Story by Tom Markland
INWOOD – For more than a year now, Rachel Yates has been using a new research-based strategy to keep her fifth graders more engaged and interested in learning math at Mill Creek Intermediate.
On Wednesday, Yates’ fellow teachers gathered in her classroom after school hours to learn the new strategy.
“The kids enjoy it,” Yates said. “They were more engaged, and their test scores have improved.”
Yates’ new strategy, which is based on a book by Peter Liljedahl called “Building Thinking Classrooms,” aims to make classrooms more interactive and engaging for students through 14 different practices, all of which Liljedahl researched and put together in his book.
The book, which is aimed toward math classes, is available on Amazon for $35, and a supplementary book aimed at different subjects sells for $20.
Yates started out the lesson by dividing the teachers into random groups, assigning each group to a math puzzle on a whiteboard.
According to Yates, the groups being truly random, instead of artificially put together, is an important element of the strategy, and the students should know how it’s randomized. In her example, Yates assigned random groups by having each teacher pull a playing card, creating groups of the same number. She said the best group size is three students.
Using an easily erasable surface is also an important part of the strategy. According to research found in the book, students take significantly longer to start writing when they use other things to write on.
While students work on their task, Yates walks around the room, responding to students using phrases like “assuming you are correct,” to help build their confidence in their answer. She also answers questions asked of her with further questions to help the students think critically about their work, potentially finding a better answer.
Yates also has a unique way of structuring homework, which works in tandem with her classroom methods. She assigns problems of three different difficulties – mild, medium and spicy – for the students to complete. While they are required to complete the mild questions, they are only required to try the medium questions and have the option of attempting the spicy ones for bonus points.
When the students come in the next morning, Yates has the solutions written on the board, allowing students to check their answers and determine what they need to work on.
She structures her summative assessments similarly, requiring students to complete the mild and medium questions for each topic and giving them the option to attempt spicy questions for bonus points. Yates says the mild, medium and spicy terminology has been more effective with her students than other terms, like easy, medium and hard.
According to Yates, the new strategy has made a huge impact in her classroom, making students more organized and keeping them focused on learning.