Do you ever feel like something is missing in the delivery of your Math instruction? Does it seem like you’re doing most of the talking, you’re exhausted, and yet the kids are unfocused, disengaged, and quite simply just “zoned out”? Successful math instruction needs to have two strong components: a highly effective curriculum, in conjunction with the implementation of effective cooperative learning structures/strategies. Implementing cooperative learning structures throughout your daily Eureka Math lessons will help ensure that both you and your students will love math time!
"We should not only use the brains we have but all that we can borrow.”-Woodrow Wilson
My kids look forward to and are excited about our Eureka Math lessons every day! When Math time is approaching they'll start asking me "Are we going to do "Showdown" today Miss Brown? or "Rally Table?" Not only are they engaged through the use of all these Kagan structures, the power behind combining them into the Eureka Math routines really enhances the students' confidence in themselves, and their ability to rationalize and explain mathematical concepts and procedures within the Eureka curriculum, which supports their learning. My students have learned to rely on each other and are able to successfully build on each other's ideas and learn from one another through the use of these cooperative learning structures. My kiddos have grown to not only feel successful, but also to be successful in Math!
Here's a brief description of some of the Kagan structures I use during my Eureka Math lessons, and how and when I implement each one:
Rally Coach
This structure is one where students work in pairs.They take turns where one is the "coach" and is showing/explaining to their partner exactly how they solved a problem step by step. The other partner listens, praises and helps if necessary. I implement this structure during many of the Fluency Practice activities in Eureka Math, as well as during some parts of the Problem Set and Student Debrief.
Continuous Rally Table
This is similar to Rally Robin, but this time they take turns sharing answers around their table again and again until all questions are answered, or when I say stop. I implement this also during many of the Fluency Practice activities in Eureka math. Often times during the "mental math" activities where it lists several problems it wants the students to solve. I will have the students take out one whiteboard for the group and pass it around one person to the next, each person solving the next question on the board. Sometimes I time them and we will see which group finishes first (they like this). I then go over the answers and they check their team's answers and give each other praise, feedback, and team cheers.
Showdown
Each team has a "showdown captain" that I choose to start. I will display a question from the Fluency Practice on the board. All students will solve on their whiteboards and flip them over to signal they're done. Once the captain sees everyone at the table is done, he/she calls out "showdown" and then everyone flips their boards over and they praise/coach as needed. The student to the right of the captain will then become the new "showdown captain" for the next question. This is the basic structure of the Whiteboard Exchange component within Eureka Math, except that in this case it is student led rather than teacher led. I walk around to observe and support where needed.
Quiz-Quiz-Trade
Students are each given one flashcard (I do either addition or multiplication at this point in the year). They are then directed to stand up, hand up and pair up. Partner A holds up her flashcard and Partner B responds with the answer. Partner A then either praises or coaches. Then they reverse roles. Once finished, both partners switch flash cards, thank each other, put their hand back up and find a new partner. This process repeats until I tell them to stop. I generally use QQT on the Eureka Lessons that don't have "Sprints." This allows for them to still practice facts quickly and accurately.
Here are my students participating in Rally Robin and Numbered Heads Together, as described below.
I tell the kids this is like the "ping pong ball" strategy. When the question is displayed, students in A/B partners take turns responding until the time is up. This is meant for questions with multiple answers. I often use this during the Eureka Math Fluency Practice as well, generally when they're asked to skip count, or determining factors of a given number, Mental Math activities, etc,. You can use with any question that elicits multiple responses.
I will have students complete a section of the Problem Set (or often times just 1 multi-step word problem), and once done, each child goes around the table stating his/her answer to that question and also explaining the strategies they used, processes to solve, etc. If everyone is correct, then they praise each other and move to the next question. If there are different answers, then the group stops, reworks that problem together and discusses the right answer alongside the different methods/strategies they chose to solve it. Often this structure is used for the Student Debrief section as well. I find this particular process/structure to be very powerful as they students really do listen to each other, provide feedback to their peers, and coach one another in finding and correcting mistakes!
Collaboratively Learning,
Megan Brown
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