Des-blog

We asked the Desmos Fellows to describe some challenges they face when planning workshops or presentations, and to share resources or practices that help them overcome these challenges. While not a complete list, here are some of our best practices for professional development.

Audience and Differentiation

Anticipating the needs and experience levels of participants can be challenging. Desmos fellows had several ideas for how to handle this.

• Harsh Upadhyay has seen that workshop participants often have a wide range of skills, and encourages participants to sit in skill alike groups to support differentiation in the workshop.
  
• Sara VanDerWerf spends the first 10-15 minutes of a session assessing the skill level of participants using a quick write and share out session along with a quick Desmos graph or activity that allows participants to show what they are comfortable with.
  
• Jed Butler is interested in using prompts to help learn more about participants and their hopes for the session. This can help with shaping goals for the session and differentiating to meet the needs of participants.
  
• Stephanie Blair addresses the challenge of different levels of learners by planning in 10 minute chunks. This allows her to spend more time on earlier parts of the presentation when needed and to skip chunks in order to make sure participants leave feeling empowered to apply the learning to their own classrooms.
  
• In addition to differences in skill level, Patty Stephens has found that participants often teach a range of math courses. The example graphs at learn.desmos.com have been a big help in differentiating workshop experiences for participants at all levels, and they also are a great resource for participants wanting to learn more after the workshop.
  
• Glenn Waddell has used Desmos Bingo to help differentiate the experience and to keep sessions learner focused.
  
• Tony Riehl has used a shared Google Doc with opportunities for feedback during the conference and multiple entry points and options for activities.
  

Focus and Framing

• Allison Krasnow shares her thoughts on the planning process and keeping the workshop focused: “I find that in a 1-2 hour workshop I can do one thing well. So I have to think a lot ahead of time about my goal. Is my goal to have teachers do a variety of different slide types and problem types to leave with an overall view of the power of AB? Is my goal to have teachers do a single activity, experiencing it as a student would with plenty of time to think about the pedagogy? Is my goal to have teachers learning to build their own activities and have one ready to use in class? Is my goal to have teachers bring student work from an activity they already ran and reflect on it to think about how they could improve the activity to gain deeper insights into student thinking?”
  
• Dave Sabol reminds us that good professional development models good teaching. “I know that a learner’s direct experience with the tool can be most memorable. I know that it’s my job to find tools, activities, and tasks that will frame everything and illuminate the objective of the day.”
  
• Scott Miller considers how he can model instructional strategies and teacher moves that teachers will use in their classrooms. He asks teachers to partner with each other during the session and share a device in order to increase discussion.
  
• Paul Jorgens acknowledges that not all workshop participants will share his enthusiasm of technology, and that the group can find common ground if the focus is on the students and their learning.
  
• Adam Poetzel helps participants focus on student learning by having them experience Desmos activities from the student perspective, followed by reflecting on how the experience can help students learn math.
  
• Jenn Vadnais helps participants reflect on principles that support student learning as well as teacher moves that support effective use of Desmos Activities.
  

Next Steps

Leaving time for participants to reflect and plan next steps helps ensure that new learning will be applied to the classroom. Nolan Doyle also provides follow up support to teachers in his district once they’ve left the session. Many of us offer follow up support via email or Twitter.

What are some other resources or practices that you keep in mind as you plan professional learning experiences? Let us know on Twitter @Desmos.

The Friday Fave’s colleagues on the Teaching Faculty at Desmos have been very hard at work upgrading the collection of searchable activities. Some activities have gotten light polishing; most have gotten serious overhauls; none have gone untouched. The net result is a somewhat smaller, but substantially more wonderful search pool.

Solutions to Systems of Linear Equations is one activity that has been around for a while and that the Friday Fave is delighted to share in updated, refreshed form.

This activity helps students connect solutions to equations with solutions to systems of equations; and numerical solutions with graphical solutions.

On screen 2, students enter an (x,y) pair that solves an equation. On screen 3—in the spirit of showing rather than telling—they see that equation and their (x,y) pair graphed on the same axes.

We ask about a graphical solution that’s off the screen, and about solutions that do not exist. Students design their own system of equations that has a given solution. Over the course of 11 screens, students will have considered most of the major introductory questions about systems of linear equations.

The Friday Fave thanks Megan Zimmerman for getting the original version of this activity started, and you for using Solutions to Systems of Linear Equations with your students. Ping us to let us know how it goes.

Happy New Year! To launch into 2017, we asked the Desmos Fellows to share a New Year’s resolution or question to explore for their teaching practice this semester. The range of responses reflects the complex nature of teaching, full of opportunities for reflection and growth. Here are some areas of focus for the first half of 2017.

Mathematical Knowledge

• Dan Meyer and Linda Saeta both have plans to increase their content knowledge in 2017. Dan plans to keep an eye on Brilliant, the PCMI sets, and others, do some of that work, and write about it each month. Linda is interested in improving her graphing skills by recreating graphs posted by the fellows (sample: Desmos Potluck), and using these skills to build new activities.
  

Instruction

• Heather Kohn’s resolution is to read one book per month, and choose at least one idea/strategy from each to implement in her teaching practice. Books on Heather’s list include Crucial Conversations, Making Number Talks Matter, Make It Stick, Intentional Talk, Make Just One Change, Mathematical Mindsets, A More Beautiful Question, and Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You’d Had.
  
• Bob Lochel’s school is going 1 to 1 in the fall, making his resolution to become a stronger advocate within his department for promoting technology as a tool for mathematical thinking.
  
• Anna Scholl and Heather Bolur are both focusing on talking less, offering specific strategies they’ve tried in the past to make the classroom more student centered.
  
• Scott Miller’s resolution is to increase student discussion, and Shelley Carranza wants to be more intentional in planning for class conversations. She found the Fellow’s blogpost about using the teacher dashboard to be really helpful in thinking about types of conversations that may take place at various points in a lesson.
  
• Adam Poetzel would like to be more intentional in writing down some of his reflections about lessons so that when he plans the same classes next year, he doesn’t forget ideas to improve them!
  

Assessing Student Learning

• Nick Corley is interested in exploring Standards based grading. Nick see the value in Standards based grading with keep the focus on learning rather than grades.
• Michael Fenton’s question to explore is about how we can help students and teachers with the all-important closure part of an activity.
• Dave Sabol’s resolution is to work on note taking and archiving with his students, especially as it pertains to reflecting on Desmos Activities.

Environments that Support Student Learning

• Suzanne von Oy resolves to be less perfectionistic and also to nurture math curiosity in her students.
  
• Paul Jorgen’s continued resolution is to keep at the forefront of every decision the achievement gap and historically underrepresented minority students and students from disadvantaged circumstances. Lessons, assessment, grading, homework, technology use, placement, grouping … everything needs to go through that filter.
  
• Stephanie Blair hopes to continue to focus on a related question: How do we have equitable representation in our advanced/accelerated math classes? And once students are there - how do we support (academically, emotionally, and socially) them in those classes?
  
• Lisa Bejarano asks, “How can I revise my precalculus curriculum to make the best use of class time while keeping the content rigorous, relevant and engaging?” with a goal of working this summer to develop a planning guide, similar to what she has done for Geometry.
  

Professional Learning

• As Jenn Vadnais’ role supporting teachers evolves to include leading more workshops, Jenn wants to improve her presentation skills in 2017.
  
• Nolan Doyle has been supporting his PLC in using Desmos activities this year, and in 2017 he hopes to help support teachers after the activity in reflecting and making adjustments for the next class or activity.
  

Balance

• Christopher Danielson’s goal is to be more conscious about his time, to be aware of the choices that he makes in how he uses it, and to be present and appreciate the moments that good time management can create.
• Kendra Lockman is also looking to be more conscious about how she spends her time, and to really focus on what she is doing in the classes that she is teaching this semester. Along with that, she is hoping to build in time to do some photography and practice ukulele at least once every week.