DreamBox Learning®» differentiated instruction

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Thinking "Beyond One Right Answer"

Lisa W — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:26:34 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. For me, one of the most difficult aspects in teaching math is how to reach all students. There are the perennial dilemmas: Do you keep advancing through the curriculum so that all of the learning objectives are ‘covered,’ but not necessarily mastered? Or do you stop and reteach until everyone understands and masters the content? (And at what point do you eventually have to keep going?) As I’m teaching new concepts, there are students who are not ready for it, but eventually we have to move on to ensure that I teach to all the standards. And I know there are students who, during whole group instruction, half-heartedly attempt problems, preferring to stall until one of their classmates volunteer the answer. This could be because they are not comfortable with the math or because they simply don’t see the point—“Let someone else come up with the right answer!” During a math cohort meeting, the instructor asked us to read “Beyond One Right Answer” by Marian Small (Educational Leadership, September 2010). In the article, she describes two techniques that allow teachers to open math discussions to all students. Open Questions Small defines open questions as “…a single question that is broad enough to meet the needs of a wide range of students while still engaging each one in meaningful mathematics.” By asking questions that are open, students can answer at their level, allowing math to be assessable to everyone in the classroom. For example, you could write the number 65 on the board and ask students to write equations that equal 65. You may have some students responding with 64 + 1 or 25 + 25 +15 or 1065 -1000 or 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5. This ambiguous question allows choice and gives everyone a way to participate no matter their math ability. Parallel Tasks Another strategy to use would be parallel tasks, where everyone is focused on the same big idea but at various levels of difficulty. To do this, allow students to choose between two problems. Both problems would incorporate the same skill or concept, the only difference between the two would be the number values. One problem might have students working with three digit numbers, while the other only has one digit numbers. At the end of the task you can ask all of the students the same questions concerning mental math strategies and operations. Regardless of which problem they chose, they would still be able to participate in the discussion. By differentiating for all learners in my classroom, I’m allowing everyone to process new math concepts at their level and still enter into math discussions for deeper understanding. What are some ways you differentiate in your math classroom? We’d love to hear about them.

Models of Intervention in Mathematics: Reweaving the Tapestry

Jessie W — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:07:48 +0000

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has recently published a book edited by our Lead Academic Advisor, Dr. Catherine Twomey Fosnot. The book, “Models of Intervention in Mathematics: Reweaving the Tapestry,” approaches intervention with the belief that “it is not the children who fail. As Marie Clay once said, ‘If children are unable to learn, we should assume that we have not yet found the right way to teach them’” (p. vii). Dr. Fosnot, with the help of many colleagues, offers a new vision for intervention models. Some of the questions explored in this book include:

How is success in mathematics defined?
How is success in mathematics assessed?
What teaching practices support students in becoming mathematical thinkers?
How does curriculum support students in becoming mathematical thinkers?
How can technology support students in becoming mathematical thinkers?

These questions are explored in eleven chapters authored by leaders in elementary mathematics who reference current research and offer thoughtful case studies to provoke the reader to consider a new vision of intervention. Two of our very own DreamBox teachers, Mickelle and Becca, co-authored a chapter titled, “Differentiating through Computer Environments.” They explored how technology can be used to offer adaptive, personalized online learning for students. Case studies of students learning with DreamBox are used throughout the chapter as a powerful illustration. The book is complete with a Facilitator’s Guide including discussion questions for each chapter, which offer opportunities for reflection whether reading it alone or as part of a book study. Interested in learning more? Read an excerpt from the book, or visit NCTM’s online store to purchase. Already read the book? We’d love to know what you think – just leave us a comment below!

How Can I Possibly Differentiate In Math?

Neal M — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:11:13 +0000

Anyone involved in education these days has surely heard the term Differentiated Instruction. Used in many ways, differentiated instruction is a proactive teaching method that centers around each student as a unique learner. Simply put, every child arriving in my classroom shows up with differing skills and interests. It is paramount to use varying strategies and materials to meet these varying needs. However, as any teacher knows, it is a Herculean task to develop a unique curriculum for each student. We are left with finding ways to adjust our existing lessons to appeal to our kinesthetic students who learn by building, or our musical students who will thrive if we can set our material to a beat, or a tune. In mathematics, differentiating instruction is especially difficult. How do we teach multiplication when seven students mastered it last year and five students still need work in basic addition? We ask ourselves, how can we, as teachers, possibly differentiate math and reach all our students? It is here that DreamBox Learning fills a glaring need in today's classroom. DreamBox accurately places students in a fluid curriculum right at one's instructional level. When students use DreamBox, a student can work on a 1st grade counting lesson while sitting next to a classmate working on 3rd grade place value. If a first grade teacher has a group of students ahead of their classmates, DreamBox will accurately place them in more challenging and engaging material. It is this placement on a unique learning path for each student that makes DreamBox such an outstanding addition in today's classroom. So, as summer break winds down and we head back to set up classrooms and welcome a new group of students, take comfort in knowing DreamBox Learning can and will differentiate math instruction and provide your students with a truly individualized learning experience.

Sarah Daniels on Why DreamBox is Used in so Many Classrooms

Sue — Fri, 14 May 2010 19:56:49 +0000

Sarah Daniels, DreamBox Learning’s VP of Marketing, spoke at this week’s NewSchools Summit 2010. This annual event is sponsored by the NewSchools Venture Fund, the highly respected education-focused venture philanthropy firm of the same name. Here’s a brief video from a hallway conversation at the conference, with Sarah talking about why DreamBox is being used to help provide differentiated instruction in classrooms all around the country.

Support Teachers by Supporting Technology Funding in Schools

Sue — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:03:14 +0000

Every spring school boards across the country must make tough financial decisions for their districts. The majority of school budgets are personnel, so when budgets are cut that usually means cutting staff. With more students in the classroom and less support staff for remediation or enrichment, educational technology can be an important and effective tool for classroom teachers. Technology has the ability to give each student differentiated instruction and practice that meets their needs, and allows teachers to track students’ progress and recognize their needs. Join us in support of Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program, proposed to be eliminated in the federal budget for FY2011. Find out more and write to your representatives today. Investing in educational technology is good for our schools, our students, and our teachers.

Confessions of a DreamBox Teacher/Parent

Laura — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:48:07 +0000

I am a DreamBox teacher as well as the parent of a pre-schooler. I must confess there are times I have a hard time not helping him play DreamBox. He really enjoys playing and he is learning a lot. But there are times when the games are challenging for him. The parent in me hates to hear my son frustrated or struggling. But I know it is good for him to learn to persevere and work through difficulties in order to learn. I feel like the “baby whisperer” but instead of trying to decipher the meaning of my child’s cries, I am deciphering his reactions to DreamBox. I am becoming a “DreamBox whisperer”! By helping my son through problems that may be challenging for him, I am not allowing the program to work as designed. The GuideRight™ technology adapts the lessons depending on the students responses to each problem. Even helping with a few questions could quickly put him in lessons that are over his head.

Learning Math the DreamBox Way

So, how do I avoid helping too much? I’ve set him up to be as independent as possible. When he wants to play DreamBox, he clicks the icon on the desktop and he signs in to his account. I sit in a chair close enough to see the screen but not close enough to touch the computer. I always have either a book or the newspaper to read. This helps set the tone for independence. And then I listen. I listen for what games he is choosing. I listen for whether he is getting answers correct or incorrect. I listen for his reactions. I try not to react the first time he says something. But I do take note of what he says, what lesson he is working on and where he is at in the lesson. If he is at the beginning of a lesson, he often just needs help understanding the directions. This is where the Help Button is useful. My son loves reminder rhymes, so we came up with “Clicking twice is nice.” When he asks for help, I remind him that “Clicking twice is nice” and he checks the help before asking me. This has also helped me to not just jump in but to let DreamBox do its job. If he continues to complain about something, I start to evaluate what is going on. I’ve had a couple AHA moments. One is that there are a multitude of reasons for him to whine or complain while playing DreamBox and many have nothing to do with the program! He often likes to play when we get home at the end of a long day. At first this seemed great; he can play while I make dinner. But nope! I’ve found he is tired, hungry and cranky. He has also asked to play first thing in the morning. Again, this seemed like a good time to play. But nope! He is not a morning person. He wakes up hungry and cranky. I’ve found the best time for him to play is right after lunch or dinner. Because he is a preschooler, there are times when he gets a lesson that challenges him. He doesn’t like to be wrong and often grumbles when he gets something incorrect. If I continue to hear grumblings on a particular game, I talk to him about what is frustrating him. Sometimes he just needs me to restate the directions. Other times I need to encourage him to take a break from the lesson map and try some of the carnival games. And yes, sometimes I realize he’s four and I’ve let him play WAY too long and he needs to log off the computer!

Why Can't You Buy a DreamBox Learning CD?

Sue — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:10:38 +0000

Recently, a friend of a friend who had reviewed our offering wrote to me and said, "Overall I find the business model of a monthly charge very strange for a children's learning software. Usually one buys a book or a CD/DVD for a one time price and can use it indefinitely. DreamBox's offering basically means that now parents need to pay over and over again if their kids want to revisit lessons or if they are just slow learners. A more appropriate pricing model would be to sell the service per lesson or grade level. That would appeal a lot more to me. Think about it. I have to spend $100 for one year of service and after that I basically lose access to the learning tools unless I continue paying. For $100 each year I get many learning software on CD/DVDs or books and I can keep them forever. That is a very easy decision in my mind."

His comments highlight one of our big challenges at DreamBox communicating how different DreamBox is from other products people are familiar with and this seems like a good forum to discuss it! Because we offer a web service instead of a CD or software that downloads to your desktop, DreamBox is able to customize every aspect of the experience to your child’s specific actions in the game and learning needs.

A Math Game that Adapts Dynamically

A CD starts every child at the same point, and they all work through the same lessons in the same sequence, progressing to the next level if they’ve passed them all some children will be successful with this model while others will quickly become either overwhelmed or bored. By contrast, DreamBox places children in the curriculum so they skip the material they already know, begins them where they’re ready to learn, and constantly adjusts everything from the hints and instructional feedback, the pacing and sequence, level of difficulty and more. So each child is always challenged at just the right level, it holds their interest and they can go much further. Furthermore, learning doesn’t happen in a linear way, and kids really benefit from the opportunity to explore and learn with more self-directed freedom than the typical school curriculum allows. So kids may be in several different parts of the curriculum concurrently and in fact most kids will be learning material from more than 1 grade at any given time. They may be ahead in number sense but still practicing in the computation area of the curriculum. And parents can see this as they follow what their children are learning in the parent dashboard and through the progress report emails that we send. So it really is highly individualized learning our customers are buying, a service, not simply a static set of lessons or a piece of software!

An Inauguration of a Different Sort

Lou — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:23:01 +0000

Dear Mr. President, A week ago you stood in front of the nation and spoke the following words: “That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood . . . our schools fail too many . . . [But] we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.” We at DreamBox Learning welcome your words. In fact, DreamBox Learning exists to be a key agent of transformative change in education, such that every student enjoys an individually-tailored, world class learning experience. We are doing our part by providing a web-based curriculum that is incredibly effective, fun, and highly individualized to a student’s particular learning needs. Our product will first be offered in the homes of some students, later in the schools for all students. In order to achieve that latter goal, we need your help. By ensuring that every student has access to a quality computer, thick broadband connectivity, a teacher that is trained to use technology, and a school system that embraces the power of software both in spirit and in budget, we are certain a difference can be made. In short Mr. President, if you provide the infrastructure and access, we will do our level best to bring innovation and entrepreneurship to meet the “demands of the new age.” Mr. President, you also stated: “In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom." Again, those words resonated for the DreamBox team. Today we celebrate the inaugural launch of our first product – DreamBox Learning K-2 Math. After three demanding and determined years, we stand ready to take our first step, not our last, in delivering on our promise so that children can take hold of theirs. We were humbled by the challenge but no less deterred. It was a simple recognition that someone had to; why not us? But as the hard charging and willful team here knows, any far-reaching goal needs to be grounded in bare-knuckled execution and a united ethos. We hope that these are the hallmarks of yours and our journey to success. Lou Gray CEO, DreamBox Learning, Inc.

Individualized?! That’s what they all say!

Lou — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:41:53 +0000

I was at conference recently discussing DreamBox with a pretty savvy industry insider when she asked “what makes your product so unique?” My response was “It’s incredibly effective, fun, and highly individualized to a child’s particular learning needs.” That’s when she said it. “Individualized?! That’s what they all say!” You can’t really blame her. Lots of companies (past and present) state that they offer individualized instruction through adaptations. But it’s not entirely clear that they are offering individualization in the most rigorous interpretation of the word. Put another way, the concept of individualization encompasses a lot of territory, from the slightest customization to a highly personalized experience. Add to this the fact that individualization is a hard thing to see and experience firsthand (especially with a single student playing), and you can understand her perspective.

Individualized Math Learning Paths

When most eLearning companies claim individualization, what they usually mean is that they have fixed lesson pathways, simple “right or wrong” scoring of answers, basic audio/visual hints, and preset questions. In the end, however, it’s all very linear and predetermined much like an interstate highway. When we talk about individualization, it means we dynamically adapt lessons, hints, difficulty, lesson pathways, pace, motivational elements, and more. That means our product is non-linear and flexible much like, say, space travel. Here’s another easy way to visualize all of this – it’s an example of how we handle lesson pathways (aka “sequencing”) for students:

Lesson Pathways: DreamBox vs. Competition

As you can see, most companies merely advance a student to the next lesson group whether they struggled or got there with ease. This generally means that all children advance the same way and usually in the same manner. DreamBox, on the other hand, provides many ways to traverse the lessons including offering the student a range of choices within a particular lesson group (i.e., you’ll note all the #3 choices). Why are we able to do so much? The simple answer is that our team understands and is able to harness the full sophistication and complexity of the Web -- such that we can analyze everything from clickstreams to session information. This means we have more tools at our disposal, which in turn allows us to take a more refined approach to adaptations. When you couple this with our intense desire to test what we’ve built again and again, it means that we can deliver a truly individualized experience, which is at the heart of effective learning.

Edu-tainment as You Know It Is Dead

Lou — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:31:06 +0000

Edu-tainment was initially envisioned to be the perfect hybrid between education and entertainment. In the abstract, the idea that educational software could be equally effective and engaging remains a good one. Most edu-tainment companies, however, got the mixture wrong and thus never fully realized this promise. This is because of the natural tension / difficulty that exists in trying to serve both parts of the hybrid well. The products that rarely caught on were hardly entertaining and somewhat educational. The ones that got traction were decently entertaining but barely educational. Initially, parents felt good about the edu-speak they were hearing and seeing in an entertaining product. But as time went on, parents got wise to the fact that these same products had defaulted to a basic model of practice-based lessons, rather than differentiating themselves with real instruction that leads to effective learning. Consequently, parents and children didn’t know what to make of edu-tainment software, so they started to lump it together with pure entertainment software, to which edu-tainment didn’t hold a candle.

Edu-tainment is Subsumed into Entertainment

Caught in the sloppy middle, edu-tainment companies either died or began to refocus their efforts toward more entertainment and even less education (if at all) under the theory that twitchy eye candy makes for an easier attractant. One only has to look at recent strategic shifts in products and corresponding messaging from the likes of JumpStart World to see this. This means that edu-tainment, like analog, is dead, but not before leaving behind a noisy marketplace full of confusion, an underserved generation of customers, and misleading promises (e.g., please don’t get me started on how the words “individualized” and “adapted” have been debased!).

Individualized eLearning is Born

It has also left a white space of opportunity. In addition to timing (for more on this, please see my blog on “DreamBox: eLearning Comes Home"), the promising news is that the current, web-savvier generation of parents still wants effective educational products that are engaging. Thankfully, they are also starting to see the beginnings of a better-segmented marketplace on the web, the results of which I believe are starting to shakeout as follows.

Market Shakeout of Edu-tainment and Individualized eLearning

If correct,

Edu-tainment will be engulfed by Web-based Entertainment;
eLearning will be replaced with the more potent Individualized eLearning;
Virtual Schools will grow to serve students that otherwise lack access;
eTutoring will dwindle over time as Individualized eLearning and Virtual Schools render them unnecessary;
eTextbooks will creep forward incrementally as the digital textbook counterpart to the entrenched paper version of itself.