Unless you measure what you value you'll end up valuing what you measure.
Now this got me wondering...
1) What am I measuring? To be honest, mostly multiple choice assessments. Granted...the questions are formatted to reflect the style of questions on end-of-year assessments, but really who are we kidding? And all this is just skills...whether or not they could answer that question that time. I WAS MEASURING THE CORRECT ANSWER.
2) What do I value? Critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, perseverance, communication, kindness, collaboration...I VALUE THEIR THINKING.
3) I love my Fitbit. No more manually pausing the tracker on my phone when I run. And I can't afford an iWatch, but this shows me my text messages and it feels almost like the same thing.
So, this summer I have been reading (and re-reading) books I've had on the shelf for a while, all while reflecting on my past years as a teacher. Last summer I read Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler which I highly recommend. I poured through some of the key chapters again this year, then added to my reading list with these beauties:
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| Get it here |
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| Get it here |
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| Get it here |
So I've had a lot to think about this summer, and have had wild dreams of changing the world...one classroom at a time. Then, I cleaned out my garage and realized I had some barstools from a used dining room set that never made it into our new house when we moved in...a year ago...oops! But guess what? We didn't miss them! So that got me thinking it would be really cool if I had a bistro table in my classroom. One thought led to another, then....boom! Flexible seating is happening.
But more on that another time.
I'll leave you with the same two questions as you consider your classroom and practices that started me on this self-proclaimed revolution:
What are you measuring?
What do you value?
Hey, you found a good title with math in it that hasn't been taken yet! Amazing :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if "thinking like a fitbit" will help make practice and fluency "cool" instead of "drill and kill."
I would love for his talk to go viral among the teaching community at large!
DeleteCongrats on your first (of many, many more) blog posts! I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on the "Growth Mindset Coach." I've looked at it over the past month, but haven't actually bought it yet...haven't hear much about it. Your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteHi Lynn! Thank you! I found the "Growth Mindset Coach" to be a quick helpful guideline. I'll keep you updated as the year progresses when I see how much I actually use it. At this point, I can say that I don't regret spending the $10!
DeleteHigh five! I attended a similarlu titled session recently, i need to revisit those notes. Gtrat points made, and wuestions for me to reflect on as i prepare for the year. I am finishing up the hattoe book soon, maybe we can chat. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteI would love that! Thanks!
DeleteCongratulations on taking the blogging plunge! I love learning with you and benefit greatly from your reflective nature. This is going to be fun :)
ReplyDeleteI love that a former teacher is now my colleague!
DeleteMake sure to share pictures of your flexible seating. I would love to see how this works out for you!
ReplyDeleteI will! I am currently waiting for all the carpet in our wing to be replaced and am chomping at the bit to get in.
DeleteHey, Kristin! I am one of the authors of The Growth Mindset Coach. I am so happy that you found value in the book, and I love the idea of identifying what you value and figuring out how to measure that. I think it will make a big impact! Hope you have a great year!
ReplyDeleteWow! Thank you!
DeleteI'm curious about how you're going to measure thinking. It's hard because thinking happens in their brains, and you're forced to measure the work that they produce that comes out of their brain. This can lead to the exact mistake that your quote hints at. You can start valuing what is measurable in the student work instead of measuring the the thinking behind it. I'm sure you're not measuring handwriting, or super simplistic questions, but instead what kids think about your prompts. I wonder if you can create some structure and find ways to analyze what students think about it. I was at a talk this summer that had teachers take student responses on their exit slips and sort them into piles based on what the students are thinking, so then they could decide what to do the next day. Maybe something like that might help?
ReplyDeleteLove your thoughts. Truly what I will have to measure is how their thinking is put to paper, or expressed in class discussions. I intend to put my focus on the math practices and believe that will guide what I seek to measure. Basically I want to be guided by their justification, collaboration, and problem solving, rather than simply their answer.
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