Scheduling a Year of Math Challenges in About an Hour!

       This past year I had the idea to have an extra Google Classroom that I called my Challenge Classsroom.  This way, I had information in one place for all of my students that were interested.  The code was on a poster at the back of my room.   I posted fun challenges that I found throughout the year that kids could work on.  I still continued to post a "Challenge Problem of the Week" on paper at the back of my classroom....well, it was supposed to be a problem of the week.  Unfortunately, if I'm honest, it was a problem of the week until I started to forget some weeks.  By the end of the year, it may have been more like a problem of the month.   Good intentions foiled again!

       But can I tell you how excited I am?  I already have my Google Challenge Classroom set up for next year.   The Challenge Problem of the Week is already scheduled for August through May.  So I can't forget!  I can still change it or add to it...but just knowing that it is already done is so great!   In addition, I have some "Any Time, Any Topic" challenges that will always be available to kids.  My final category of challenges that is already set up in my Challenge Classroom is one that I call -"Wonder Math".  Basically, I search up pictures that are interesting and likely to make kids wonder about stuff that may be math-related (for example, a pool filled with jello; a world-record sized pie; a life-size gingerbread house) and just ask the questions "What does this make you wonder about?  How could math help you answer your questions?"    There are a few reasons that I love using Google Classroom to manage my challenge work for my classroom.

1.  I love being able to schedule everything out.  I want to have a problem of the week, but honestly as the year gets going this is sometimes one of the things that gets forgotten about.  Now I was able to devote a block of time to get it done (and it took me under an hour since I had all the challenges ready to go)!

2.  I love the flexibility of being able to share all kinds of stuff that gets me excited about math.  I'm always finding some news article, website, video or something else that reminds me of something we're doing at school.  Through Google Classroom, it's so easy to share all of these kinds of things.

3.  I like being able to use topics to organize the different types of challenges.  This way I can have problem of the weeks, plus other types of challenges all housed in one place.

4.  I can have one place to house all of my challenges for every class.  All I have to do is post the code to join and every kid that wants access can have it.  It even allows kids that I have in math club, but that I may not have in class, to join in the challenges.

5.  At the end of the year, I will have everything in one place.  It will be so easy to reuse the posts that I really like and update with new ones.

6.  It gives me a way to provide lots of options, which give kids so many different choices.  Hopefully they will be excited about at least some of the possibilities. (And it is one more answer to the eternal "Jill is bored in your class" line that we all may have heard).

Here is a video where I walk you through how I set up my challenge classroom.  If you're interested in the resource that I used for all of my weekly challenges, I used these Year of Weekly Challenges.

Here are some other great sources for challenge problems:
Open Middle
7th Grade Challenging Math
Math Counts (some stuff is paid, but they have lots of free stuff as well)
Figure This

Increase Homework Quality with Free Rubric

    A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about why I switched to giving weekly homework.  Over the three years that I have done this, I have definitely made a couple of adjustments that have helped this system work better for me.

     One of the adjustments that I've made has to do with grading. In my class, I hand out the homework on Friday, and it is due the following Thursday.  The day the homework is due, I pass out red pens, project the answer key on the SMART Board and kids check their own work.  When I enter homework in the grade book, I enter a completion grade, rather than grade the assignment based on the number correct.

        One reason I like this system is that I feel like it lets me focus on the big picture.  When I'm entering the regular score for a homework assignment, I don't have to look closely at every problem for every student.  However, I give each paper a quick scan to make sure that it was completed.  As I grade, I look for patterns.  If I notice that one problem was skipped or missed frequently, I know that this is an area that needs more attention in future assignments, as students did not feel as comfortable with this content.  Because I'm only having to enter homework grades once a week, I have time to look for these patterns.  I also can look for students who are struggling with multiple concepts.

     However, this system was frustrating for me (and my more studious students) at times.  I know that there were a few students who put little effort into the assignments, knowing that their grade was not necessarily determined by the number correct.  This year, I have implemented another part of my grading system.  Each individual homework assignment is still entered into my grade book graded on completion.  It is usually 5 points per week.  Each week, I randomly choose about 6 students whose assignment also gets graded based on a "Homework Quality Rubric".

     This rubric looks at several characteristics of the assignment.  The rubric is based on six categories:  Assignment Completeness, Accuracy and Knowledge, Work Quality, Math Language, Legibility/Organization, and Student Reflection.   I feel this gives me a chance to reflect important characteristics on how students are doing at completely a quality piece of work.

• Are the answers correct? 
•  Did they complete every problem? 
•  Did they show their work?  
• Is their work organized and easy to follow?  
• Did they label their answers?  
• Did they use correct vocabulary? 

Because I'm only having to grade about 6 of these per class, I can take a little bit more time to look in detail at these factors.

     At the beginning of the quarter, I put student names on all of the rubrics.  Then each week I can randomly pull some from the pile to use.  Students get very specific feedback about how to improve the quality of their work, and since they don't know when it will be the week that they will be graded, there is an incentive to put quality effort into the assignment.

      The second adjustment that I've made to my homework system is new this year, and I love it!  This year, I started adding some student choice and differentiation to my homework assignments.  Each assignment is a worksheet, front, and back.  Everyone is expected to complete the entire front side.  The back side of the assignment is divided into three sections.  Two of the sections focus on skills practice.  The third section is usually called "Open-Ended Problem Solving".  This section is intended for students that don't need skills practice, as a way to push them.

This was part of the choice section on the back side.  At the top of the page, students indicate what section they are choosing and why.  During a couple of weeks prior to this, I had noticed many students confusing finding percent vs. percent change after a lesson we had done.  We were working on complementary and supplementary angles at the time, and I know some students were still struggling with this.  

       This is probably the best adjustment that I've made.  The skills sections on the back are a great way to address common errors and misconceptions that I'm seeing in class or on the homework.  At the beginning of the year, I used it to review content from previous years.  Now as the year has gone on, I am using it more to address class needs.  I love that this makes me pay more attention to what my students need.  Each week, I know that I'm going to need a couple of skills to work on for the homework, so I'm always on the lookout.  If I notice a problem that lots of students skipped or a problem that lots of students missed on a quiz, these become the skills practice areas on my homework.  I feel like this has made my homework more relevant to students, as the practice becomes an adjustment to their area of need.

      When I hand out the homework each Friday, I briefly go over the three sections.  Sometimes I might do a quick review based on the skill.  I also let students know why they might want to choose a particular section.  "If you missed #5 on the quiz yesterday, you'll probably want to complete section B".  In my experience, middle school students are not great at knowing their needs academically.  This gives this a chance to practice self-assessment and work choice.

If you're interested in copies of a sample of my weekly homework or the homework rubric, click below.

Homework Quality Rubric
Sample Homework

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Note:  My school uses Connected Math curriculum, so my homework follows the pacing and examples of CMP.