Cataline First cohort meeting- Dec. 11, 2014 Teachers met in the staffroom those attending were Tanis Stewart, Erin Fredrickson, Chris Armstrong, Wendy Bernier, and Trish Fushtey. Each teacher checked in with what they had been doing this fall: Tanis-grade 4- spent time on place value- Kim Sutton stuff- Students were having trouble with place value but once she moved into addition using the expanded notation the place value started to click. She has also done some problem solving and some games, they like it! She wants to know how Chris manages groups and she’s worried about spreading thin. Trish-grade 3- place value, power of ten, trying to incorporate groupings the groups seem to naturally form. One group doing games, another the weekly graph. Things happen organically, grouping it better now. She is wondering about how you choose topics?- Top kids are going ahead because they have place value but others don’t. It’s arranging groups for concepts and ability that she finds difficult. She rarely does group instruction now. Wendy-grade 2/3 games- She has groups rotating- Keeping them on task and quiet is difficult. They have covered graphs, time, weight, and measurement- They are using power of ten, working on subtraction and trying problems. Everyone seems to really love math. She is looking for help on group problem and noise. Erin-grade 1- power of ten, numerals # place value cards, arrangement of numbers, She is still doing group lessons- She has taught some games, feeling hard on herself, one block a week for groups. She is Interested to see it. Her struggle is planning and assessing where they go. She wants to know how groups are made and how to differentiate lessons for each group. Chris- Chris jumped into guided math right away, a little bit won’t work for him. He spent 2 weeks on weekly graph and encouraged lots of questioning. Then he did # stories (how many ways).Then he had 2 groups going. After introducing math games, he assessed and figured out the groups, and moved them around a bit. Groups seem to remain quite solid. He worries if he moves students around no one will know what they are doing. Groups are using Jump Math and Math to the Max for paper work. Bump and 21 are popular games. We will see a lesson with group #4 then a group lesson, making a graph. Last week he did a math check, top group will stay the same. He want us to look for- other kids at the groups- when is there time to check in with them? He feels he may not be giving them enough feedback. Marking seat work may have taken too long before giving feedback- how do we do this? The stations are: Teacher time, graphing, seat work, games. All groups are on the same concept. Chris- how did it go? Better than I thought. He was a bit off the cuff with the table lesson, and notices they are not self checking. Students were patterning and counting money. Place value lesson-they had a strong grasp- One student- hadn’t got it. Probably move her to another group.
Here is the feedback: In his lesson he gives feedback on the paper work and then does a lesson using the smart board. He had them visualizing how much 10,000 would look like ie a bigger version of a 10 rod( a stack of 10, 1000 cubes) I really liked the comparison to the known. How does the paper work change?- The 2nd and third group may do the grade 4, teachers are noticing a difference in students from last year. In the lesson on a new graph topic- Chris orchestrated it so that he could have a triple bar graph, where students rate how they like or don’t like items. It was great how you arrange for diversity vegetables were a good hit. Students were engaged in real math. Kids created the question, love it! He had a free rotation in order to do a group lesson for a new graph choice. Smaller the groups may be easier to teach, but in larger groups there is more learning from each other. Students were so quiet and engaged- they respect and honor- noise is not bad- To answer his question about giving students feedback-you can take time out during the small group lesson and watch groups but be careful about focussing on the product it’s the process. I am challenging Chris to group by the check. In his Nov assessment- checked patterns on one side and place value on the other side. In his math profile assessment students were weak- on place value- and subtraction weak. Tanis- Students were working independently- they know what to do- all engaged. Checking in with groups and feedback good. Chris uses the place value cards as a task as they enter the class- they use the word work from the week how much are the words of the week worth? Mental math is great. Trish-It was a long block. (Math is usually till recess). Like the visual graph- Her students usually do a tally. Trish wants to do the big visual graph. Great to see kids she had last year working away. Wendy liked the real world math and the student ownership of the graph question. Erin- Impressed how on task they were. Can see how the teaching and practicing has worked. Chris does bell work first thing in the morning and- he checks planners while they do the work. Groups, two in a day. Snack at 10:15 Goal setting: Tanis- finds grouping is hard-she’s flustered. She want to try a Whole group lesson then go off to groups she has formed from the assessment/ check Trish- Goal- solidifying groups based on checks-She did a math profile but is not sure of the value. She has been working with her lower group. She likes that when she is that close to the child she can see that often its language processing rather than math. She will work on the pre and post check- summative and formative. Wendy-Will work on- assessment- organizing- keeping kids on task and accountable for what they are doing. She wants to use their strengths to get to their weakness. Erin- to introduce the students to some activities- so observe and do independent stations once a week. Chris- goals- more simple checks and make groups based on them. Tanis volunteered to share at our next meeting In attendance for our first session was, Sylvia Swift, Frances Bisaro, Marianne Okrainetz, Anita Davidson, Jessica Katsura and, Tracy Walton. Today we watched Marianne’s grade 2 classroom. She had students at four stations: Math games- bump math facts- adding war or biggest number, fact families for paper work and a lesson on fact families. When she did her last math check she found most students couldn't add to 20 or subtract. She wanted us to look to see if they were: using math talk (saying the number stories aloud); on task ;and group composition. When we returned from the lesson we checked in on how it went.
Marianne- What I was doing is okay, one student wasn't using his full potential. One student had the concept at the table the other two weren’t quite there yet. They were quite calm. She saw the confusion at the basic facts center and she wanted to interrupt. Kids at the basic facts center were ‘cheating’ by hunting for the biggest number in their stack. -The TA’s and visiting teachers, were adding to the confusion and students played a more advanced version of face off than they were able to do. (Sometimes we can be unhelpful and need to be quiet and watch) Marianne felt unsure of her success. She feels that she was always a struggling math student and finds it hard. Our Feedback for Marianne: Frances- For the 3rd day it ran really well, bump was great, kids used math talk, got the game started, the paper work got going quickly, Facts Game- there were some issues but it’s only the third day. Anita-Liked the board organization- students know what team, and which rotation they were on, loved using the white board marker directly on the table for the lesson, no one was wandering. Jessica- It was amazing that they knew where to go, the paper work was linked with the lesson. Me- For the third time it was really done well. I liked how Marianne paid attention to what the students said at the table. Marianne was creating and talking through a fact family series and when she got to the subtraction story and started to say it, a student caught on and said the rest of the story. This was a great example of listening and allowing the students to do the talking at the table rather than the teacher. She had the students talking more and that allowed them to solidify their thinking. Marianne scaffolded their learning from: you show, to they talk, to you write, to they write, then they did their own. Asking students to check each others work helps the students process , understand and accept the new learning. Tracy- First - the struggling math student is the first one to have empathy and understanding for those students who don’t get it. It helps you be a better math teacher. It was great to see it all in action. Goal Setting- Frances- Would like a demo lesson of ‘how many ways’ in her class in order to see it at the grade 1 level. She hopes to work more on using the weekly graph for authentic number discussions. She is also working on the sequence of learning the basic facts using power of 10 cards. (Its okay if kids get other facts earlier like friendly numbers) Marianne- wants to work on trying ‘how many ways’ and the graph and focus on letting the kids do the work discovering each other’s mistakes at the table. Anita-She is looking at supporting students in math for L.A. and facilitating more motivating activities, and getting on to this website to use what’s on it. Jessica- Wants to focus on one to one correspondence, playing with the power of 10 cards and adding to the graph, (more than 2 choices) Tracy – wants to go beyond the strategy of using a picture for the group word problem. She will work on the weekly graph, math games (bump, addition a multiplication war etc. build and bust a flat). She wants to be more successful with ‘how many ways’ and plans to do that by celebrating when students use a rule and posting it on a Rule Maker Poster. Frances has volunteered to demonstrate in her class next time. 8:30 meet, 9:00 lesson.
NEXT WE VISITED JUDY'S CLASS Judy- 456-We were asked to look for: Are they on task? Are there any ahah moments?-working on on task behavior- Students choose own learning goals based on their previous assessments. They are at centers according to the goals. We observed students at the sink doing a capacity problem with liters. On computers students logged on to mathletics ( an online subscription that assesses and put students at levels they are at by ability rather than grade level. problem solving was another center where they picked problems from a basket and solved them. Bump for multiplication facts was a center, and desk work. Judy did do a mini lesson with one group on divisibility rules but they were very independent. Judy- how did it go? we usually have all 20 kids. Noticed a new leader emerge, taking on new roles works. Some forgot their goals- We need to have it written down and posted in the room like they do in the café. Teacher comments: good since it was new- they were eager and knew what to do- liked the hands on at the sink, with a measurement station. As teachers we often miss liquid and mass measurement- like how the stations are guided by the personal learning goals- The noticeable loving of math is great- ratio's- a student had an ahah on the mathletics- no complaints, students wanted to do the activities- we like the use of the white board at the mathletics, so students can easily work our what's on the screen- like the partnership between students where one encourages the other- I liked showing how you don't always have to teach- roam and check in- At the problem solving station, she had a guide of hints to help students get started- start with what you know. colour coded- by operation or how easy it is- they write their name when they have done it. How do you hold them accountable?- there is a math journal- in the back they write anything new- record their problem- see how they do. She rarely marks with out them- she marks with them. One suggestion was made for those students reluctant to write on the group problem paper was to start with white board, can erase its easier so its ok to have mistakes. Mark talked about what he does in High School- students write on the board any question they had from yesterday that they had trouble with. He goes over it on the tablet with the whole class. Nara- I like the math goals- Empowering. Students demonstrate to the class when they know it. How could the group problem cooperation work better?- students were grabbing paper and not listening to each others ideas- we could assign a positive member of the group. Have roles and structure. What's the goal? We discussed increasing math literacy on the walls. Here are the goals each of the teachers set for themselves: Sari- need to strengthen the framework- how loud- feedback- daily five style- Jill- incorporate number stories- show what you know Caitlyn- framework- being on task- focus on own work. they are competitive Amy- independent transitions- more structure in their group- have students move to the group- make transitions cleaner Nara- next semester math- framework- read daily 5 white boards- vocab terms Judy? Mark? Sharing today were Jill Kurki, Judith Vanderzwan in their lovely school at BIg Lake. Katelyn Odonnell, Sari Small, Nara Riplinger, Mark Doolan, and Amy Simcox (on Skype from Anahim Lake and myself were observing and learning.
Judy checked in and explained that she used to teach k-7 but they applied for more teaching time with the learning improvement fund, so now she focuses mostly on gr 4-6. Katelyn is teaching gr- 3, 4, 6, 7 and she is looking to see how this big lake class is run because the grade configuration is so similar to Likely. Sari also applied and received more teaching time they have 10 students and she is looking to see more guided math and how to organisze with such a spread. Nara teaches math 8& 9 and sees a wide spread of understanding that correlates to the range in this class. She also feels her math department is now ready to move ahead a bit. Mark is teaching seniors this semester and gr 8-10 next semester. He is curious about what guided math is and looking at what we do well at this level and what he can use. At his level so many kids don't have those basic skills. He is thinking about playing games for the last 10 min of class time and how to help weak kids overcome it. Judy asked what are the fundamentals that she needs to make sure the grade 6's and 7's have. Mark replied that multiplication and fractions are key. Jill the class has done rotations for only 2 days, she thinks they need more time to practice it. She values seeing where each kid is at. Her students also now like math because they are active. They are working on weekly graph / teacher time/ show what you know and a facts station that was taught on Friday. Sometimes they have 2 stations to choose form depending on what level they are at. Her question is about the weekly graph and how to engage the kids? Here is a slide show of what we saw in Jill's class with primary students Meeting with Nara Riplinger & Mark Doolan |
The next gem was a lesson by Kristy on in out tables. The student had an in list of 1,2,3,4,5 and the out box had 5,10,15. The student noticed that the first column went up by ones and the second went up by 5's. Then Kristy asked her what happened from the 1 to the 5 she said it went up 4, Kristy wrote the pattern on the side as the student showed it going up by 4, 8 and 12 if you added. Kristy kept honoring the child's process. Then she suggested that they may be doing something other than adding. So she tried multiplying and had the ahah moment. 'Its timsing by 5' We discussed the accountability of what is happening at the hands on section and ways of checking accuracy. Carolyn suggested that the teacher does a visual check of the patterns before moving on to the next round, and also teaching the children to check each other. |
Leah Moe graciously agreed to let us observe in her grade 2 classroom. In attendance were Alison Bos, Leona Williams, Lacey-Dawn Bruce, Sonja Kurkinimi and myself. Leah warned us that the class had only just done two rotations previously. She wanted us to watch for whether the students were on task in their groups and how engaged they were. The activities she had planned were: Power of ten cards- students were playing go fish, 100's chart riddles- guessing a number by attributes, weekly graph followed by number stories for desk work.
Because of the release time there was a TOC in the classroom and an aid. This helped greatly for on task behavior. At the teachers table Leah was able to focus with a small group on making tens in egg cartons and creating the number stories that go with them. In order for students to 'see' the numbers, Leah took the suggestion to use two colours of unifix cubes for each number in the story.
Leah had been focusing on skip counting because that was a weak area in the math profile assessment tool. It was clear that he students were catching on because a student doing number stories used the strategy of counting by 2's to create a multiplying number story.
Because of the release time there was a TOC in the classroom and an aid. This helped greatly for on task behavior. At the teachers table Leah was able to focus with a small group on making tens in egg cartons and creating the number stories that go with them. In order for students to 'see' the numbers, Leah took the suggestion to use two colours of unifix cubes for each number in the story.
Leah had been focusing on skip counting because that was a weak area in the math profile assessment tool. It was clear that he students were catching on because a student doing number stories used the strategy of counting by 2's to create a multiplying number story.
During feedback after the observation, Leah reflected that she was trying to cover too many concepts at once. With a slow start to the year she felt there was so much to cover. Now that there is a basic understanding of the routines she is able to focus on one thing. Her fellow teachers were very impressed with the on task behavior and how engaged everyone was. I particularily liked how she had students report out on what new learning they discovered.
Leah has decided to look closely at the ' how many ways' number stories , create a class rule maker chart and group students by which types or stories they are using. The other teachers each made goals as well, and Leona agreed to have us observe in her kindergarten room for out next meeting in January.
Leah has decided to look closely at the ' how many ways' number stories , create a class rule maker chart and group students by which types or stories they are using. The other teachers each made goals as well, and Leona agreed to have us observe in her kindergarten room for out next meeting in January.
We have now grown! For the past year ( 2013-2014) 7 teachers met 4 times during the year. On these days we :
went to one of our schools; discussed what was happening in our classes; watched a teacher in action, using guided math groups; debriefed about what we saw; and decided on what to focus on next time we met.
This 'cohort' style of learning has worked so well that our 'old' cohort has now recruited new members. We now have 31 participants, in 6 pod groupings organized by schools. We are using the 'Reading Recovery' model to have teachers share and give feedback that is constructive.
This year, thanks to district funds, I am now the Math Teacher Leader. This has allowed me one day a week to devote to this project , facilitate the growth and distribute supplies.
went to one of our schools; discussed what was happening in our classes; watched a teacher in action, using guided math groups; debriefed about what we saw; and decided on what to focus on next time we met.
This 'cohort' style of learning has worked so well that our 'old' cohort has now recruited new members. We now have 31 participants, in 6 pod groupings organized by schools. We are using the 'Reading Recovery' model to have teachers share and give feedback that is constructive.
This year, thanks to district funds, I am now the Math Teacher Leader. This has allowed me one day a week to devote to this project , facilitate the growth and distribute supplies.
Today we met at Chilcotin Road Elementary School, to listen to Kelvin Parent present on 'First Steps in Math'.
What I liked most was how clear and comprehensive the diagnostic was. They provide an overview of their diagnostic map on the concept of number, and you can visually see the each stage and how they overlap.
I think everyone that was struck by how students can plug along in math and get the right answers the wrong way. Unless we spend the time listening to ' how ' students get their answers we may not discover some of their misconceptions.
Another big revelation for me was that developmentally, students are not ready for the deep understanding of place value concepts untill they can understand how to partition numbers. Apparently, it doesn't hurt to touch on it in primary, but not to the depth that we tend to.
The standards discussed were studied first in Australia and then trialed again through Pearson in Canada.
Kelvin is trained to train teachers and we hope to have the 5 days training and ongoing feedback that this program reccomends.
What I liked most was how clear and comprehensive the diagnostic was. They provide an overview of their diagnostic map on the concept of number, and you can visually see the each stage and how they overlap.
I think everyone that was struck by how students can plug along in math and get the right answers the wrong way. Unless we spend the time listening to ' how ' students get their answers we may not discover some of their misconceptions.
Another big revelation for me was that developmentally, students are not ready for the deep understanding of place value concepts untill they can understand how to partition numbers. Apparently, it doesn't hurt to touch on it in primary, but not to the depth that we tend to.
The standards discussed were studied first in Australia and then trialed again through Pearson in Canada.
Kelvin is trained to train teachers and we hope to have the 5 days training and ongoing feedback that this program reccomends.
Yesterday a small group of teachers and a principal , met to discuss their use of the Math Profile Assessment Tool , (Tanya Braybrook) and see some of the applications of it in my grade 3 classroom.. Some teachers have looked over the tool and are getting ready to try it out, while others have tried one assessment. The people involved are: Marianne Okrainetz, Lorene Fennell, Leah Moe, Frances Bisaro, Tanis Stewart, Rae Perry, Sylvia Swift, Nancy Thomson, Kristy Davis, Jennifer Dryden, and Mike Grace
I started using this tool in November, 2012, and I have used it 4 times. It is set up as a word document organized by mathematical strands. Strand #1 is representing numbers, and there are 26 questions, labelled a-z, on that one strand. Then the next strand( question #2) is place value etc. The idea is to create your own assessment by cutting and pasting one question from each strand. The assessment is read aloud to the students, marked, and then each student graphs their results. The question #'s are made to be concistently on the same strand. It is meant to be given on a regular basis so that the students and the teacher can see the progress, by strands and concepts.
Tanya reccomends doing a test every two weeks, however I have been using it about once a month. I also use 2 or more questions on one concept within a strand in order to assess for my guided math groups. For example, I am starting a unit on multiplication and I used a multiple choice question that had the students match an array to a multiplication number sentence, then another one that asked them to draw a groups of story and write the number sentence and thirdly the problem solving question dealt with the concept of 'twice as many'. I had one group of students that got every question right, eight that had difficulty with the problem solving, 5 that confused addition with multiplication and 4 that had difficulty with every question. This allowed me to group the sutdents so that I can deal with one misconception at a time, in small groups.
After using the assessment 4 times I have noticed which strands the students are having difficulty with and I plan my teaching around that. It also helps me determine how long to spend on a strand. I have to continually remind myself to: be aware of some students test anxiety, the 'glimpse' that only one question gives on a single concept within a strand, and the wording of the question.
After our session, the participants had many questions and thoughts. I hope that they will add their comments to this blog. If you have any further questions , please add a comment, and I will answer in my next blog.
I started using this tool in November, 2012, and I have used it 4 times. It is set up as a word document organized by mathematical strands. Strand #1 is representing numbers, and there are 26 questions, labelled a-z, on that one strand. Then the next strand( question #2) is place value etc. The idea is to create your own assessment by cutting and pasting one question from each strand. The assessment is read aloud to the students, marked, and then each student graphs their results. The question #'s are made to be concistently on the same strand. It is meant to be given on a regular basis so that the students and the teacher can see the progress, by strands and concepts.
Tanya reccomends doing a test every two weeks, however I have been using it about once a month. I also use 2 or more questions on one concept within a strand in order to assess for my guided math groups. For example, I am starting a unit on multiplication and I used a multiple choice question that had the students match an array to a multiplication number sentence, then another one that asked them to draw a groups of story and write the number sentence and thirdly the problem solving question dealt with the concept of 'twice as many'. I had one group of students that got every question right, eight that had difficulty with the problem solving, 5 that confused addition with multiplication and 4 that had difficulty with every question. This allowed me to group the sutdents so that I can deal with one misconception at a time, in small groups.
After using the assessment 4 times I have noticed which strands the students are having difficulty with and I plan my teaching around that. It also helps me determine how long to spend on a strand. I have to continually remind myself to: be aware of some students test anxiety, the 'glimpse' that only one question gives on a single concept within a strand, and the wording of the question.
After our session, the participants had many questions and thoughts. I hope that they will add their comments to this blog. If you have any further questions , please add a comment, and I will answer in my next blog.
Author
Hello, I am Sylvia Swift, the author of this blog. I started the math conversation group after a sugggestion from Trevor Caulkins. We wanted to try some of his ideas in a 'guided math' situation and he suggested we get a discussion group together to view and try his online video tutorials. This blog is a new addition to our mathematical voyage.
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