Through feedback at a recent Parent Council meeting, I learned that there may be some curiosity and possible misunderstanding as to what occurs on Professional Development (PD) days. As parents often work to make child care arrangements, and drive by a school void of kids, but filled with parked cars, questions naturally come to mind. What do teachers do on those days? Are they even at the school? Did they carpool to a movie? Are they playing in the gym on that Canadian Climber thing?!? While it might certainly be enjoyable (for some) to spend the day with feet up, enjoying snacks and beverages (as was jokingly implied by a well-intentioned, goat (or goad) seeking colleague), the reality lands far from that scenario (except for the snack part).
On Tuesday, January 5, teachers were involved in one such PD day. As explained by Mrs. Chipman at the School Council meeting last night, the day centred on the topics of "The Value of the Task" and "Inclusive Mathematics; designing inclusive, authentic tasks for your math program." Teachers examined the new version of Bloom's Taxonomy and discussed tasks (aka questions or assignments) that addressed varying levels of thought. They also looked at ways to examine tasks for how engaged a child might be, what prior understanding students might require, and what the task was truly asking learners to do.
While designing math tasks for ALL students, teachers looked at the difference between "closed question" (7+6=___) and "open questions" ( __ O __ = 13). Closed questions tend to have one answer and are generally correct/incorrect type tasks. Open questions have MANY different answers ranging from 13+0=13, to XV-II=13, to 169/13=13, or any other range of answers. Students can also represent their understanding in a variety of ways through numbers, words, manipulatives (blocks) or even drawings and pictures. Open questions generally focus on process and understanding and are much higher on Bloom's Taxonomy (requiring deeper thought and understanding). It is important to realise, however, that you need a background in closed questions to have success with open tasks, and our teachers do balance both during instruction.
Teachers also looked at creating "parallel tasks" which involve a basic problem with other problems running along side of the original problem. An example of this might be a middle, open-ended question such as, "The answer is 325, what is the question?" Parallel questions (one easier and one harder) run along side that question. "The answer is 32, what is the question?" and "The answer is 3250, what is the question?" Students then chose which of the questions they will try, based on their readiness and ability. If they succeed at one level, they can then attempt the next level, building on their success, or if the problem is too hard, they can attempt an easier version and then move to the next level.
These are just two examples of open-ended questions using specific math strands. These questions focus on both the process and answer, and teachers are finding the amount of information gained from guiding a student through this type of question is massive compared to a more simple, closed task. It also causes students to analyze and evaluate their answers (a higher level of thinking than simply recalling a fact) and think about their thinking (metacognition). Open questions might be quite a change for some parents, and be a bit more complicated to assist with compared to what many of us remember as typical math work. Patience and persistence (two pretty solid virtues) are key.
If you want more information on these math problems, or advice on how to support your child, talk with his or her teacher or pop into the school for a visit, or click here to check out the mathematic curriculum outlined by Alberta Education. We also hope to highlight this approach at our Celebration of Learning later in the year.
On Tuesday, January 5, teachers were involved in one such PD day. As explained by Mrs. Chipman at the School Council meeting last night, the day centred on the topics of "The Value of the Task" and "Inclusive Mathematics; designing inclusive, authentic tasks for your math program." Teachers examined the new version of Bloom's Taxonomy and discussed tasks (aka questions or assignments) that addressed varying levels of thought. They also looked at ways to examine tasks for how engaged a child might be, what prior understanding students might require, and what the task was truly asking learners to do.While designing math tasks for ALL students, teachers looked at the difference between "closed question" (7+6=___) and "open questions" ( __ O __ = 13). Closed questions tend to have one answer and are generally correct/incorrect type tasks. Open questions have MANY different answers ranging from 13+0=13, to XV-II=13, to 169/13=13, or any other range of answers. Students can also represent their understanding in a variety of ways through numbers, words, manipulatives (blocks) or even drawings and pictures. Open questions generally focus on process and understanding and are much higher on Bloom's Taxonomy (requiring deeper thought and understanding). It is important to realise, however, that you need a background in closed questions to have success with open tasks, and our teachers do balance both during instruction.
Teachers also looked at creating "parallel tasks" which involve a basic problem with other problems running along side of the original problem. An example of this might be a middle, open-ended question such as, "The answer is 325, what is the question?" Parallel questions (one easier and one harder) run along side that question. "The answer is 32, what is the question?" and "The answer is 3250, what is the question?" Students then chose which of the questions they will try, based on their readiness and ability. If they succeed at one level, they can then attempt the next level, building on their success, or if the problem is too hard, they can attempt an easier version and then move to the next level.
These are just two examples of open-ended questions using specific math strands. These questions focus on both the process and answer, and teachers are finding the amount of information gained from guiding a student through this type of question is massive compared to a more simple, closed task. It also causes students to analyze and evaluate their answers (a higher level of thinking than simply recalling a fact) and think about their thinking (metacognition). Open questions might be quite a change for some parents, and be a bit more complicated to assist with compared to what many of us remember as typical math work. Patience and persistence (two pretty solid virtues) are key.
If you want more information on these math problems, or advice on how to support your child, talk with his or her teacher or pop into the school for a visit, or click here to check out the mathematic curriculum outlined by Alberta Education. We also hope to highlight this approach at our Celebration of Learning later in the year.
During the meeting, Mrs. Chipman gave some great examples for us as well. Thanks for this (very) comprehensive response to the request for a PD explanation. It would be great if we could get a quick summary for each of the professional days going forward.
ReplyDeleteHopefully you had time after all this for the 'Canadian Climber thing' AND something to quench your thirst.