Kidify Part 3: Holding Kids Accountable

In the final installment of Kidifying Your Class, we want to encourage Geometry in Construction teachers to continue to research ways to hold students accountable for tasks that you have assigned. There is no “magic bullet” for this and it is not for the faint of heart. Teachers openly confess that it is easier to let the student fail than to encourage him/her to work. Before you give up, here are 2 reminders.

From the geometry side of class, homework is still an important task. For some students, grades do not motivate and they will not do the homework just because of grades. These students do not feel the need to complete the homework, then they fall behind and score low on assessments. We made a decision during our first year of Geometry in Construction not to allow this attitude to continue without a fight. The decision was to build a “Penalty Box” for students not doing their geometry homework. During the geometry class, the construction teacher is responsible to check each student’s completion rate of the previous night’s homework. If that rate is below 70%, the construction teacher assigns the student to the penalty box during the construction portion of the class. In the penalty box, students must complete the past geometry assignment as well as the next one in order to get out of the box. Why the construction teacher? The math teacher is already the “bad teacher” just because of what they teach. This is the time when the construction teacher becomes the “bad guy”. Plus this also allows the students to see the math and construction teacher as a unified front. Note the penalty box is nothing but an area on the job site that is reserved for doing math homework. It is amazing how much the homework completion rate improves when students don’t get to go build but instead is held accountable for homework. Our typical homework completion rate is 90%+.

Accountability is no less important on the construction side of the class. Students need to know very clearly what is expected of them at the end of the period. For us, we use something called an “Employability Card”. Each group of students receive a small card with the task that they need to accomplish by the end of class. This task must be specific and doable. For example, “installing windows” is not specific enough. However, modifying to say “install the kitchen window” becomes doable and more importantly, measurable. The group of students at the end of the hour must report in to the construction or math teacher, show their progress (or lack thereof), and summarize how and who worked. Students do an initial grading of themselves and the system is set so that typically, students can not earn more than a “C”. However, the teacher can over ride the grade so that the students can receive a higher grade. Students must verbally justify their accomplishments by showing what they worked on during the period. Also, teachers can help insure that there is no “bullying” of students to get an undeserved grade. We have seen schools use this model without the teacher time at the end....it was a failure. Students need that face time with a teacher to learn what accountability is and to understand how to improve. Teachers must be comfortable with “grading” the end product of what the students actually accomplished. Note that many times math teachers do not like this role. They would prefer black and white “answers”. However, when done right, you can increase production as the year progresses.

Obviously, there are many ways to keep kids accountable including structuring Cooperative Groups correctly (see article Quick and Dirty Checklist for Cooperative Groups, March 2010), parental communication, developing strong student relationships, and other ways. What is important is that we as teachers use as many tools as possible to keep students engaged in their learning.

Roseville, California's Version of Geometry in Construction

You might notice something a little different if you visit the math department at Roseville High School this year. On any given day, you’re just as likely to find a student in a hardhat, swinging a hammer, as you are to find them with a textbook and a calculator. If so, you can be pretty certain you have stumbled into the RHS Geometry in Construction program.

This fully contextualized approach to Geometry, blends college preparatory Geometry with traditional Construction Technology in a collaborative learning environment. The course is designed to add relevance to mathematics, increase understanding of geometric standards while increasing the scope and rigor of Career Technical Education.

Students enrolled in the courses will apply the lessons learned in the classroom and on the job-site as they build a 656 square foot, Factory Built House on the campus at Roseville High School. Students will work on all phases of construction, including framing, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, drywall, painting and carpentry. Professional partners in industry will help train students as they work throughout the year.

Geometry in Construction at RHS began to take shape when former Assistant Principal, Nancy Veilleux, found the website of the original “Geometry in Construction” in Loveland, CO and approached Industrial and Technology Department member and teacher, Jeff Bailey. Intrigued by the idea, Bailey formed an exploratory committee that included Geometry teacher, Tyson Maytanes, and made the trip to see the program first hand. The Colorado program, created by Tom Moore (Math) and Scott Burke (ITE) is in it’s fifth year of contextualization and was completing a house for Habitat for Humanity during the team’s visit. The RHS team returned from Colorado and began the work to bring the program to Roseville High School for the 2011 Fall Semester.

Preparing the class for the school year was no easy task; with a checklist that included Board approval, fundraising, registration, plan development and recruitment of industry partners, as well as a fun filled week of instructor training in sunny Clovis, CA.

Nearly two months into the school year and the class, and project, is in full swing. Students have completed the first Unit Test on surface area and are gearing up for the second on Volume, Slope and the properties of triangles. Students are finding the geometry
rigorous and challenging, but with the construction component driving instruction, the instructor’s have yet to hear that ever present student question, “Why do we have to learn this.”

On the construction side of class, students have completed scale models of the house they will be building, out of Balsa wood. Framing on the actual structure began at the beginning of the month and the classes have nearly completed the floor system and walls of the house.

In addition, Career Technical Education at Roseville High School received a huge shot in the arm this month when the Sierra College STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Initiative awarded a sub-grant to Roseville High School Geometry in Construction in the amount of $12,000.

The funding, which is awarded through a state program designed to develop strong partnerships in STEM from the Jr. High through the Community College level, will be essential in helping Roseville High School program meet their goals in the first year. The grant will also help RHS further strengthen the partnership between students, and the strong STEM programs that exist right in their own back-yard, at Sierra’s Rocklin campus.

In addition to better preparing RHS students for Post-Secondary education through excellence in Math, the GIC program seeks to introduce students to the highly skilled careers that exist in the commercial and residential building industry and other careers that utilize mathematics. The program also works to actively increase non-traditional (female) enrollment in Career and Technical Education programs and increase their ranks in the high skills/ high pay job market.

A special thank you to Jeff Bailey for allowing us to reprint this article from their newsletter "Nuts and Bolts".