Instructional Coaching
Co-Planning, Co-Teaching, Co-Debriefing
3-Part Lesson Plan - Constructivist Learning
The careful implementation of a minds on/working on it/consolidation format of lessons with an emphasis on creating multi-entry problems which give your students an opportunity to construct or discover key mathematical strategies and big ideas.
Setting The Conditions - Accountable Talk
Creating a classroom community for learning where students are responsible and accountable for listening/learning/teaching peers, accountable talk moves are key to ensure that all learners are respectful in discovering, challenging and risk taking to promote learning in the classroom.
Content Expert - (Strand/Big Idea/Process)
Identifying a strand, big idea or math process that the teacher is not fully comfortable with and delving deeply into investigating multiple approaches to facilitating learning in that area of math instruction (e.g., teaching multiplication using student’s inventive strategies).
Questions
The use of four different types of questions identified by Marian Small (including scaffolding, probing, extension and re-direct questions) that provide opportunities to further differentiate learning for students. The teacher has a clear understanding of the developmental continuum for learning in math and has thoughtfully anticipated student responses and pitfalls to the problems introduced in class in order to plan questions.
Assesement
Teachers co-create assessments for and as learning with students to move them along a continuum of learning. Tasks have intentionality with clear learning goals. The teacher involves the students in the assessment process where the students and teachers co-create the assessment and learn to self monitor. Teacher has a deep understanding of the developmental continuum in math strategies and big ideas and can name that math they see.
Inquiry
Inquiry is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. (Wikipedia). Teachers nurture the natural curiosity of their students and encourage questioning, students take ownership of their learning by investigating concepts with the assistance of their teacher. The teacher’s role is to facilitate learning in a meaningful way to ensure students discover and develop big ideas in math.
Open/Parallel Tasks
Debrief
Content Integration
When teachers can integrate learning from across the curriculum students can formulate deeper connections to what they are learning, can readily understand the meaningfulness of what they are learning and are more engaged.