Storytelling with Quadratic Transformations
Students' projects
Overview
I implemented a week-long maker lesson at Reagan ECHS about storytelling with quadratic transformations. This helped my students review quadratics before the STAAR test. Each student created a product that represented a transformation that occurred in the life of their favorite fictional character or their own life. They presented their products to their classmates and 12 invited guests, including apprentice teachers, my university facilitator, the director of MathHappens, and a former UTeach professor.
TEKS
The Algebra I TEKS I addressed in this lesson were 6 A, B and 7 A, C. All of these TEKS were about quadratics.
Idea for Lesson
My original plan was to do a maker lesson that involved planting flowers in the shape of a parabola. However, I looked for other ideas after deciding that it was too time consuming.
I was nervous because I had two months left before my showcase presentation, so I reached out for help. I brainstormed lesson ideas with Shelly, Stefanie, Kyla who is also a Maker, and my friend Marcus after the drone weekend workshop. Making art with quadratics and storytelling came up in the conversation, so I decided to combine the two ideas.
Lesson Implementation
Engage
Before I introduced the storytelling project to my students, I asked them what they thought of when they heard the word “transformation”. Many recalled that transformations applied to quadratics. Others mentioned where they heard that word outside of math class, such as the movie Transformers where cars change into robots.
My students then thought of their favorite fictional characters and described a change that happened in their characters’ lives. Their descriptions included four events that led to the change. One student chose to describe the life of Maui, a character from the movie Moana.
Student work describing a change that occurred in her favorite character's life
Because I began the lesson by talking about storytelling and not math, students remained curious about what they were going to do next.
Project Launch
I used the previous exercise to show how the word “transformation” applies not just in math, but also in life. The purpose of education is to change for the better, and this can be done by learning new information, new technology, new ways to express yourself, and new ways of solving problems. I then introduced the project as an activity that will help us change for the better.
The project was to create a product to help tell the story of a change that happened in someone's life. I gave students the option to either use the story they just wrote about their favorite characters or to describe a change that happened in their own lives. At first, I wanted all of the students to talk about their own lives since I thought it would be more personally meaningful, but I chose to give them a choice between the two.
Each student received a cardboard box to use for their project, and they were required to include the following in their designs:
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Graph and equation of quadratic parent function
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Graph and equation of parabola that represents the change in their story
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Four metal brads
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Decoration
I showed an example that I created so the students could visualize what their products should include.
Additionally, I showed the students the rubric so that they knew what was expected of them. At first I wanted to just use the Elements of Making rubric. However it was the students' first experience making in the classroom, and I thought that rubric was asking too much of the students. So, I used the Elements of Making rubric as a guide instead. I think that as students get more used to making, I could use the Elements of Making rubric.
My example project about the change that occurred in the life of Miguel from the movie Coco
Design
Students drew what they wanted their products to look like first so that they had a plan of action. Their designs included a parabola that represented their story. I knew that students would have a hard time choosing a parabola that is related to their story, so I mentioned that I chose a concave down parabola because I thought that it looked like the marigold bridge that Miguel used to go to the Land of the Dead in the movie Coco. This helped students come up with ideas.
This student chose a concave down parabola to represent how her character had to conquer many obstacles to get to where he is now.
Marigold bridge from the movie Coco
Marigold bridge created with paper
Student's design
Description of Parabola
After students finished their designs, they described the parabola that they chose by completing this worksheet. I had them do this because I wanted to make sure that they knew exactly how their chosen parabolas were transformations of the quadratic parent function. In addition to finding the equation in vertex form, they described key features of the parabola, such as the roots, vertex, axis of symmetry, domain, range, and more. On this worksheet, they also selected four points on the parabola that showed where the events that they wrote about took place in the story.
Make
Once students completed designing and describing their parabolas, each of them received a cardboard lid with grid paper taped to the top. They used their design sheet and descriptions to draw on the grid paper the graphs of the parent function and their own parabola. Students then used paper clips to puncture holes through the four points that they selected previously and inserted metal brads in the holes. After this, students began decorating using the craft supplies that I brought.
During the making process, the students began to work together without me telling them to do so. All of them were excited to start creating, but some of them were falling behind. When that happened, students helped their classmates by giving advice on how to plot points onto the grid paper, how to puncture holes for the metal brads, and how to neatly tape the grid paper on the cardboard lids. They also gave each other suggestions on what materials to use to bring their ideas to life. Additionally, I saw students who were having trouble drawing seek help from students who like to doodle in class. I was proud of them for collaborating and rewarded those students with stickers. My students love stickers, so that motivated them to continue working together.
Student work describing the parabola she chose
Student asking classmate for drawing advice
Posted with permission from guardian
Daily Reflections
At the end of each day, students reflected on their progress by writing about one thing that they succeeded in, one thing that challenged them, and how they would improve the next day. They then shared what they wrote with their group members and the rest of the class. Not only did this allow students to utilize metacognition, but this also gave them the opportunity to interact with their classmates.
Optional: Makey Makey
In order to challenge my students, I gave my students the option to use Scratch and a Makey Makey Classic in their artifacts. I originally planned to do a mini-workshop about how to do this, but we ran out of time during class. Two students volunteered to come to school early in order to do this.
I first showed them how a Makey Makey could be used to make a computer play sounds by touching bananas. This required the use of a Scratch program, which can be found below.
Banana bongos using Makey Makey
The two students were intrigued by how bananas controlled the Makey Makey. They explored what other kinds of objects could control the Makey Makey and learned a little about conductivity. They realized that the metal brads that they used in their artifacts could also control the Makey Makey. They connected the brads to the Makey Makey using alligator clips and wrote their own code on Scratch. Each student demonstrated how their improved products work to three math teachers.
Student presenting her improved product
After this lesson, each student completed a reflection form. Their responses can be found below.
Optional: Silhouette Cameo
I also wanted to give my students the opportunity to create custom stickers for their artifacts using a Silhouette Cameo. However, I did not have enough time to do this. I plan to invite students to come before school to do this.
Practice Showcase
In order to prepare for the student showcase, each student did a 5 minute presentation for their group members. I displayed on the projector questions that could be asked during the actual showcase. The group members each selected a question to ask the presenter. Students told me that they felt less nervous after doing the practice showcase.
Student Showcase
Throughout the week, I sent out invitations for the student showcase to people I knew. 12 guests came to the student showcase, including apprentice teachers, my university facilitator, the director of MathHappens, and a former UTeach professor. During each half, 8 students stood in different areas of the room with their product and a folder that contained all of their work. To make sure that students who were not presenting at the time actually talked to the people presenting, I required each of them to complete 4 feedback forms. Guests also completed feedback forms.
Student showcase flyer
Student presenting her work to me and a guest
Guests writing feedback forms for students
Feedback forms from guests
The student showcase was a success. Students had an opportunity to share something personally meaningful with classmates and guests. The guests also got to see maker education in action. I hope that the apprentice teachers who came and my cooperating teacher were inspired to bring making into their own classrooms after seeing how excited students were about this project.
Student Reflections
After reading all of the feedback forms they received from their classmates and guests, students completed an online reflection form. The students' responses can be found below.
Reflection
This was my first time implementing a maker lesson, and I think that it went well. The general feedback that I received from students was that they enjoyed the lesson, and they would like to do more activities like it. A few students consistently came to school early to work on their artifacts. However, there were a couple of students who seemed like they were not as interested in the lesson. One of them refused to keep working after a certain point because he thought that his artifact was decorated enough. I tried encouraging him to adopt a growth mindset and keep improving his design, but he pushed back. I need to think of how I can encourage students to continue to work.
The students were so focused on decorating their artifacts that I didn't have enough time to let them use a Makey Makey in their artifacts. I asked them to come before school or after school to add onto their projects, but only two of them came. When I asked the other 17 students why they didn't show up, some said that they couldn't because they had work, and others said that they didn't have rides. I thought that if I provided the Makey Makeys, all of my students would have access to it, but I was wrong. By implementing a portion of my lesson outside of normal school hours, I prevented a majority of my students from participating. This showed me that I need to be mindful of what students lives outside of the classroom are like. The next time I need to have my students come in before or after school, I will make sure that I will give them the resources to be able to come, whether that is providing bus money or being flexible with my schedule to fit theirs.
I originally wanted all of my students to tell a story about a change that happened in their own lives. However, after spending four months with my students, I knew that there were I some students who preferred not to talk about themselves. After giving my students the option to choose between the two types of stories, all of them chose to talk about their favorite characters except for two students. To be honest, I never would have thought that those two would be willing to talk about themselves. I learned through one student's project that she had a rough time dealing with the death of her grandmother, which caused her attitude about life to become negative. She said that she was trying to get better. I learned more about this student than I ever did in the four months prior to this lesson.
The other student who chose to talk about her life explained that she became pregnant at 14, got cheated on by the father of her baby, and went through the pregnancy alone. She said that she is now happily providing for her 10-month-old son. She even took her explanation a step further and said that if she extended her concave up parabola, it would show her graduating from high school and going to college to become a pediatrician.
According to her reflection, this maker lesson provided a platform for her to share something personally meaningful. It allowed her voice and her life story to be heard without people making negative comments. It was incredibly brave of her to share an intimate part of her life with her classmates and to the guests who were strangers to her. Receiving feedback about how people were so proud of her, instilled confidence in her. I asked her if she would be willing to try making again, and she said yes.
Although this lesson required a lot of time to plan and implement, I would do this again. It showed students that math and creativity do not have to be separated. It allowed students to practice skills important in life, such as planning, writing, and public speaking. It also benefited my cooperating teacher and the guests who came to the student showcase because they had the opportunity to see maker education in action. My cooperating teacher told me that she planned on having her students present more because she saw how beneficial it was to students' understanding of the mathematical content.
Revisions
There are some changes that I made to my lesson during implementation and changes I would make before implementing it again.
1. Online Submissions
I planned to have my students write down on paper their stories, but I was asked by the inclusion teacher to do an online assignment instead. She said it was because it would be easier and faster for students to type their stories instead of writing by hand. This worked well because I think that I wouldn't have been able to read some students' handwritings.
2. Growth Mindset
I expected my students to know about growth mindset since there are posters around the school explaining and promoting it. However, I found that many of them did not know what it was. There was a student who stopped working after he thought his artifact was good enough. I think that he did not want to struggle if he didn't have to. If he knew what growth mindset was, he would have been more motivated to improve his product, even if he thought it was good enough.
The next time that I implement this lesson, I would start by showing them a video about what growth mindset is.
3. Makey Makey
Only two students had the opportunity to include a Makey Makey in their artifacts. I think that if my students had one more day to work, all students would have been able to use a Makey Makey. The next time that I do this, I will extend my lesson by a day.
4. Silhouette Cameo
The reasons why I could not introduce the Silhouette Cameo to my students was because we ran out of time and I could not download the software onto the students' Chromebooks. The next time that I implement this lesson, I will make sure that I bring laptops that can download the software.
5. Rubric
The rubric that I created only listed 3 rating scales, which meant that students could earn a 0,1, or 2 for each criterion. The expectations were too high for some criteria, including the criterion about students' descriptions of their parabolas. The rubric that I had gave students no points for students whose descriptions of their parabola was less than 80% accurate. This didn't seem fair because they should at least get some credit for showing up to class and trying. I modified the rubric so that there were 4 rating scales and change the description of this criterion.
Student's project talking about a change that happened in her life
Student's feedback about her experience making
Original criterion description
New criterion description
I also modified my expectations about providing feedback to classmates during the student showcase. I replaced the photo release form criterion with a criterion about the final reflection.
Resources for Making in the Classroom
Making can require a lot of money, and it can be even more expensive when you try to bring making into the classroom. It is difficult to have enough tools and resources for every student. Although it would be nice if every teacher interested in maker education could have access to high-tech equipment such as a laser cutter or a 3D printer, it is not realistic.
The following are resources that I think would be useful for people who are starting out as maker educators.
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Scratch is a block-based visual programming language. I like this because it is free and easy to use, even for kids. Since all of the blocks that you will need are already on the screen, it eliminates the need to memorize anything.
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Makey Makey Classics are the tools that my students used to make their artifacts play sounds. Students can make their own digital projects on Scratch and interact with them using Makey Makeys. Just in my lesson, Makey Makeys were used to talk about conductivity, narrative arcs, and coding.