Let's Talk About... Math Standards!

Let’s Talk About Math Standards!

You have your Eureka TE, your district pacing guide, and your boxes of student materials- you’re ready to teach math!  But, are you ready to meet your students where they are at mathematically? 

Unless you’ve taught consecutive grade levels in the last few years since we adopted the Common Core Standards, or really studied the mathematics progressions, you may not know exactly what your students are supposed to be coming to you with.  We assume that our curriculum starts where the previous grade levels’ curriculum left off, and it does.  But can we say the same of our students’ learning?

Each year I feel like I start teaching a math concept, and when students are staring at me with blank faces, I start questioning.  “Remember last year when you learned…”  “Wait, did you learn this last year?”  (To myself, “Were they supposed to learn this last year or am I thinking of what I taught last year?”)  How do you know what they were supposed to be taught?  Enter, Achieve the Core written by Student Achievement Partners.  They are a nonprofit group whose mission it is to help teachers implement college- and career-ready standards, including the Common Core.  They have all kinds of curriculum resources for ELA and Math, but the Coherence Map is AMAZING!

First, watch

THIS VIDEO where I will walk you through some of the great things about it!  Then visit the Achieve the Core Coherence Map HERE and explore your grade level.  Remember to bookmark it, you’ll come back again and again!

The standards boxes are helpful in many ways, but I'd like to highlight two of them.  The first is that I can see what exactly my students are supposed to learn this year, and how critical that standard is to my overall year.  Secondly, if my students are struggling with a standard, I can use my Nancy Drew sleuthing skills to trace it back and see what the underlying concepts are, and where exactly the breakdown is happening. Mystery solved!

I hope you get a chance to really explore this resource, and I hope you fall as deeply in love with it as I am!  Please check it out and leave a comment below with your thoughts.  Need help?  My email is below.  Want to see math in person? Come in for a Spotlight Visit!  I’d love to meet you. 

Mathematically yours,

Sabrina Blake