Reflect
Read the two summaries linked below to get a better understanding of the design principles and key structures of Illustrative Math. Then watch the short video to learn more about the 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Math Discussions.
Consider
- What is resonating with you from these readings or this video?
- What caused you to pause and think?
- What principles or structures from your own math classroom align with some of these beliefs or components?
Respond and Interact
After reading and watching, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
Invitation to mathematics and purposeful representations were two concepts that stood out to me. The invitation to mathematics provides an excellent opportunity for the teacher to observe students' prior knowledge and meet them where they are. Purposeful representations provide materials that assist students in better problem solving.
ReplyDeleteClass discussion with the support of the teacher can not only improve students' understanding of mathematics, but also an opportunity to improve students' listening, speaking, reading and writing. Through practice, students learn how to plan and use strategies, how to improve plans, and how to use resources. The ability to solve problems, these 5 steps of practice are actually very important for mathematics teaching.
ReplyDeleteThe section referencing building a mathematical community has me slightly concerned about the initiating phases of the new math curriculum. I have seen how some of my students respond when I implement more open-ended introductions to a unit to see ways in which they solve problems. Some students become frustrated and refuse to work with their team. Some students have been conditioned to grasp on to an algorithm and get good at it; only at this point do these students begin to enjoy math. It is very apparent how I have helped to continue the unproductive beliefs written about from part one.
ReplyDeleteThis all being said I am excited to work on reversing these students' mindsets. My attempts thus far to re-engage these students has not been very successful but with the aid of this course I am confident I can get my students on track to have a positive disposition towards math.
After reading the section on teachers providing equitable instruction I became curious about the narratives. I took a look and found that there is a unit level narrative and lesson based narrative. I felt that they were both concise and would be highly worth reading during planning and right before beginning the lesson.
I love that the Key Structures of IM includes suggestions for PLC work. I also appreciated the table with teacher moves & questions that will support building a math community in our classrooms. Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteWhat resonating with me is, kids learn mathematics by doing mathematics. Using the problem based instructional framework allow students to problem solved together to learn math. It also building a math community in the classroom. This strategy lets students ask questions to advance their thinking, share their ideas and work with others. This keep students engaged in learning as well. Students can learn best when they feel comfortable and safe.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about kids learn by doing math I look forward to using this curriculum to help support that.
DeleteI like the understanding of learning math by doing math; " Students learn mathematics by doing mathematics". I thought I was doing a good job by teaching with I do, we do, you do. I now understand I need to flip this and let the kids do more. I am excited about this math curriculum and how it will build on concepts and ideas from previous grades. Much of what I do in MAP (small group instruction) is making sure students are remembering concepts and math procedures from previous grade levels.
ReplyDeleteSomething that resonates with me is, that students make sense of the world through metacognition, making connections between their lived experiences and knowledge base, that education should provide students
ReplyDeletewith opportunities to make connections between school and their lived experiences in the world.
After reading the documents and watching the video, there are a couple things that are resonating for me. First, the five practices are something that I have a had a bit of exposure to, but did not know about when I was in the classroom. However, the three act math tasks were something I used often. I appreciated the way the two were tied together in the video showing how the each supports the other. Also, with my limited knowledge of Illustrative Math so far, the practices and the three act math task type structure will be a natural fit with the lessons. The other thing that is resonating with me, is the intentional connection between structures in Illustrative Math (specific lessons, teacher reflection questions, etc) that can be used within the PLC+ framework to impact teacher and student growth. Having intentional resources and places to start from when it comes to PLC+ in our new curriculum will be helpful in supporting teams to have discussions about moving student learning forward and growing together as educators.
ReplyDeleteAll of the references to journaling and getting regular student reactions and responses to the material definitely sticks with me. In MAP, I think we have so many challenges with time constraints as well as finding a way to include students within a group who have both a wide variety of prior knowledge AND differing personalities. I think a verbal response at the end of group time may work better. I look forward to trying to use many of the prompts provided in the "Key Structures" portion.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE journaling! People learn by doing and I believe its important to have the students have time to problem solve together in small groups. Working 1:1 with students it is such a great feeling when in a small group seeing the collaboration on work out math problems. This is all great stuff!
ReplyDeleteSomething that resonated with me when reading Illustrative 5 principals is "All students Are Capable Learners of Mathematics." This curriculum really does make it user friendly for all-and I love that students are able to use hands on manipulatives when solving assessment problems as well. "The curriculum materials include classroom structures that
ReplyDeletesupport students in taking risks, engaging in mathematical discourse, productively struggling through
problems, and participating in ways that make their ideas visible." I love all of the hands on activities and there are so many lessons encourage all students to join in, whether it's throught a warm up "notice or wonder" question or students sharing their many different ideas during our lesson synthesis. Everyone is invited to participate and share their thinking.