For this module, I was asked to read the book titled "EduProtocol Field Guide" written by Marlena Hebern and Jon Corippo. The book provides 16 different "student centered lesson frames for infinite learning possibilities."
My interest was piqued by a good number of the protocols during my first read through as I visualized ways that I could implement them into my daily practice as a classroom teacher. Additionally, the book details what they call "smart starts" to set up classroom norms and culture at the beginning of the year. As a second year teacher, I wish that these strategies had been introduced to me prior to myself even stepping foot into the classroom. Overall, there are a good number of activities that can be pulled from this field guide that may be implemented across classrooms throughout the country. The two protocols that really stuck out to me were the 3-Act Math Protocol and the Learning in the Round Protocol. Through this module I was also able to listen to a video recording of Jon Corippo and gain valuable insights on how he would implement technology into his classroom. |
3-Act Math
"3-Act Math tasks are designed to make students curious about a concept through a video, demonstration, or image which is intended to leave a particular thought to be desired."
3-Act Math is recommended to be used by teachers once per week and eventually three times in a two week period. Doing large tasks like these every single day may be overwhelming for students. A good framework for how to use 3 act math can be found by clicking here and is also pictured to the right. Learning in the Round This protocol puts students as the main "performers" in the classroom and has them :take an active role in understanding concepts by collaborating with their peers on whiteboard surfaces." This protocol allows the teacher to easily check for understanding and leaves the heavy lifting of the task up to the students. This protocol is similar to a station activity and has students moving in pairs throughout the room. In order for this protocol to be successful, a teacher must have a large number of whiteboards in their room or spaces for students to show their work and think through problems. Students rotate through the room completing the same problems as other students in the classroom. Using this strategy, the teacher can quickly point out misconceptions that students are doing and also have students gallery walk throughout the room in order to check each others' work and learn from each others' solving strategies. My Classroom Execution For the purpose of this module I selected a protocol to execute in my classroom three times over the course of three weeks and then reflected on it. The questions answered in my reflection are below: Over the course of two weeks, I implemented three different 3-act math tasks which are detailed below. A link to the presentation that students viewed can be found by clicking the link. The first lesson had students looking at an exponential pattern in order to find the number of dominos necessary to topple over the empire state building. A screenshot from the powerpoint that students viewed can be seen to the right. The second lesson engaged students by asking them to find the cost of a 100x100 burger from in n out given the cost of a cheeseburger and a double double. The final lesson pushed students to find the amount of money in a bank account that was opened hundreds of years ago given the starting value and an interest rate.
The first time I implemented the protocol took more time than I anticipated. It was a completely different flow of a lesson than what students are typically used to in my classroom. I felt that some students who were used to more procedural learning struggled to engage in the task because they were not given much direction on how to find the solution to the essential question. The second and third times were a lot smoother as students audibly said "oh, we're doing this again, I know what to do."
Given that the topics were interesting, students were willing to engage in the activity. I did notice that students were more chatty during these lessons and were less likely to engage in the problem using math skills specifically taught to them (eg. labeling variables, creating equations, or using t-tables).
I felt that student engagement both increased and decreased as a result of the protocol. Students often were engaged at the start of the lesson and actively wanted to find the solution. However, because there were no concrete directions on how to actually solve the problem, students were quick to give up on the problem if they couldn't find the solution. I'd like to work on better structuring the protocol so that students can see the relationship between their day to day lectures and days when we are using the 3-act math protocol.
As stated above, I'd like to make the protocol more structured so that students can better relate it to their everyday math learning and draw on concrete skills that they know. I feel that this could be done through a mini lesson, engaging and relevant do-now assignment, or a short quiz prior to the introduction of Act 1. This would be useful to have students review concrete skills that they could use to answer the larger essential question of the day.
Overall, I did not see an extreme amount of student growth as a result of using the protocol. I did notice through that certain students who are typically less engaged in classwork were much more invested in finding the solution to the problem in non-traditional ways. I'd like to continue using the protocol and see how I can use it to engage all students in using their learned math skills. Evidence of Student Work See below for work that was produced by my students through the use of the 3-Act Math Protocol |
Student 1's pictured below is a student who is typically not engaged with the work that they produce and rarely will turn in homework or completed classwork. This student is very bright but struggles to stay engaged and, although he was interested in the domino activity did not produce a substantial amount of work. The second time running through the protocol, he was among the most engaged in the class and produced a substantial amount of work to show his understanding on finding the cost of a 100x100 in n out burger.
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Student 2's work pictured below is a student who is a high achieving math student who completes nearly all classwork and homework. He was one of the few students in the class to show and use his concrete procedural math understanding in order to show his work and answer the essential question. Through more and more implementation, I'm hoping more students will begin the show their work in this way and answer these large essential questions.
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