Writing to Learn - Lesson Launch

I am still working to find what works for our freshmen in Math I as many of them are still struggling with how to learn math.  For our unit on Exponential Functions, I decided to start their introduction with a self-guided, on-line lesson.  I had students work individually to complete their lesson.  They were provided with flow-charts and info-graphics to fill in as they progressed through the lesson.

The following day in class, I had the students do a free-write to tell me what they felt were the most important "take-aways" from their on-line lesson.  I gave them about 10 minutes and allowed them to use their notes to guide them in their writing.  I did not give them any guidelines as far as length or structures.  I simply asked them to tell me what they knew.

I used what they had written as a launch for our lesson.  I asked each table to pick out what they felt was the most important information from their free-writes and we formed, as a class, a "Need to Know" page about Exponential Functions before we began our exploration.  I found that the class discussion that day was much easier.  Some of my quieter students were more eager to participate.  We were able to use some of the information in their individual notes as talking points for our exploration activity.  I felt that class that day started with a big topic and seemed to narrow as they asked more and more questions.  It seemed students had the opportunity to build on their own understanding rather than on a set of introductory notes or a foldable that we complete together.

From a grading standpoint, I picked out a list of about 5-6 key terms from their on-line lesson and looked to see if each student had at least 4 of them present in their explanation.  As a math teacher, I was not super-excited about grading a writing assignment, but I think that ignoring grammar (as was suggested in our PD) and looking for key terms/content made grading much easier. It was very easy to tell who actually completed the lesson versus who just clicked through the slides and videos. I could also see patterns of misconceptions students had.  Some students wrote from the lesson verbatim while others translated into their own words which, of course, demonstrates a greater understanding.  I think this allowed for me to get a better glimpse into how each student processes even the notes in class...I'm just not sure what to do with that, so I definitely still have some work to do!   We take our test on this unit tomorrow and I am extremely anxious to see if this strategy made a difference!