My Favorite No

My Favorite No is my favorite YES in my math class.  I seriously LOVE this.  I fell in love with this idea when I first saw it just over two years ago (you can read a previous blog post HERE).  I started in the classroom then, and it has stayed a favorite.

The first 10-15 minutes of my math block is always reserved for some sort of review or spiral activity.  This year, from September to December we dove into Number Talks, from January to March Break we did Math Meetings (4th Grade Frolics has a great post about it HERE), and from now until the end of the year we'll be switching between Math Meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and My Favorite No on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  Perfection.

If My Favorite No is new to you, you have to start out by watching THIS VIDEO (then come right back here so I can share more with you).  ;)

My Favorite No is the perfect companion to all the Growth Mindset teaching I've been doing in the classroom this year - teaching that the best learning opportunities come from making mistakes.  This is EXACTLY the message I want my students to take away from all of this.

OK ... so here's how it goes.  I pose a problem.  In the past I've done more skill (knowledge) based questions, but this year I'm focusing on word problems because my data is showing my students need this.  I write the problem on a small cue card and project it for the students to see.

We then go through and mark the question together using CUBES.  (You can read more about CUBES in a blog post I have HERE).

Then, my students get 5 minutes to independently solve the problem (I set a timer and everything because they love the timer).  They are also writing on the small cue cards (I'll post a link to the cue cards I bought at the bottom of the page. I buy them in bulk, but any method you choose will work fine).

When they are finished, before they hand their cards in, they have to do a traffic light comprehension dot in the corner (green for no problems, yellow for a little difficulty, and red for a lot of difficulty).  I have a poster hanging in my class explaining the Traffic Light Comprehension Dots (I had it made at Vistaprint) - but you can grab a free copy of the pdf I made HERE.  We use traffic light comprehension dots on everything!

The students also color code their answers according to our Math Response Learning Goals.  These learning goals are EVERYTHING in my classroom.  They are seriously one of my most favorite resources.  They are from my Building Better Math Responses resource and they have truly made our responses better.  You can take a peek at them HERE.

Students don't write their names on the front of the card before they hand it in, instead, I just have them initial the back - that way, if their card is chosen as "My Favorite No" it still has a little anonymity to it.  When they hand the cards in, I quickly sort them into 3 piles - 1) correct, 2) correct strategy but a small error somewhere, and 3) incorrect.  

I then sort through the "correct strategy but a small error somewhere" pile and choose "My Favorite No".  This particular card will have a lot of wonderful thinking shown, but contains a small error or misconception somewhere that probably more than a few students in the class are making.  I put this card up under the projector for all to see (remember, it's anonymous) and talk about all the wonderful things I love about the answer given.  I then give students one to two minutes to do some error analysis with their partner or elbow buddy.  After this time, together we fix up the problem and (hopefully) clear up any misconceptions.

So ... what do I do with the cards when we're done?  Well, remember the three piles I sort the cards into?  I record this data into my grade book with easy colored dots - green for correct, yellow for correct strategy but small error, and red for incorrect.  I write the math concept for the word problem at the top of the page so I can go back and see where we need to do a little extra review.  These circles will also make it very easy to see which students need a little extra help with some small group sessions during math stations.  We've done two of these activities this week, so this is what my grade book looks like so far.  (See all those yellows and reds ... we've got some work to do during this last term ... but we're up for it).

I put a little sticker in the corner of the correct cards, and then I file all the cards in little library card pockets for each student.  When the pockets get too full, we simply clip the cards together and file them in our portfolios, and start filling them again.  The students crowd around me as I'm putting the cards in the pockets to see if they got a sticker on their work - it's kind of fun.  :) 

Now, if you're thinking this will embarrass the students, it won't.  I promise.  In all the time I've done this in my class, I've never ever ever had a student upset by it.  There is a solid rule in my room that we don't say whose card is My Favorite No, and their names aren't on the cards.  But ... even so, often the student who was chosen is really excited they had the chosen card, and will want people to know (even though I still don't let them say anything in the classroom).  When you teach your students how important mistakes are to the learning process, they are not embarrassed by their mistakes, they look forward to growing from them.  And that, my friends, is a beautiful thing.

(affiliate link)

4

Traffic Light Reflections

I'm trying something new with student reflections this year - traffic light reflections.  In the past, I've done Glow and Grow reflections (you can read a little more about that strategy HERE), and I still love love love those reflections, but with my students already familiar with our Traffic Light Comprehension Dots  I decided to keep things simple for them, and changed up our reflections a bit.

(That and I found the coolest light up traffic light at Hobby Lobby and made it a fixture in our class - it's the little things that make me happy).  ;)











I'm planning on doing student-led conferences near the end of the year this year, so I wanted to make sure their portfolio pieces contained a lot of reflections they could refer back to - not only for the conferences at the end of the year, but also to drive their everyday goals.

This week we've used the traffic light reflections with our first writing piece - I just kept it very simple and made a quick template with three dots to resemble the traffic light.  They colored the dots red, yellow, and green - and then had to write down something from their writing for each level of dot:

• red shows an area where they know they need to improve
• yellow shows an area where they are working on and improving in ... but can continue to work on
• green shows their strengths - something they are really proud of

They also used the red, yellow, and green to mark their own writing and show where the areas were in their writing.  When finished, the reflection sheet was stapled to the back of their writing, and placed in their portfolios.

We also used the traffic light reflection on our summary of learning at the end of our math unit this week.  As part of our review before our summative, I do a "summary of learning" where they come up with and reflect on all our learning goals from the unit (this time using "I Can" instead of "I Will" because it's the end of the unit).  I did a class anchor chart, and students copied this into their own notes.  I then asked them to individually reflect on those goals - putting a traffic light dot beside each goal, depending on their level of comfort with the goal.  I reminded them to let this help drive their studying and review for the test - spending more time on concepts they felt were a yellow or red.

We also reflected as a whole group - asking everyone how they felt about a specific goal, and taking a vote for the traffic light reflection dot for each goal.  This was done on our anchor chart.  This gives me a great insight into which areas to do a little more review on before the summative, and I can see who to quickly pull for a little small group practice.  I usually get asked, "Do students really want to admit they don't understand and put down a red dot on their paper, or raise their hand for a red dot?"  And my answer is YES.  I've done traffic light comprehension dots (and now reflection dots) for 4 years now, and my students have always been willing to admit where they need a little extra help without any apprehension or embarrassment at all.  And I am so thankful for that.  And so are they - knowing it's one way of letting me know they need a little extra something from me.

Happy Wednesday!

6