Daily Quizzes - An Easy Way to Start a (kind-of) SBG System & Provide Classroom Incentives

I want to share the biggest change I've made to my classroom this year: Daily Quizzes. 

This is the brain child of one of my amazing colleagues. Last year, he did 6 question exit tickets as a homework replacement. YES. A math teacher that assigned NO HOMEWORK. 

Well, I wasn't quite ready to take that leap. However, I did like the idea of having plenty of skill-based data reports, and tying it to an incentive. So we decided as a PLC to compromise. DQs emerged from that compromise. Here's how it works.

Each day, after notes, students have around 15 minutes to start their homework. (We have 90 minute blocks.) After that initial practice time, I project a 6 question quiz on the board (My PLC creates these together ahead of time). 

Students are allowed to use their notes. Once they're finished, they bring it up to me, and I grade it immediately (It takes less than 15 seconds per quiz. I use open ended questions, and there's no partial credit. Each is right or wrong, and I spend no time at that point looking through work or evaluating mistakes.) I record their score, tell them, and keep the card (which helps keep the answers from traveling around the room). Here's a picture of my recording sheet:

The topics are along the top, and scores range from 0-6. I do give half credit VERY rarely for students that made arithmetic errors, or for answers not in best form (such as answers with negative exponents). I color code the scores at the end of a unit, on the morning of the review day. This helps me remember where our weaknesses were throughout the unit. 

0-1 are red

2 is pink

3 is orange

4 is yellow

5-6 are green

Absent is blue - I don't typically require students to make these up.

You can see the clear difference in my honors classes (above) and my regular class (below).

Another difference between honors and regular classes is the number of questions, and incentive attached. Honors classes get 5 question DQs, and students that score a perfect 5 are permitted to complete every other homework problem that's assigned that day. Regular classes get 6 questions, and students that score a 5 or 6 get to only do half the problems. 

This homework incentive has been FANTASTIC. Students take the notes seriously, because they know they're going to want to reference them during the quiz. They work furiously during that initial practice time, and even my withdrawn/shy kiddos will reach out to their group or to me to ask questions to iron out any issues during that time. 

After they get their score, they resume work on the homework assignment. I typically reserve around 20 minutes for the DQ, which means the early finishers have around 15 minutes to work in addition to the 15 they already spent. As much as they hate getting 4s, they get so competitive about the 5s and 6s. We had to start a class vs. class competition - and I think adding an extra question for my regular class puts them on a level playing field. 

Class DQ Board: 1st Regular, 2nd & 4th Honors

I go back once everyone's finished and look through work. We clarify common issues, and I give cards back so students can post them on the bragging wall (shown below), or look over their mistakes. 

Let's talk about some details on logistics:

Grading: I grade these as a single quiz grade per unit. I drop the lowest one from the unit, then average the rest. The percentage for the average out of 5 is their grade. (For the regular class, this means that they could get a quiz score over a 100 for their 6s. I haven't had an average over 102 yet this year, so I'm not concerned about giving them a few extra points for a 6. I make sure that the questions are difficult enough so that 5s and 6s aren't guaranteed.) These have completely replaced normal quizzes for me, and I'm ok with that even though they're all open note quizzes.

Supplies: I have students bring in index cards to turn in at the beginning of the year. These are in the supply bins for their groups, and most of the time we use them to complete DQs. Occasionally, they prefer using a piece of notebook paper instead, especially for problems that take up a bunch of space. 

Student Data Tracking: Students keep up with their own scores in 2 places. 

They record the score first on a page I created to go beside their Unit TOC page (from Math=Love). 

This score goes right beside their homework assignment page number and homework grade, so I can quickly check their scores as I grade homework. This means I know whether to give a 50% or a 100% for a page that has every other problem completed. They get a stamp on this page and on their punch pass for each 100%. (My blog post on punch passes is here.)

The second place they record these is at the beginning of their Reference & Warmup notebook (post on my new notebook setup is here). They record a daily I Can sentence from the board, with the corresponding page number, their DQ score that matches, and fill in a bar graph beside it. I encourage them to use this right before their test to reflect on what to spend the most time studying.

My regular students have 6 boxes, since they can score up to a 6.

 

My honors students have only 5 boxes.

As you can see, some students are a bit more colorful with their records, and there are days we run out of time for a DQ.
I have also done "Daily Double Quizzes" where we do a makeup DQ from the day before along with that day's regular DQ.
Also - note the frowny faces. They HATE getting 4s. 

I post the entire week's I Can Statements at once on the front whiteboard.

I'm painfully aware that this system is missing a couple of things: a method for reassessment, make-up DQs for absent kids, and a way to tie this info with their tests. However, it's also been the easiest transition to something close to SBG that I've ever implemented. I've been able to save time grading too, which is always great. 

Enjoy your weekend!

Well, hello again!

We all know that Christmas and Summer Break are really the two times of the year that teachers can actually catch up on things. That means I've finally been up-to-date on the laundry, grading, planning, and several DIY projects. (Not ahead, mind you. Just up-to-date. I'm not some sort of miracle worker.)

My sister just graduated with her elementary ed degree in FL, and will be long-term subbing in a few days in Kindergarten. So naturally I've been pinteresting (I'd say pinning but it's been mostly just browsing) for some younger-ed stuff. It's really gotten me thinking about some of the things I do so similarly to elementary ed with my high school students. My mantra for the interactive notebooks has been that if a kindergartener would enjoy it, so would a high school student. So I've been thinking lately about centers and other such common elementary practices that sort of fade out of education as students progress to higher grades. I want to bring some of that back to my classroom. I saw yesterday on this blog post how a teacher used 4 standard groups each day to go through routine math practice after a mini-lesson. I love this format! I'd love some suggestions from those of you that use centers in secondary - how do you keep kids accountable? What are each of your groups used for? Break it down for me - I really want to make this work for my students!

I'm also about to post my ISN pages for all 3 preps - so be on the look-out for those. The plan is to post by topic, to make it easier for you to keep track of, rather than uploading all the pics into one huge post. Before we get there, I'd like to show you a couple of general organization pics and room updates first. 

Ok #1 is my bragging rights cabinet. Here, any time a student is proud of something (A on a test, great behavior, fast time for a math fact drill, etc.) they decorate an index card and post it for all to see. This was a picture from about 2 weeks into the semester. Right now, it's covered with over a hundred cards.

This is my "What I Respect" window - I saw this somewhere out there on the internet and couldn't find the link, but I LOVE being able to refer back to this both when giving corrections and when praising a student. It also serves as a great reminder to me of how I want to help students become better people. This actually covers 2 full window frames. Some of the words/phrases include the following: effort, dedication, perseverance, hard work, honesty, integrity, professional attitudes, encouraging words, persistence, and going above and beyond.

Here's my I Can board - just a large photo frame from a garage sale, with 4 pieces of scrapbook paper behind the class. Each class is a different color, and I just use a dry erase board to update this for each new lesson. It's hung using a command hook.

First let me say, I have NEVER had a word wall. The closest thing I've had in the past was posters with vocabulary (You know the ones I'm talking about math teachers). Nevertheless, a word wall became a requirement for all teachers in my school district this year. I came THIS CLOSE to just buying and printing one of these off of TPT. They would have been cute, simple, and would have served my needs. But then I decided that I wanted to BUILD my word wall with my students over the course of the semester. And I had a huge, blank wall. So I hot-glued (shhhh) some purple scrapbook paper up, made some letter labels, and as the semester went on, added words for each class using their class color (blue for Algebra 2 and so on.) It took maybe 10 minutes to actually put up, maybe another ten to make and print the labels. 

Ok, on to some organization! I just wanted to quickly share how I organize the MOUNTAINS of paperwork in a secondary math classroom. 

First, I have a bin for each class in the back of the room. Here's my algebra bin below. In the front, student files that hold their tests, retests, behavior documentation, homework no-credit slips, and semester-summary pages (each six weeks I have them list out each test grade, each quiz grade, and label which ones were retested and which ones were eligible for retest but not retested). 

Behind the student files, I have folders labeled 1-100. These correspond to their ISN pages, and when a student is out, they just visit that file number to get the supplies to make up their missed work. 

Next, we have my teacher files. In front (the purple files) are classroom management masters, templates, and non-content related files. Behind that, I sort all of my master copies by topic. I group the topics by very broad ideas such as "Pre-Algebra Basics," "Linear Functions," or "Systems of Equations and Inequalities." Then within each group, there is one file folder per topic. So under systems, I have a folder for graphing, substitution, elimination, word problems, linear programming, non-linear systems, and systems in 3 variables. There's also a folder in teal at the back of each group for any study guide or multi-topic review pages. I keep ISN pages in these folders, ideas for pneumonic devices, worksheets, games, centers, and even notes to myself to include certain sub-topics.  It makes it so easy to share topics with other teachers in my department - I can just hand them that topic's folder, and let them copy whatever they want! I also keep my files electronically sorted the same way - by topic grouping, and then by individual topic. 

I keep my tests and quizzes in binders, with a tab for each unit. Since these usually change year-by-year, they end up in the "review" section of the topic groupings, so I can still pull questions from them during review games. 

Back into the swing of things

Today's really the first day that I've felt really back into the rhythm of school. Which is really ridiculous, since today was an awkward schedule (assembly day) and nothing seemed to go right, but maybe that's what made it seem normal. I wanted to post some of my pictures of my new room, just so you can see what I've been up to. 

This is what I arrived to the first workday - empty space and lots of boxes. I'm math department chair this year, so I got the privilege of unpacking all the math supplies for our brand new school. I also had to engrave 120 calculators - which took FOREVER. 

 Ok - this is the view from the door, and this is pretty close to what it looks like today, although I've since added scrapbook paper onto the cabinet for our "Bragging Rights" wall. 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my graphing wall! I'll post an in-depth tutorial on how I made this, but I love it and it's great to be able to reference this during lessons, and I can't wait to use it for centers this year!

Envelopes for my three classes Mastery Skill Levels - see my previous post here. 

Each class has different topics, and I'll post the new lists, as well as templates for the envelopes (yes I made them myself) and the number labels. 

Back corner - bins from the dollar store that hold game supplies (dice, player markers, etc), erasers for the dry erase sleeves, and index cards. 

So now I just wanna brag - we got CHARGING calculators!!!! No more batteries!!!

Did I mention the color screens and the app for mixed number operations?!?!

Even my math-hater students have been geeking out over these calculators! 

Back wall, where I post grades, and the bins where I sort their ISN page materials and student files.

Laminated color cardstock taped together = dry erase table of contents for each subject!

Each class has 2 bins. One has files labeled 1-100 for their ISN page materials. Since I do a new ISN each 6 weeks, we don't get past 100 pages very often. The other bin is for their student files, where their tests and quizzes and SBG materials are kept.

Dry erase markers, highlighters, markers, and pens all sorted by color. 

This is also where I keep the bins for their ISN supplies (stacked at the end of the day). Each group gets 1 purple bin and 1 silver bin, which stack inside one another. The purple one holds scissors/gluesticks/etc for each group member, and they use the silver one for trash, then empty it at the end of class. 

This is my system for papers that they turn in - each bin has 3 folders, one for each subject area.

Absent kid system - they get a small paper out of their class's envelope that states what pages they missed and if there's anything outside of the notebook to make up. 

Phone prison - this is just the bottom half of a show organizer that I cut up, then covered the raw edges with black tape. 

For open house, this was on the board as the parents walked in - all I did was write supplies on post-its, and replenish as it grew low (I had some generous parents this year!)

Primary Board - this has since changed to a vertical setup, since it gave me more room to write the warmup. 

I give 3 warm-up questions per day, and the students respond on a weekly page that I collect as a quiz grade at the end of the week. This is also where I check their homework and give them a stamp on their punch pass. The warm-up sheet is available here. 

The labels on the board are also available for free in black and white, but they're easy to edit in word to be colorful. 

Let me know what you think!!

Classroom Incentives

With the new school year just around the corner, I've been hard at work making (well, re-designing) some of my classroom incentives. I teach high school (mostly freshmen), and so keeping students working toward achieving goals is easier when there is plenty of competition and plenty of incentives.

Obviously I try to create an environment of encouragement and frequent verbal praise. However, I've found that adding a bit extra can really make the difference in getting students to go the extra mile. 

In previous years, I've tried a few different things. 

     1. I've tried classroom incentives of earning letters to "free time" on the board. When a class earned all 8 letters, they got 15 minutes to chat at the end of class on Friday.  What I liked about this system was that I could start the semester with very frequent rewards to clearly show students what behaviors I liked, and the type of work ethic that would earn them more letters. Over the course of the semester, they had to work harder and harder and be increasingly on task to earn letters. However, this system didn't give me a way to praise individual students, and the incentive of chat time really wasn't enough. Most students would just use the time to finish up some homework for another class. 

    2. I've also tried a ticket system. I gave tickets to individual students or small groups (to split up) for various on task behaviors, catching mistakes, being encouraging or helpful, and working on the board in front of the class. A few times I also gave these out for really great questions or comments during discussions. Students could redeem tickets for extra restroom passes, homework passes, extra credit, or mechanical pencils. I liked the versatility of this system, but not the time I had to spend cutting them out. Also, I felt like students didn't have an easy way to keep up with them. (You know how the inside of a 9th grade backpack looks like - picture plenty of these getting lost in that abyss.) 

3. Last year, I tried a similar system to the tickets, but instead I created a point system. I kept physical tickets for some things (students coming up to the board or spontaneous reasons), but students also could earn tickets from good test and quiz grades. I gave 3 tickets for an A, 2 for a B, and 1 for a C. Students had to keep up with their grades and ticket totals in a chart in their interactive notebooks. 

This system was very similar to the previous one, but most students only kept track of physical tickets, and didn't use the chart. This system was also very difficult for me to verify rewards - I was pretty much trusting that they had the points they had written on the chart. Very rarely did I "audit" a chart to check their grades as well - it simply took too much time. 

This year, I just want something SIMPLE. I've learned whatever system I use needs to be easy to verify (or hard to fake), have a physical component, and needs to have incentives worth working toward. I settled on punch cards. (Yes, like the type you get at Sweet Frog or Bealls Outlet) Students will have a list of what gets them a punch or stamp (I haven't decided which to use). They have a list of 3 incentives to choose from. When the card is full, it either becomes a homework pass, or 5 points on a test or their notebook grade. I've decided to give one punch for each 100% on homework (work shown, neat, and complete). They can also get a punch for an A on a test, or for passing a color level on their differentiated assignments (more on that later). They'll get a business card-sized punch card made of heavy duty cardstock, and it's their job to keep up with it. I bought 2 special hole punches that punch shapes (a star and a heart), and I also have self-inking stamps. I'm hoping that none of my students will have a star shaped hole punch at home, but I guess we'll see. 

If you would like to download my punch pass, visit my TPT store at tinyurl.com/learningwithtapeTPT