Math Intervention, Part 2

Let’s Talk About MATH INTERVENTION, Part 2!





In my last post, we talked about why we would need to include Math Intervention within our instructional day.  I hope you’ve given it some thought!  Here we will discuss HOW to make that idea a reality!

I understand 100% that TIME is a huge factor when planning for small group instruction in math.  There are only so many instructional minutes in the day!  Between the required minutes in the core subject areas, ELD, recess and lunch breaks, PE, what time is there that’s left?  Add to that, our math block of time is beyond packed!  There is an overabundance of stuff in Eureka to do with our students during math time, more than will even fit in our daily minutes for math.  Anyone else having a Jesse Spano moment?  Just me?  Okay, let’s carry on.  

Let me start with a brief-ish outline of how I structure many of my math lessons in my 5th grade classroom in order to accomodate intervention.  I start by dividing my class into 2 smaller groups, a High & Medium-Low group and a Medium-High & Low group.  I deliver my 20-minute Concept Development lesson with one group while the other group is working in centers or a must-do/may-do list.  Then, we switch and I teach it again to the other small group.  If you’re counting, that’s about 40 minutes of my math block.  I spend the next 10 minutes working whole group on the problems I’d picked from the problem set.  As students set out to work, I start to pull the kids that are having a hard time and we work together on the problems.  After that, I have 10 minutes left in my math block to wrap up with a discussion and debrief, assuming a 60 minute math block.  I use either something suggested in the debrief section, or I go off of some misconception I’ve seen while students were working on the practice set or in small group during the lesson.  As a twist, I sometimes do a shorter debrief, but start the math block with a discussion around the Application Problem or the exit tickets from yesterday.

                 

I’m still getting in the required parts of the Eureka lesson, just in a way that also lets me get some differentiation in not only for my below-level students, but to engage and push my higher-level and GATE students as well.  Really, it’s a win-win!

Middle School, it’s my understanding that students with unfinished learning (gaps) may be double-blocked for math.  If you don’t already, I would spend half of that time on my core content as outlined in your math program, and then reach the learners where they are at for the other time using a centers-based approach and incorporating web-based or free-app technology so they can continue the learning at home on their phones.

Why do I love teaching math in this small group format?  My super quiet kids that aren’t getting can’t hide as easily, and I can see what they need and address those needs as they arise.  My kiddos that have already got it?  I can see if they are truly understanding what they are doing.  I can slow down or speed up as the group is showing me what they understand or don't.

Above, I mentioned centers and a must-do/may-do list.  Are you curious what are students doing during that time?  My next, and final post in this series, will address WHAT I use in this differentiation.  I will give you a sneak peek though, just for sticking with me on this!  Students aren’t working on just any activities, they are differentiated ones that are easy to manage for both the teacher (we’ve got enough to do!) and the students (so they’ll be independent and let us teach!)  One of my centers is the Eureka Fluency or Sprint.  Students do that with a partner timing them or with sand timers.  Sometimes it’s differentiated where my on-level kiddos do the one suggested in the TE where my strugglers are doing a different one, like a basic fact practice one from a previous module or grade level.  Another center is sometimes the exit ticket from yesterday, checking for understanding.  Then, I differentiate further.  Tune in next time to see how!  

 Mathematically yours,

Sabrina Blake

sabrina.blake@omsd.net

Mathematically Speaking!

Mathematically Speaking!

Getting our students to use and clearly comprehend academic language in math (and any other subject area for that matter) is not an easy task.  We know how difficult the Lexile level is for most standardized tests and understand how imperative it is that students can read and take in the terminology.  What if you could address these academic vocabulary words daily without taking a lot of time out of your busy day?



In this blog post, you’ll read about some different ways to turn your students into mathematical speakers!

Asking my students again and again what the word “sum” means always gets quite irritating.  “Boys and girls, I know you’ve heard this word ever since ___(insert grade level here).”  I don’t want to make my students feel bad, but I also want to hold them accountable for knowing their academic language especially when the word is not new to them!  How can I get my students to proficiency on a test if they can’t understand the language provided?  After thinking logically about ways to increase comprehension and vocabulary in math, I realized that a good old point system with rewards always seemed to do the trick.  However, I also knew that I couldn’t stop there.

Using some of these strategies will not solve all of your students’ academic language needs, but they’ll at least get kids motivated to participate and try harder to use more mathematical words.  Here are some of the things I do:

1.   Write “Mathematical Speakers” on the board.  I write this on my white board because it needs to be seen the entire week.  Every time students use math vocabulary, I reward a tally mark next to their name.  The board starts off blank and each name only makes it onto the board once they earn a point (see picture at the top of the blog).  I use sticker charts in my class, so for each point received, a sticker is earned.  Once students fill up their sticker charts, they get to choose a prize from the prize box.  Each time a student receives a point, the class cheers for him or her.  I’ve even heard one of my boys say, “Alright!  You’re a mathematical speaker now!  Woo hoo!” :)
2. When a student shares a response and does not use academic language, I simply say, "Can you restate that like a mathematician would?" The student then has to reach into his or her academic tool bag to come up with the proper vocabulary.
3. Include important academic language/math vocabulary in your room where kids can access it.  Underneath my mathematical speakers area, I have “Math Words of the Week”.  Some of your words might stay up the whole year, and others you’ll need to update weekly.  When my students find a word during the lesson that is not on the board, they share it out loud and receive a Mathematical Speaker point.
4. Box, underline or highlight important vocabulary words within your lessons.  When we read directions together and/or word problems, we always box the verbs so that we are aware of the action that needs to be taken.  For every verb, we number the steps.  If a problem has three verbs, then the students have three steps to complete.  We also identify and annotate other key words.  For example, if we come across the word product, we’ll highlight it and draw a multiplication sign or annotate “the answer to a x problem” above the word.
5. During cooperative learning structures, I walk around to listen to my students' conversations.  I let them know that I'm looking for students to use their math vocabulary like mathematicians.  When I hear students using these words, they receive more stickers.  I also might stop the class to bring attention to an awesome word or conversation that I heard.
6. Create diagrams for students to copy or paste into their math journals.  Ask students to help you label each part of the diagram. See example below:
7. Design a Kahoot or some other formative assessment to continuously spiral through math vocabulary words. The more they practice and have access to this language, the better.

These are just some of the things we like to use during math time.  I’m sure you have many creative and helpful ideas, and I’d love to hear about them!  Please comment below about some of the things that work well for you!

Educating together,

Kimberly Smith Loya

Collaboration

Collaboration

In my last blog, I likened educators to stonemasons--reconstructing our learning environments year after year. Sometimes we use the same bricks (previously introduced district initiatives and mandates) and sometimes we use new ones. Although we are required to follow certain protocols to ensure equity for all of our students, as creators, we want our “building” to reflect our creativity.

As I reflected on the UDL Guidelines regarding Engagement, Representation, and Action and Expression, I made a number of connections. Although I don’t have the desire or time to toss out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak, when it comes to all the teaching methods I have learned over the years at OMSD, I can certainly tweak my practice to ensure greater success for both me and my students.

“When we ask all students to do the same learning task, in the same way, we have no idea what

INDIVIDUAL children are capable of.”--Dr. Bertie Kingore







I decided to draw clear and purposeful connections between what I was already doing and UDL. I pulled some of the tenets of UDL to see if I could connect any dots and I was pleasantly surprised by what I discovered:

UDL encourages teachers to build fluencies with graduated levels of support for practice and performance. Isn’t this also one of the goals of Eureka Math?

UDL tells us to promote expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation. Isn’t this also considered a growth mindset?

UDL tells us to vary the methods for response and navigation. This sounds a lot like Kagan to me.

UDL wants us to Promote understanding across languages. Wait, doesn’t this sound like our McGraw-Hill E.L.D. program?

UDL wants us to clarify vocabulary and symbol. Don’t we do this every day as part of our McGraw Hill reading program?.

UDL tells us to foster collaboration and community. This is a core tenet of Project-Based Learning.

UDL tells us to minimize threats and distractions. In my last blog, I included this quote from Stephen Krashen, “The affective filter can be prompted by many different variables including anxiety, self-confidence, motivation, and stress.” We can’t learn if we feel threatened.

UDL tells us to Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships. G.A.T.E. Icons come to mind.

UDL tells us to Guide information processing, visualization, and manipulation. This makes me think of Thinking Maps.

With the highest English Language Learner population in the district, I am constantly searching for ways to build bridges. I owe it to my students to leave no stone unturned when it comes to brain-friendly, research-backed education. UDL promises to make learning accessible to all students and that’s exactly who I’ve been tasked to educate--ALL students.

Still Trying to Connect the Dots,

Lola E. Jollie

Developing and Using Models

Developing and Using Models
Each month, we will investigate one part of the vehicle that will help us reach our destination-- fostering scientific thinking. The road is science education. The stops are the Disciplinary Core Ideas. The speed bumps are time, resources, students’ prior knowledge, etc. The vehicle is the Science and Engineering Practices, and the more equipped the vehicle, the better we can navigate the road.
	I remember a time when a science fair project was just one more thing to get done. It was a grade I needed to earn, and it was a lot of work my mom was going to have to help me with. This is not how I want my students to see the science investigations we do in class or, hopefully, the ones they do outside of class. I want students to see the value in asking scientific questions and investigating their world. I want them to develop ways to answer their questions. I want to give them the skills to design investigations. I want them to be confident in their ability to be scientists.
This month we will learn how to teach students to plan and carry out investigations.
	Last month we learned about a strategy called Inquiry Boards. Click here for more info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RuXjrGrggY With Inquiry Boards, students brainstorm the variables, using a big question and lab materials as their starting point. They determine the variables they will investigate, and turn those into a question they can develop an experiment to answer. But is that enough to require before giving 30 kids baking soda, vinegar, and beakers? Probably not. There is much more planning left to do. This brings us to this month’s tool. Last year, Dr. Harri spoke about something called Argument-Driven Inquiry and it changed my classroom. (Thank you, Dr. Harri!) I would certainly recommend any science teacher puts at least one of the ADI books on their Amazon wishlist. Here is one for your viewing pleasure:  https://www.amazon.com/Argument-Driven-Inquiry-Biology-Investigations-PB349X1/dp/1938946200 Using the Laboratory Proposal tool, students learn to design the specifics of their investigations. We discuss how they will change and measure their independent variable, how they will measure their dependent variable and how they will maintain control over their control variables. We decide their procedures, discuss safety concerns specific to the lab, how they will analyze their data and create a rough draft of their data table. In order to get lab materials, each group member must have this filled out and have a neat data table copied into their notebooks. Students are then released to collect their data. And this is exactly what they do. Most groups now collect data in about 20 minutes! Click on the image at right to see more! If you would like to see this in action, please contact me about the next time we will go through this process. I would love to share it with you! Stay Curious, Sara Yeh

Off to the RACES with Writing!

Off to the RACES with Writing!
I know as teachers we often feel that teaching writing can be absolutely painful at times, but it doesn’t have to be! When given a structure, students are not only successful in writing but have fun doing it! The RACES structure is intended to teach students how to write a constructed response paragraph by analyzing texts, making connections, and citing text evidence to support their reasoning. Not only is this an essential skill for students to be successful on SBAC (as they have many constructed response questions), it goes deeper than a test!  Being able to respond successfully to a constructed response prompt is also a necessary skill that focuses on student’s reasoning skills and helps them to develop and implement their own thoughts and opinions through research.  It’s a life skill!
Teaching students the RACES Writing format will not ONLY improve Writing skills but will simultaneously strengthen their reading comprehension skills as well as their ability to rationalize.  The best part: The structure is simple enough that you can implement this process TOMORROW! When implemented correctly, the RACES format transfers across subjects successfully.  This form of Writing is not an isolated skill.  Students start to become more aware of what they’re reading and spend more time annotating the text when they know they will be writing about it.  Thus, increasing their reading comprehension skills in the process.  I also integrate many different Kagan/cooperative learning strategies throughout the writing process which really helps the students to gain a deeper understanding of the text through the power of discussion.  I have personally seen student’s constructed responses to test questions VASTLY improve after implementing this process in just over a matter of a couple of months.  I love when the students finally make the crossover from KNOWING the steps and going through the motions, to actually making connections and UNDERSTANDING  the process!❤  At this point in the year when I introduce a new prompt and tell the students we will be doing a RACES writing today, I hear “YESSSSS!” throughout the classroom.  My students have come to love writing through this process because they know they are successful and enjoy doing it! In this video, you can see my students completing a RACES Writing constructed response through collaborative conversations. Modeling the RACES process AND giving students the opportunity to interact with each other along the way, is a crucial contributor to seeing success with this structure. MODEL, MODEL, MODEL! It’s more than teaching students the acronym- they need to actually gain an understanding of what each component in the acronym stands for, what it looks like, and HOW to complete that task. The best way to do this is to continuously model how to do each part. Take it step by step.   Rather than modeling the entire process at once, we work on a few components at a time.  We read the prompt aloud together, discuss how to formulate the R and the A pieces, then they write them down.  As you can see in the video, after they have completed these steps, I use the Kagan All- Write-Round-Robin strategy where students go around their table group and one student at a time shares those components. As group members, they listen, give each other feedback and revise their sentences through this discussion.  My kids actually do this well, and it's really very cute to listen to them give each other feedback in a meaningful manner! Notes.  Notes are taken throughout the reading of the text (whatever the text or source may be). I usually have students organize their 2-column notes with the prompt in mind (this saves time and ensures that students are set up for success when it comes time to do the constructed response). Text evidence.  Students will then either refer to their notes or the text directly to identify 1-2 pieces of text evidence that support their answer to the prompt.  In the next part of the video, I engaged students in the Stand-Up-Hand-Up-Pair-Up (SUHUPU) Kagan strategy where they have the opportunity to share the “C” and “E” components of the RACES process.  I let them mix and share a couple of times with different partners, then have a few students share out with the group.  This also supports that modeling component by giving students the opportunity to hear and see successful models from their peers.  Upon returning to their seats they then write down those components on the planning template. Last, we discuss how to write a conclusion sentence (the “S” component), and how it closely relates to the “A”.  They complete this last step and then I guide them through peer editing.  Once this is done, they put their RACES paragraph together on the publishing paper and evaluate their own work through a quick self- assessment checklist. Structuring the RACES writing process in this step-by-step manner ensures that students will be able to complete these steps to their own success when in a testing situation.  The consistent practice and support through collaborative discussions with their peers, myself, and the class as a whole really builds on so many different skills, and allows them to be successful! Collaboratively Learning, Megan Brown megan.brown@omsd.net

New Year--Fresh Start

New Year--Fresh Start!

I remember my excitement as a child at the

end of every school year. Teachers would

clear out their cupboards, closets, and

desks. I loved pilfering through the mounds

of discarded school stuff. Partially-

completed workbooks, dittoed worksheets,

teachers manuals, partially used crayons

and pencils. “You’re throwing THAT away?

Preposterous! It’s still good.” It all held

possibilities. I get that same feeling of

giddiness when I pass the giveaway counter at my own school.

In fact, that’s where I found this phenomenal book titled Summarization in Any Subject by

Rick Wormeli. I just started reading it, but already it has prompted me to take a closer look

at my practice. This sentence, in particular, stopped me dead in my tracks:

If you truly care about what your students take with them at the end of the school

year, then it’s easier to choose summarization and reflection activities

over coverage.

He then went on to write:

Unfortunately, when you don’t provide students with the time they need to

reflect on such topics and to reach and apply new understanding, you limit

their learning.

If you truly care about your students…??? Limit their learning…??? O.K., Rick. Now this is

personal.

Pause. Rewind. Wait. Read again. Take a deep breath. Reflect. Am I giving my students the

time they need to process information so that it can enter into their long-term memories?

Hmmm…? Good question. And the answer is Probably not.

In the classroom, time is both our greatest ally and our fiercest enemy. Every minute is crucial One fact remains. There is never going to be enough time. That is outside our

control. What we can control , though, is how we structure the time that we are allotted so

that it reaps the most benefit for our students.

My New Year’s Resolution is to stop talking and periodically Wait. Strike that frequently allow students time to summarize new learning.  Not affording students this time would be like eating a

magnificently prepared meal, but not taking the time to chew and digest. Our

students need to metaphorically chew and digest as they learn. This will provide my

students the opportunity to:

• process information with one another (This is a great time to use a Kagan structure)
• retrieve information from their mental filing cabinet so they can connect the dots.
• “empty out” their short-term memories.

Here’s hoping that my resolution will be part of the 8% that succeed. I’ll let you know next

January!

                                  

  Learning as I go,
Lola E. Jollie

lola.jollie@omsd.net

Project Based Learning - Reflection Element

Project Based Learning -

Reflection Element

One of the 8 project design elements for Gold Standard Project Based learning is Reflection.

In this element, students and teachers should be reflecting on what “they’re learning, how they’re learning and why they’re learning it.”

~ John Larmer, PBL Blog Editor

My plan to improve ‘reflection’    I started my new project last week in 7th grade - “Crayon Project” - as an integrated project with a fellow science teacher.  I started Module 4 last week and the Crayon Project was designed with this module in mind.  Students have been tasked to create a new start-up crayon company, create a unique sustainable crayon, and design a business plan to fill an order by OMSD to replace all crayon boxes in the District.  I am amazed at how the science teacher is going to actually have the students create a set of usable crayons from scratch - the winning set of crayons will mass produce their crayons and take them to the kindergarten students at Sultana.  In math, students are challenged with determining a percent of the total number of OMSD students that will receive a crayon box, determine the cost to manufacture their set of crayons, apply for a small business start-up loan from the SBA, and justify a selling price point to repay their loan and fulfill another upcoming product order.    I wanted to make sure I addressed ‘reflection’ better with this project so the science teacher and I decided to have students complete a ‘Research and Development’ book as they go through the project.  In this book, students will be asked at different points in the project to capture what they have learned so that at the end of the project they can give a much fuller and in-depth answer to the question.  They will be asked to capture how their learning helped them with that portion of the project.  And most importantly, they will be asked to think about how their learnings can be used outside this project context.  For me, this is the most important question that I want students to reflect on - I want students to be able to take what they are learning and be able to apply it to something else - a lifelong learning skill that we hope all our students internalize.    My hope with planning ahead for certain reflection times in a project is that at the end of the project the students can refer back to these reflections and realize that they learned and accomplished a great deal.  Then take these reflections and be able to give a full and rich prediction of how or why they can use these learnings outside of the project.    Next month I will give an update on how having students reflect more often on a project has gone for me.

Technology Resource    On a side note, I wanted to share a new assessment technology resource that I am implementing this semester - Edulastic.  Some of you may already be aware of this resource and its vast capabilities - but I wanted to share in case you have not heard about it. https://edulastic.com/ (Log in with your district Google account)    Edulastic is a free assessment platform that has a bank of questions for ELA, Math, and Science NGSS across all grade levels.  You are allowed to create your own questions and upload them or use pre-made questions from other authors.  In addition, you can create assessments and share them in a site library or even a district library.  There are many questions in the bank that are modeled after the question stems of CAASPP.  The program links to Google Classroom as well.    I just wanted to share this additional resource - I know that we have Illuminate within the District and I have used it quite extensively in the past - but for those of us looking for something else, then I would suggest exploring this possibility.

For those of you who do a reflection with your students regularly, I am trying to catch up with you.  For those of us who do not or want to improve, then I encourage you to make explicit instructional decisions and have students reflect on a regular basis in a way that is meaningful and relevant for the students -and yourself. Still Learning and Loving It, Kevin Project Updates Current 7th grade project - “Unique and Sustainable Crayons” (Module 4, Lessons 1-18) Current 8th grade project - “Pokemon Go” (Module 4, Lessons 24-29)