Constructivist Assignment - Part II

A Plan for a Creating My Dream

Written by Tamara Radtke

“My dream this year is to have my students working together in small groups on a variety of projects at the same time. Right now, students work well (most of the time) in small flexible science groups when we are doing labs. This week, they are beginning cooperative math groups and book clubs. At some point, I would like all the students to be able to pursue different activities at the same time and at their own pace.”

My plan is to have my students working together in small groups on a variety of projects at the same time and at their own pace.

Step-By-Step Plan

1. Students will take a pretest for Unit 4 – Fractions in our mathematics class.

2. Each student will get a list of assignments they need to complete for the week based on the results of the pretest.

3. Three students will be working independently using the computer program Aleks on the days they test out of lessons.

4. Other students who test out of the lesson can work in small groups on independent algebra lessons, math fact practice, or they can work ahead on the week’s other assignments.

5. Students who do not test out of the day’s lesson will meet in a small group with me or a peer tutor.

Obstacles and Methods to Overcome Them

1. Some students will not be able to stay on task in small groups while I am teaching the lesson.

• I will schedule the math group time during the time there is an aide or parent volunteer in the class.

• Initially, students will work independently while I am teaching the main lesson. Then, I will be free to monitor groups.

• Students will receive a life skills grade based on a rubric we develop to use in their small groups. If they do not receive a proficient rating, they will need to return to independent work. If they earn a
proficient or exemplary rating, they will earn class cash.

• When I eventually begin teaching the main lesson while groups are working, students who are not on task will rejoin the main group.

2. Students will complete all the tasks on their list and have nothing to work on.

• Most students will have individual projects based on their MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) Math Test Scores listed on their weekly assignment list.

• Students who complete all their work can play their favorite math games from Everyday Math Online and teacherweb.com.

• Students can propose projects they would like to work on.

• Students can volunteer to be peer math tutors.

3. All the students working independently in a group are stuck on a problem.

• Students can skip the problem and come back to it later.

• Students can go to their SRB (Student Reference Book) for help.

• The aide, parent volunteer, teacher or peer tutor can assist them.

4. Group work develops into “copying” the answers from one of the members.

• Each lesson will have the “Objective for the Day” written next to the assignment. Students will have to independently complete a warm up the next morning based on the previous day’s objective. So far students like “going over the day’s objective” during the last part of the math period so they are ready for the next day’s warm up.

• Assignments only count 10% of a student’s grade. If they cannot pass the tests, they will have to do the lessons again.

5. The Unforeseen Obstacles.

• Explain to students that we are trying something new (again)! That means we have to reflect and refine our methods on a regular basis.

• Don’t quit if things don’t work. Ask for input from students and others for ways to improve the process.

Teacher Reflection (MARS) for November 24, 2010

Today was the day before Thanksgiving Break. I wanted to finish up the lessons for this unit. I presented a short lesson and students worked together in groups. After recess and phy. ed., we did a little more instruction on using the calculator to find square roots. I was a little (okay, more than a little) embarrassed that one of my math cooperative groups was still having problems working together! A parent volunteer was helping in my class, and I just think I have talked with my drama group enough times that they should KNOW how to behave with each other! Then, during recess, I had students in from both sixth grade classes because they had not finished their science work. For some reason I was having trouble hooking up a speaker for my movies that reviewed the material, and of course the kids were loud and restless. By the time I had it all working and the group on task, the parent volunteer had left. However, I don't know why he would ever want to come back. I know I didn't!

Luckily, the rest of the day went very well, so we left for break on a good note! I guess it is a good idea to back off on the instruction on the afternoon before Thanksgiving. On the spur of the moment, the other sixth grade teacher and I decided to show an inspirational movie instead of teaching science and social studies. It ended right before school ended. Everybody was hugging and saying "Have a Happy Thanksgiving." In fact, the students were taking so long to leave and say good-bye that I finally went down to the second floor so they would clear out! One of the second grade teachers and I had a good laugh after she told me she couldn't get her students to go home, and I explained what I was doing on the second floor!

Teacher Reflection (MARS) for November 23, 2010

Today was very different because we had an assembly. Students were leaving for color guard practice, then band, and finally, choir. During the remaining fifteen minutes before the show began, I gave up trying to teach math to six students, and they played Hangman. The good thing is students who were gone after the first five minutes of school could later help other students catch up.

Sixth grade in an elementary school is interrupted at least two times a week. Band students are pulled out on Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings for individual and group lessons. Choir students leave for the last fifty minutes of the day on Tuesdays. Safety patrol members are leaving for posts or working as office helpers at different times. There are fundraisers, assemblies, after school events, guidance classes, discipline issues and pull outs for speech, reading help and testing. All of these things and more happen during our academic time. For instance, I like that the sixth graders are in charge of the Harvest Festival, but they often miss hours of instructional time preparing for a two hour evening event. The worst part is that the only reasons I mind at all are personal; I get behind in my math pacing guide and my science schedule of labs has to be arranged again and again.

Teacher Reflection (MARS) for November 22, 2010

It turns out that only three students want to work in pairs. The rest want groups of three or four. All of them are interested in choosing their own groups. I'm not sure how that will work, but I might put students into pools and one student could be selected from each pool. Today we also had students attempting to work individually and then checking their work as a group. In addition, students had a little time to work on corrections in their math journals. Using this method kept the class members on task and working quietly.

I want students to try to solve the problems on their own. Some students follow along during the lesson, complete practice problems and then immediately say, "I don't get it," when independent practice is assigned. I don't even think they read the directions or look at examples. It seems to me that students should have learned to "figure out" how to complete work independently by sixth grade. I know my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders definitely learned how to figure out pages on their own. Perhaps, they had no choice because I could only work with two groups at a time, but I believe it might be the most important math skill of all.

Teacher Reflection (MARS) for November 19th

Today students worked on their own to complete a review of algebraic statements, fractions and integers. Material we covered yesterday on fractions was the easiest part for the students. Overall, the results were better than average. After reading the student reflections from the past week, I will ask students to work on their own first. Then, ask questions and check work together. Also, I will designate the last five minutes of the period to a group review so students remember the main objectives of the lesson that were written on the board.

Three students wrote that they would like to pick their own groups and/or work in teams of two. I may try creating two pools of students and allow students to pick a partner from the other pool. However, a few students (including one who suggested this method) may have limited choices. I would add this onto the end of my initial action research beginning on December 1st.

Teacher Reflection (MARS) 11/18/10


Even my drama group worked well together today. We were a little bit short on time because students wanted to share their poems from writer's workshop. So, towards the end of class students had to finish up quickly, and I saw a couple of students simply show their answers to other group members. I'm not sure this is a problem if I see it happening and can intervene. Also, if a lot of people are not done before read aloud, I can always tell them to finish up the next day rather than have them finish during recess.

Teacher Reflection (MARS) for 11/17/2010


Today I discovered that the cooperative math groups are even better when a substitute comes to your class! I stayed home with my ill daughter yesterday, but the students were still able to have a wonderful math class. The substitute teacher was impressed with how well the students worked together. Today, they proved it by individually finishing the review without problems.

I asked the students to rate how the group work went. The scores were great except for my drama group that wanted to replace their leader. I explained that some people need a chance to learn how to be the leader AND some people need to learn how to be a follower!

Teacher Reflection (MARS) 11/16/2010 


I started the day with students completing a page that contained the same type of skill problems they worked on the previous day. Many of them acted as though they had no idea what to do. I explained that working in cooperative groups was different, and so we would go over the page together. However, today I would write the most important objective on the board, we would do practice problems, they would finish the work in groups AND then they needed to make sure everyone in the group knew how to do a similar problem on his or her own tomorrow.


I'm not sure what to do about my "drama group" that is performing during our cooperative group math time. Last week, I moved one of the members out and replaced him with someone who was unhappy in another group. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of "She did this...," and "she did that" going on. All the other groups have done a good job although I have had three students out with illness this week. 


One thing I notice is that students do not come to me for help very often. It's nice to just observe or visit groups.

Teacher Reflection (MARS) 11/15/2010    

After our wonderful conference in LaCrosse, I felt upbeat and positive about returning to my classroom and beginning my action research data collection. During the previous week we had experimented with cooperative groups. This morning I posted an updated list of groups and had students rearrange their desks into pods. The set up the students designed was better than I could have made. Some groups are in pods and two groups are in horizontal rows. In the future, I will still form the groups, but the students can always take care of the desk arrangements.


Today, I presented a lesson on distance, rate and time. After a discussion and sample problem was completed, students worked on using the formula and similar rate formulas. Then, they graphed the results of their work. During the time I observed the groups, all the groups worked well together. One group was missing their leader, and the two remaining group members waited until I visited their desks before they completed any problems. On the first page, they had to be prompted several times. Eventually, they were able to work on their own, but they needed additional time to finish the assigned three pages in their math journals.

The Case for the Constructivist Classroom - Part III

       I agree with the authors, Brooks and Brooks when they state in their book, The Case for the Constructivist Classroom that, “… becoming a constructivist teacher is not as overwhelming as many teachers think.” One of the reasons I agree with the authors is because my initial teacher education and some of my graduate school education was structured around constructivist ideas. This is one of their suggestions for creating constructivist classrooms, and I agree it makes an enormous difference. The difficulty is remaining a constructivist teacher in a high stakes testing environment. When student scores are used to evaluate individual teachers, a teacher must be very confident in his or her methods to remain a constructivist teacher. Even then, if the constructivist teacher’s students test scores do not match or exceed the scores of traditionally taught students, the test scores will speak more loudly than best practice.

       My constructivist teacher training started almost at birth. I can still remember my language arts teaching father showing me the huge model city his classes built. The theme was “The Greatness of the City.” His students from the exurbs of Milwaukee would pair up with students in the inner city even when there was rioting and curfews. They would ride buses to observe classrooms, courtrooms and government in downtown Milwaukee and use their research to plan a city of the future. That was just one of the many experiences he gave his students every year, and each year was different and new. Imagine my happiness when I went to college, and my first lesson plans were large webs that grew based on my students’ interests. I loved Herbert Kohl, the teacher and author and his books, 36 Children and On Teaching. When I did my final student teaching, all the constructivist ideas worked! We set up centers for students to explore everything from crystals and manipulative math items to Atari computer programs. Concepts and applications were introduced later. Letter grades were eliminated completely and number grades were only used on report cards. It was fun and exciting.

      Of course, when I taught a self-contained class of 8^th grade students at-risk in a

non-university city, some of my teaching became more structured and traditional, but it was still more constructivist than it is today. I think I first felt the pressure to change in the fall of 1996 when I returned from maternity leave and was teaching sixth grade. By 2004, we were being told what to teach, when to teach it and how to teach it. Common assessments and work examples had to be turned into the office along with graphs showing student progress. It was not fun and exciting.

       Imagine my astonishment when my husband and I took sabbaticals and our children went to a little country school where the teachers never talked about test scores and thought a second grader’s homework should be play! When I was offered a job, we permanently moved to Portage, and I had the opportunity to be a constructivist teacher again. Unfortunately, the superintendent retired at the mid-point of my first year, and the new superintendent was charged with raising the district’s test scores. Now, the only things that keep me trying constructivist ideas are my classmates and course readings that remind me of how valuable constructivism is for students and the fact that my students’ test scores have been “above average.”

       This is my first year at an “in town” school that is not known for high test scores. It also frightens me when a fellow teacher I admire is not allowed to use anything but a basal reader because her test scores were 25% lower than other teachers at her grade level. Even more disturbing is the fact that the decision was based on one year’s test scores and an intern taught the second half of the year in her classroom. I would like to remain a constructivist teacher, but it might be a race to see what happens first: I retire, the pendulum moves away from test scores, I give up or I become a subversive instructor secretly teaching in a fun and exciting way.

      Despite the pressure, I have had a “meaningful victory” this year. My students can share ideas, listen to each other, form a plan and carry out a plan with everyone working together. They can do it without yelling or bashing each other’s ideas, and they can do it with only a minimal amount of adult guidance. We have built on the learning we gained at a ropes and challenge course even though it cut into our reading time for thirty minutes once a week. An additional benefit has been the way my students have worked on each week’s challenges in an adaptive physical education class with students who have special needs.

      My dream this year is to have my students working together in small groups on a variety of projects at the same time. Right now, students work well (most of the time) in small flexible science groups when we are doing labs. This week, they are beginning cooperative math groups and book clubs. At some point, I would like all the students to be able to pursue different activities at the same time and at their own pace. However, I would consider it a meaningful victory if I could just get all my math and reading groups working effectively at the same time.

Revised Vision Statement

I want to be part of a just learning community that creates successful lifelong learners.