Student Reflections & Resolutions

One of my goals for this year is to help students develop skills that will help them in all aspects of life.  Since the end of the first semester is right around the corner, I had them reflect on how things were going so far.

I gave them each a sheet of paper (half-sheet to cut down on waste), and asked them these 5 questions:

1. On a scale of 1-5, how hard have you been working this year?  I had them circle a number 1 through 5.  I set them up to answer the question like this - 5=I've done all of my homework, and I regularly come in for extra help; 1=I rarely do my homework, and I never come in for extra help.  These are the things that I look at most to determine if students are trying.
2. Do you think your current grade accurately reflects your effort?  I had them circle yes or no.  Prior to giving them the self-evaluation I passed out a small piece of paper with their grades written on them.  I showed them their overall average, homework average, quiz average, and test average.
3. Do you think you're on track to reach your Regents goal?  We set goals in October for the Regents exam, NWEA, and a personal growth goal.  Maybe I should post about that another time.
4. What habits have been helping you?
5. What habits have been hurting you?

I was very impressed with the honesty and maturity that my students responded with.  On question #1, no student gave themselves a 1, which I agree with.  I had two students give themselves a 5, which I also agree with.  (For some reason, my students this year are very reluctant to come in for extra help.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe I should ask in a survey.)

On question 2, I realized that I need more options.  Students need the room to be able to say "no my grade doesn't reflect my effort because I work hard and it's not paying off".  Or they could feel the opposite way.  I'll have to restructure this for next time.

On question 3, I was happy that the majority of my students said that they're not on track to reach their Regents goal because most of them are not.  There are study and test taking skills that need to be developed first.

Questions 4 and 5 were enlightening.  Students appreciate their interactive notebooks, they understand the impact of completing homework for the good and bad, they understand the detrimental effects of procrastination, and many realize that need to start seeking help.

I had my students do this reflection on Friday.  Tomorrow I'm going to have them take this a step further and complete a Keep-Change-Start-Stop form.  (For more information, read Sarah Hagan's post here.)  I did this with my students last year, but not until the end of the year.  (We had one for personal reflection, and one to reflect on my teaching.)  By doing this tomorrow, I want to essentially set new semester resolutions.  I want my students to take their reflection, and turn it into an action.  I'm going to have students complete their Keep-Change-Start-Stop, collect it to read and provide feedback, and then give it back to students to keep in their notebooks.

My New Favorite CCSS Resource

In the fall, I was fortunate to be able to participate in professional development for Common Core Geometry.  Over the summer we met with other Geometry teachers in our county and poured over the first two modules posted by EngageNY.  If you haven't seen them yet, take a look.  All five modules are now posted.  There's some great things there, but there are also several concerns.  The last thing I heard from our BOCES math specialist is that we are on our last revision that is included in the state's contract with the authors of the modules.  (Meanwhile, we are still finding typos and calculation errors.)  Another concern has been that the people writing these modules are not affiliated with the people writing our state test.  The teachers that used the modules for Algebra last year said that they didn't align to the test very well, so their students were unprepared for the common core exam.  The thing that scares me the most is that teachers from other states are using these modules too.

[Side Note - An example where we already know the modules won't align to the exam:  Rotations are taught by showing the image and preimage of a rotated figure, and students are to use constructions to find the center of rotation, and then measure the angle of rotation.  However, when students actually take the exam, they are not given access to a protractor.  This makes no sense to me what-so-ever.]

So, just in case you are using or planning to use the EngageNY modules in Geometry, I wanted to share what one teacher is doing.  She has taken the modules and broken them down into units.  On her website she posts how she adapted the modules into notes for her students.  These notes are much easier to follow as a teacher and as a student.  I have not used them with my classes because I'm taking a different route this year, but a friend of mine has been using them and she says that they've made a big difference compared to the beginning of the year when she was using the original modules.  See this teacher's lesson notes here.  I am also linking to this teacher's homepage.  On the left side, you can find videos for the lessons.

Home Office Tour

I'm not a resolutions person.  Not for New Year's at least.  It's always bothered me that if someone knows how to improve or that an improvement is needed that they can wait until January 1st of the next year before making a move.  What I love about resolutions however is all of the sales on office supplies, organizational supplies, gym equipment, workout gear, etc.  I decided to take advantage of these sales.

The sales combined with time off from work and the opportunity presented by having to almost completely dismantle my home office to accommodate my giant Christmas tree gave me the idea to refresh and reorganize my home office space.

I was inspired by this pin on Pinterest.  The shelf is from Hobby Lobby, which is currently my favorite store.  However, when I got to the store I was not thrilled with the price (even at 50% off) and the overall appearance of the shelf.  The wooden shelf is unfinished wood, and the hardware is purposely worn and cracking.  I hate that.  When I buy something brand new, I want it to look brand new.

I decided to improvise, and I purchased a plain shelf.  I'd actually been looking for a shelf to hang over my desk to get some of the decorative clutter off the desk.  While shopping for baskets to organize my closet, I had the idea to just hang wire baskets under the shelf .  The pro is getting the look that I liked, the con was not having drawers.  (I also lost out on not having the hooks under the shelf, but I don't need them anyway.)  After mulling the idea over while waiting for the baskets to go on sale, I decided to go for it.

The most exciting part of the makeover was the last second decision to move the desk so that it is nestled in the corner next to the bookshelf that was already there.  Unfortunately I don't have a 'before' photo to share.  Just trust me when I say that so much space was being wasted by the original desk placement.  I put my laminator and selphy printer on top of the book case.  Before I had some decorations on top of the bookshelf, and with the bookshelf being just under the window, it became a place for my cats to sit and knock the decorations over.  Now they avoid the top of the bookshelf.

I'm using the shelf above the desk to keep some of the decorative clutter off of the desk.  I'm using the baskets to keep the things that were thrown in the desk drawer easily accessible.  (One basket is for all of the notepads I've accumulated, and the other is for all of my interactive notebook supplies.)  This space is still a work in progress.  I might add a few more organizational things to it, but it's perfect for now.  I was able to place a small stack of drawers between the desk and the wall.  Having the drawers there give us a place to keep our laptops when we're not using them so they don't have to be left on top of the desk.  I'm really striving for a clutter-free desk so I can concentrate better on work when I'm home.  I also took advantage of the time I had to re-organize my drawers.

The extra space that I gained gave me almost an entire wall to use.  I bought a bookshelf from Target.  (It's Closet Maid brand.)  What I love about it is that the shelves can be changed.  This is the perfect bookshelf to accommodate my binder collection.

I also re-organized these drawers (that are one either side of the new bookshelf) as well.

I was able to use this bookshelf to free up some space being used around the apartment and to move all of my papercrafting supplies closer to my desk.  I put the printer on top of the book case.  I was a little disappointed that I was not able to put the printer closer to my desk.  That is until my husband came up with the brilliant idea of nestling the little table that used to be for the printer between these two small benches we have against our accent wall.  (Not pictured.)

I am absolutely loving this new setup.