variety of ways these can be designed, such as a tic-tac-toe board or an appetizer, meal, and dessert. The second video below shows a middle level social studies class that applies this form of menu. A similar method could be used in a math classroom. Another option is giving students different activities that equal different amounts of points. The students can work to add up 100 points. It is important to make sure the menu does have a free space. This will allow students to propose a way they believe they can show their learning. The more creative the more fun it will be. Each section should have a minimum of three activities. It is crucial that students are able to select the activities that they want to complete. This allows them to find something they feel meets their needs. There should be a variety of activities so all learners can find something they are interested in. When students are able to choose their activities they begin to be more interested the subject. This activity most of all empowers students. Their learning becomes their choice, and they are able to find a purpose.

Video: Learning Menus: Giving Options & Independence

Video: Differentiating with Learning Menus

As an instructor there are many benefits to menus as well. This method allows the teacher to be available to all students. The teacher walks around and assists students as needed. I suggest having students check-in with the teacher as they finish individual sections. This allows the teacher to check-in with each student throughout the class period and intervene when necessary.  Another great aspect of menus is they are flexible. A teacher can create the different activities themselves, but their are also amazing resources online. I have enjoyed Differentiating Instruction with Menus: Math (Grades 6-8) by Laura E. Westphal. Each menu meets The Common Core State Standards. I have attached a sample menu from this book below.

Conclusion. Middle school is such a crucial time for students. Many young adolescents begin to lose enthusiasm for school. Personalization is incredibly important to help students realize their passion for school again. Personalization allows students to choose what they do and how they learn. This empowers them, and makes them feel they have a choice. One method that is simple and easy to implement in the classroom to give students this opportunity of choice is Math Menus. This fantastic tool gives students different activities where they are able to make choices. If student's have a choice they will start to care more. They will be engaged and find their passion for learning again.

Annotated Bibliography:

Vagenas, Mary.(2012). Differentiating with Menus. [Video File]. Retrieved March 08, 2017, from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/differentiating-instruction-strategy

This source is a short five minute video from Teaching Channel. It showcases a Middle school teacher using menu in her classroom. The video actively shows a successful implementation of menus in a middle school classroom. The teacher goes on to name the benefits that menu offers to classroom. She focuses on differentiated lessons and how menus tailor to the needs of individual students. Her students also discuss how menus are beneficial to them. Students mention personalization and the ability to work at their own pace as a few benefits. This source will be used to show a middle school classroom that is effectively implementing menus.

Morey, Crystal.(2012). Learning Menus: Giving Options and Independence. [Video File]. Retrieved March 08, 2017, from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/independence-in-learning

This source is a short two minute video of from Teaching Channel. This video showcases a middle school math teacher using menu in her classroom. She explains why menu is useful and how to properly use it. Menu helps students effectively build concepts and knowledge independently.  The teacher also explains how menu allows students to choose the tasks that they complete and which ones are graded. Throughout the video the teacher provides examples of learning menus effectively being used in her classroom. She also provides information on where she gets her resources for student tasks. Finally she discusses why this strategy is a great tool for differentiating learning. This source is a great multimedia resource that shows menus effectively being used in a math classroom. It provides helpful ideas and strategies to best implement this strategy in a classroom.

Westphal, Laurie. Differentiating instruction with menus - math, grades 6-8. Waco: Prufrock Pr, 2009. Print.

This source is a book with many math menus. The math menus are categorized by subject matter and are all common core state standards compliant. There are many forms of menus throughout this book. They range from short term menus that can completed in a single class period to long term menus that may be completed over the course of a couple of weeks. This source is fantastic for teachers who wish to implement menus in their practice but do not have time to create nine or more different activities for students to choose from. This is also a great resource for teachers to get new ideas for activities for students

http://www.raytheon.com/news/rtnwcm/groups/corporate/documents/content/rtn12_studentsmth_results.pdf

This survey report had great statistics around middle school math students. This survey showed how students nationwide prefer to learn new subject material, as well as looks at a middle school students perception of math.

Advisory

A good advisory program most importantly starts with relationships. The teacher must create a safe space for students. A great advisory creates an environment where students get to know each other and the teacher. It creates a community where students feel comfortable getting help from. This could be as simple as help with a homework problem or as complicated as help with a fight with a friend. Students should feel comfortable with those around them.

A great advisory gives every student an adult advocate. Advisory and adult advocacy go hand in hand. They work so well together. An advisory teacher is given a number of students they can look out for and support. A good advisory will give students the guidance they need. The teacher will look out for the student academically and developmentally. He or She will be there as a problem solver and helper. A good advisory teacher communicates with other teachers to better understand each student academically and has constant conversations with students. Most importantly a great advisory teacher creates a bridge between students and the rest of the school. They are someone who can connect students and support them academically and developmentally.

Teaming

I think the biggest thing I have been wondering about as I have read about teams is how a large team works. I would think that more voices and opinions would make it very difficult to get anything done. Many of the articles suggested solving this problem by making sure there is a set agenda at every meeting, and holding everyone at the meeting accountable. I think this is important. The only way teachers are truly going to collaborate and create a curriculum students will enjoy is if team time is used properly and effectively. Another thing I thought about is how much involvement from the administration is appropriate and sufficient. When I was a middle school student I remember my teacher often complaining about our administrators. I was wondering if there is such a thing as too much involvement? I believe it is really important for administrators to be present at team meetings and provide teams with the tools to become even better teams. So I believe that administrators should be very involved in the process, but I'm not a teacher yet, so I was wondering if team teachers believe there is too much involvement at these team meetings, or maybe even not enough?

I had many ah-ha moments as I was reading the Clark & Clark article on teaming. This article was more geared towards school leaders and how they can make teaming more effective. Ioved the article, because I hope to be a school leader myself one day. The article had many valuable strategies, including common planning time, collaboration, holding team members accountable, and communication to better the team. With each of these strategies it offered ways for administrators and leaders to foster these strategies in their schools. This article made me realize strong and involved leadership is a very important part to implementing successful teams in middle schools.

El Deafo

The El deafo event that I attended was called “Exploring Identity”. This event was put together by a grad class and consisted of numerous activities. The first activity was a giant game of telephone. This showed us how messages can get jumbled, which is especially important when considering people with a hearing impairment. I enjoyed the new way to look at this game. I remember always playing it in elementary and middle school as a lesson for how rumors can easily change and messages can be mixed up. This however was focusing on how messages can change for those with a hearing impairment because it can be harder to focus on what is being said. I appreciated this new take of the classic game. After this we were broken up into three different groups for three other activities. My group started in the discussion activity. In this activity we talked a lot about our community along with empathy. I had a local high school student who practices the islamic faith. Her insights around community were amazing for me. She talked a lot about how her sense of community changes depending on where she is. When she is with her muslim friends she feels as though she can completely be herself, but at school she is sometimes afraid to share her religion and her full self, because she is afraid of how those around her will treat her. As someone who has been a part of the majority this really gave me a new way to look at how a community could make someone who belongs to the minority feel. This also helped me think about Cece and how she was only comfortable with people who accepted her and did not make a big deal of her hearing impairment.

Performance Criterion 3.2 states that Candidates design learning environments that support collaborative learning marked by positive social interaction. I believe this event shows this, because the event has future educators think about how we will create a positive and tolerable environment for all people. The community activity showed that it is important to create an environment that all students feel comfortable in. This will mean creating an environment that encourages students to talks about differences in a positive way. This is something that I hope I am able to do when I am a future teacher. I definitely plan in building a community in my classroom that celebrates difference instead of hide from them.

This event made me think of the importance of creating a community amongst my students. The community activity really stuck with me. I want to create an environment where all my students feel comfortable to be themselves. I don’t want my students to feel like they have to hide who they are. I want to create this community by making my classroom a safe space for student, and make it clear that hurtful language and intolerance will not be welcomed in my classroom. I will also create this environment by being kind to my students and celebrating all of my students’ differences. If I lead by example I will be able to encourage my students to do the same.

Vocabulary Lesson

Lesson plan

I was asked to make a 20 minute lesson plan that focused on vocabulary for our unit. The above plan shows a lesson on the word Reflection and what the word means in mathematics. This includes an activity to better understand the vocabulary term that was selected. I did choose to focus on only one vocabulary term. I did.

Performance Criterion 4.1 states Candidates accurately communicate central concepts of the discipline.This means that I can correctly explain the important concepts of mathematics, and in this case I can explain important concepts of transformations. This lesson focused on the definition of a transformation in mathematics. I believe my lesson shows this criteria, because it shows that I understand the importance of foundational  language in order to discuss the mathematical concept in a deeper manner. I even say in my lesson that we are learning the definition, because it will help students better understand the rules of reflection in a later class. I must have a deep understanding of the central concepts of mathematics in order to convey the bigger picture to my students. This lesson is meant to convey to students that understanding mathematical language will help them understand deeper aspects of the content. This is a very important part of mathematics. Mathematical language is  definitely a key concept when learning mathematics. I believe an emphasis on the language lets students know that language is important when learning math.

One thing I learned about myself as a teacher is... I learned that teaching vocabulary in my content area is incredibly important. Mathematics heavily relies on the language it uses. If students do not understand the language, they will not be able to understand complex higher mathematics. Complex problems will sound like foreign languages to students who do not understand the words being used and only confuse them more. I will continue working on putting an emphasis on language in my future mathematics lessons, because I feel language is a major part of understanding mathematics. I will want my students to be able to properly use and comprehend mathematical vocabulary, because this will help them become better mathematicians.

Mini Lessons

Link: Mini Lesson Folder

This google folder contains lesson plans, feedback, and assessments for back-to-back mini lessons I was asked to create and conduct. These lessons were supposed to be apart of the unit I am creating for the end of the semester. They were twenty minutes each. Thursday's lesson was edited to fit the needs that were addressed during Tuesday's lesson.

Performance Criterion 7.1 states that candidates plan instruction by drawing upon knowledge of content areas to meet rigorous learning goals. This means that I am using my knowledge of middle school Geometry to create lessons that are appropriately challenging for my students. I started Tuesday's lesson with a review of what happened in previous lessons, so student's felt comfortable with the new material. I then focused on a piece CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.A.3 describe the effect of dilations, translations, rotations, and reflections on two-dimensional figures using coordinates. Mostly focusing on rotations and reflections. My powerpoint for the lesson showed that I have thorough knowledge of the material. I have in-depth notes about each of my transformations for my students to use as a reference. In order to make those notes, though, I need a very good understanding of the content to teach the lesson.

Performance Criterion 7.2 states that Candidates plan instruction by drawing upon knowledge of learners to meet rigorous learning goals. This means that I am using knowledge of my students needs to create lessons that are appropriately challenging them. I showed this Thursday by changing my lesson plan. On Tuesday I realized that I had planned too much material for my students to learn in one twenty minute lesson. On Thursday I corrected my mistake, by taking the material from Tuesday and moving at a much slower pace. This allowed my students more time with the material, and become more comfortable with it. I believe changing my lesson plan shows that I am meeting the criteria, because I am listening to my students' needs and changing my plans to best support them. This shows that I am using knowledge about my students to create an environment that allows them to reach the required learning. 

The most important thing I learned about these mini lessons is the importance of time. I put too much material into my first lesson, and it was noticeable in Tuesday's exit slip. Most of the students misinterpreted the material, and many of the answers on the exit slip were incorrect. This was another reason I knew I needed to slow down. Thursday, I spent the majority of the lesson focusing on one transformation, rotations, and walking students through the rules as a class. This allowed me to address misconceptions, and focus on only one aspect of the material. By doing this, Thursday's assessments showed a big improvement compared to Tuesday. I now know I really need to focus on how much time I have in the future, and try not to put too much information in one lesson

Resource Evaluation

Link: Resource Evaluation

In the resource evaluation I was asked to evaluate a resource I may use for my Unit that I am building this semester. This evaluation had many questions regarding the accessibility of the text for a variety of learners. This required me to look at the organization, language, and clarity, purpose of the text along with many more aspects they may effect the readability of a text for students.

Performance Criterion 8.1 states that candidates use a variety of instructional strategies to make the discipline accessible for diverse learners. This means that I must be able to use multiple strategies to make sure that all of my students are able to obtain the information I am giving them. I believe this resource evaluation reflects that I am doing this, because I am reflecting on the given resource to make sure all of my students will be able to read this text. I also reflect on challenges students may have when I look at the resource and how I may got about handling these challenges. An example of this is my resource evaluation has me think about prior knowledge a student may need in order to fully comprehend this text. As I thought about the different background knowledge required I also thought about ways I may overcome obstacles if a student does not have background knowledge. One example is ELL students may have been taught different notations, and may find the notation in my resource difficult. I believe a situation like this would be a great learning experience for all of my students. Every student in the classroom can learn a new notation that is different from the one they are comfortable with, while also making ELL students comfortable with our notation. 

I believe one of the most important aspects for evaluating a text for a math lesson is the focus of background knowledge. Many math texts assume a student has a certain amount of knowledge around a given topic, and for many that may not be the case. When I evaluate a text that I want to assign to my class I need to think about how much background knowledge they have before they read the text. If I feel my students do not have the background knowledge to read the text I either need to pick a different text, or give supplemental information. Also, If I know how much background knowledge the text requires, I will have a better understanding of what may be an obstacle when my students are struggling.

The biggest thing I have learned about supporting all students is making sure the text is accessible to all students. This may mean extra resources that will help students better understand the text. This may also mean creating pre- during- and post- reading assignments that will scaffold the text enough for students to find the most important material. This will allow students to understand what the most important information is, and help them focus on particular pieces of the reading.