I teach 7th grade math at Alice Deal Middle School in Northwest Washington, D.C. Deal is an International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Program (MYP) school. Our student body is 47% White, 29% Black, 14% Hispanic/Latino, 4% Asian, and 5% multiple races. Although many of our students live in Deal's surrounding district, a significant portion (30%) of our student body travels from across the city to attend Deal. Within our student body, 12% are considered to be economically disadvantaged, 5% are English Language Learners, and 8% receive Special Education services.
At Deal, we teach using a team approach, where one group of about 115 students travel between the same four core teachers for English Language Arts, Math, Science, and History. In the 2017-2018 school year, 48% of my team were placed in an on-grade-level math class, 48% in eighth grade math, and 4% in Algebra 1. At the beginning of each school year, students take the iReady diagnostic assessment in order to provide individualized data to teachers and to assess readiness to be moved to a higher level of math or to receive additional support in a second, small-group setting. Students repeat this assessment during and at the end of the school year to continue providing individualized data and to identify candidates for an accelerated summer math program.
My students are incredibly involved in the school and wider community. In addition to sports, music, and the vast number of clubs at Deal, my students participate in volunteering across the city and in surrounding communities. During the school year, we also participate in a team-wide community service day, called "Deal Gives Back." Many of my students are also very politically conscious, participating in the National Women's March, the March for Life, and the National School Walkout on March 14, 2018.
I believe that students learn best when they construct knowledge together, not only math, but also how to be -- how to be an individual, how to coexist, how to understand one another. As much as I can, I design tasks to be groupworthy, that is, so that they necessitate collaboration and cooperation. Not only does this expose students to alternate perspectives and new approaches to the problem, but also to a new way of learning and being.
In my classroom, we have a number of norms for group work:
All group members are focused, and only talk to members of their own group.
All heads in! Group members are all close and looking at each other.
Group members are all communicating, and all voices are heard.
Group members help and encourage one another.
Groups are working the entire time, and are persistent even (especially!) when challenged.
My classroom is always structured so that students are seated in groups of 3-4. Chairs in my classroom always start at the desks, but often get pushed back as students lean in to share thinking, or abandoned altogether when students move to the floor, a table around the room, or the hall. Students know that my desk is always available as another workspace, if they need some time on their own to reset before returning to collaborate with their team.
Messages for Growth Mindset
Learning in my classroom is collaborative, active, and investigative! In the video below, you will see the culmination of several days of data collection, analysis, and modeling. Students were given a number of constraints, but they were tasked with designing their own experimental procedures and methods for analysis. See the task here!
Students use Desmos graphing calculator to investigate traits of linear equations
Students collect data to investigate how their rate of jumping jacks changes over time
As an end-of-year project, my students designed and constructed "Extreme Cakes" using their knowledge of geometry to create nets and to calculate the surface area and volume for the total amount of frosting and cake, and their proportional reasoning to scale a recipe to feed our entire team. All of our cakes were entered into a cross-team contest to determine the best "Extreme Cake" designs in the 7th grade!