Month: October 2023

Plane As Paste

It started (as most things did in the naughts/early teens) with an xkcd comic. (The actual title is NSFW).

Source. Used under CC BY-NC 2.5 DEED

Then the internet’s most brilliant math-teacher-minds got ahold of it and Pomegraphit was born.

There was definitely a minute where coordinate plane things were all the rage amongst my online PLN.

Spend enough time with algebra teachers and the conversation turns deficit model: “They can’t even plot a point?” Which might be followed by “But with Desmos they don’t have to.” Maybe that makes this type of exercise even more valuable than it was when it originally rolled out. Here’s Dan Meyer when he wrote about the process of developing the Pomegraphit activity:

A gridded plane is the formal sibling of the gridless plane. The gridded plane allows for more power and precision, but a student’s earliest experience plotting two dimensions simultaneously shouldn’t involve precision or even numerical measurement. That can come later. Students should first ask themselves what it means when a point moves up, down, left, right, and, especially, diagonally.

https://blog.mrmeyer.com/2017/pomegraphit-how-desmos-designs-activities/

Then: I somehow stumbled upon Lucas Kwan Peterson, the food writer for the LA Times. I think this might have been the tweet that sent me on the quest:

His shtick is ranking categories of things on a coordinate plane – spicy snacks, Halloween candy, fast-food french fries, Girl Scout cookies. And I saw an opening:

What does it mean to be further right on the x-axis in this image? Higher up on the y-axis? And now it was plain as paste. Or, plane as paste, pardon the pun.

And in the days of teaching Algebra II from my dining room table, the Spicy Snack Desmos activity was a hit with my remote learning kids.

But since then, I’ve wondered: could we do more with it? Could my kids create their own Peterson-style coordinate plane ranking, of a subject of their own choosing? Then I switched to geometry and the question kind of went on the back burner. Until this year when Algebra II was back on the menu and I needed a next-to-last-day-of-the-quarter activity.

Got it. Went and dug up the 1.0 version of this activity I made for an e-day a couple of years ago. Made some edits and refined the questioning (one of my ongoing areas of emphasis for myself, especially post-pandemic).

And I rolled out The Coordinate Plane Power Rankings activity. I wanted students to come up with their own characteristics for the x- and y-axis labels, and to be able to insert photos and text of their items, so Google Slides was the right home for this activity.

I showed them Peterson’s Spicy Snacks graphic and asked the FH Doritos vs. FH Cheetos question, got some positive feedback on their understanding of positioning, and challenged them to create their own Coordinate Plane Rankings, using a topic of their own interest:

They jumped in and as I made my way from table group to table group I was able to peek over shoulders, encourage, ask clarifying questions, and just in general enjoy watching my kids create.

We had about an even split between kids who identified two strong and somewhat unique characteristics for the rankings, and those who just kind of stated the same idea twice. But they had strong feelings when they wrote their justifications for the rankings and I knew I had a good hook. We can always go back in and tweak the math understanding part after the fact, right? Even in a 45-minute class.

I had one more question to ask, as an extension. We looked at Peterson’s Fast Food French Fries graphic and write-ups, noted the shape of the grouping of points and:

We ran out of time to give this one the attention that it deserved. The categories were “texture” and “taste” and I was hoping they’d see how closely related the two descriptors were – like, it’s really hard to have a good-tasting fry with bad texture. That’s either a chip, or mashed potatoes. A location deep in the second or fourth quadrant doesn’t really make sense here.

But a couple of the kids who focused on music got the basics. Did you rank a song that had great lyrics but you didn’t like the beat? And the world is full of bangers that one day you look up and say “Wait, what did they just sing? Uhhhhh…. yikes”. In some categories that’s possible in a way that the fries relationship isn’t.

Also: everything he said about Del Taco is gospel truth:

Last time I had them I was sitting in the front seat of my car in a grocery store parking lot just off the 95 in Vegas and I’m not sure but I thought I faintly heard angel choirs singing.

One last thing: we’re in our third year of a conversion to a project-based learning school so we’re always seeking out community partners and/or an authentic audience, and even tho I haven’t made a #teach180 post in years I still love bragging on my kids on social. So I shared some of the day’s work and tagged Peterson in the tweet.

And this happened:

I agree. And thanks.

One other teaching/coaching-related thought: our evaluation rubric language has changed in the last couple of years, leaning heavily towards student-centered/student-focused classrooms as our exemplar. I definitely saw my kids taking control of their learning during this activity, creating a document that relied on understanding of concepts and then interpreting the graphs they made (evergreen algebra state standard). And we used a real-world example of the type of work I was asking them to do so they had an idea of what the final product could look like.

Those are good days in the classroom. Fun days. Fun with a purpose. I’ve got a few more things in the tank that will keep moving me in the direction we want to be as a staff and as a building, and hopefully keep my kids curious about math.

And if this post made you hungry, go check out Peterson’s take (inspired by the success of The Bear) on why it’s hard to get real Italian Beef outside of Chicago. And don’t skip on the gravy or the giardiniera.

There’s Money Out There. Just Not For Everything.

Went to an event this weekend. The opening weekend of a new distillery/brewery/restaurant/event space, built in a renovated 160-year-old factory.

The brand is well-established with a similar renovation in a neighboring state, where the founders have been distilling award-winning spirits for the last decade.

The founder’s story is compelling – son of a banker, stood to inherit the business, instead the family sold off the bank and the founder was left to figure out what’s next. Given the luxury of money and time, he had a minute to ponder his next move. This eventually led him to craft distilling and the conversion of a former buggy whip/corset stay factory in southwest Michigan.

Once established, the founder saw an opportunity to duplicate the concept in his hometown. He selected an abandoned factory and set about lining up investors and implementing his dream.

Forty million dollars and a pandemic later, the dream is a reality.

Forty. Million. Dollars.

A mind-bogglingly huge amount of cash. And I can see already that Journeyman’s is going to be an attraction to challenge anything else in the Region.

Meanwhile in Vegas, the ownership of the Oakland A’s baseball team has been seeking cities for relocation (you could say they are seeking cities to use as leverage in their attempt to convince the city of Oakland to commit to funding for a new modern stadium.) Forty years ago, due to Vegas’ well-earned reputation as a gambling mecca and its reputed connections to organized crime, no major pro sports league would consider a franchise there. College basketball was the city’s prime sports attraction and the Runnin’ Rebels of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas were the biggest game in town. Now gambling apps partner with major pro sports leagues and stadiums build on-site sports books. And Vegas boasts a Stanley Cup champion and one of the WNBA’s strongest franchises, along with a state-of-the-art domed stadium that houses the (formerly Oakland/formerly Los Angeles) Raiders of the NFL. Could major league baseball be the next attraction on The Strip?

Selling out 81 games a year times 35,000 seats is a big ask, even for a tourist destination like Vegas. And modern stadiums aren’t cheap. One particular organization is weighing the overall value of state support for a new ballpark versus state support for public education. Schools Over Stadiums is the name of the group. The fight is likely to end up in court before MLB can make a decision on approval for the move.

It’s an interesting thought exercise: So, where does money, especially public money, belong?

Back in the Region. I was in Michigan City last weekend and in my travels ended up at St. Stan’s, a gorgeous downtown historic church.

A huge banner in the narthex advertised a 2.5 million dollar capital campaign to renovate a 100-year-old church. Keep in mind, this is not a wealthy town, nor a particularly large community (32,000 or so residents), not a well-off parish (the folks with the lakefront McMansions or summer homes go to Notre Dame in Long Beach), at a moment when urban dioceses are consolidating.

It’s a big ask. Maybe too big. Like “in your dreams” big. But the diocese has given the green light. Sometimes it’s worth asking the question. I’ve got a thing for beautiful historic churches. And beautiful historic buildings just in general. I hope they make their goal.

So my district has a funding referendum on the ballot next month. It is a renewal of the 2017 referendum that paid for the newest high school building that allowed the district to consolidate from 4 high schools to 2.

That was a painful moment for folks in my district. But the state forced our hand, financially speaking. You close schools, or we’ll close them for you, basically.

Our superintendent presented at our last faculty meeting this month. His intent was to steer away from referendum-related topics but let’s be honest, that’s all anyone wanted to talk about. The referendum amount is the equivalent of about 250 teaching positions. (“Don’t worry, it’s not like we’re going to let people go on November 8. Everybody’s contract is to the end of the year.”) So he walked us through the history: our current schools infrastructure was built for the Baby Boom generation. In 1965, the first year that Gavit hosted a full 9-12 enrollment, we had 25,000 students in K-12. This year it is 10,500. A 60% decrease. I mean, you can see why the Distressed Unit Appeal Board was on the trail.

That’s not good. A dying district in a dying city, from an outsider’s standpoint.

And so: Literally no one expects the referendum to pass. I can’t even find out where to get a yard sign. And believe me, I’ve asked. Referenda are just not very popular around here these days. But just like the folks at St. Stan’s, you have to ask, right? It’s the right thing to do. The existing building (my building) is badly in need of repair. The board sees this as an equity issue. Half our high school kids go to a brand new building. Half of our high school kids go to a building with lockers scavenged from two closed high schools, with substandard HVAC. An accident of birth, or what neighborhood your parents can afford to live in, determines your school conditions.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right? You fix that up, for the kids. But two things: Number one, a significant portion of the residents feel like they were lied to about plans to close neighborhood schools, and two, as a city we are tapped out in terms of dollars.

Parenthetically: it doesn’t help that the state requires the ballot question to state the percent tax increase from a theoretical baseline instead of from the reality of the 2022 tax bill. Who would vote a 35% property tax increase on themselves? Not me, for real. Unless it wasn’t actually 35%.

We’ll see I guess, but I’m not holding my breath.

There was 40 million dollars available to renovate an ancient exurban factory building into a destination because the investors believe they will make a return. And I hope they do. I’m going back there, for sure. But what about St. Stan’s? Treasure in heaven aside, no one is making a profit on their donation to a capital campaign for a church building that may or not remain a parish. But that parish means something to its congregants, and it means something to downtown, and to the city of Michigan City. Perfect world, it deserves a renovation. But still….

And in Hammond? Look, I’m a teacher. I understand the value of a strong school system to a community. And, I’m a homeowner with a budget to keep. And beneath the red and black spirit wear I’m a Gladiator whose heart broke a little when the closing of my school was announced.

I still bleed purple and sweat gold. So I understand all sides of the debate.

But kids don’t get to pick.

Maybe, thinking about craft distilleries and schools, and tourist desinations and dying Rust Belt cities, and where money flows, it all comes down to what one of my online running friends commented when I posted about the Vegas stadium vs. school funding fight: “One makes money, the other doesn’t”.

And that dictates where the money goes, regardless of where it’s badly needed.

Dammit.

I wish people cared as much about fixing up a building that provides a place for education for kids who live in a place by accident of birth, as much as they did to house a genrtified factory that serves $15 cocktails.

Pride of place is worth preserving. Everywhere.

Or else it’s an empty phrase.

Planning, And Planning Ahead

“Parabola Bean”

I toggled back to Algebra II this year after a couple of years of geometry, and we also switched from Google Classroom to the Schoology LMS so my planning has taken a slightly different form. I’m still working off our district-made curriculum map and using a digital calendar/planner as well as planning out quarters on paper, but I’ve been tweaking my lessons to fit an in-person audience since last time I taught Alg II we were still remote for three-quarters of the year, then hybrid.

In the midst of my planning, and sharing resources with the math team, I realized I needed something better to use as an assessment for quadratic functions and after rooting around a little bit ended up on the Parabola Selfie Project ($) from Algebra and Beyond.

I planned out three days in class for the work and one day for the gallery walk/parabola swap where they verify a classmate’s math. But that timeline counted on my students finding a parabola in the wild outside of school over the weekend and taking a couple of photos so they could start work right away on Monday morning.

OK, so what happens on Day One if no one comes back with a photo?

Writing in his Substack last week, Dan Meyer pointed out that one of the most important skiils a teacher needs is knowledge of student misconceptions, or common errors. This is not exactly that, but related. I’m not sure I would have had the foresight to do this as a first or second year teacher, but in the days leading up to the launch of this activity, I definitely scouted the building to see if I could find anything that could stand in for a parabola in a pinch. Then if we needed to, we could take part of that first day and make a field trip of the second floor and snap photos.

Planning ahead paid off. Big time. Virtually all of my students needed a parabola photo to get started.

Everyone got a parabola (-ish) photo they could pull into Desmos. Most were able to wrap that up in the 15 or so minutes we had left in class after our “field trip”. From there over the next couple of days they identified characteristics of their parabola including the equation of the axis of symmetry, coordinates of the vertex, named a point and its reflection, the zeros and y-intercepts. Then they wrote the equation of the quadratic in vertex form and enetered that to their Desmos graph to confirm it matched their shape. They also converted to standard form.

I’ve mentioned often in this space that we’re still dealing with the long tail of pandemic-era schooling. I plan everything knowing that my students are going to come to me with gaping holes in their foundational math knowledge. I spent much of the three class days we spent on the activity sitting at our table groups and providing support on things like binomial multiplication.

Which is good. One-on-one time is hard to come by in a 45-minute class.

We ran out of time to make poster displays so I collected their pencil/paper work and made a quick Google Doc where they could paste in the Desmos link, a screen shot of their graph, and their original photo and selfie. They submitted this doc to me through Schoology.

They did some pretty solid work. There was actual math in there. And I’m not above bribery so I made it a quiz grade.

But it was not a spur-of-the-moment decision to make this activity a quiz grade. Every topic we covered was included on the project. I planned from the outset to use this activity as my assessment for the first half of the quadratics unit.

We’ve spent a considerable portion of our PD time this year on NIET rubric, which is our evaluation tool. We want to help our teachers see how their actions in the classroom correlate to scores on the rubric. As part of our early-release time a couple weeks ago our PD focused on the areas where we as a school scored lowest last year: questioning, grouping, and problem-solving. Part of our purpose was to help our teachers see how they could increase their own scores, part of our purpose was to help them see the evaluation tool is meant to support teaching/learning and student achievement, and part of the purpose was to show that many of the descriptors are inter-related. How does intentional questioning relate to teacher content knowledge and assessment? Intentionality felt like the common thread.

I shared a couple of things out by email to the math and science departments a few days after the PD. Not only the Meyer Substack, but also some documents on the Backwards Assessment Model (BAM) from the Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program back in my Vegas Days, and an excellent article on the topic from Jennifer Gonzalez. Like, it’s the top search result in Google for “backwards assessment model”. That good. Gonzalez walks her readers through the process of matching assessment items to the standards before the teaching even begins. Super-powerful stuff.

It’s been one of my areas of emphasis for myself in a year when I’m kinda-sorta planning a new prep from the ground up. It helps me walk my talk. And, in a year when the state of Indiana is rolling out a streamlined version of the standards for each course, it will help us implement the new standards with fidelity.

As an added bonus, backwards planning also helps develop project-based activities as we continue in year three of a shift to a project-based learning school. In the SNRPDP materials, teachers see how they can plan a unit assessment together, determining what type of items will be used to assess what standards. Now trade out “project planning” for assessment planning and let’s go.

In a year when teachers in my district have seen their plan time cut in half and their department and PLC time cut to zero (at least during contracted hours) due to a schedule change, this might feel like an impossible ask. Like, “backwards planning? with what time?” But it also feels like the teaching equivalent of “measure twice, cut once”. A little bit of care and up-front planning avoids a lot of duplicate work and keeps us en route to the goal.