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In Modern US when we were learning about various economic policies, students worked with a variety of sources of information (data, primary sources, secondary sources, etc.) to look at the problems (economic, social, etc.) the US was facing at various points in time. Students were expected to navigate the sources to identify the "problems" and subsequently identify the "solutions" that various administrations implemented to address them. As a closing task, students were required to use the evidence they found to complete a claim-evidence-reasoning task about the extent to which the policies implemented were successful. I think it represents productive struggle because it was at a level where students could engage with the resources independently to gather problems and solutions, but the final CER task didn't have any clear "answer" which meant students had to think critically to develop their response.

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Difficult balance for sure....

Simplifying Expressions

Find the like terms flash cards....

Variable? No variable? Positive or negative Integer...

Combining this scaffold while

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Productive Struggle in English Language Development 2

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Productive Struggle in English Language Development 2

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Students participated in a sentence sort where they needed to identify the incorrect sentences and their use of comparative/superlative adjectives.  There were envelopes with 5 to 6 sentences.  Students then needed to work together to rewrite the sentence correctly.  The students face ambiguity in not knowing whether there were one or two incorrect sentences in each envelope.  So they couldn’t stop after they found one.   This uncertainty requires them to carefully analyze and evaluate each sentence to identify potential errors.  Students engaged in a productive struggle asking each to analyze the structure, grammar, and semantics of each sentence. Students must apply their knowledge of language rules and conventions to identify errors.  The students collaborate with a partner or two and work together to discuss and analyze each sentence, share their insights, and collectively decide on the corrections.  The struggle to identify and correct sentences required persistence and resilience. Students encountered challenges, made revisions, and learned from their mistakes, fostering a growth mindset as they recognize that learning often involves overcoming difficulties.

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Students recently productively struggled through stations with various scripts and vocabulary. Stations was a great way of getting students up and out of their seats and forced to work together. It made it easier to monitor and it allowed a natural way of students helping students since they were in the same physical space. I had a timer on the board to give some urgency and students felt more likely to try even while struggling because they were in small teams and not everyone could see/hear them struggle.

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Students were grouped up. Each group had a poster paper with a quote/excerpt from the novel. Each student in the group wrote an individual response to the quote. Responses could make meaning of the quote, make connections, examine character development, or analyze language. Posters were passed around the room. Students wrote replies to each other's responses to add insight, challenge, or make connections. 4-5 rounds.

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In English, students often really struggle with giving each other constructive feedback when we do peer reviews. So I created questions to consider within each success criteria. This way they feel more confident using the topics and success criteria when they “grade” their classmates, but then can also get specific when providing feedback.

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I have struggled to find a balance between having students struggle and getting them to experience success to increase their motivation. I have made progress in getting students to refer to notes and other resources when they are stuck, but this seems to only work with students who have figured out how they can be successful in school. I am also wondering if I need to change the framing of productive struggle tasks in a way that allows students to check or compare their answers to know if they need to struggle further.

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The Pastel project was designed to establish a foundation of skill sets to learn basic color layering and mixing techniques. I was excited to observe the buildup of confidence and execution of student ideas through the use of skills building exercises. I planned the material content in hopes that over the course of the project, students would mature in their cognitive abilities because each new process required more responsibility from them. By doing this, I witnessed students succeed by taking on more abstract thinking, creative problem solving, which lead to an increased focus and independent work ethic.

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Students are currently working on their essays over the novel "Things Fall Apart". There are students in many different areas of progress based on their understanding of the book or how much they've read of the book. With students struggling to start their essay, I asked them what they do know and what they're confident about relating to the book's content. From there, we worked backwards and started with the answer to the essay prompt. They filled in what they knew first, so they weren't stumped on the layout of the essay starting with the introduction. (Sarah Ha)

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In English 1, students have been struggling with expanding reasoning and gathering relevant evidence. We created an exemplar paragraph sort and had students' work in pairs to put the paragraph back together sentence by sentence requiring them to evaluate the relationship of the pieces of evidence to theme statement, to each other, and to the reasoning. As they worked together, the productively struggled through analyzing which pieces of reasoning belonged with each piece of evidence. I saw many light bulb moments as I checked in on pairs.

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In English I, students have been working to read our class novel and study emerging themes. We are introducing new concepts around language and narrative techniques as we go. Students read an essay that was example of a specific text structure and worked with groups to determine how that structure helped us learn critical details about characters. Then, students read the class novel and examined a part of the text where that specific structure appears, with the end goal of evaluating how that author’s use of structure contributed to the meaning.

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Target is to find meaning of words based on context and show thinking behind their answers. Groups did sorting/matching activity. They paid ‘price’ to get a clue or have choices narrowed down by telling me their thought process of how the determined the meaning of one of their answers. I would say ‘yes’ or ‘explain more’ when they shared thinking. Resisted urge to ask specific questions to get them in right track.

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Generally speaking, there seems to be lots of struggle time in Math, it just isn't always productive. When we can get students to start talking about their strategies, ideas, their understandings or questions about the task, they are far more productive than when they choose to not talk. Particularly on the days where they disagree and end up debating what the solution is or how to get to the solution.

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I have noticed that students are able to process specific texts and answer key questions with close reading strategies. However, when students are given a task they need to struggle with to figure out, I also work to resist the urge to "save" them. I work to give prompting questions or an additional scaffold to help get them through it.

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Students participated in "Hot Laps" each week this semester. We do this activity in class to improve the student's cardiovascular endurance. We run for a designated amount of time around the pool. Each student challenges themselves to run the entire time or not to let me catch them. This is a physical challenge as well as a mental challenge. It has been fun seeing the improvement within the class over the semester. I am excited to see the growth in the classes' pacer scores before break. Lisa Klein

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I have noticed that although students will comply and take notes, they are not great at actually using them. Today, we worked on white boards. I put up a question and helped guide them to where in their notes they could find information to help them answer the questions. Students were working together to decipher the notes and work to draw Lewis Dot structures. Students were not just copying from one another, but actually asking each other why they drew the structures they way they did. They also had really great discussions when they came up with different answers and were trying to determine who was correct. Pratt

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I recently did a listening activity with my Heritage students that was definitely more of an "AP level" than they are used to. There was new vocabulary, background noises, and the length of the audio was longer than they have had in the past. Allowing them access to the recording gave them the opportunity to pause and reflect where necessary, and they were also able to listen to the audio as many times as they wanted. Students had access to the questions beforehand and were prompted to pre-read the questions so that they know what to listen for during the audio. The questions were out of order, but for students who were struggling a little more than others, I made the questions available in chronological order as well.

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Teaching up to 8 math classes at the same time with all students working on different topics, I have had to learn how to give each student enough help for them to be successful in their learning while still being able to meet with each student, multiple times every block. Students are able to choose the lessons they want to work on. I can print the lessons and students have to find something on the page that they can teach me. This gives them the opportunity to connect with previous learning. When they meet with me, they teach me what they know, then I give them some hints on how to connect to the rest of the learning. I have them go to their desk and work through a task I give them while I meet with other students. I rotate through each student every 5-10 minutes making sure they are productively learning through their lessons.

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Productive Struggle in Learning Transitions

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Productive Struggle in Learning Transitions

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Students engaged in a comparison activity where they read two texts and wrote a paragraph about how education changed the lives of the people in the stories. They had to pull out evidence/details to support their claim of how education can change lives. Some students struggled with structuring their paragraph, some struggled with finding supporting evidence. However, all students worked towards making a claim and explaining their thinking despite the challenging, multi-step analysis task. -Kristyn Osborne

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I recently observed Ms. Eilers facilitating a student reflection on an artwork that led the student to reflect “I don’t like this work. It’s frustrating to look at because I know I can do better.” LE artfully asked low risk questions that brought the student to reflect on a meaningful experience that she would rather represent in her artwork. It was awesome to see a Lauren guide the student through open ended questioning to self-reflection.

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Productive Struggle in Learning Transitions

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Productive Struggle in Learning Transitions

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Students complete sets of math problems separated by categories. The categories increase in difficulty as students. Students start by computing integers. Once students complete the computing integers problems they move on to combining like terms. When students finish the combining like terms, they move on to problems related to the distributive property. Students are encouraged to look at the previous sets of problems to help them solve the current set they are working on. Students are provided number lines/multiplication charts if needed, but initially attempt problems without supports.

Joe Muldoon

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With assignment timelines, deadlines being unconventional in the lab, and students coming in with varying skill levels and topics completed, it's an odd dance to balance productive struggle with scaffolding. Meaning, am I scaffolding for what students need and can do, am I allowing them enough time to grapple with the content, or am I just rescuing them based on assumptions (of working with them in the past or seeing their topic scores). More specifically, I look at students working on their research papers, and I've gone from one way of forcing them to write the paragraphs to a 3 option approach. Allowing them to choose gives me the ability to see where their comfort and skill level lies, so that when they do disengage or ask for help, I know if it's because I need to help them through productive struggle, or true issues with the content or process. It's something I've been adjusting for several semesters, and I'm still not perfectly happy with it, but helping kids find their niche first allows me to help them struggle a bit more (as ironic and unhelpful as that would sound to someone outside of education, haha).

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We are writing our culminating task character analysis right now and the students were given a large-paper outline. With short and sweet instruction and a boost of confidence from me, they started to fill it out with their own thesis statements and body paragraph claims with evidence. They had to brainstorm on their own and then with a partner to make sure they wrote their thesis statement correctly and that the rest of their essay would follow that pattern. It was cool to see them productively struggle and also lean on each other rather than me to move forward.

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I enjoy card sorts when the students are able to make connection between graphs, tables, equations and situations. This allows the students to make connections without a pre-scripted procedure. When done in small groups, the students might approach things differently than others. Lucht

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I think productive struggle is most evident in the brainstorming and sketching portion of the creative process. For years I saw students who struggled through ideation and refining of brainstorm ideas. I would get varying levels of effort and time. I created a scaffold last year that organized this process. Students start with a written brainstorm, then move to thumbnail sketches, and final pick one design to refine into a final sketch. Now all students are given the opportunity of working through the entire process independently. -Hannah B.