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The Who, What, When, & Why in Growing Deep Mathematical Understanding

Who:  ALL--Every student deserves the opportunity to tackle problems with a high

level of cognitive demand.

What:  Multi-layered math problems with multiple entry points that promotes deep thinking.

When:  Embedded within the math workshop on a regular basis.

Why:  To promote deep understanding and coherency around math.

Going into this school year one personal goal I had for myself was to dedicate professional development and coaching support at the buildings I serve (Hawthorne, Hillcrest, and Lowell) to deepening mathematical understanding through rich tasks. The types of tasks we focused on were those that offered cognitive levels that were low floor and high ceiling. This meant the task should have an entry point that allows all students, at every level, the opportunity to access the problem. These ultra engaging tasks are called 3-Act Math Tasks. Originally created by Dan Meyer, these tasks have transformed the way we think about math exploration, inquiry, and mindset. These types of tasks can single handedly infuse a sense of wonder in our students and leave them wanting more. So what are these 3-Acts?

Act 1 is the set-up or the hook...and, in my opinion, the most exciting part.  This is where the teacher presents the chosen problem that will help meet the day’s learning target.  Here, students are given an opportunity to discuss what they notice in the problem and what they continue to wonder.  They will have an opportunity to estimate. They will have a chance to determine their own course of action.

Act 2 is where the students collect the necessary data and make attempts at solving the problem presented in Act 1.  They will determine what information is needed and the most effective method of solving. This is where the collaboration occurs.

Act 3 is the reveal and reflection.  Here, students will share the various strategies they used and the solutions they came up with.  This is also the time when the answer is revealed and students are given the opportunity to reflect on their process and celebrate their successes and failures.

When asked, “Why 3-Act Math Tasks?”, the answer is fairly simple...our students thrive when given the opportunity to determine their own path while appropriately struggling through the process.  Additionally, these types of tasks:

• Provide an opportunity for estimation and reasonableness.
• Build new knowledge from prior knowledge.
• Encourage multiple approaches.
• Honor diversity.
• Create situations which require students to engage in mathematical modeling.
• Build relational understandings among mathematics concepts.
• Shift student ideas about justification of thinking and answers.​

After having the esteemed pleasure of working alongside some of the best educators in our system, I have become even more fond of what these tasks have to offer us and the students we service.  Through modeling and co-facilitating, I have been able to see the direct impact these experiences have had on our students in terms of deepening their mathematical thinking and increasing their love of mathematics.

Informational Meeting for UW-Whitewater Masters Discounted Cohort

What:    An informational meeting regarding the UW-Whitewater masters cohort
Where:  Lindholm 213/215
When:   April 23, 2019 4:15-5:00 PM
See March 7th's Blog for more information.

Celebrating Coaches in our District

Please enjoy reading this article that highlights just two of our fabulous team of coaches in the Sha!

 https://dpi.wi.gov/coaching/waukesha-culture-coaching

Integrating AVID Strategies into our CLM Framework

When I think about both of the schools I serve (Hillcrest and Lowell), I can think of many commonalities. One big commonality at the front of all of our teachers’ minds is the implementation of AVID beginning in the 2019-2020 school year.  During last summer and this school year, multiple teachers at both sites have begun to receive training in AVID philosophies, practices and strategies. It has been amazing to see some of the practices in action with students. Today, I will highlight some of the great things we have seen happening in literacy that also align to AVID.

In one of our classrooms, we have seen extensive use of the Strategies Section of the Thoughtful Log.  The students are analyzing texts deeply through Language Workshop and then doing the same type of analysis in their own books during independent reading time.  This practice allows for deep implementation of reading strategies and ensures transfer for what is being modeled in Language Workshop to what the students are doing in Reader’s Workshop.  This powerful practice is an example of AVID’s Five Phases of Focused Note Taking. This process allows students to process notes, connect thinking and eventually apply learning to other areas of literacy.

In another one of our classrooms, a second and third grade teacher has used a three-column note taking form as a way to ask questions and collect facts for their informational writing in the biography unit. This teacher has also used the AVID Weekly articles as a way to help students learn how to annotate and practice with a text.  Before reading, the teacher created a chart to show students how readers mark a text. Then, the students were able to practice what they learned while collaboratively reading an AVID Weekly article with a partner. Now, the students will have the opportunity to apply what they learned about annotation while they read their next Literature Discussion Group texts!

Another second and third grade teacher created a Language Workshop planner for “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.”  The students discussed and analyzed the text and finished by having a debate using the Conga Line strategy. Students heard both sides of the argument, gathered evidence to support their opinion and then debated with their peers as to whether the wolf was kind or evil.  This teacher also uses the Team Huddle grouping strategy to get students into small groups to share their My Thinking responses in their Thoughtful Log. This grouping strategy allows students to quickly get into groups in a fun way. Once the students are grouped, they have the opportunity to share their writing, ask each other questions, and get peer feedback around their response.  

As we move into summer and the 2019-20 school year, we are very excited at Hillcrest and Lowell to continue to grow our own knowledge of AVID and AVID practices.  Many of us will be attending conferences and additional professional development opportunities to continue to learn about new tools and strategies that we can use in conjunction with our literacy framework.  

AVMR Summer Training Opportunities

Teaching for Equity Through Language

We consider ourselves teachers of many disciplines; math, literacy, science, art, music... but have you ever considered yourself a teacher of language? Within any given content area we teach, there is an entire academic language connected to the way we learn, communicate, and share ideas effectively. We teach for equity when we provide ALL of our students access to the explicit teaching, practice, and use of this language in ways that deepen their understanding of the content and strengthen their ability to think abstractly about it. How can you become a more effective teacher of language through content and create opportunities for educational equity for ALL students?

Begin with purposefully planning out the academic language that students will need access to in order to be successful in learning the content:

1. Start with your content goal: What standard do students have to learn?

2. Now consider the academic language that students will need to explicitly learn and practice to deepen their understanding of the content.

• Think about this language at the word, phrase, and discourse levels. 
• This won’t just be a list of vocabulary words; what are some of the phrases/sentence structures students will need to talk about the content in meaningful ways? 

3. Then, think about the language functions students will need to use to process the content; are they comparing, analyzing, justifying, etc …?

4. Now think of supports that could be used to scaffold this language. Check out this link for examples of language scaffolds. 

5. Organize this information to create a language objective:

Language objectives are lesson goals that intentionally outline the academic language that students will learn and practice during the lesson. Language objectives have three parts:

• Language function: What the student does to process language through content (i.e. identify, summarize, analyze). 
• Content stem: The content grade-level curriculum standard.
• Support(s): The scaffold(s) used to make content comprehensible and accessible. 

In Jeff Zwiers’ article, Developing the Language of Thinking, he challenges teachers to become “language watchers”, by constantly noticing the cognitive language behind the standards and skills we teach. When we begin to plan and teach as “language watchers”, we begin to open the door to rigorous, grade-level content, of which ALL students deserve.

(Below are examples of language planning done by Heyer teachers; in grade level teams, they focused on using a specific content standard to plan for academic language and then created language objectives with appropriate supports.)