Guided Math Book Study: Chapter 2

The second chapter of Guided Math:  A Framework for Mathematics Instruction by Laney Sammons focuses on creating a classroom environment of numeracy.  As educators, we are all familiar with the idea of creating an environment of literacy and, as a mathematics teacher, I have to be honest, I often covet the Language Arts classrooms in my building.  I am jealous of their comfy reading chairs and shelves upon shelves of interesting books. Yes, I have cutesy decorations and learning quotes on the wall, but in my heart, I long for a comfy reading spot! Thankfully, this chapter of the book gave me plenty of ideas for creating en environment of numeracy in my classroom.

Is this a trick question?  In chapter two, the author identifies the foundational principles of guided math:

-       All students can learn mathematics.

-       A numeracy-rich environment promotes mathematical learning.

-       Learning is a social process.

-       Learning mathematics is a constructive process.

-       Modeling, think-alouds, and opportunities for problem solving create a learning environment where mathematical understanding grows.

-       Students are responsible for their learning.

I can’t help but think the answer is ‘none of the above.’ I don’t think that any one component is more important than the other.  When considering this question, I can’t help but think of the Artistotle quote, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”  Each component is important to the overall result and would not have the same impact individually. 

If you asked me this question before I read chapter two, I would have answered with a resounding “YES!”  However, once completing the reading, I may or may not feel like the most horrible math teacher to ever teach math.    Luckily, this chapter gave me ample ideas for creating a classroom environment of numeracy that can easily be adapted to meet the needs of my classroom.

One of the ideas that stuck out to me from chapter 2 was classroom arrangement.  The text discusses how classroom arrangement should compliment the Guided Math approach by having spaces for students to meet and should facilitate movement within the classroom.  I will openly admit that I absolutely hate the arrangement in my classroom.  Since I teach in a middle school, all of the seats and desks are the traditional connecting chairs and desktops.  They have an awkward slant, which makes it almost impossible to complete any activities on them.  In addition, they are very hard to arrange in anything but rows.  To top it off, gaining access to a table in our building is comparable to finding the Loch Ness monster.  All of these factors have left the arrangement in my room less than desirable and made classroom arrangement at the top of my to-do list for the 2014-2015 school year.  

There were many more ideas throughout the chapter that I would also like to implement the use of in my classroom such as:  math journals, graphic organizers, and student-made posters.  All in all, this chapter left me with a ton to think about as I make preparations for next school year.  Now, it's your turn to take time and think about how you have created (or not created) a classroom of environment of numeracy in your own classroom.  Feel free to comment with below.  Also, don't forget to enter to win the giveaway to get some free, great product from my fellow bloggers!

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Guided Math Book Study: Chapter One

After reading the first chapter of Guided Math:  A Framework for Mathematics Instruction by Laney Sammons, I could immediately see a parallel between my own classroom and some of the ideas in the book.  As teachers, a huge component of being successful is our ability to look at our own teaching and identify what is effective, and often times, what isn’t.  Knowing that something simply wasn’t working has lead to big changes in my teaching over the years.  While reading Chapter One, I immediately began visualizing the ways I was successfully, and not so successfully, using the instructional components of Guided Math in my own classroom. 

Guided Math is a framework for math instruction that includes the following components:

-       A Classroom Environment of Numeracy

-       Morning Math Warm-ups

-       Whole-class Instruction

-       Guided Math Instruction with Small Groups

-       Math Workshop

-       Individual Conferences

-       Ongoing Systems of Assessment

The components of Guided Math work in unison to provide students with a variety of instructional interactions with their peers and the teacher, as well as a chance to be engaged in individual discovery.   While teacher-centered learning is a component, it is only one component of the entire process.  I think the author described Guided Math best when she said it “offers all students opportunities to develop their mathematical skills at increasingly challenging levels of difficulty with the ultimate goal of helping them gain the ability to function independently in the world of mathematics” (Simmons, 2010, p. 17). 

This year, in an effort to move my mathematics classroom from teacher-centered, I began using a flipped mathematics classroom.  During previous years, I always knew that I needed to provide my students with more hands-on instruction but struggled to find the time in a 50-minute class period. The main advantage of the flipped classroom was the flexibility it provided me in using those precious classroom minutes.  Since students were watching their lessons at home and competing OYO (On Your Own) problems, I could easily identify which students were struggling with a particular skill.  It also freed up time for many of the components of instruction that were discussed in Chapter 1, especially small group and individual instruction.

Small group and individual instruction takes up the bulk of my instructional time.   If you walk into my classroom during a mathematics class, you will likely see students working in groups completing an activity or working on an assignment, while I am working with a small group or individual.  I have found that the use of small group and individual instruction allows me to provide the extra support that my struggling learners need, while allowing my students who were ready for the next level to work independently on activities or assignments.  For me, the most rewarding part of working individually with students is the exact moment when I see a student “get it.”  Both the student, and myself, leave the interaction knowing that we really accomplished something. 

Chapter One of Guided Math also helped me identify areas of my math instruction that need some work.  Hey, no one’s perfect! ;)  Fortunately, I still have nine chapters left from which to learn, reflect, and grow!

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Book Study Announcement

Make sure to check our blog tomorrow as we take part in our first Book Study.  We will be joining the Primary Gal in reading and blogging about Guided Math:  A Framework for Mathematics Instruction by Laney Simmons.  In addition, there will  be some giveaways for free products!  

The Middle Invades the Refuge

For our annual class field trip, we always visit the Muscatatuck Wildlife Refuge.  It is a short bus ride away and provides the perfect location for incorporating some of the topics we cover in science class.  Each year before we go, we study ecosystems and the interactions within them.  

This year in science, I began using iBooks I wrote using iBooks Author.  For the life science unit, I incorporated information about the Muscatatuck Wildlife Refuge into the iBook.   

 

iBook Examples

A couple weeks before we take our trip, I have my students begin work on a service learning project over invasive plant species.  I created a website for the project using Weebly.  We also use the discussion board on MBC for the project.

Click on the image to visit the project website!

The students begin the project by researching invasive plant species.  They gather information about what invasive plant species are, why they are harmful to an ecosystem, and how they can be prevented.  Next, students use a shared Google Doc to create a database of invasive plant species in our area.  Each group of students is assigned 3 or 4 invasive plant species to research.

 

Click on the image to see our Invasive Plant Species Database.

The workers/volunteers at the refuge do an awesome job of providing activities for students that incorporate the learning we have been doing in class.  Each year, we go on a nature walk where a volunteer at the refuge points out different invasive plant species at the refuge.  I am always amazed to hear my students identify them and tell the volunteer what they have learned about them! 

While at the refuge, students also participate in a service project pulling invasive plant species.  Now, I will be the first to tell you that I wasn’t to sure about this the first year we did it.  I was VERY worried that the students would think it was the worst idea ever to be had by any middle school teacher.  To my surprise, the kids LOVED it!  These middle school students who we can’t get to keep their lockers clean and have to beg to put their trash in a wastebasket are great little volunteers!

The final component of our project is for students to create an artifact about what they have learned.  Students can choose to create a PowerPoint, Prezi, or brochure.  Their artifact serves to provide the public with information about invasive plant species.  (Disclaimer:  Anytime I have a Prezi as one of the options for a project, it is by far the most popular choice.  They love creating them and they are more interesting to view than a PowerPoint!)

Click on the image to view the Prezi.

Every year, this service project is one that I look forward to.  It provides students with the opportunity to make a difference in their community while learning important science content.  And in middle school, that is what we like to call a  Win-Win!

Middle School Students + Intgers + Competition = Learning Fun

After teaching math to middle school students, each year, I am still surprised at what my students breeze through and what they find difficult.  It can vary from year to year, but a pretty constant skill that they struggle with is integers, particularly with integer addition and subtraction. 

For integer addition and subtraction, I always start my students out using counters.  Yes, it takes much more paper (I owe you one trees!), but it seems to give students a concrete way to understand the addition and subtraction of integers.  

This year for integer addition, I created a game for students to play in partners with dice.  If you teach middle school, then you know the best way to get students engaged is to provide a little friendly competition.  I gave each pair of students a green dice, a red dice, and a score sheet.  The red dice represented a negative number and the green dice represented a positive number.  Each player took a turn and had to add the positive and negative number that they rolled. This represented their score for the roll, which could be either positive or negative.  The first person to reach a total score of 50 won the game. 

 My students LOVED this activity.  I also noticed that they seemed to grasp the concept of adding integers and moved more quickly away from using counters.  Learning and fun equals a successful day in middle school!

Click on the link to download the game from my TPT store!

Math Integration Featuring MBC

Along with math and science, I also teach a semester health class for sixth graders.  Whenever possible, I try to incorporate  math skills into our health lessons.  Last year, our school started using My Big Campus, a curriculum management system.  (If you haven't tried it, you should check it out.  Best part, it's free!)  We have been discussing healthy eating in class and I assigned them a bundle I had created on Healthy Eating.  A bundle in MBC is like a lesson that can include videos, documents, websites, and other materials that are bundled together all in one place.  

Click the image to link to my MBC Healthy Eating Bundle

In the bundle, students had a couple of videos to watch.  There was an assignment for them to survey five people to find out what types of food they had eaten that day for lunch.  Students used this information to create a bar graph to display their data.  They took pictures of their bar graphs and uploaded them to the class discussion board in MBC.   

 

I really like using the MBC discussion board and bundles together.  It allows me to bundle information in one place and let my students interact with one another in a discussion online.  Communicating with classmates online is a skill that will serve them well if they ever take online classes, which is probably something that most of my students will do at some point in their education.

Dat ISTEP+ Doe

Well, it has been an exhausting week in middle school!  Today, we finally finished up ISTEP+ testing.  This year, we really wanted to find ways to make the week more fun for our students, instead of the usual doom and gloom that permeates the building during testing week.

Our first idea was to make an ISTEP+ video to share with students.  So, we collected some of our tech-savvy high school students and set out to make our very own verion of  Roar.  We wanted the video to be funny.  No, it isn’t the best audio you will ever hear and the video isn’t going to win a VMA anytime soon, but it was a huge success with our target audience (middle school students).    We played the video at a short convocation for middle school students at the end of the day on Monday since they began testing on Tuesday morning.

Each morning before the test, we also served breakfast to the entire middle school.  And let me tell you, that is a LOT of bananas and chocolate milk!  Some of  our high school students made posters to hang up around the building for encouragement.  They were awesome! 

Perfect quote for testing week!

This definitely motivated some of the middle school boys! ;)

Dat ISTEP+ Doe...

 Needless to say, we had some happy middle school students (and one especially happy teacher) when testing was finished.  I can't wait to get our scores back, I think we nailed it!