Math Message
November/December 2017 edition
Thankful
I'm thankful I have the opportunity to work in this district with such thoughtful, intentional, hard-working teachers. Through my work with First Year Teachers, VALOR, and with the math department, I love seeing LEAD 2021 and Portrait of a Graduate come to life in classrooms. Teachers are doing an awesome job and juggling all the requirements (teaching, duty, paperwork, meetings, and the list goes on) but maintaining their focus on relationships! I see students that are learning, growing, and most of all know they are loved and that they matter in GCISD!
October seems to be the month that teachers and even students experience "the October blues". Much of the excitement and adrenaline from the beginning of the year has started to wear off and things might feel overwhelming to you. The good news is this is very normal, and it won't last all year. Here is a great article for some suggestions on coping with these feelings.
I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on what you are thankful for and to take time to refuel. Try starting a gratitude journal or posting a #thankyouthursday tweet and most of all spend time doing something you really enjoy such as spending it with family, shopping, or curling up with a good book.
I'm thankful for each of you!
Helpful Hints for 1st & 2nd Grade Unit Assessments
A couple of things to consider when giving the 1st-grade unit assessments:
- students may use manipulatives
- the teacher may read the assessments aloud
This is noted on the answer key and has now been added to the top of each assessment. Also, you might consider giving these in small groups if other factors are influencing the results for your students.
For 2nd grade, the administration guidelines, which give specific information for each assessment, are posted on each math curriculum map and on the DMAC Elementary Test Key List page.
Blogspot
Speaking of great teachers, I had the pleasure of observing and learning from Irene Boyton when I first started out teaching. She blogs regularly and in this particular edition, she gives us a peek inside her thinking as she designs a new unit of study. I was so impressed with her intentionality and vulnerability to share her process. So if you can't see her in action, this is the next best thing! She shows us that the design process can be messy and hard, but so worth it! What things do you consider as you design units of study for your math students?
Mathematicians At Work
Graphing
Floor Graph
Number line application
Gaming in math
Prime and Composite Numbers
Coordinate Grids
Math WorkShop
Last month, I shared some possible structures and this month, I want to highlight yet another way to structure this in your class.
The GUIDE Model:
"This model provides a simple and efficient organizational system for Math Workshop. With this model, there are five workstations, each with a menu of tasks from which students may work. The tasks may be required, optional, or a combination. Instead of rotating from station to station, students work on only one station per day."
Sammons, Laney & Boucher, Donna. Guided Math Workstations K-2 or 3-5. Shell Education. 2010.
The GUIDE acronym stands for the following:
G-Games for Mathematicians
U-Using What We Know
I-Independent Math Work
D-Developing Fluency
E-Expressing Mathematical Ideas
For more information about this model, please invite me out to a PLC, ask to see my copy of the books below, or order a copy--they are only $14.25 and there is a K-2 version and a 3-5 version!
Global Math Week
Here are a few tweets from the district. I hope you got to experience Exploding Dots for yourself. Visit here for a Getting Started Guide. It's not too late!
Q&A
Q: When is the appropriate time to teach whole group vs. small group?
A: Whole group is for concepts that the whole class needs to learn. Once you pre-assess your students, then you can determine if a concept is needed by the whole class (then a mini-lesson and guided/independent practice would be appropriate) or if you need to differentiate by giving some students challenge work (those who mastered the pre-assessment), review for those who need it (passed with a 70 or have some idea about concept), and finally small group instruction for those students who might need to hear/see the concept taught again or taught in a more concrete way (students that did not pass the pre-assessment).
Another great strategy for whole group instruction is for the teacher to "push in" with a structure like a 3 Act Task, where the teacher rotates among the heterogeneous groups/pairs and listens for evidence of learning instead of pulling a group. Sometimes, our students need to be in mixed ability groups so they can see and hear a variety of strategies from their peers.
Q: What is the most effective way to teach abstract concepts to older students?
A: There is sometimes a misconception that older students do not need access to concrete materials. Using the C-R-A (concrete-representational-to abstract) method is the most logical way to teach abstract concepts especially if they are new to students (such as fractions in 3rd or decimals in 4th/5th). Here is a great blog that explains this. Also, the book by Van de Walle has some great teacher background knowledge of how to build understanding from concrete to abstract in many concepts.
TEA Updates
Contact Information
Instructional Coach
Email: melanie.gonzales@gcisd.net
Website: http://gonzamel.blogspot.com/
Phone: (682) 558-1367
Twitter: @gcisdMelanie