Workshop Wednesday #1-Getting Started

Every Wednesday for the remainder of the summer  I will be blogging about the components of math workshop,  how I implement math workshop in my 7th grade classroom, the tools and resources I use, and I will be answering any questions posed by readers.  I have previously written several posts about doing Math Workshop in middle school.

Today is the first post of the series; Workshop Wednesday #1-"Getting started".  If you are interested in implementing math workshop in your classroom I recommend you do a little reading about it first and this blog post will help get you started on your journey.  I have linked several previous blog posts I have written about math workshop, as well as, some summer book studies I participate in before I started doing math workshop in my own classroom.  

This post will give you a little background on how I got started on doing math workshop in my 7th grade classroom.  It will also give you some resources to check out if you are interested in doing math workshop yourself.  Subsequent posts will highlight each component of math workshop in more detail.  This post will give you plenty of resources to read through if you'd like to research math workshop for the middle school level in more detail.

Back in the summer of 2012 decided I wanted to do something different in my math class.  At the time there was nothing out there about doing a middle school math workshop.  The only thing I found that was helpful, although it was geared toward the elementary level was this book:

Guided Math by Laney Sammons

I joined a Guided Math Book Study that summer and got lots of ideas and a framework for how to do guided math, but it just didn't fit with our very challenging math curriculum.  I did dabble with doing Learning Stations with my students, but I never found a way to incorporate them consistently with every unit.  That's been a work in progress for several years.

The following summer I found a book geared toward math workshop in Grades 4-8.  It was first recommended to me that Spring by our school literacy coach who knew I was looking to do something innovative and different in my classroom, but needed a resource to help guide me.

Minds on Mathematics by Wendy Ward Hoffer

That summer I ended up hosting my own Minds on Mathematics Book Study here on my blog and Twitter using #momathchat  If you click on that link it will take you to numerous blog posts from a variety of teachers interested in doing math workshop in their middle school (or upper elementary school) classrooms.  There is a wealth of knowledge to get you started if you are interested in doing a math workshop in your own classroom.

This post gives an  Overview on math workshop in my classroom.  I strongly recommend you read it to gain an understanding of the four lesson components for math workshop:

1. Opening 
2. Mini Lesson 
3. Work Time
4. Sharing and Reflection

There is no right or wrong way to do workshop in your math classroom.  How long your class periods are and whether or not you have a strong math curriculum will also will impact how you implement math workshop.  I teach using Carnegie Learning Curriculum.  Here are some  blog posts about Carnegie.  I teach math everyday for 60 min periods.  We use a blended model of students working in a consumable text and also working independently on MATHia software. Our curriculum resources work very well with the workshop model of delivery.  I know lots of teachers have classes that are less than 60 min long and some have no formal math curriculum available.  I personally understand what a challenge it is to do math workshop in a middle school classroom because it is definitely not as prevalent as it is at the elementary level. 

Please feel free to share any questions you have and I will either answer them individually or incorporate them into upcoming blog posts in this series on math workshop.  Stop by next Wednesday for another post on Math Workshop.

Guided Math Book Study-Chapter 8

Thanks to Kim at Joy in 6th for hosting this chapter.  I really enjoyed this chapter and had some good reflections.  I took five pages of notes in Google Docs and definitely had to pare things down for this blog post.  I previously took a district sponsored grad class on assessment so most of what I read I had already heard about.  I also had to do a Summer Academy project a few years ago and one of the strands we focused on was assessment, so I found my files on that to answer the reflection questions below.  I do need to continue to focus on purposeful assessment and carving out the time to use the results to tailor my classroom instruction.  Hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did.

"Assessment in Guided Math"

A Vision for Learning
When planning a unit of study, teachers need to closely examine the standards, identify what students need to learn, and determine how to assess and evaluate students’ learning.

Three steps for teachers in the process of linking descriptions of expectations to instruction:

1. Describe what students need to learn in a language that students and parents will understand.  
2. Share the description with students and explain how it relates to success in life outside of school.  
3. Use the description to guide instruction, assessment, and evaluation.  

Establishing Criteria for Success with Checklists and Rubrics
With today’s emphasis on standards-based learning, teachers now determine how they will assess student learning by focusing on the standards before planning for instruction.  When they have determined how to assess their students, many teachers develop specific criteria for success from which they create checklists or rubrics.

Using Checklists
Although there are criteria listed, the checklist itself does not describe specifically what would be required to be considered proficient or exemplary in each criterion.  Even though a checklist maybe be more easily created than a rubric, it may not be as effective when used with students, unless the teacher provides a significant amount of very specific feedback supporting students as they strive to improve their work.  Checklists give students criteria without distinguishing levels of quality.

Using Rubrics
Rubrics usually list several criteria or domains and then specify gradations of proficiency for each criterion.  Sometimes, a scale is included, which allows teachers to determine a numerical grade using the rubric.

Rubrics that are developed to be used with multiple tasks or assignments allow students to become familiar with the criteria and the levels of proficiency described.  They should be available to students before they begin their work and should be posted in the classroom for reference by the teachers and students, whenever applicable.  Teachers should introduce rubrics by modeling their use with an exemplar, thinking aloud as they rate the quality of the work.

When rubrics are aligned with the mathematical standards, they are not just about evaluating a student’s work, they are about teaching.  Rubrics focus our instruction as we teach.  They help students understand the goals of their assignments so they can focus their efforts.  They allow teachers to provide critiques of student work that are individualized and constructive in a timely manner.

The Value of Descriptive Feedback
Research shows that one of the most effective instructional strategies that teachers employ is providing students specific descriptive feedback.  When feedback is guidance specific to learning targets, this assessment for learning scaffolds students as they work “to close the gap between where they are not and where we want them to be”

The Use of Feedback

1. Feedback should be “corrective” in nature  
2. Feedback should be timely 
3. Feedback should be specific to criterion  
4. Students can effectively provide some of their own feedback

Assessments for Guided Math Groups

• Pretests for initial grouping when beginning a new unit
• Brief formative assessments throughout a unit to monitor learning and adjust grouping as needed
• Checklists of knowledge and skills based on instructional standards
• Informal observations of student work
• Conferences with students
• Computerized data (MATHia)

What is essential and is a distinguishing characteristic of Guided Math classrooms, though, is the use of assessment for learning.  Assessment in Guided Math classrooms is ongoing and informs instructional decisions.  The strong links between teaching, learning, and assessment are evident.  Although evaluation certainly has a role in these classrooms, it is not a substitute for the consistent and pervasive use of formative assessment.  Formative assessment is the determining factor in creating groups, and, then in planning lessons for each group.  Assessment for learning is the defining characteristic of Guided Math.

Review and Reflect

1. Why is assessment essential in a Guided Math classroom? It is one of the defining characteristics of Guided Math. What role does it play in teaching and learning? The information a teacher gains from assessment is used to guide the instruction of students. It also lets a teacher know if the student has mastered the given objectives. Assessment helps students shift from being passive learns to active participants.
2. What kinds of assessments do you use in your classroom?

• In class √ups  
• Pretesting
• Quick Five
• Notesheet with √point questions
• Thumbs Up/Thumbs down
• Completion Assignments
• Graded Assignments
• Over the shoulder
• Five Q Review
• Quiz
• Re-teaching
• Discussion Questions
• Test
• Checklists (will do this coming year)
• Rubrics (will do more of this coming year)
• Math journal (will do this coming year)

Is there a blend of assessments and evaluation? There is a blend of both, but I do need to do a 

better job of evaluation of learning. That will definitely be something we work on during PLC 

time this year.

 

Guided Math Book Study-Chapter 7

I am still getting caught up on the Guided Math Book Study.  I think this chapter has been one of my favorite because I will be conferring with my students this coming school year and I think this chapter really gave me a wealth of information to help me set up the structure and record keeping of these conferences.  My to-do list for Guided Math is growing like the weeds in my landscaping.  :)

Thanks to Mrs. Patton's Patch and Thinking of Teaching for hosting Chapter 7. Check out the links for several different posts on this chapter. You may find a freebie or two from some of the teachers who have linked up. I took LOTS of notes on this chapter and decided to just share just two of the main points, the structure of a conference and keeping records of conferences. Do you conference with your math students? Any great tips to share?

“Conferring With Students During Guided Math”

The Structure of a Conference

Research Student Understanding:

• Observe the work of the student and interview him or her to understand what he or she is trying to do as a mathematician.  Probe to glean more about the students’ intentions.
• Name specifically what the student has done as a mathematician, linking it directly to the language of the standards and remind him or her to do this in future work.

Decide What is Needed:

• Weigh whether you want to accept or alter the student’s current strategies and process.  Decide what you want to teach and how you will teach it.

Teach to Student Needs:

• Use demonstration, guided practice, or explicit telling and showing to correct or extend a student’s understanding and ability to successfully complete the task.

Link to the future:

• Name what the student has done as a mathematician and remind him or her to do this often in the future.

Keeping Records of Conferences
What teachers learn as they confer with students can be as valuable as what their students learn.  Teachers can use this data to tailor their instruction in the other components of the Guided Math framework.  To do this effectively, teachers must have some method of recording what they learn and then use it.  What is most important is that the notes are not filed and forgotten.

When used wisely, these valuable notes can guide instruction, they can help teachers:

• Plan for future conferences-If teachers note that many students are struggling with the same concept in a unit, they may want to confer with other students to see if they are also struggling.  Or, if students seem well beyond where a teacher thought they would be, it may be worthwhile to confer with additional students to see if perhaps instruction could move ahead a little more quickly than planned originally.
• Recognize the strengths of their students-When teachers identify students who have mastered the standards being taught, they can modify the instruction for these students and allow them to move on.
• Discover future teaching options-Conference conversations suggest lessons from which students can benefit that may not be possible to address in that conference.  The lessons may be ones which would benefit the whole class or a small group of students.
• Broaden the scope of conferences-As teachers review their conference notes, they may decide to confer with students based on previously noted concerns.
• Follow-up on conference teaching points-Teachers who have records of their conference teaching points with their students can follow-up on these in subsequent conferences to confirm student understanding.

Review and Reflect

1. In what ways are you able to discover your students' mathematical thinking? I can do this by observing their written work. I also am able to do this by having them verbally share their thinking or problem solving strategies. I can observe them working out a problem and question them on their thought process.
2. How frequently are you able to confer with your students? If you are not able to confer as often as you would like, what prevents it? I have previously not formally conferred with my students. I have done some informal conferring with them, but nothing like what is expected in this chapter. This coming year I will definitely be conferring with students. This will be a very big component of our personalized learning model. The plan will be to confer with students on the days when the other students are working on MATHia software. This should helps to keep other students on task while I am conferring with students.
3. What advantages are there to having structures for conferences in mind as you meet with your students? Having a structure will make the conferring time much more purposeful. The information I gather will be much more meaningful to drive my instruction for that individual student as well as the class as a whole. Taking good notes on the conferences will insure that I use the information for future planning.

Guided Math Book Study- Chapter 6

I am a couple chapters behind on the Guided Math Book Study.  I will blame it on my birthday and baseball games.  My birthday was Tuesday and I had a wonderful day with my boys, husband, and parents.  Tonight my husband is taking me out to dinner at my very favorite restaurant Bacchus for an adults only celebration!  I will hopefully get myself caught up on the book study posts and then share some other teaching/math related posts I have been working on.  Welcome to all my new followers and please introduce yourself and let me know if you have a blog I would love to check it out!

Supporting Guided Math with Math Workshop

Math Workshop Components

• Review of Previously Mastered Concepts
• Math Fact Automaticity
• Math Games
• Problem-Solving Practice
• Investigations
• Math Journals
• Computer Use
• Math Related to other Subject Areas

This chapter was all about how to support Guided Math with Math Workshop. I will be using Carnegie Math this coming year and it has its own online math component. I will use Math Workshop, but it might be different because of the online component to our curriculum. Here are some ideas of how I plan on implementing the Math Workshop Components in my classroom.

Review Previously Mastered Concepts

• Daily warm-ups
• Skill/concept review check-ups
• Math Focus Wall

Math Fact Automaticity

• Flash cards (Study Stack for personal devices)
• Games
• Computer activities
• Mental Math exercises
• Guess the number

Math Games

• 24
• Product Game
• Bowling for numbers
• Quirkle
• Blokus
• Think Fun games
• SKUNK

Problem-Solving Practice

• Problem of the Day
• Problem of the Week
• Ed Zaccaro problem solving books

Math Journals

• Responses to teacher prompts
• Math Definitions
• Problem-Solving strategies
• Mini anchor charts

Managing Math Workshop
Principles on which a learning community is based:

• All members are trusted with rights and responsibilities
• All members take responsibility for their own learning and for helping others learn
• All members take responsibility for managing their time and activities productively
• All members learn self-management as part of the curriculum delivered by teachers
• All members understand that keeping materials in order helps everyone learn

Review and Reflect

1. What are some of the ways you can organize your classroom to support Math Workshop? I will have a dedicate area for small group mini lessons. I will also have a designated space for all learning materials students need access to. I will spend time at the beginning of the year setting the expectations for Math Workshop
2. How can implementing Math Workshop promote the learning goals you have for your class? Math workshop will meet the needs of individual learners. Students who need pre or reteaching of a concept or skill will have the opportunity to work with a small group of students who have the same need. Higher level students will have the opportunity to be challenged at an appropriate level.

Guided Math Book Study-Chapter 5

“Using Guided Math With Small Groups”

Thanks to Mary at Pitner's Potpourri and Alison at Toad-ally Exceptional Learners for hosting Chapter 5.

Advantages of Small-Group Instruction
By flexibly grouping students based on their strengths and needs, teachers can tailor their teaching to provide the specific instruction that best challenges all learners.

Mathematical communication is an integral aspect of small-group mathematics lessons.  Teachers learn when to move ahead with instruction, when more teaching is needed, and what specific points need to be addressed for these learners-all of which help teachers as they plan future instruction to extend learning.

If students are making errors in their work due to misconceptions or even carelessness, the teacher notice immediately.  An essential component of instruction is assessment.  That includes formal, informal, summative, and formative assessments.  Using small-group instruction teachers learn about their students and their abilities.

Challenges of Small-Group Instruction
Teachers who use small-group instruction are involved in more complex tasks as they plan.  This type of planning is only possible when teachers know their students’ levels of achievement and learning needs extremely well.

Effective Uses of Small-Group Instruction

• differentiating instruction
• teaching mathematical “hot spots”
• teaching with manipulatives
• assessing student learning informally
• supporting mathematics process standards

Forming Small Groups for Learning

• Unit Pre-tests
• Formative Tests
• Performance Tasks
• Observations of Student Work
• Mathematical Conversations with Students
• Benchmark Tests

Organizing for Small-Group Instruction
When the meeting space is clearly defined and any materials needed are prepared and readily available at the beginning of each math class, group instruction can begin promptly.

Suggested items available during small-group instruction:

• whiteboards
• chart pad and easel
• work mats
• manipulatives
• measuring tools
• paper
• pencils
• erasers
• crayons
• markers
• specific materials for the lesson planned

Guided Math Lesson for Small Groups

Planning the Lesson

1. Determine the big ideas of the unit of study to be taught based on the standards and the needs of the students.
2. Decide what the criteria of success will be in mastering the standards of the unit.
3. Use information from assessments (both formal and informal) to form groups based on student needs.
4. Select specific teaching points for each group.
5. Prepare differentiated lessons based on the learning needs of the students in each group.
6. Gather and organize the materials necessary for the lesson.

Teaching a Guided Math Lesson with a Small Group

Guided Math in a Small Group

1. Briefly introduce the lesson by providing supportive strategies for learners through a mini lesson to introduce or extend the concepts being learned.
2. Provide students with a clear understanding of the activity or task on which they will work, including setting criteria for success.
3. Encourage students to use a variety of strategies to solve the problem or complete the activity.
4. Scaffold student learning by giving just enough support to move students to the next level of understanding and proficiency.
5. Provide ample opportunities for mathematical discourse.
6. Give students specific, descriptive feedback on their work and encourage students to engage in self-assessment based on the criteria for success.

Teacher Reflection after the Lesson

1. Record and organize informal assessment information based on observations and conversations.
2. Select the next steps in learning for the group, as well as for individual students.
3. Identify students who are struggling with specific concepts, and plan how to reteach the concept when needed.
4. Change the composition of the groups, when appropriate.

Review and Reflect

1. How does using flexible, needs-based grouping affect student learning? How can it affect teaching strategies employed by teachers? Students learning should increase as students are taught in flexible small groups. As a teacher I can target specific skills or misconceptions and focus on them with the students who need it. I will use more targeted strategies and continue to try and build conceptual understanding for struggling learners. It will also be a chance for more targeted literacy strategies to be employed.
2. Question 2 was on Guided Reading and since I only teach math I skipped it.
3. What data do you have that can guide you as you create small groups of students for Guided Math instruction? I can use MAPs data to see the math strands that groups of students struggle with. I can use pretest information for grouping students, as well as formative assessments like exit slips and in class checks. By observing students and talking to them as they work on their math I can also gain valuable information for grouping them. I will be using Carnegie math next year and there many reports that will be generated by the cognitive software that students will use. This should also prove very helpful for putting students into small groups.

Guided Math Book Study-Chapter 4

Please join in discussing Chapter 4 of Guided Math with Brittany at Sweet Seconds and Katie at Once Upon a Teaching Blog.   Thanks for hosting ladies!

“Using Guided Math with the Whole Class”

Advantages of Whole-Class Instruction

• presenting mini lessons
• involving students in activating strategies
• reading aloud mathematics-related literature
• setting the stage for Math Workshop
• conducting a Math Huddle
• providing practice and review
• formal testing or assessments

Mini Lessons

• Connection

• With yesterday’s lesson
• With the ongoing unit of study
• With students’ work
• With an experience outside of school

• Teaching point

• Present verbally
• Demonstrate or model

• Active Engagement

• Students try out a skill or strategy
• Students act like researchers as they watch a demonstration
• Students plan their work out loud
• Students imagine trying a skill or strategy

• Link to Ongoing Student Work

• Students turn to their own work and apply the teaching point

Tips for Effective Mini Lessons

• Limit student talk
• Keep the connection brief
• State the teaching point simply and reiterate it
• Demonstrate the mathematics teaching point
• Use a familiar context for problem solving
• Match the active engagement to the mathematics teaching point

Activating Strategies

• KWL Charts
• Anticipation Guides
• Word Splashes

Reading Math-Related Children’s Literature
To encourage students to recognize these literature/math links, teachers can use a think-aloud strategy as they read a story, detailing the mathematical connections and questions that occur to them as they read the story.

Setting the Stage for Math Workshop

• creating a classroom community
• teaching procedures
• ongoing need to provide directions

Math Huddle
A math huddle is a forum for students to “communicate their ideas, solutions, problems, proofs, and conjectures with one another”

Students are held accountable

• for expressing their ideas
• for listening thoughtfully to each other
• for justifying their mathematical thinking based on their mathematical experiences

Practice and Review Sessions

• Pencil-and-Paper Tasks
• Games and Music
• SMARTBoard Reviews

Review and Reflect

1. Think back to the previous week of mathematics instruction in your classroom. How much of the instruction was whole class? Why did you choose that instructional method? Well I have been out of school for two weeks now, but when I think back to my typical instruction, I would do whole class instruction with most of our math explorations. That was the way our MathThematics text was designed to be used. Even with the whole class instruction there was lots of partner and collaborative group work throughout a lesson. On review days, a formative assessment was given to each student and it had to be completed with mastery prior to the student receiving their homework for the day.
2. In which situations do you use whole-class instruction most frequently? How effective is it in those situations? I used whole-class instruction to begin a lesson (the setting the stage and the daily warm-up) are always done whole class. This is the most effective way to do that. My class was a lot of whole class instruction with built in differentiation. I also used learning stations and when giving directions on those I would use whole-class instruction. This coming year with Carnegie there will be a large component of whole-class instruction as we work through the print materials for 60% of the class time.