Kickin' It Old School But Not Really

There's a common belief out there that when you start doing things "new school" style like I do (my side bar will be in the next paragraph), you need to completely abandon everything that doesn't resemble students milling about, talking, writing on non-traditional surfaces and working on basic skills.   It's a misconception!  No, you won't find me rhyming off the times tables in sing-song with my Grade Fives during class time.  For one, that sing-song style drives me bananas and I'd rather sit in silence all day than take part in it.  It's condescending to the smart kids we all teach (whether we or they realize just how smart they are).  And no, you won't find me spending a unit on teaching basic operations and standard algorithms.  The curriculum expects that we spend some time on this, but for the most part this is what the homework should be (because most parents can solve these and know these methods more than the problem solving stuff we do, so why start a parent-kid fight?), and these skills can be worked into other problems and solved in ways that work for our kids, which is the whole point of education, isn't it?  Somewhere along the way, we got lost and forgot that math (and learning in essence) is about more than basic skills.  It's about building on basic skills.  It's about mastering operational senses so that problems can be solved in MANY ways, and when all we focus on is straight-forward number problems, all we get is straight-forward, low-thought answers.  Lame.

Now for my sidebar previously mentioned.  "New school" is not really new school.  The Ontario Ministry of Education has been publishing resources for years that support problem-based math.  When I need a supplement to my program, I go into the resources provided by the government; not the text books that sit on a shelf and are never opened (okay, there are only 5 in my room and they're sometimes opened, but mainly for the glossary when the kids don't know a term ... it's a resource, and they've learned more about how to use it by not having to use it than if it was all we ever touched).  And even if you look at the text book, the questions are only a short step away from being a problem-based math question that could be easily differentiated by removing a number and replacing it with options or a blank (pick-your-own), or by rewording a bit.  I'm not about to burn the text books - that's not what being "new school" is about.  But in the same breath, I could never teach solely from the text, because I'm paid to be a teacher, and not to blindly instruct.  We all know that the units presented in most text books don't perfectly align to the curriculum, and some even have lessons or a heavy focus on something we've come to believe is crucial and necessary, when a simple check of the curriculum will prove that it either doesn't even exist as an expectation, or is just one possible way to do the work.  The perfect example came from a Hub (P.D. opportunity in my board) I attended.  We were focused on finding the "pattern rule" ... but when we did the (easy) research, we couldn't find much to support this shared notion we all had about pattern rules and how they were set up, and it really undermined what we *all* (I say all with trepidation ... I mean "all" loosely, because I don't know for sure about anyone else) based our patterning marks on.  "New school" is about being aware of expectations and working for the kids, in a way that works for them, in a way that is efficient to allow for more skills in fewer problems, in order to create more time to master them in new and different ways.  "New school" is about being flexible, aware and professional enough to say, "No, this text book is wrong, and there are examples provided in the curriculum document for the expectations, so I will use that instead and allow my students time to explore, think, learn, consolidate, and then try again."

So my classroom looks like a zoo most days.  But one thing I've done in order to a) show the importance of mastering multiplication facts without wasting three weeks of class time and b) allow the kids to see their own progress and take control of their learning, while working in more than one strand, was to kick it old school and give them a "math minutes" drill.  I know, you're gasping.

This is the way it works:  In November, before I sent home multiplication flashcards for homework, I gave them a 100 question drill.  I told them to work on it silently, no calculators (only brains for this one), and to mark how long it took them to do it at the top.  I put a timer up on the Smart Board and let them sweat.  After 45 minutes of excruciating silence, if they weren't finished, I cut them off.  When they finished their quiz, they'd mark the time and then take a calculator to correct their own work.  They put their score at the top, and then - here's where we get into a *bit* of "new school" (if you will) - they had to graph their results.  The way they graphed was entirely up to them.  So in this activity I covered two different expectations from different strands.  New school! Bingo! Wowza!

This student is correcting his work.  He's using a multiplication table
(a "Mr. Patrick Approved" strategy) to check his work, as well as a calculator.

But wait - there's more!  We did the same activity two weeks later.  A marked improvement.  One of my boys who has an IEP was still struggling to complete the sheet and was using blocks to count the groups.  I let it go for him, because this really was the accommodation he needed.  He was showing me that he understood the process, but at this point he couldn't yet "cough up" the answers.  He took it seriously and knew that he needed to memorize the facts(ouch, I hate that word but in the case of multiplication facts, it's a bit necessary ... once they fully grasp the concept of adding groups).

Fast forward a month a half.  Yesterday we did the same activity.  Everyone finished in under 30 minutes, completed more questions and scored better all-around.  The graphs were easily created.  They felt great about it and some of them even commented on how they needed to keep working on specifics, like the 7 times tables.  The student I mentioned earlier?  No blocks to count - he's the rising star in multiplication facts.  Boy, was he proud.  He did an amazing job!  This is accountability at work.

In a couple more weeks, we'll do another, but this time they'll be asked to make a graph that compares their first results to their latest results.  And in June, they'll be asked to graph all of their results.  Now we're getting into more complicated graphing, more critical thinking, and more self-reflection.  Sure, I used an "old school" method - multiplication drills.  But the power of the activity every once in a while is worth the quiet hour in the classroom, where they're not interacting with each other or solving a monster question.  In fact, I think they appreciate the break, but it leaves them hungry for more.

So the next time you wonder how insane I am with this "new" (although it's not really at all) approach, ask yourself this: if you tweaked a few things here and there in your own program, would we really be all that different?  I doubt it.