Classroom Culture: Too Focused on "The Correct Answer."

American Classroom Culture

Today we had an emergency drill and a half day, so each class was only 25 minutes long (compared to the 85 that we are used to on a block schedule). So instead of doing mathematics directly, I decided to play a game: You start out with 21 beans. Each player can take 1, 2 or 3 beans. The person who goes last, wins. It is a very simple game. I wanted the class to know that there is more to this game than just beans, so I told the students that "There is a winning strategy." and "If anyone can beat me, then I will give them a piece of candy."

As students played this game and challenged me, they were looking for the "correct strategy." Only one or two students per class figured it out, mostly by watching me and analyzing my "correct strategy." Now that I reflect on this experience, I shouldn't have said "There is a winning strategy" I should have simply said "If you can beat me, then I will give you a piece of candy." By implying that there is only one correct strategy made students focus on what I was doing instead of exploring other ways to play this game.

In addition to this, my gut instinct as a teacher is to tell everyone the "correct answer" at the end of the class period. I resisted this urge and most students left class without understanding how to win the game every time.

Japanese Classroom Culture

Several months ago I watched two classes solve a simple question. The first class was an 8th grade class and the second was a 7th grade class. The question was if you cut a cube diagonally, what is the shape of the cross section:

image from: The Electronic Journal of Mathematics and Technology, Volume 2, Number 1, issn 1933-2823. 

Retrieved from: http://lib.znate.ru/docs/index-134315.html on Sept 24, 2014

In order to solve this problem, you need to use of the Pythagorean Theorem. The 8th grade students had learned about the Pythagorean Theorem, therefore many of them figured it out. However there were groups who did not figure it out and the teacher did not give the answer at the end of the class period.

The 7th grade students haven't studied about Pythagorean Theorem. Very few students in this class solved the problems, but the teacher did not give any hints or give the answer at the end of the period. But the students still worked until the end trying to solve it.

"Correct Answer" or Process

From watching these Japanese lessons, I realized that I am too "correct answer" focused. I knew going into our bean game that I wasn't going to tell the entire class the strategy. The reason is, if students know that they will get spoon fed the answer at the end, then they loose the incentive to solve it next time. It is the process that we are more concerned about anyway, right?

Teaching in the Information Age

Many people, including Sir Ken Robinson, have talked about the fact that our education system was created for the Industrial Age. Students are required to take similar classes and the hope, originally, was that they all graduate with similar abilities. The education system realized that this is not possible, so it has been adjusting to meet individual needs, a.k.a. "Differentiated Instruction." In other words an Industrial education system is trying to adapt to meet new demands in the Information Age, but I don't know if it will be able to adjust fast enough, especially because the Information Age changes very rapidly.

Information Age Tools
Let me tell you of an experience I had that is not uncommon. Last week, in a Geometry class, there was a day for students to work on their quarter projects and I there was one student who had finished his project. I told him to turn it in and he can do work for a different class. He was working on either Literature or History, I couldn't tell. But this student, who is a very good student, was constantly doing web searches to make sure that he understood the questions on his worksheet and that the answer he wrote down on his worksheet was correct. I have seen this repeated during a study hall period, and watching my students work in my classroom before school, after school, and during lunch. Today's high school students are aware of the Information Age tools that are available to them, and they use them. I think that the days is gone when teachers can close the door and assume that we are teaching in a vacuum. Students carry devices with them that open the door, not only to the entire school, but to a world and history full of information. Maybe it is time for teachers to have their students do more web searches and fewer worksheets.

What does an Information Age Classroom look like?
The next logical question is, what would an Information Age classroom look like? What kind of classroom would prepare our students for the future that they will be working in? My answer is ... I don't know. I imagine that it would have the four c's from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. I imagine that it is more project based learning and less content front-loaded instruction. I imagine that it is more open ended solution finding, than finding the "correct" answer. There are complex problems in the world that need to be solved, and students need to be taught how to handle those problems with the tools in their era, not a past one.

My Classroom
I would love to say that my classroom is like this, but it is not. I am still trying to figure out how to adjust my teaching to meet these needs. My last major shift has been to flip my class. I think my next shift will be to more project based learning because I believe that this is what students will need to develop 21st Century Skills. My hesitation has to do with the need to still prepare students for their next math class and future math classes. I will get there, not because I need to, but because my students need me to.


If you have suggestions or examples of what PBL looks like in a Geometry or Statistics class, please comment below.

How my iPhone changed my career

About a year ago, I purchased an iPhone and it has been the greatest professional development tool I have ever used. When I started using my iPhone, I wasn't sure how it could be used. But I noticed that it had a podcast app, and I found a few educational podcasts, like the Flipped Learning Network Podcast, and began listening to it.

The next step happened a few weeks later. The guests who appeared on this Podcast said that they can be reached on Twitter. So eventually I realized that I could use Twitter to connect with amazing educators and learn from them. I don't think I am very good at using twitter, but I love the ideas that I get by reading other teacher's tweets and blog posts.

Since then I have expanded to listen to a variety of podcasts, many of which are from EdReach and my iPhone has become a constant source of professional development that inspires me to try new things.

In case you are curious, here are some of my favorite educational podcasts:

• The Google Educast
• The Flipped Learning Network Podcast
• The EdGamer Podcast
• Chalkstar to Rockstar
• The Flip Side with Jon Bergmann

If you have others that you would recommend, please leave a comment below!

Using Requirements on Teachers to Inspire Creativity

One of the most liberating and powerful attributes in education is freedom. Sometimes as teachers we don't feel that we have a lot of freedom. We are required to teach Common Core, State or other Standards. At the same time we are required to meet other school or district improvement plans. This is on top of lesson planning, grading, and differentiating for a wide variety of learners. But the truth is, in all of this, there is still room for freedom. In fact, the demands on you as a teacher can inspire creativity.

One TED talk that I think about frequently is Phil Hansen's TED talk entitled Embrace the shake.

He is an artist who developed a tremor in his hand which kept him from drawing pointillist drawings. So instead of giving up, he decided to embrace the shake. I love the moment when he goes to the art store and can buy anything, he doesn't know what to do. He then sets limitations that inspire the creativity.

My goal as a teacher is to use standards, improvement programs, and other demands on me and my time to inspire creativity. I am always willing to try new things in my classroom. Some of them fail, but most of them work and can then be improved upon.

This same idea is passed to my students. I love to assign open ended projects. For example

• Create a game that reviews the ideas from this chapter, the game must include content questions from the chapter that you wrote. This can be:
• A board game
• A card game
• A video game
• Present a summary of all the important ideas from this chapter. Be creative, for example:
• Make a video: a movie trailer, news broadcast, or video of toys discussing the ideas.
• Write a story: a children's story that incorporates the ideas from this chapter.
• Create a PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.
• For more ideas go to:
• http://khsgeometry.weebly.com/quarter-1-projects.html
• http://khsgeometry.weebly.com/quarter-2-projects.html

I have been amazed at the quality of work that I get when I allow the students freedom with specific parameters. Last year when I detailed exactly what I wanted, I received exactly what my rubric stated, but it lacked passion and enjoyment.

I hope that educators will embrace the demands on us, and use it to inspire creative solutions to the daily struggles of being a great teacher.