Our high school students, the Rebels, are ready and willing to take on the challenge of complex, demanding and collaborative learning in the math classroom.
While not all of my students love math, they do love group work.
In fact, the strongest quality my students share is their unwavering support for one another. I hope to leverage this natural strength to improve their sense of self in the math classroom.
Students in my classroom span all four grades (9th-12th) and several different math courses--Discrete Math, AP Statistics and Algebra 2.
Whether they are building regression models to create a Barbie bungee jump or explode a pumpkin, they always act as a team.
My Project
I am looking to completely upend my students' perception of what a math classroom looks like and feels like. Regardless of the grade level or math course, group work is the focus. Group work has the potential to bring out the brilliance in each student. By working on complex tasks, listening and responding to one another and tinkering with ideas, students not only build their mathematical understanding but also find a sense of shared humanity and community within our learning community.
When most people picture a math classroom, they envision single-file rows of 30 desks, all facing a whiteboard or chalkboard.
I am hoping to completely dismantle the idea that I, as the teacher, am the sole provider of mathematical knowledge. To do this, we are transitioning from desks to tables and a single focal point of instruction to small learning groups. Imagine groups of 4-6 students sitting around a table, working on an open-ended task together. To improve accessibility and promote students' own work, I want to use television screens at the head of each table. These screens will allow students to hook their work up (via student laptops and HDMI) to the screen and share their thinking. Whether it is a graph, calculation or model, these four screens will allow students to work together and tinker with different ideas.
Additionally, I will be able to cast instructions, questions, agendas, etc. from my teaching station to each table group. This will go a long way to help students who struggle to see text from across the room.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Bubrick and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
