Pages

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Guided Math Study: Chapter Six







Welcome back to our Guided Math Book Study.  I hope you are enjoying the study as much as I have enjoyed learning from it and sharing what I have learned!  Chapter 6 of Guided Math:  A Frameworks for Mathematics Instruction is all about using Math Workshop as a component of Guided Math.  At the very beginning of the chapter, the author discusses how Math Workshop is similar to math centers.  She talks about how math centers are commonplace in the primary grades, but as students grow older, math concepts begin to be taught in a more abstract way.  Being a middle school teacher, I can very much relate to this idea.  While I have not used Math Workshop or math centers before, this chapter gave me all the information I need to implement Math Workshop in my own classroom.

One of the main advantages of Math Workshop that immediately caught my attention is how it helps students learn important 21st century skills.  Sometimes as teachers, we spend so much time worrying about teaching the standards, we forget about all of the important life skills that students will need as they enter the workforce.  During Math Workshop, “students encounter tasks that not only encourage the development of conceptual understanding, but also the work habits that will lead to their future success” (pg. 185).  Students learn the importance of working independently to solve problems and working collaboratively to communicate and share responsibilities within a group.  These are skills that our students will need as they prepare for higher education and careers in the 21st century.  Math workshop also makes differentiation easier and provides the teacher with time to work individually with students who are struggling.  

Now that we know why we should use Math Workshop, we need to know how to get started!  In order to implement Math Workshop, the author provides a list of common tasks that are successful:
-review of previous material
-math fact practice
-mathematical games that reinforce concepts
-problem solving practice
-investigating mathematical concepts
-journal writing
-computer-related work
-math-related work from other subject areas
-work from small-group instruction

After reviewing this list, I can already see that many of these tasks are ones that I am already using in my classroom, I just need to make some adjustments to allow for more student choice in what activities they complete and a schedule for when I will use Math Workshop. 

Speaking of schedules, I am curious as to how other upper-primary and middle school teachers use Math Workshop.  Do you have particular days for Math Workshop, like once a week? Be sure to share how you use Math Workshop in the comments section and enter to win this week’s giveaway!
post signature - Kara

a Rafflecopter giveaway

No comments:

Post a Comment