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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day..." - 6 new articles

Five Most Popular Posts Of The Week
Guest Post: One Teacher’s Perspective On Common Core Math
January’s (2015) Best Tweets — Part Three
“Positive Classroom Management Strategies – Part One”
The Best Resources On The No Child Left Behind Reauthorization Process
With The Appropriate Background Knowledge, This Could Be A Good MLK Writing Prompt
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Five Most Popular Posts Of The Week

TV Shows We Used To Watch - 1964-2006 BBC Top of the Pops from Flickr via Wylio

Here’s the latest edition of this every-weekend feature . These are the posts appearing this blog that received the most “hits” in the preceding seven days (though they have originally been published on an earlier date).

You might also be interested in My Most Popular Posts In 2014.

Here they are:

1. This Has Got To Be One Of The Most Useful Sites On The Web For ELL Teachers

2. Web 2.0 Tools For Beginning English Language Learners – "Phrase.It"

3. Duolingo For Schools Opened Today – Here's How It Works

4. The Best Resources For Helping Teachers Use Bloom's Taxonomy In The Classroom

5. The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction

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Guest Post: One Teacher’s Perspective On Common Core Math

As regular readers know, I’m not a huge fan of the Common Core Standards (at least for English), but am now focused on figuring out ways to implement them in the classroom (see A Collection Of My "Best" Lists On The Common Core).

The math department at our school, with the leadership of Gretchen McMeekin, has embraced the new standards with enthusiasm. I have a lot of respect for the judgment of my colleagues, and an enormous amount of it for Gretchen. I’ve invited her to contribute a guest post sharing her thoughts on applying the Common Core Math Standards in our school.

Gretchen McMeekin has been teaching at Luther Burbank High School for 10 years. She is currently the math department head and teaches IB mathematics and Integrated Math 1. She grew up in the Washington DC suburbs and has Undergraduate and Master's degrees from the University of North Carolina. (Editor’s Note: She’s also a very good basketball player)

Most professionals will never be asked to factor a quadratic or simplify a square root. Most will, however, be asked to critique the reasoning of others. In my 10th year of teaching I have embraced the common core for just that reason. The standards of math practice ask students to be problem solvers with the ability to look at a situation, find patterns, utilize resources, and use math models in order to persevere in solving problems.

I get so frustrated when I see complaints on Facebook about common core: they put up a problem and say I don’t know how to do this. Why aren’t teachers teaching the easy way I learned? I find myself arguing that the new way is actually good and it teaches students number sense. I've lately realized this isn’t even the right conversation about common core.

The content standards have not changed that much with the common core. What has changed is the expectation that students can approach a problem before being told exactly how to do it. Students are expected to explain their reasoning and engage with each other rather than just the teacher.

Here's what I witness in my Freshman Math 1 Classroom:

The problem:

Find the equation of a line that connects the relation

Math explanation for those of you that are not math teachers:

The answer is y=3x-2 because 3 times the x value -2 is equal to the y value.

Ex: 3(0)-2=-2 and 3(2)-2=4 and 3(4)-2=10

The old share out:

Smartest student in class: I got y=3x-2

Teacher: good

Almost Every other student in class: I got that too (because they don’t want to share if they didn’t)

The new share out:

Kong says the equation that links x to y is y=6x-2. Paul says it’s y= 3x-2.

Teacher: What did Kong do well in his thinking and what did Paul do well?

Kids discussion as witnessed in my class:

Jackie: They both got the starting point right but I think Kong is right because the rate of change is +6.

Richard: no you are wrong

Teacher: Remember your academic disagreement, Richard

Richard: Oh right. I see what you are saying about the change in y, but you forgot to consider the x’s?

Jackie: I don’t think that matters.

Marabelle: I looked at it a different way… if you plug in the point (2,4) it works in Paul’s equation not in Kong’s.

Teacher: Does everyone understand what Marabelle said?

Jackie: Yes. but I still think the rate of change should be 6.

Teacher: Ok, I need everyone to think about this. We know Paul’s equation is right, but how do you get the rate of change of 3 from the table?

Edgar: Maybe because of what Richard said about the x’s?

Jennifer: Right cuz it skips every other so it’s really changing 3.

Teacher: I don’t quite understand.

Kemari: Well, like it changes 6 for 2 so if you break it evenly it changes 3 each 1.

Alexis: Oh, you have to divide the y change by the x change.

These freshman are engaging in academic conversation in the math classroom. They are presenting their arguments and listening to others. Different perspectives are welcome because it helps kids see the problem in a different way. Often they understand each other better than they used to understand me. Right or wrong is no longer the only important aspect of problem solving – the conversation and the ability and willingness to express your opinion is also critically important.

To me the Common Core is about skills that you need beyond high school. The Standards of Math Practice nicely sum up skills we need that we can get from a math classroom.

I don’t think parents would complain about their teacher trying to teach the kids how to spot and explain patterns. They wouldn’t be upset about teachers teaching kids to be good calm logical arguers. We would all celebrate our children being problem solvers with perseverance.

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January’s (2015) Best Tweets — Part Three

'Twitter' photo (c) 2010, West McGowan - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Every month I make a few short lists highlighting my choices of the best resources I through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn't necessarily include them in posts here on my blog.

I've already shared in earlier posts several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in post.

If you don't use Twitter, you can also check-out all of my "tweets" on Twitter profile page.

You might also be interested in The Best Tweets Of 2014 — So Far and The Best Tweets Of 2014 — Part Two.

[View the story “January’s (2015) Best Tweets — Part Three” on Storify]

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“Positive Classroom Management Strategies – Part One”

Positive Classroom Management Strategies – Part One is my latest post at Education Week Teacher. It’s the first of a four-part series.

Today, educators Bryan Harris, Marcia Imbeau, Pernille Ripp, Gianna Cassetta, Brook Sawyer and Julia Thompson share their advice on implementing positive classroom management strategies.

Here are some excerpts:

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The Best Resources On The No Child Left Behind Reauthorization Process

no child left behind - ps 238 poster from Flickr via Wylio

This post was originally titled “No Child Left Behind Reauthorization Process Begins – Maybe – & It’s Complicated,” but I’ve since converted it into a “Best” list.

There have been some interesting developments this week around the possible reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act:

First, in timing obviously coordinated with U.S. Secretary Duncan’s planned announcement the next day, a coalition of civil rights groups came out in support of maintaining annual standardized testing in any new law. I think they’re making a mistake, but I can see why they might see its importance — it’s probably fair to say that many schools wouldn’t have provided as resources as they did to support students of color without some of the accountability provisions tied to standardized tests in NCLB. I don’t think you have to have annual tests to maintain the same pressure, though, and I hope our unions can be in conversations with the groups. Also, I’ve got to say — how in the world can The Education Trust be considered a “civil rights group”?

Then, Arne Duncan announced that any reauthorization must retain the annual testing requirement that currently exists, which teachers unions criticized. Instead, the unions said they want grade-span testing — only testing in one elementary, middle school and high school year (see Arne Duncan: Why Change When We Can Continue To Do The Same Thing Wrong?).

Next, Senator Lamar Alexander released a draft bill that provided two options for testing — one keeping the annual assessments we have now and the other leaving most decisions up to the states and including the possibility of grade-span testing. It received a number of reactions.

The next day, The Center For American Progress (a think tank) and the American Federation of Teachers came up with a new position on annual standardized tests. Now, the AFT won’t oppose keeping annual tests – “But, the scores from the exams should only factor into state accountability systems once in each grade span (elementary, middle, and high school).” The NEA appears to be maintaining its same position in pushing for grade-span testing, but also appears to be leaving the door open.

If there has been private horsetrading behind the scenes to get this kind of deal in return for eliminating requirements to have student test scores used in teacher evaluations, then I think this AFT proposal could be a decent deal (and is one I actually included in my 2015 Predictions). I’m not thrilled about wasting a couple of weeks a year in students taking the tests, but this kind of compromise could be “half a loaf, not half a baby.” However, if they haven’t received solid indications from Alexander and Duncan that they’d be open to that kind of compromise, I’ve got to question its wisdom. At the same time, I think Randi Weingarten and AFT leaders are very politically astute, so I am inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

Bruce Baker has written two great posts that speak to the debate going on about annual standardized testing (in relation to the potential reauthorization of No Child Left Behind):

Cutting through the Stupid in the Debate over Annual Testing

The Subgroup Scam & Testing Everyone Every Year

What Will Become of No Child Left Behind? is from The Pacific Standard.

Student testing: Deciding when enough is enough is from The Associated Press.

A new bill could mark the beginning of the end of the Common Core is from The Washington Post

That’s where things stand now. As my headline says, it’s complicated….

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With The Appropriate Background Knowledge, This Could Be A Good MLK Writing Prompt

8 - Civil Rights Movement from Flickr via Wylio

The latest New Yorker cover gets Martin Luther King completely wrong: http://t.co/TJJyBLg1Go pic.twitter.com/rxHSxw6mJT

— Vox (@voxdotcom) January 16, 2015

Vox has just published a short and useful critique of this week’s New Yorker cover suggesting that it communicates that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s main message was reconciliation when, in fact, it was confrontation to achieve justice.

If students had sufficient background knowledge (which, if truth be told, we should all have talked about in our classes already) — Ferguson, Eric Garner, the shooting of the two New York City police officers, Trayvon Martin (you can also find good related teaching materials at A Collection Of Useful Posts, Articles & Videos On Race & Racism) — they could read Vox’s short post, view the New Yorker cover, and respond to a writing prompt like this:

The author writes that Martin Luther King’s main message was that confrontational protest was necessary to achieve justice. To what extent do you agree that often it takes conflict to overcome unfairness and inequality? To support your opinion, be sure to include specific examples drawn from your own experience, your observations of others, or any of your readings (including this article).

I have also previously shared two writing prompts on similar topics:

John Lewis: "You Must Find A Way To Get In Trouble"

Quote Of The Day: "We Must Always Take Sides"

I’m adding this post to The Best Posts On Writing Instruction (where I collect all my writing prompts) and to The Best Websites For Learning About Martin Luther King.

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