lazy 0ch0

During the 2021-22 school year, I’m having weekly co-generative dialogues (or cogens) with my students. In an effort to help me process these talks and document progress, I summarize and write reflections after each cogen. This is the ninth post in the series.

A fear realized
With COVID cases on the rise, there was a noticeable shift in anxiety levels at my school this week. Every day I’m getting emails informing me that someone from our school has tested positive. I was asked several times to identify students in my class who may have been exposed to COVID based on proximity and where they sit in the room. Attendance has been getting worse by the day and everyone has started worrying about a 10-day shift to remote learning. These growing concerns had everyone on edge and put the cogen at risk. Would my cogen students be able to meet? Would be the cogen be unintentionally sacrificed?

Adding to the fury of this week, we had a “Community Day” on Wednesday. These are days where our school scraps the regular academic schedule and fills the day with events and activities that aim to strengthen the social, emotional, and mental health of the community. I love Community Days, but it meant that I wouldn’t see my students on Wednesday and therefore couldn’t remind them of Thursday’s (yesterday’s) scheduled cogen.

Classes resumed yesterday, and guess what? I forgot to remind them of the cogen. It literally takes 10 seconds to go up to the students during class and ask them about the cogen, but I failed to do this. With remote learning bearing down on us and Community Day throwing my Wednesday reminder routine out of whack, my mind was scattered in a million different places. But given that my current cogen students (the 2nd cohort of the year) are still new relative newbies, I think, deep down, I was also curious if they would remember on their own. I enacted this same experiment with the first cohort, too. Was our cogen routine enough where they would remember to come without a reminder from me?

So, without my reminder, how many students showed up for our regularly-scheduled Thursday cogen?

None.

My greatest cogen-related fear was realized: the students don’t come. One of them was absent, but of the other five students, not one remembered. Yesterday, after 9th period, after I pulled out my snacks and tablecloth, it slowly hit me that I was alone in the room. The silence of that moment was loud. For the first time this year, the cogen felt unimportant. It wasn’t a good feeling. The craziness of the week certainly had something to do with them not being there, but I also blame myself for not being more diligent in reminding them.

In lieu of the void created by their absence, I hung out in my empty room for about 20 minutes and sent the six cogen students an email. In it, I reminded them that Thursday is the day we agreed to meet and that I was eagerly expecting them. Fearing that the cogen is too much for them right now, I asked that they let me know if they are not able to honor the six-week commitment they agreed to. If so, I would hold no grudges if they wanted to back out. I just need to know so that I can try to find replacements.

That was yesterday. Today, in class, I touched base with four of them individually (two were absent), asked if they read my message, and checked in. All of them were gracious in our interactions, humbly apologizing for not showing up at our scheduled time yesterday. They all still wanted to be part of the cogen. Despite it being Friday, I asked if they had 10-15 minutes to spare after school today. I wanted to hold a quick cogen to revisit some of what we discussed last week and make plans for action. All four students said they could make it.

An improvised cogen
Only three students were present at last week’s cogen, so earlier this week I found the other three students after class and briefed them on what we discussed. We strategized around the weekly DeltaMath assignments and planned to implement a class-wide goal for completion that would, if reached, include an incentive.

When the students arrived after school today, I didn’t bother getting out the snacks or setting up our table. I figured we would stand. Right before we started, one of them let me know that he had to pick up his little brother and couldn’t stay. I was down to three students. Here’s what we discussed:

• DeltaMath leaders. I asked them if they would be alright being my “DeltaMath leaders” and announcing/revealing the completion percentage for the class a few times a week and advocating for its completion. We said that Mondays would be the critical day because that percentage would reflect how much of the Delta was done on time; it would determine if we met our goal. It made sense for us to start this after the upcoming Winter Break. I asked the students to begin thinking of ways they’d like to own this aspect of our class. One student referenced an encouraging routine her math teacher used two years ago to help students complete it.
• DeltaMath due date. A non-cogen student asked me in a Friday Letter this week if I could move the due date for the DeltaMath assignments from Friday to Sunday. This resonated because the cogen students requested this last week. I informed the cogen today that, starting with the next one, DeltaMath will be due on Sundays at 11:59 p.m. There were smiles all around.
• Remote cogens. From the looks of it, I infomed the cogen that it’s likely that we’ll go remote in the coming weeks. I asked if they would be able to continue to meet because, if we go remote — even temporarily — I’ll need their feedback more than ever. The students nodded assuredly. One said, “I’ll be at home with nothing to do, so definitely.”
• An adjusted meeting day. Next week Thursday is the last day before Winter Break and we won’t be able to meet. One of the students asked if we could meet another day instead. His proactive stance to us meeting was reassuring given the emptiness I experienced yesterday after school. I proposed after school on Wednesday of next week. Everyone agreed.

Lingering thoughts
This week’s cogen almost didn’t happen. It was a last-minute decision to ask the students to meet today after their no-show yesterday, but I’m glad I did. The urge to get us together on limb was driven, I think, by my trepidation around the cogen becoming insignificant and fizzling out during these crazy times. The dialogue looked different today, but I’ll sacrifice that for the continuity it gave us.

All this reminds me of how hard it will be to preserve and protect the cogen during any school year, let alone one seated in the middle of a pandemic. There are many aspects of formal schooling that make cogens impractical and illogical. Maybe that’s why most teachers I know don’t do them; navigating these challenges is hard. I hope I can maintain.

As I continue to have cogens with my students this year, an honest, yet unsettling concern has begun taking residence in my mind: are the improvements we’ve made this year meaningful? In thinking about things like DeltaMath and tutoring protocols, have our changes been largely cosmetic? Would they have found their way into my practice even if I wasn’t holding a weekly cogen? These questions have started nawing at me. They are gently pushing me to move beyond my students discussing change with me and instead being the change during class. Perhaps this is why I’m pushing my cogen to take ownership of our new DeltaMath initiative.

bp

During the 2021-22 school year, I’m having weekly co-generative dialogues (or cogens) with my students. In an effort to help me process these talks and document progress, I summarize and write reflections after each cogen. This is the eighth post in the series.

Short staffed with a tablecloth
Of the six cogen members — most of whom are in their second or third week of cogen membership — three couldn’t meet today. One didn’t come to school because she was concerned about Covid and used the day to stay out of school and get tested. Two others are on the girl’s basketball team, which had a game today (they won BTW!). After today’s cogen, I looked at their schedule and realized that they have several more games on Thursdays this season. I’ll have to touch base with everyone next week and see if we can change our cogen day or otherwise make it work. If not, these two students may need to choose a replacement. That would suck.

Our meeting space each week consists of three rectangular tables jigsawed to make a larger rectangle. It fits six people comfortably, with plenty of room to dump our snacks in the center. I decided a few weeks ago to get a black tablecloth to dress things up a bit. I want the cogen to have curb appeal and feel important to anyone that’s around the table. The tablecloth is a simple and inexpensive way to do that; it transforms the space and elevates the status of those who are in it. This was the first week I used the tablecloth and there were already oohs and aahs from a few non-cogen students and teachers who saw us at the start of today’s talk. Two of my students from 1st period even asked if they could be part of the group. I informed them that all are welcome, but that participants are selected by their peers.

Every week that the cogen has met, I’ve spent the few minutes it takes to prep our table (cleaning and sanitizing it, this week throwing on the tablecloth). In thinking about our physical space, I’m making a note to have a cogen student take on the duties of prepping our table in the future. With dialogue that embodies co-creation and shared responsibility, it’s only natural that our physical space also reflects these principles.

We filled the first several minutes of today’s dialogue with informal chatter. I learned that one student recently got a new job. He’s working with a family friend and spends all of Sunday doing custodial work. We also talked about the trek another student has when coming to school and how the bus he takes in the morning has been busier than usual. We rapped about the benefits of arriving early so the transition from street to 1st period isn’t so rushed and disorienting.

As the conversation went on, it crossed my mind to ditch my planned talking points and subscribe to what was turning into an advisory. Were the students and I expressing a need to escape some stress? It reminded me of last year when this happened and how needed it was. Eventually, the mood shifted and our classroom appeared in bright lights. We carried on.

The weekly planner
The first thing on my mind was the weekly planner I used in class this week. It was the result of last week’s cogen discussion around homework. The planner was organized in a table and outlined the problems and concepts we were to study each day. I overviewed it on Monday and revisited it each day in class, hoping that it would create an arc of our learning for the week and, in lieu of “assigning” homework, give students the specifics of what we would be discussing each day. Interested to see if the cogen students benefited from it, I asked them.

Like most things, their reaction to the planner was mixed and came loaded with recommendations. They liked how it communicated the work ahead of time and how it was clearly laid out. On Friday I caught up with one of the students who missed today and she loved the idea of having a weekly calendar. I never posted the planner on Classroom, so they said I should do that next week. They suggested that I include exam dates, DeltaMath due dates, and other pertinent info on the planner. These are worthy criticisms. Next week I hope for an updated planner, though I’m still not convinced of its effectiveness.

In pursuit of a motivator
The next item up for discussion was our weekly DeltaMath assignments. The submission rates for these assignments haven’t been great. They’re designed as the main form of practice my students get each week, so with many of my students not doing it, their learning is suffering (not to mention their grade). I’ve adapted my instruction to include more scaffolding and direct instruction, but we still have a long way to go. Many students are flat-out not doing the DeltaMath assignments or doing it weeks after the due date. I willingly give them credit for all the work they do no matter when they submit it, but want to find ways to support them in getting the most out of the assignments. This means completing them by the due date.

I paraphrase all of this to the cogen. They concede that doing DeltaMath aids with their understanding of the weekly concepts, but they still struggle to get it done on time. A few anecdotes are shared illustrating their point. I offer two solutions that I’ve been mulling over during the last few days and ask them for their feedback.

The first is to instate a penalty on late DeltaMath submissions. Up to this point in the year, late work has not been penalized. The students nod. It’s a fair demand to have a late penalty. A couple of them say it would motivate them to do it on time, but the other student said the penalty wouldn’t matter at all — they would merely accept the late penalty. Being all gung-ho about the idea, I say that I’ve been thinking about a 25% penalty no matter how late it is completed. The students wisely suggest that I adopt a sliding scale that varies based on how late the submission. This makes waaaay more sense. Before we get too invested, I pivot to bring up my other idea.

My second solution does the opposite of the first: instead of penalizing students for not doing the DeltaMath on time, I suggest an incentive if they manage to complete it on time. What if I set a collective goal for the homework that, if reached, unlocked a reward for the class? For example, what if 75% of the class completed 75% of the weekly DeltaMath? Could I offer them a bonus problem on our next exam? Could I create “choice quizzes” for them that week, whereby I give them two problems (quizzes are normally just one) they get to choose which problem they want graded? Could they simply earn extra credit on the next exam? (I would like to avoid giving them outright extra credit and instead give them more options for the work we already do.)

I’m not a fan of rewards and extrinsic motivation — believe me. In my gut, I feel that whatever positive impact occurs as a result of the incentive will not be long-lasting. But like many teachers nowadays, I’m searching for answers to help my kids! Other than keeping a closer eye on their completion percentage, this one doesn’t require any additional work from me (DeltaMath gives the rates). This last point is important and I mention it to the cogen: pedagogical solutions have to be friendly to the students and teacher. I can’t be driven mad simply because it is a great motivator for my classes.

The cogen likes the idea and we spend our last 15 minutes discussing the ins and outs of what it might look like. We say that it would be fun if every day I announce the completion percentage to each class. (What if a student did this instead?) One student proposed that if the class goal is reached, it should be made slightly harder next week. If 75% is the completion rate and it is achieved, for instance, the following week the goal could be 80%. I loved this idea. It made me think that each class would need to have different goals and the first one needs to be based on how they’ve previously performed on DeltaMath. Another student expressed that only the students who helped the class achieve the goal should be given that week’s perk. If 75% of the class has to reach 75% completion on the DeltaMath, then only the students who were part of the 75% should earn the reward.

An important aspect of this incentive is that it is rooted in the collective achievement of the class. If the goal is 75%, one student mentioned that it might be demoralizing if only 72% of the class completes the DeltaMath. They wouldn’t unlock the reward and this might deter them next week. I honored this, but noted that the point of a goal like this is to have students encourage each other to get the work done. In that instance, if they would have pushed just one or two more students to get their DeltaMath done, the class would have achieved the goal. The incentive is engineered for students to push each other; one person’s fate is tied to everyone else’s effort. You won’t lose anything if you only worry about yourself, but you can earn more by working together.

I’m not sure which of the two solutions I’ll be implementing in the coming weeks (maybe both?), but I’m leaning towards the incentive-based option. There was more energy around it at today’s dialogue and it seems like a better motivator — for now. But I still want to run it by the other cogen students before I put it in motion.

An impromptu guest
During the last five minutes of our session today, a colleague walked into the room and I asked him if he wanted to join us around the table. He gracefully found a seat and even grabbed a snack. He sat and mostly listened, but it was a delightful way to close things out. Afterward, we talked about one of the students. My colleague remembered how the student was a knucklehead in ninth grade and how refreshing it is to see him in a leadership position like that of the cogen. I hope I have more colleagues around the cogen table this year.

As I leave today, I remember that I still haven’t set up and sent out my cogen exit survey for the first cohort. Ugh!

bp

During the 2021-22 school year, I’m having weekly co-generative dialogues (or cogens) with my students. In an effort to help me process these talks and document progress, I summarize and write reflections after each cogen. This is the seventh post in the series.

Transitions and Fellowship
Because of Thanksgiving break, it has been two weeks since we’ve met. We have three new faces in the house today. The changing of the guard is now complete — every original cogen member has now been replaced with someone of their choosing. To help with the transition, I asked the original members to attend with their replacements today. The same thing happened last week and I liked it. With their predecessor present at their first session, I feel new members can better understand the cogen experience.

With so many new faces this week and last, we opened today with the students introducing themselves, sharing their grade level, and announcing which class period they’re from. I asked a couple of the vets to share the purpose of our gathering and acknowledged the new members and the older members who appointed them. It was endearing to witness the instant fellowship that formed between the students when I did this. There were daps, smiles, and nods. I could tell that the new members felt seen. They felt special.

Including me, there were nine of us around the table. This was the largest cogen so far. It would have been bigger, but one member from 7th period had to attend tutoring. Earlier today, I asked all the new members about their favorite snacks and went to the market up the block to get them. We were due for new snacks anyway, but I hope this small gesture made the newbies feel welcome. We settled in and dug into Oreos and tangerines.

As our transitional period comes to an end, I’m making a mental note to set up a cogen exit survey by next week. As new students get selected by their peers to join, I want to give the survey to the students who are leaving to gather data on their experience. Last year I also gave a similar survey, but I waited until June to have the students complete it. This meant that kids who were part of the cogen in October were asked to reflect on their experiences a full 8 months after they left. Needless to say I want to avoid making this same mistake.

Group Exam
Last week, before the break, I gave my classes a group exam. It’s something that I’ve been doing for a long time now and usually pull it out around this time of year. It’s a wonderful tool to force students to work together; the buzz in the room is a teacher’s dream. The protocol creates an edge and gets students hanging off the sides of tables, frantically ensuring that their work aligns with that of their groupmates. They ask questions, clarify ideas, and work in concert to learn way more than they would on a traditional exam. Like any group assessment, however, the exam sacrifices my understanding of what individual students know how to do. But given the benefits I just described and the fact that I only do it once a year, this is a sacrifice that I’m willing to make.

Curious about what my cogen students thought of the group exam, I asked them. Their feelings were mixed. Some confessed that the exam got them to work harder than they have at any point this year. Others lamented that it wasn’t fair to have their grade be dependent on what their groupmates do — especially when they have between 3-4 people in their group. One student said that she had to teach a lot of content to her groupmates. She was ok with this, but the workload was considerable. The table nodded when I shared that there was tons of learning happening and that this learning was the whole point of the exam.

Our conversation about the exam created a healthy tension of ideas. Feeling this, the students offered up some recommendations to help relieve it.

• Some thought that shortening the exam might help. I thought about having a oversupply of problems and having groups select which ones they want to answer.
• Another idea was to turn it into a “partner exam.” This is fascinating because not only does it mitigate some of the pressure of 5 group members all being on the same page (I collect one random paper at the end of class and this is the grade everyone in the group receives), but it also makes my assessment more reflective of what individual students’ actually know. As compared to a group of 4-6 students, I think I could actually glean somewhat meaningful assessment data from two students working on an exam together.
• A few students agreed that I should do more group quizzes (see previous cogen), but keep exams traditional — like they regularly are. They said this could provide a nice mix of collaboration and individual accountability over the course of a semester.
• Another idea to create balance was to modify the group exam protocol to allow students to work together, but receive an individual grade for what they know. The kids didn’t know the propoer name, but they were essentially asking for a two-stage exam.
• There are typically 2-3 exams for every six-week marking period. A wondering by the group was if we could always have one “collaborative” exam per marking period (the others would be traditional). This gave me pause because students would have less opportunities to demonstrate what they — as individuals — know and also make it harder for me to assess them individually. But given the benefits of group assessments, I’m open to the idea. It would definitely help me move towards triangulating students grades like Peter Liljedahl recommends in Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics.

The cogen’s input on the group exam was more than I expected. The exam happened over a week ago so I was pleased with the depth of our reflections. I told the students we will revisit their suggestions in the coming weeks when I design another collaborative exam. In the meantime, I’m going to make an effort to have more group quizzes and see how that goes. We bookmarked the conversation.

Homework
We spent 20 minutes of today’s 30-minute cogen wrestling with the group exam and the implications it holds for us, but I did have another item on the agenda: homework. Ah, the H word! The minute I uttered it, I saw eyes roll. In that moment, it’s like a wave of guilt swept over the students. Heads dropped. There was a vague sigh. They were mentally bracing themselves for what they thought was going to be a you-need-to-do-your-homework lecture from their teacher.

Perceptive as I am, I reassured them: I was not going to press them about doing their homework. The noticeable decline in homework completion is something I’ve been pondering for a while. As my trusted advisors, I simply needed their input. Why were the majority of students not doing it? Is there anything I could do to change this trend? Is it a pointless goal to even assign it?

This is not a new problem for me. As someone who doesn’t check or hand out points for my daily homework, I’m always grappling with how to encourage students to do it more often. One of the students at today’s cogen exemplified this point when he said, “Mister, I was doing it at the start of the year, but then slowly stopped when I realized that you don’t check it.” Other kids nodded in agreement. One student shared that our weekly DeltaMath (assigned Monday, checked Friday for credit) is more important than the daily homework I assign, and so they focus mainly on doing that during the week.

Most of my lessons are designed around the homework problems from the previous day. The problems take around 15 minues to complete; they’re written to surface key ideas and so we spend all of our class time discussing them. Some of the cogen students highlighted this as another reason why they elect not to do homework. We’re guarunteed to discuss the problems in class anyway, so why do them on my own?

One solution the kids offered up was for me to do random notebook checks. This would help keep students accountable. I tried to do something like this a few years ago with my unannounced “homework quizzes,” but they mainly turned into “I gotcha!” moments. It wasn’t a meaningful practice and the kids resented it. It became a game of cat and mouse. I’m left thinking, could I change the quizzes to make them more effective? Could I use the class quizzes somehow to incentivize doing homework?

I shared my apprehension towards assigning daily homework problems moving forward because so many students flat out aren’t doing them. In response, the cogen suggested that each week I formally announce a “gameplan” to the class. In other words, on Monday I give advance notice on which problems we’ll be discussing each day that week. (To remain flexible, right now I determine the homework on a day-to-day basis.) By outlining the week in advance, I don’t have to call the problems homework anymore and I’m still not checking them, but everyone knows which ones we’ll be discussing on any given day. This way students can get ahead if they want to, but if they can’t or don’t, they won’t miss out on anything. This speaks to me not because it changes the structure of homework, but because it frames the problems differently. Instead of hounding the class to do them each day, I’m revealing the bigger picture to them and offering up the problems as a way to get ahead. Right before we left for the day, I told the cogen that I’m going to try this strategy out next week.

Professional growth via the cogen
Good teachers know the importance of feedback. It’s good to give it, it’s good to receive it. We know it matters if we want to get better at whatever it is we’re doing. When it comes to my teaching, I find it striking that I’m receiving so much feedback from my cogen and so little from my colleagues. If I’m to listen to conventional wisdom around professional development, my department, co-teachers, and administrators are supposed to be my greatest source of feedback and ideas.

With my cogen burning bright these last two years, this couldn’t be further from the truth for me. My colleagues (including my admin) possess little knowledge of what actually happens in my classroom, let alone the ability to provide me feedback to help me improve. This is disappointing, but makes leaning into my cogen all the more vital for my growth. It has proved itself to be a galvanizing force for my professional development.

bp