In this week’s podcast I will reflect on my first semester of implementing the Modern Classrooms Project model with my high school Algebra 1 class and share some exciting news!
Resources talked about in this episide:
Podcast Transcript
Hi, my name is Erin and welcome to Teaching Math in a Modern Classroom! I am a high school math teacher in my 12th year of education. For years I had been feeling frustrated and defeated when it came to differentiating my instruction to meet ALL of the needs of my students. I was able to differentiate my lessons in a way that helped most of my students but not all. I knew there had to be a better way than direct instruction and practice.
One day, while scrolling on my phone, I decided to download some random podcast episodes. The first one I listened to was titled How to Create a Self-Paced Classroom from the Cult of Pedagogy podcast. I was in awe as I listened to Kareem and Jennifer talk about the Modern Classrooms Project and knew this was the direction that I wanted to take and my journey as a Modern Classrooms Project teacher began.
If you are feeling the same way, I hope this podcast will inspire you to give Modern Classrooms Project a try! Each episode, I’ll share my journey of implementing this research-based teaching model and what I’ve learned along the way.
It has been a while since I have had a moment to pause and reflect on my implementation journey with the Modern Classrooms Project. I don’t know about you, but this school year has been crazy. It’s been hard trying to accomplish all of my goals in a day, a week, or month. I haven’t had the time to sit down and record a podcast in weeks – but here we are, at the end of the semester and I am finally updating you on how it’s going.
It’s amazing. Its everything I hoped it would be. There is definitely still room for growth and improvement, but I am incredibly happy.
How it started
Let’s go back to the beginning so you can get the whole picture. I first asked my higher ups if I could implement MCP in Nov of 2020. At that time, I was told no due to the pandemic. That spring I asked if my school would pay for me to participate in the Virtual Summer Institute to learn more about this model and they agreed.
The Virtual Summer Institute was really beneficial as they had us completely layout our first unit and we had guidance and feedback from mentors and peers for each step along the way. Shout out to my mentor Tyler! His feedback was so valuable and I still follow his advice in my units now. I think one of the best pieces of advice I received was on keeping skills checks short. My skills checks are typically only 1 to 2 questions.
During pre-planning, I made a presentation to the assistant principal over math, the math coach, and math department head on the Modern Classrooms Project asking again if I could implement this model and they agreed to allow me to pilot this model with my Algebra 1 class.
Through the semester I have experimented with both paper and digital assignments. I love the digital practice assignments that give students immediate feedback and I love paper practice assignments for concepts that require multiple steps so that I can see a student’s thought process.
I do all my skills checks on paper. I want to see their thinking and since each skills check is only 1 or 2 questions, it is easy to grade. I am now in the habit of live grading skills checks. Students hand me their completed skills check and I grade it there right in front of them. If there is a small mistake like a sign error I might say, double check your work and hand it back to the student. If a student completes the skills check incorrectly, I will go over the question with them or ask them how they went from step 2 to step 3. If it is clear that the student is struggling with concept, I recommend they rewatch the video or complete more practice on the concept. Then they can retry a different version of the skills check.
I do not hand back my skills checks for students to keep. Instead, I keep them in hanging file folders. Each student has a folder. I keep these for documentation purposes. Students can ask to see their skills checks at any time. So far, I’ve only had one or two students ask to review their skills checks to help them study for the test.
Current Struggles
Let’s talk about some current struggles that we are working through. I have a handful of students that are just going through the motions. I have to remind them every day to listen to the video with their headphones in both ears. These same students will copy the practice from a peer. I do not stress about the copying of the practice assignments because it is obvious who completed the practice and who didn’t when it comes time for the skills checks. My goal is continue to build these relationships with these students in hopes that they will realize that they are only penalizing themselves.
I am still trying to help students advocate for themselves. I have 2-3 students that I need to check in with a couple times a class period because they will not ask questions unless I check in. I have one student who is great about letting me know in her daily do now if she has a question and wants me to check in with her.
The biggest challenge I am having right now is cell phones. I tried to use Kate Gaskill’s approach at the start of the school year but it took awhile for my students to get their Chromebooks and so I allowed them to use their phones. Once they got their Chromebooks, I allowed students that were on or ahead of pace to keep their phones and asked students that were behind pace to put their phone in the phone holder. This worked well for a while but now it’s a mess again. I am planning on doing a reset at the start of next semester.
How its Going
My administrator did a formal observation of my Algebra 1 class and she had nothing but positive feedback. She talked to students and asked them about the model and my students were able to explain what step in the process they were in and what they would do next. She observed me working with a group of students and with me working one on one with students. She saw students collaborating and helping each other on their practice assignments. She wants to talk about having other teachers in the department implement this model!
Now that the semester is winding down, I did a survey with my students to get their feedback on this model. One suggestion that many students had was more full class activity days. Right now, I use full class activity days as a review day before a test. My students will be taking a state mandated exam in May and so I am thinking of having full class activity days every Friday next semester and use this time for spiral review to help them prepare for the test.
Big News!
In November, I decided I wanted to apply to become a Distinguished Modern Classroom Educator (DCME). The application process was easy, and I actually really enjoyed filling it out. The application asks you to reflect and provide evidence on the different aspects of the Modern Classrooms Project. If you have implemented this model, even if only for a few weeks or months – I highly recommend that you apply to become a DCME as the reflection process will show you have much you have done and how much you have grown as an educator!
Last week I found out that I am officially a Distinguished Modern Classrooms Educator! I can’t believe how far I have come in such a short amount of time and am so proud of this accomplishment. I am so excited to continue to innovate to meet EVERY student’s needs!
Connect with Me
Did you know I have a YouTube channel? This is where you can find ALL of the videos I am using in my classroom. If you are a math teacher definitely check it out. It is my goal to help as many math teachers as possible. Teaching in a pandemic is hard, and this is just one way that I can help my fellow educators!
I upload my YouTube videos to EdPuzzle to assign to my students. This means that you can search for my videos in EdPuzzle and be able to pull up the videos that already have the questions embedded.
Are you a secondary math teacher struggling with student engagement? If you haven’t already, please visit my website, www.erinsessentialequations.com to download my free “Strategies to Keep Students Engaged in your Secondary Math Classroom” resource!
If you want to learn more about the modern classrooms project check out their website at modernclassrooms.org.
Connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube @ErinsEssentialEquations
If you are also implementing the Modern Classrooms Project with your students, please use #mcpteachers on Instagram and share the amazing things you are doing in your classroom with me so I can learn from you as well!
Subscribe to this podcast hear my updates. This podcast will be back in 2022!
Thanks for listening!
