REFLECTION ZONE: Possible New Math Materials



With the change to Common Core Standards approaching, our district is looking at new math materials that are aligned with these standards.  Today the math department at the middle school attended a presentation of CPM math materials.  CPM stands for College Preparatory Mathematics, and it is a problem based textbook.  The math problems are to be solved in groups where each student takes on a specific role.  I thought there were many positives to this program.   The problems are all connected to their real lives, so it answers the question, "When are we going to use this?"  The problems require deeper thinking and application.  Students are encouraged to solve the problems in more than just one way.  Students learn the skills of how to work in a group as a team to solve problems.  I am interested in learning more about this way of teaching students mathematics. 

REFLECTION ZONE: Possible New Math Materials Aligned with Common Core

Last week I attended a meeting for all middle school math teachers and special ed teachers as we took a closer look at a possible math program for next year.  The program was called digits.  It is aligned with the new Common Core Math Standards as one of the writers of the standards helped create this program.  It is an interactive math program.  I liked that it had great visuals to help teach students concepts.  It was created with the Understanding by Design thinking in mind as well.  Each lesson there is an essential question that the students are presented, and by the end of the lesson students are held accountable to answer that question in writing.  I like that part of the exit ticket for the day has the students write and explain what they know.  It is within their writing where I can determine if each student understands the topic.  One piece that was new with this program was that students are encouraged to complete their daily work online.  A positive would be that we would not use classtime to evaluate the work as the computer would record how many questions each student answered correctly.  All of these questions are multiple choice or fill in the number.  I do wonder about students (and parents) making this transition.  I would predict that this would be a huge learning curve as this would be very new to many.  I worry about students logging on to a computer, trouble shooting technology, AND trying to get homework done.  There could be some struggles as well as some valid excuses for not being able to complete the work. Also, not all our students have internet access, or the necessary access for this program. Another positive was that the work could be differentiated for each student.  Some could have deeper level thinking problems that call for application or synthesizing while others could be working on the exact same concept, but at a more basic level.  The program also includes interventions if a student is having difficulty with any of the topics.  While there could be a lot of curveballs to starting a math program like this, and there would be a great deal of time and energy needed to explore and implement something so new, I am still interested in trying digits. I will be interested to see what our district decides. 

REFLECTION ZONE: Differentiation

Differentiation

Learning that fits "Just Right!"



Since all students are at varying levels, learn differently, and at different rates, differentiated instruction provides ways for all students to learn regardless of their differing abilities.  I agree with the other posts, that differentiated instruction aims to meet the needs of all learners.  I think of Goldilocks, when I think of differentiated instruction.  Some concepts might be too big, or too small, but differentiated instruction makes learning "just right."
At our school we have three levels of math classes - accelerated, math, and team taught.  Within each of these classes I try to provide accommodations for students who need them.  The best explanation of an accommodation is the following.  Your goal is to have a student change a light bulb.  Some students are shorter than others and may need a ladder to accomplish the task.  accommodations are the ladders.  Some examples would be allowing students to use a multiplication table, a prime numbers chart, the factor mobiles, or their notes in order to accomplish the same task as everyone else.  Different classes work on the same concepts, but work on different problems, or different depth of knowledge problems.
The interventions we use are differentiated.  Rocket math allows students to progress at their own speed.  Compass software assigns students their own learning path.  This is determined based on their weaker areas identified by the MAPS test.  The program is tailored to meet the needs of each learner.  On the other spectrum, strong math students have the opportunities to participate in math meets that we host twice a year or the Math Masters competition. 
I know I could differentiate more.  I found it very interesting and helpful to read everyone's posts to see how each person does this in his/her own class.



REFLECTION ZONE: Unpacking the Common Core Standards

Unpacking the Common Core Standards



This past Friday I had the opportunity to attend an Unpacking the Common Core Math Standards workshop at CESA 11 in Turtle Lake, WI.  Each grade level took time to read the standards we will be expected to have our students master once the standards are implemented by 2014.  We also read the standards that were assigned to the grade level below and above the grade we teach.  Most of what 6th grade teachers will be responsible for is similar to what we already do with a few exceptions. It appears that we will be expected to go deeper into subjects instead of teaching more topics.  It is also expected students will come to us mastering skills needed to begin where we are suppose to.   There might be more pre-teaching in order to have students ready to learn the expected material.  I wonder if we will continue to have varying levels of math if all students in a certain grade are expected to master the exact same concepts and skills.  Currently we have a team-taught math for special ed and struggling learners, regular math classes, and accelerated math classes.  It will be interesting if the students with these varying degrees of math skills will all be in the same classes. 

We also spent a great deal of time writing the standards in student-friendly "I can" statements.  These will be posted as learning targets in our room to help students structure their thinking, know the expectations ahead of time, and see a reminder of where they have been.  While this seemed to be a time consuming activity, it was fairly easy to do since we as teachers already use student language while teaching. 

At times I feel like a lot will change, but when I look closer at it, I feel like we already have some of the work done.  I'm sure adopting the common core standards will change our specific standards, our materials, and even how we teach some of the topics.  I need to be ready to make the change whole-heartedly. 

REFLECTION ZONE: Common Core Standards - Osceola

I too along with Tony and Rick attended the Common Core Workshop at transition in Turtle Lake last year for middle and high school math teachers.  I received a binder that outlines what each grade level math teacher will "own" as their responsibility for their students to master. There are topics I currently teach that are not included in 6th grade of common core, so I will need to remove them.  I also believe there is some checking for understanding that will need to be completed or topics taught or retaught in order to begin teaching the concepts we are responsible for kids to master in 6th grade.
I am concerned about how this will be implemented.  It sounds like all grades will just say 1,2,3 jump, and everyone will start fresh with the Common Core standards.  It is my thinking that some topics will be lost for some kids with that kind of transition.  It would take much longer to start at Kindergarten the first year, and then K and 1st the second year, and so on,  but I'm just worried about all starting the same time. Maybe I just need to have more faith in the people who created the standards.  :)



REFLECTION ZONE: Single Gender Classrooms

This past Thursday I attended an after school section on single gender classrooms.  Our guidance teacher and 7th grade English teacher recently attended and presented at an educational conference in Florida.  Currently at our middle school, both 6th and 7th grade English students can choose to participate in an all boys, all girls, or mixed English class. After they came back they wanted to share some of their findings and new learnings.  Their main point was that teaching the male brain is different than the female brain.  Females need to help to focus on persistence when problem solving and boys need to focus on getting started.  It was recommended to bold or darken the first word of each direction for boys and to model persistence for girls.  One review game shared was called Fastest and Best for boys.  Boys are partnered up and groups are given a note card with a problem.  Once they figure the answer they have to run it up to your desk with their answer. If they are correct, you give them their second problem card to work on.  It involves movement and competition.  I don't teach single gender classes, but I am interested in trying this review method with one of my classes this week. 

REFLECTION ZONE: Understanding By Design



Chapter 5

Essential Questions: Doorways to Understanding

This chapter focused on the importance of essential questions, what makes a question essential, and topical and overarching essential questions.

Essential Questions pg. 105-108

• aim to stimulate thought, provoke inquiry, spark more questions
• are not answerable with finality in a brief response
• are broad
• uncover the real riches of a topic
• create deep and transferable understandings
• serve as a launchpad for examining big ideas
• elicit alternative views
• cause students to focus on their reasoning, not just if their answer is “right” or “wrong”
• spark meaningful connections from prior life experiences
• lead to more questions
• open up thinking and possibilities for everyone - experts and novices

Four Connotations for Essential Questions pg. 108-109

1. includes important questions that recur throughout our lives (perpetually arguable)
2. point to core ideas and inquiries within a discipline
3. help students effectively inquire and make sense of important but complicated ideas
4. will engage a specific and diverse set of learners (need to hook and hold attention of your students)

Essential Aspects of Essential Questions pg. 1109

1. cause genuine and relevant inquiry into the big ideas
2. provoke deep thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry, new understandings, and new questions
3. require students to consider alternatives, support ideas, justify answers
4. stimulate vital ongoing re-thinking of big ideas
5. spark meaningful connections with prior learning and experiences
6. create opportunities for transfer to other situations or subjects

One cannot tell if a question is essential by just looking at the wording, out of context.
One needs to look at the whole design, especially the assessments, in order to determine if the question is essential or not.

Topical Essential Questions pg. 113-117

• about a specific topic
• lead to specific topical understanding
• stimulate inquiry and deep understanding of important ideas
• can seem to seek a “right” answer, but not expected the will be answered by the end of a unit

Overarching Essential Questions pg. 113 - 117

• broad, deep, more general questions
• remain open and alive... maybe forever
• create broader, transferable understanding that cut across the unit
• frame courses around the big ideas

It is recommended to include sets of both types of these questions. Both types should be matched or related to each other. Teachers sometimes ask how many essential questions they should have for a unit.  It is recommended to follow a variation of the Marine Corps recruiting slogan: “We’re looking for a few good questions.  If they are truly essential, they can (and should) establish priorities and help uncover all key ideas.  Do no state questions that you do not intend to activley investigate through discussion, research, problem solving, and other means.”  pg. 119

REFLECTION ZONE: Summer Work

I just wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on the work I did this past summer.

Math Academy-3 half days in June
Compass Training - 3 half days in June and 1 in August
Tablet Training - half day in June
Problem Solving - 2 half days in  June and 1 August
Developmental Designs - 1 full week in July
Webpage Design - 3 hours in August
Microsoft Office 7 - 3 hours in August
Long Term Care Insurance Research
     - phone calls to WEA, meeting at the Riverbank, attending Seminar in Rice Lake, reading literature
Financial Planning Seminar
Masters Work
- IRB, Action Research, Reviewed test scores of incoming 6th graders to place students in RtI class,
  Read, Contacted Mindworks, Tech. Dept., Principal, & DO, August weekend
Decorated and set up room - 3 days in August