Differentiated to the Max

Practical Math so far has been a success. I have completely developed this class on my own and it's going very well.

In 3rd term we did a personal finance unit for six weeks. We learned how to balance a checkbook, fill out tax forms, computer credit card interest and all of that good real life stuff. I used an old business math text book to give me some direction, but developed activities and in class work on my own. I set up a routine - each day we had a certain number of topics to cover. I bought each student a mini steno notepad. For each topic, they had a personal reflection question they had to write about. Then we would spend a few minutes talking about definitions and formulas - like how to compute state income tax - and then they would work on some practice problems in some way that I devised. Sometimes we mixed things up with Scrambled Eggs practice, or I would divide up problems by the color of shoes that students were wearing that day. That way, a little variety was added to the day.

But now we are finished with the personal finance unit and I wanted to find a way to apply that knowledge in a real world context. So for the next three weeks, we have been working on what I'm calling the Job Explorations Unit and it's completely differentiated.

Each day, we look at three different real world jobs that the students could possibly hold. Each day I bring in one guest speaker that actually works in one of those three jobs. The guest speaker tells the kids a little about what they do in their line of work and how they use math each day.

After the speaker leaves, the students have to do activities relating to the three jobs for the day. They get to pick two job stations and complete the activities at those stations. After they finish their in class work, they are to work on their portfolio.

I'm doing a portfolio assessment for the first time ever. I've created a rubric and I've created different activities that I call Tier 1 or Tier 2 activities. Tier 1 activities are lower level thinking and Tier 2 are a little higher level thinking and take a little more time and effort to complete. For each day, the students have to pick three Tier 1 activities and one Tier 2 activity. When these activities are complete, they will be put in a three ring binder that will comprise the students' portfolio.

I have been very pleasantly surprised at how well the students have been working on both their in class assignments and their portfolio submissions. Some of the students are almost done with their portfolio and still have a week of class left to do them! Some of the students need a little more help, but I still strongly believe that when choice is part of an assessment, that students will work harder and do better because they care more about what they are doing.

I hope that I can find more ways to do units like this. The students seem to like it and after the initial work is done, all I have to do is facilitate and keep kids on task. It is lots of fun and leaves me with lots of energy because it's not teacher intensive - all the work is done by the kids! I just lend a hand where needed.