Hey points, meet my new friend SBG

Dear Points,

We've been in school together for such a long time. Remember those book reports in elementary school where I just read enough to complete the book report so I got a good enough grade? or that time in high school where I colored a few extra maps and did some word searches in my geography class to earn points and raise my grade? or how about that senior English class in high school where I racked up massive extra credit points for turning assignments in early? or that one time at band camp? O wait, I wasn't in band. We had some good times, didn't we? Or so I thought.

When we went to college, we hung out way less and I wasn't ready for that. I missed you because my classes and instructors actually wanted me to demonstrate understanding of course content. They didn't really have a relationship with you. Now I know why. I had those math, science, and engineering courses that simply assessed my understanding through tests and labs. You abandoned me many times throughout college. After college, I fell into teaching and you showed your face again because I was confused and thought we could be friends again.

After teaching for 8 years now, our relationship has taken a toll on me. Last year, we definitely butted heads mid-year with a student and their parent who demanded I give them a point-based assignment to raise your grade from an F to a D-. What did they learn? Nothing. What did I learn? YOU SUCK! Our relationship while being a teacher has always been constrained. I'll admit, I was never 100% committed and vested in our relationship. Each year I was trying new ways to convince myself and my students that we needed you on campus or in my class by revising homework procedures, quizzes, tests, etc. I couldn't wait for last school year to end and be free from you during the summer. I ran into someone new over the summer: Standards Based Grading. He goes by SBG.

SBG introduced me to friends (teachers) who keep learning exciting and relavent for their students: Sam Shah, Shawn Cornally, Frank Noschese, Dan Meyer, etc. They have open relationships with SBG and share how their students are benefiting from it. In the short months of summer 2012, I've already learned more with SBG than my entire academic career with you. Points, you suck! Even better, I got to spend my summer getting well acquainted with SBG and discussing with Fawn Nguyen and Nathan Kraft about how flexible SBG is. All three of us had our reservations about committing to SBG, but we have now seen how SBG is the BFF to both students and teachers. SBG doesn't put any clamps on student learning nor hold a carrot in front of them. SBG has a circle of friends that welcomed me. They have unconditional love for my students and their learning. It feels naturally right. Recently, Chris Robinson even devoted an entire website to SBG.

This isn't the first goodbye letter you've received. I read the letter my pal Timon Piccini sent you and I was thoroughly excited to write you one as well. There's been others and I hope you receive more... maybe more letters than Santa receives at Christmas time. Be lucky it's just a letter and I'm not filing a restraining order. I wish I could. However, I know that we will have to coexist at my school. I'm not moving to another school, but if I ever do I know SBG will come with me and can only hope there are SBG friends there too. Since we have to coexist at the same school, I will respect those you hang out with, even if they're in my department. You still have their friendship based on fear of changing. Leaving you intimidates them. Points, you suck! My department wants to see how long and fruitful my relationship with SBG is this year. They're ready and willing to spend next summer getting better acquainted with SBG. I think your days are numbered. However, my greatest joy is that you will no longer bully my students this year. On the flip side, I hope you don't bully kids in other classes too much or let teachers abuse the joy of learning. I wouldn't want them to be the victims of your rebound.

I bid you farewell, points. Feel free to keep anything I've lent you. Keep my worksheets, handouts, CDs, that one t-shirt you borrowed, and even my book report from third grade. I need a fresh start and SBG has given me that. If we see each other on campus, in the hall, or in another teacher's classroom, I won't turn my nose up at you or talk down to you. We can still coexist at school, just know that you're not welcome in my classroom. If I see you bullying any of my students, expect me to stand up for them. SBG has my back, know that!

Sincerely,
Andrew Stadel

Estimation 180

Estimation initiative:

[*UPDATE: www.estimation180.com has gone live]

Last year I willingly started adding an estimation question to my daily warm-up, inspired by Steve Leinwand, Dan Meyer, and a monthly ASB gag we did a few school years back. Everyday, I greet my students at the door and hand them a 3x5 index card for their warm-up. They get the first 2-3 minutes of class to complete the warm-up exercise and estimation question. The first question reviews the previous day's skill. As for the estimation question, last year I was putting questions that were comparable to fun facts and students had no context clues for making logical estimates. It got silly. Here are some examples:

• How many miles is the California coastline?
• How long does an elephant stay pregnant?
• How many In-n-Out Burger restaurants are there?
• How many miles from the Earth to the Sun?
• etc.

Stepping back over the summer and really fine-tuning the goal of estimation (improving number sense), I began using estimation questions that were more relative and provided better context clues. Every chance I get, I use a picture or something inside my classroom that will allow students to make logical estimates. Here's today's (Day 10):

I've had to cover up the bottom half of the screen now because students come in and immediately want to go for the estimation question. They want to come up to the screen and do weird measurements, or ask me factual questions, and they flat out forget about the first question. I don't blame them. It's fun. Once we go over the first question (favorite yes/no), I usually have students give me estimates that are too low or too high and then we "go right at it." "Who thinks they got this?"

Once I get about 8-10 estimates, I reveal the answer and it's so cool to see how the students react. "Ohhhh, I was sooo close." Or "I was way off!" Either way, I ask the student or students who were close to explain their logic. It's fascinating how kids think.

For today's, I snapped a picture of a measuring cup full of almonds (my new favorite snack). Tomorrow, they'll estimate how many are in the jar from CostCo. Estimation should build. The whole first week we talked about height, based off my height. 

Day 1: What is Mr. Stadel's height? They don't need a picture for that.

Day 2: What is Mrs. Stadel's height? They needed a picture for that. 

Day 3: What is my son's height? Another picture.

Day 4: What's the height of a lamppost Mr. Stadel is standing near? etc.

The first four days used my height as a frame of reference. Check out Estimation 180 (Google doc will be replaced with estimation180.com )and you'll see what I mean. My estimation initiative is to begin documenting my 180 days of estimation, simply titled Estimation 180. Seriously, do I need one more thing on my plate right now? No. However, I do this every day and would love to share this stuff and receive feedback. Estimation is important to me. I've already seen student improvement with number sense in just 10 days of school.  

I'm starting small here, but would love to expand this idea: stay tuned. In the meantime, check out the spreadsheet catalog (tab at the top).

[UPDATE: estimation180.com is live. Forget the spreadsheet!]

Number sense,

1056

PEMDAS song

I finally recorded my PEMDAS song!
Listen/Download here.

*[Update] Here's a video for those visual learners: Vimeo or YouTube.

PEMDAS from Mr.Stadel on Vimeo.

I know, I know, I know... math teachers need another PEMDAS song just as much as we need another Michael Bolton ballad. Oh well! I wrote this song a few years ago and brought it into my students at the beginning of the year. I think I had reached the point as a teacher where I didn't like any other PEMDAS song I came across (sure, call me a snob). I was getting more comfortable as a teacher, making a fool of myself in front of my students. And if there was one math concept to write a song about, Order of Operations was it!  I had a couple of lines that made sense lyrically. I picked up my acoustic guitar, threw down a few chords, and put some lyrics to PEMDAS. I wanted to keep it short, to the point, have a call and response feel, and something my students could remember for the rest of the year. Mastering Order of Operations at the beginning of the year pays dividends throughout the year.

Sorry, I'm not here to discuss where Order of Operations came from, why does it exist, or what underground math cult magically persuaded the entire universe to evaluate mathematical expressions in the way we do. My twitter cohorts @MrPicc112, @jreulback, @druinok, @ChrisHunter36, @fnoschese, and @ray_emily had a fantastic discussion the other week. It would be nice to know why, where, and how Order of Operations came to be. However, I've reached the point of acceptance. Honestly! I've learned to accept acceptance. So, on with the show.

I get together with my nephew (16 years younger and still in HS) and we jam out to our favorite bands in my garage every once in a while. This last time we jammed, I asked him to throw a beat down for my PEMDAS song since I actually wanted to record it. Being the phenomenal young drummer that he is, he was happy to do so! He did a fantastic job in about 10 minutes. Every other noise you hear is me... guitar, bass, and vocals. So at least the drumming is good. You don't dig it, blame everything on me. I dig it! Many of my former students dig the song and sometimes sing it back to me in class. Very cool. Many times throughout the year, all I have to say is, "Parentheses" and without skipping a beat, the students respond, "Start with these."

If you decide to torture your students with the PEMDAS song, here are a few tips:
1. Do a 'call & response.' You start each line of the verse and they finish it:
Teacher: Parentheses
Students: Start with these
2. Tell your students it will only take a minute to learn and a lifetime to forget!
3. Hire me and I'll come perform at your school. Ha!
4. Don't forget to actually teach them how to simplify/evaluate expressions.

If you're looking for an extension to torturing your students with learning the song, have them rewrite the lyrics of the second verse. Have them write lyrics for the Left to Right rule that applies to Multiplication/Division and Addition/Subtraction. I did this one year and really received some cool lyrics. I also received some terrible ones because those kids could have given a rip about the assignment. Guess what though! They remembered the Left to Right rule. Who's laughing now?

This was a labor of love. I hope you get some mileage out of it, no matter what grade you teach. Lastly, not all your students are the biggest fans of cheesy songs like this. I never was! Hence, my reluctance to record and share. I'm seriously thinking about making a video to accompany the song for those visual learners. Stay tuned!

PEMDAS,
1137

P.S.  Apologies to my Canadian and British readers! PEMDAS is kind of limited to the States. Let me know and maybe I'll upload an instrumental version and you guys can change the lyrics to suit your needs.