My 10%

At Twitter Math Camp this summer, Dylan Kane discussed about how, as teachers, we should change approximately ten percent of what we do in our classrooms. He also mentioned that it is reasonable to expect teachers to change ten percent, and that it was indeed imperative that we do so. Conversely, Dylan stated that it is not fair to expect teachers to change more than the ten percent. Let me tell you about what my ten percent is for this semester and this school year.

• Make it Stick 
• After attending a session on the book Make it Stick, I used a brochure from Meg Craig and gave it to my students. I am trying to use some of the strategies such as lagging homework and frequent review. I am also trying to use the spaced and interleaved practice, especially once we get the Chromebooks, and I can do a better job of assessing this. Also, I am trying to incorporate mini-quizzes in some of my lessons. I still have a lot of work to do with this. 
• Chromebooks 
• Our students are getting Chromebooks on September 1 for use at school, and I cannot wait to put them to use. I plan on using Quizzizz and Kahoot for formative assessment and fun activities as well as incorporating Delta Math for homework/independent practice. I also plan on using Pear Deck and Nearpod for some of my lessons. I also plan on using Desmos and Desmos Activity Builder for lessons. I also want to utilize Google Forms and Edulastic for quizzes and tests. 
• Standards-Based Grading (or something like it) 
• I had several conversations with people at TMC about standards based grading. I really liked Anna Vance's idea on grading on a 5 to 10 scale. I took Anna's idea and modified it to a 1-10 scale to better meet the needs of my students. I also write the standard on my quizzes for students to see. I also increased the number of retakes to unlimited so that students can continually make progress in mastering the standards.  Quizzes and tests also count for 70% of a student's grade versus 45 percent in the previous school year. I am more cognizant of how I create and align my assessments. 
• Sequencing 
• I changed around a few things in Geometry. I decided to place volume after the "Tools of Geometry" unit. I also chose to teach Pythagorean Theorem with the Distance Formula at the beginning instead of waiting until trigonometry to teach Pythagorean Theorem. I also decided to group lines, angles, and triangles together into one large unit. For Algebra 2, I have kept the pacing somewhat similar. 
• Mindset shifts
• I have taken some ideas from Jo Boaler's book, Mathematical Mindsets, such as how she does group roles and grouping of students, encouraging retakes, and encouraging a positive climate for math. I think that I have had some buy-in on the increasing amount of feedback I give and not putting grades on tests until after the feedback. I think I also have buy-in on the 1-10 scale and standards-based grading. 
• The Close  
• Tracy Johnson Zager stated in her TMC keynote that we, as teachers, need to never forget the close. I am not 100% there, but I would self-assess at 50 percent. I am getting there though. I am being more cognizant on having students give summaries of what they learned as well as make connections between concepts. As I said, I still have lots of work to do in this regard as well. 

I would love to hear what you chose as your 10% and see what compares and contrasts. Take care!