What's wrong?

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
• Attend to precision

These are three of the eight Practice Standards associated with the process of doing math that will now be assessed in states that have adopted the CCSS. Some teachers I have talked to are concerned about how they will incorporate the Practices in their math classes. I decided to share an activity that addresses these three Standards and can be adapted to nearly any content - a Crit Session.

I first heard of Crit Sessions while reading Jonah Lehrer's Imagine. Despite the controversy surrounding this book, I found his description of the Crit Sessions held at Pixar to be particularly interesting and began to consider how to apply this idea in my classes. So I developed the following workshop.

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Crit Session for Presentations of Mathematical Thinking

This can be used for any content where students, individually or in groups, are presenting mathematics. The work does not need to be completely thought out. In fact, it helps if the work is "in progress" as the feedback provided by peers can help the students to move forward.

Schema Activation [5 minutes]: Review the information you want to share.

Focus [5 minutes]: What is a Crit Session?

Read the following edited extract from Imagine:

Concentrate on the second paragraph:

• Learning from other people's mistakes
• Distributed responsibility for everyone's success

Activity [40 minutes - assuming 4 group presentations]: Crit Sessions

• 5 minute presentation
• 5 minutes for feedback
• Critical groups (audience) take a minute to organize critiques
• Members of the presentation group splits up to meet with critical groups - this makes the critiques more manageable and seem less harsh than in the whole class setting

Reflection [10 minutes]: What; So What; and Now What?

Back in presentation groups, after everyone has presented, the members share:

• What feedback did we hear?
• So what made the feedback important?
• Now what should we work on?

The information does not necessarily need to focus on their own presentation since we sometime learn from other people's mistakes.

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The students I have tried these Crit Sessions with have been positive about the approach. They appreciate the permission to be critical (critique the reasoning of others). Most times they feel as though they have to be nice, non-critical, in order to have a safe classroom environment. Yet, no one felt attacked or belittled and the classroom community seemed even stronger after the workshop. After all, they were working toward a common goal - success.

I am also impressed with how these Crit Sessions have supported a growth mindset in regards to doing math. The students seem more attuned to the need to put effort into working toward precision in their work and the work of their peers. Also, there is a built in expectation that they will need to make improvements (persevere) to their work. No one expects to get it entirely right the first time.

If you try this approach in your class, please share your efforts and any adaptions you needed to make in the comments. Thanks!

What makes someone an expert in education?

The book is I Got Schooled. M. Night Shyamalan, director and author and education, now, expert.

The above quote is from the interview provided below. To his credit, Mr. Shyamalan immediately corrects the interviewer and says that he considers himself a novice; this seems appropriate given his limited time looking into the educational research.

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Still, earlier in the interview he seems comfortable correcting Diane Ravitch. Can we be certain that in five years, Mr. Shyamalan was able to synthesize ALL of the research related to class size that Dr. Ravitch has considered given her over 30 years examining the history of education? Has Mr. Shyamalan considered how increased class sizes might impact the retention of good teachers (one of his 5 keys to closing the achievement gap)? These are issues we might expect in statements made by a novice but these issues were not raised.

To be fair, I can see why an information entertainers might be intimidated by Mr. Shyamalan's work on this book. For someone who has spent no time looking into educational research, five years must seem like an eternity. But for those of us who take education seriously and have been examining the research for a much longer time ... (with apologies to McKayla)

Image from Columbia 250

Did you even read the book?

Okay, I admit it. There is the possibility that I am obsessed with the attention director M. Night Shyamalan is getting for his book on education reform. After all, I have been following the press tour for his book and even made a parody video of one of the interviews (see here).  But in my defense, the lack of scrutiny interviewers are giving his research is appalling. Take, for example, this recent exchange on Tavis Smiley's show.

Based on the questions Mr. Smiley asks, I am pretty sure he did not read the book. Neither have I, at least not all of it, but even I know Mr. Shyamalan's talking points by now. And I really wish someone would ask him some substantive follow-up questions.

What would I ask? To start with, ...

Welcome to Education Matters. My name is David Coffey and with me today is film director M. Night Shyamalan. But he's not here to talk movies. He wants to share what he found as he dug into the research on education - in particular, dealing with the achievement gap.

Good to have you here Mr. Shyamalan. So your book starts with an origin story that describes how you got interested in improving education. Will you share it with us? (The following comes directly from the transcript of the Travis Smiley interview.)

Well, I wouldn’t describe myself as a do-gooder. That’s really more my wife. I’m kind of just the obsessed guy who’s been writing and making movies since I was a little kid, just in a room and make it. 

So it sometimes has to hit me in the face for it to actually become personal, and it did. We were location scouting for a movie called “The Happening,” and I needed a high school.

I went to – we got out of the van and the whole crew came with me, and we were checking out a location at this beautiful high school in Philadelphia, and walked in.

The kids were all rushing over when I came in, “Oh my gosh, you’re making a movie here, can I die, can I die in your movie?” It was just so fun. We had a great time.

The teachers were out and there was such buoyancy and excitement, and it was just a great spirit. The school was wonderful. We got in the van and drove, like, four minutes, really hardly a distance, in Philadelphia – I shoot in Philly.

We got to a school where there was metal detectors and there was a guard there that didn’t want to be there, you could tell. We were literally treated like criminals as we walked in.

The kids were walking through the hallways with their heads down, they were looking. One kid looked at me, and in Philly, like, a lot of people know me, and the kid looked at me and he was like, thought for a second there was some recognition, and then he shook his head and kept going. Like there’s no way I could be in his school, right?

He kept on walking. In the other school, anything was possible. They immediately were like, “Oh, you’re making a movie? Can I be in your movie?” The classrooms in the second school were locked behind bars, and the janitor had to go get keys to open each and every door.

The top floor had been shut down because there was so much drug use. The theater had been burned down. It was that kind of situation. It was hopeless. I got upset being there, and I got upset for the kids.

I was feeling personally responsible for those kids. They’re in Philly, which is my hometown, so it started like that. What’s the difference? Are they doing things differently? Is that about income? What’s the difference there?

So I have to be honest, Mr. Shyamalan, I haven't read your book - at least not in its entirety. But I read the first chapter on the NPR website, and you seem to answer those questions early in the book. You write: 

"It's not apples to apples. Masterman is a magnet school, and a very selective one. Even to apply to Masterman, a fourth-grader — almost every student starts in the fifth grade, and continues to graduation — needs to test in the top 12 percent of all students in the city of Philadelphia." 

That seems to explain the difference but you never include this detail as you tell this origin story during interviews. Why not? And is it possible that the second school is suffering because some of the best students, and those with the most engaged parents and guardians, are going to Masteman, the magnet school?

I have some other questions but let's start there. Mr. Shyamalan, how do you view the siphoning off of students to magnets and charters as it relates to the achievement gap?

What happens when I add this?

My preservice elementary teachers are just finishing up a unit on patterns. Coming into the unit, one thing some of them struggled doing was writing an explicit rule for a pattern reflecting linear growth. In my opinion, this represents a gap in experience not a lack of ability. Since all of them have had some background in Algebra, the question is what experience are they missing?

Coincidentally, a post by Dan Wekselgreene on Linear Patterns in Algebra 1 showed up in my Twitter feed this morning. (Thanks MTBoS!) It is a good example of immersing learners in different representations and supporting them in making connections that can result in deeper understanding of linear relationships. I had my students do something similar (see the example on the right) but for some it was not enough. There was still something missing. It is for this reason that I add one more representation (an idea I learned from literacy instruction) - a recount.

From Mooney's (2001) Text Forms and Features:

Recounts: Why? To give a sequential and detailed account of an incident, a series of incidents or a conversation

What? A written record of recall of events, with attention to sequence and accuracy, and often to detail

Doing a detailed account of each step provides learners with an added experience for seeing the structure of the linear pattern. A recount is demonstrated in the think-aloud provided below.

This seems to provide many of my learners with an experience that was lacking from previous math classes - a missing piece to the puzzle that bridges some cognitive gap. However, I am also aware that they have had experiences that the typical freshman in Algebra 1 might be lacking. What do you think, would adding a recount to your linear pattern unit help?

Will this be on the test?

Sure, I can be smug when it comes to assessment. In my defense, I have been considering different ways to assess learning for over twenty years. Much of this work has involved using alternative assessments, but I am not above using more traditional approaches, like tests, especially when they involve some twist. 

Because of the negative associations many students have with math tests, I try to make it clear that my tests are used to support learning. Each test is merely a benchmark that monitors our progress toward established learning goals. We use the results to determine what we can do and what needs more practice. Yes, at some point a grade gets put in the books, but there is no need to worry until that time comes.

That is what I tell them, but often this is what they hear:

In case you are unfamiliar with Game of Thrones, some context.

So, it's no surprise when I start hearing this (of course I add the last bit in my head):

I understand that this is a conditioned response. At some point it worked; it made it easier to decide what to memorize in order to get a good grade. However, I want learners to decide for themselves what's worth remembering and to consider ways to make that learning last beyond the test.

So here's how I want to respond from now on (turns out I'm smug and snarky - who knew?)

Does it make you more curious about the material?

Are you likely to try to learn more about the topic on your own?

Would you consider putting the ideas in a concept map in order to make connections?

Can you see yourself discussing the subject with others in order to talk your way to understanding?

Might you examine your thinking in light of the information and consider refining it?

In all seriousness, I recognize test-anxiety as a real issue among many of my students - an unintended consequence of high-stakes testing in the past. I hope my efforts at humor do not come across as flippant. My goal is to reframe "Will this be on the test?" as an opportunity to examine alternatives to the binge-and-purge approach to studying. Because if I am satisfied with learning that leaves instead of learning that lasts, then why even bother?

Why do we need celebrities to fix education?

Director M. Night Shyamalan is the latest celebrity to take a turn at telling us how to fix the education system in the United States. I just heard about his book, I Got Schooled, Wednesday and decided to check out his ideas. Rather than read the book, I thought I would follow how the media is covering his book tour. [updated 10/3/13] Already, I have found a funny prediction from Slate, a review from NPR, interviews from Leonard Lopate, Fox News Radio,U.S. News, The Dallas Morning News, My FOX LA, and Travis Smiley, and this from The Cycle.

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It would be fair to say that I ought not criticize the book without having read it. But I do not plan on reading or critiquing the book. You see, I do not think nearly as many people will read the book as will watch the media-attention associated with the book tour. (To be honest, I have enough books to read on education reform.) Besides, the real problem is that the 5 Keys to Unlocking Quality Education he is touting ought to be questioned, not just accepted at face value.

Unfortunately, once again the media does not appear up to the task. So John and I got the MTT2K band back together and created this parody. It will help if you watch The Cycle interview first as we are trying to mirror (in an alternative universe kind of way) what happens in that clip.

In case you did not make it all the way through our video, let me make it clear that we are mostly frustrated with a media that seems to be more interested in crafting questions than analyzing answers.

Mr. Shyamalan is free to offer his interpretation of the educational research, but, as I said before, I am not buying it. And neither should you. (Turns out Mr. Shyamalan agrees: "I really just don't know who could possibly want to pick up this book.") Go ahead and watch the celebrities share their education reform solutions, but then check out the actual education research. If you are interested in improving teaching and learning, read John Hattie's Visible Learning for Teachers. If you want to know about the achievement gap and ways to address it, read Claude Steele's Whistling Vivaldi.

And media, if you are paying attention, invite real experts to address educational issues and try to avoid the education celebrities. (Or be sure to add the following disclaimer, just like this reviewer did: "I won't pretend to know if whether Shyamalan's findings or theories are sound...")

Did you watch TEACH?

Friday night I watched the documentary TEACH with two other educators. Dad taught high school math and science for over three decades. My wife was an elementary teacher for 15 years. I taught middle school math and computers for seven-and-a-half years, making me the least experienced of the bunch, but we could all empathize with the stories being told.

And that seemed to be the point - to elicit emotions from the viewers. From the film's website:

Davis Guggenheim's award-winning documentary reveals the human side of the story: showing what it takes to survive the first year teaching in America's toughest schools. (emphasis mine)

Based on many of the Tweets posted to #TEACH, the movie accomplished its goal and touched many of those who watched.

It is important to recognize this as Mr. Guggenheim's vision for the film and understand that it must have influenced how he edited his footage. Just as a director who is adapting a book for a movie must consider what to keep and what to cut, Mr. Guggenheim could not hope to communicate the complexities of teaching in 35 minutes. Consequently, he presents a picture of teaching that diminishes the importance of certain aspects of the practice in order to focus on the teachers' stories.

I started this blog as a way to chronicle my teaching practice. In particular, I wanted to focus on the framework known as the Teaching-Learning Cycle. To Mr. Guggenheim's credit, his documentary acknowledges each of the Cycle's phases. However, it gives too much attention to assessment. Here are some examples:

• Several scenes where teachers and administrators wait by Scantron machines for testing results;
• A teacher expressing her concern about whether the test will "validate" her efforts; and
• Another teacher sharing her frustration that students were bubbling in the wrong answers when they should have known better.

Given the current national obsession with test scores, it is understandable why assessment became the focus of the film. However, it is also important to see how the assessments added tension to the storytelling. We want to find out, "Will the students pass the big test?"

While this plot device was effective in driving the stories in TEACH (see also Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me), it is unnecessary. As Kathy said, then Tweeted, at the end of the film:

As I recall, these themes have been successful in many other stories.

Part of the problem is that the assessment storyline is also taking over the current education reform narrative. The intent again seems to be to create unnecessary tension to manipulate people's emotions. My concern is that we are being swept up in that emotion, thereby, attending solely to teaching and testing while diminishing what's really important - learning.