Pre K - 12 Math Curriculum

Project2:PreK12MathCurriculum

ChristianAlbertoLedesma

UniversityofMinnesota

April 4, 2017
Pre K - 12 Math Curriculum

Initialmeeting
ImetwithMr.BradleyonWednesday,February1,2017at8:30am.

ProjectSummary
Goodclassroominstruction
Theconsensusongoodclassroominstructiontodaydoesnotlooklikeclassroom
instructionthewaywerememberitasyoungstudents.InBestPractice:BringingStandardsto
LifeinAmericasClassrooms,StevenZemelman,HarveyDaniels,andArthurHyde,identify
commonrecommendationsforbestpractice.(Zemelman,2012)Thecurrentstandardsholdthat
stronginstructionrequiresmoreexperiential,handsonlearning,moreactivelearning,more
studentstudentinteraction,lessteacherdirectedinstruction,andlessrotememorizationof
facts,amongdozensmorerecommendations.Thekey,though,isthatinstructionshouldbeless
teachercenteredandmorestudentoriented.
In20142015,MinneapolisPublicSchoolsbegantoimplementGuidedMathatthe
elementarylevel.UsingtheapproachbyLaneySammonsfromherbooktitledGuidedMath,
MPSsetouttoteachstudentsmathconceptsatvaryingpaces,withtheunderstandingthatnot
allstudentsmasteradeepunderstandingatthesametime.IntheGuidedMathmodel,students
receiveatenminutewholeclassminilesson,thenrotateinsmallgroupsthroughstationswith
teachersandindependently,endingwithaclosingandwholeclassreviewofthelesson.By
groupingstudentsaccordingtotheircurrentunderstanding,theteacherisabletobetter
differentiatethelessonandmeettheuniqueneedsofeachstudent.(Sammons,2009)

GuidedMath:InAction
Inthe,seemingly,desperatepushtofitinasmuchmathcontentaspossible,Iobserved
athirdgrademathclassskipthewholeclassminilessonandstudents,astheywalkedintothe
roomfromthepreviousclass,wentstraighttotheirgroupedstations.Twocoteacherssatwith
students,oneontherugandoneatakidneytable,whileaSpecialEducationResourceTeacher
satataseparatekidneytable.AfourthgroupofstudentsloggedontoanAppcalledWoot
MathoniPadstoreceivepersonalizedpracticearoundtheconceptoffractions.Onceattheir
Pre K - 12 Math Curriculum

stations,studentswithadultguidesreceivedinstruction,oralesson,thatpertainedtothework
theywouldbedoinginthatsmallgroupfocusedonplacevalue.Whenthefifteenminute
timerrang,studentswereguidedtotransitiontothenextstationwheretheprocessrepeated.
Afterfourrotations,sothateverystudentsaweveryadultandhadtimeonWootMath,the
classtransitionedtothenextsubjectareawithoutawholegroupclosing.
NotonlydoestheaboveexamplefromathirdgrademathclassdeviatefromtheGuided
Mathmodel,itleavesoutkeycomponentsofbestpractice.Zemelmanstatesthatthemost
powerfullearningcomeswhenchildrendeveloptrueunderstandingofconceptsthroughhigher
orderthinking.Studentsmusthavetimetoreflectontheirworkanddebriefwhattheyhave
thoughtandlearned.Bytakingawaythisopportunity,theteachersabovearenotallowingfor
studentstodeveloptheircognitiveabilitiesfully.

CognitiveDevelopmentandtheStandards
Thecurrentmathstatestandardsaregroupedbyconceptualcategories.Whatstartsas
measurementanddataattheelementarylevelgrowsintostatisticsandprobabilityatthehigh
schoollevel.Similarly,identifyingshapesinkindergartenleadstopropertiesofpolygonsand
anglesinhighschool.Studentsmustdevelopthecognitiveabilitiesintheprimarygradesin
ordertotackletothechallengesatthelatergrades.Effectiveteachingrequiresthatteachers
attendtothecognitiveneedsoftheirstudents.Likewise,principalsmustattendtoandbuildthe
instructionalcapacitiesoftheirteachers.

CultivatingaCultureofEffectiveTeachingandLearning
KaplanandOwings,inIntroductiontothePrincipalship:TheorytoPractice,cite
studiesthatshowthathighlyeffectiveprincipalsraisestudentachievementbybetweentwoand
sevenadditionalmonthsoflearninginasingleschoolyear.(Kaplan&Owings,2015)Inorder
foreffectiveprincipalstocultivateeffectiveteachingandlearning,theinstructionalleadermust
settheculturethatbuildsteachersinstructionalcapacity.Onewaytodothisisthrough
ProfessionalLearningCommunities.
ProfessionalLearningCommunities(PLCs)createcollaborativeteamsofteachersthat
sharetheresponsibilitytoeducatestudents,createsacultureofcollaboration,focuseson
Pre K - 12 Math Curriculum

results,andcreatestimeandspaceforstudentstoreflectonresults.Thisallowsteachersto
buildandrefinetheircapacities.AnthonyMuhammadandSharrokyHollie,inTheWillto
Lead,theSkilltoTeach:TransformingSchoolsatEveryLevel,statethatinordertoachievea
healthyschoolculture,theprincipalmustcultivateahealthyschoolculture.Todoso,
instructionalleadersmustcommunicatethecommonmissionandapplythecharacteristicsof
effectiveinstructionintheirmanagement.(MuhammadandHollie,2012)

PLCsandSecondaryMath:InAction
AvisittoahighschooladvancedalgebraclassallowedforaglimpsetohowPLCshelp
guideinstructionalpractice.Atthisparticularsite,themathteamsPLCfocusisonNumber
Talksashort,dailyroutineinwhichstudentspracticecomputationalfluencywithrealworld
examples.Thelesson,thoughanadvancedalgebraclass,beganwithashortnumbertalk.While
thenumbertalkandthealgebraiccontentofthelessonwereverylooselyconnected,ifatall,it
becameclearduringthelessonthatpartofexpectedpracticeisthatstudentsareableto
efficientlyandaccuratelycomputeintheirheadsoronpaper.
Theteacherinthisclassuseddirectinstructionofawholeclasstostart,modeledhowto
graphalgebraicequations,guidedstudentsinasharedgraphingofanequation,andthenhad
themcompleteafewproblemsontheirown.Theclassthensharedtheiranswerswiththe
teacheraskingreflectivequestionsofthestudentstoguidetheirthinking.JohnHattie,in
VisibleLearningforTeachers,revealsthatdirectioninstructionhasaneffectsizeof0.59,
higherthanayearseffectsizeof0.41demonstratingthatthemethodusedbythisparticular
teacherdoesadvancelearningatahigherthanaveragepace.(Hattie,2012)Attheendofclass,
studentsweregivenanexitslipwithtwoproblemsfortheteachertobeabletoidentifyif
studentsmetthelearningobjectivesoftheclassandforuseinthedatacollectionofthePLC.
WhilethelongtermeffectsoftheNumberTalksfocusareundeterminedasofthispointinthe
year,theexampleaboveshowshowteachersusingonestrategycanmonitoritseffectthrough
thedatacycle.
Amiddleschoolgeometrylessonalsouseddirectinstruction.Whilestudentsatthehigh
schoolwereseatedintraditionalrowswithstudentsworkingindependently,studentsatthe
middleschoolIobservedwereseatedingroupsof3to4studentsandwereallowedtotalkand
Pre K - 12 Math Curriculum

helponeanotherduringindependentwork.Here,theteacherreviewedkeytermsfordescribing
3dimensionalshapesandhowtofindarea.Then,studentswereaskedtocutoutthenetsfor
thegeometricshapesandattachthemtoablocktoensurethatallpartsoftheblockwere
covered.Aworksheetfurtheraskedstudentstodeterminewhatthesurfaceareaoftheentire
blockwasandhowtheywouldsolveit.Throughoutthelesson,studentswereabletotalk,
movearoundtheroomforhelp,andtheteacherwasactivelyengagedinhelpingstudents.

MTSSandInterventions
Interventionsatthethreelevelswerehardtoidentifyinthecontextofonetime
classroomobservations.MinneapolisPublicSchoolsdohaveMTSSteamsateachsitethat
meetregularly,lookatstudentdataandwork,andmakerecommendationsforinterventionand
applyitviaadatacycle.Interventionscanincludebutarenotlimitedto,useoftechnology,like
specificmathapps,thatcanhelpstudentsbypracticingcertainskillsinadifferentformatand
increasedtimewithateachereitheroneononeorinsmallgroups.Someschoolsareseeing
successwithinterventionsasnoticedbyhighgrowthonstateassessmentsacrossalllevelsof
proficiency.However,theresultsaremixedacrossthedistrictandsuccessoftenisolatedatthe
schoolsitelevel.

Assessment
TheMathDepartmentatTeachingandLearningdevelopedInterimBenchmarkMath
Assessmentsthatarealignedtostatestandards.Theseassessments,givenquarterly,helpthe
teachers,coaches,andadministratorsadjusttheirinstructiontomeettheneedsofthestudents.
Whilethereweresomegrowingpainswiththeimplementationoftheassessments,teachersat
allthreesitesIobservednotedtheusefulnessoftheassessments.Someschoolsinthedistrict
alsouseMAPmathasaformativeassessmenttohelpdeterminetheneedsofthestudents.
Whilenotuniformacrossthedistrict,theuseofcommonformativeassessmentsisbecominga
biggerpartofthecultureatMinneapolisPublicSchools.

Reflection1
Pre K - 12 Math Curriculum

AconversationwiththeMiddleSchoolmathcoachrevealedthatteachersattheschool
arefocusingonincreasingstudenttalkasawaytocognitivelyengagestudentsduring
instructiontime.ThevisionforthisfocuswascreatedbytheInstructionalLeadershipTeamas
theydevelopedtheirSchoolImprovementPlans.Itisclear,throughthestudiesofZemelman
Daniels,andHyde,thattheprincipalandinstructionalleadersmustcultivatethecultureof
effectivepractice.InthethreeclassroomobservationsIdid,therewassomeevidenceofa
visionforbestinstructionalpractice.Theywereallowingforhandsonlearning,studentto
studentinteractions,andusingformativeassessment.
Thereisstillroomforgrowthinallthreeclassroomsandaneffectiveinstructionalteam
couldcoachthosesetsofteacherstocontinuouslyrefinetheirpractice.TheworkofKaplanand
Owings,andMuhammadandHollie,speakstotheroleoftheeffectiveprincipalonthestudent
achievementofstudents.Itisimperativethattheprincipal,asinstructionalleader,setsthe
visionforacultureofeffectiveteaching,thegrowthandachievementofstudentsdependonit.

AnalysisMeeting
ImetwithMr.BradleyonWednesday,March15th,2017todiscussmyprojectafterobserving
allthreegradelevelsinmathinstruction.

FinalReflection
DuringtheconversationwithPrincipalBradleywefocusedonseveralthemes,theneedfor
verticalalignment,theideathatsomeoneshouldbeabletoholdthevisionforthedistrictfor
whatthatverticalalignmentlookslikeasstudentstransitionfromoneleveltoanother,andthe
amountofteachertalkduringlessons.
PrincipalBradleyisaformerESLteacherandteacher/studenttalkandvocabulary
acquisitionareimportantthemesforhim.Wewonderedwhetherteachers,consideringthehigh
numbersofEnglishLanguageLearnersintheirclassrooms,wereusingbestpracticetoteach
theirEnglishLanguageLearners.Whilewebrainstormedideasforhowtohelpstudents
transitionfromoneleveltoanother,wewonderedifdistrictlevelstafformathcoacheswere
Pre K - 12 Math Curriculum

awareofwhatinstructionlookedlikefromoneleveltoanotherandifwehadthestructuresin
placeforasmoothtransition.
Theconversationbroughttolightthattheprincipalmustnotonlyholdavisionfortheir
buildingbutalsoconsiderthelargerdistrictvisiontoensurethebestoutcomesforstudents
acrossalllevels.

References
Hattie, John. (2012). Visible Learning for Teachers. New York, NY: Routledge.
Kaplan, L. and Owings, W. (2015). Introduction to the Principalship Theory to Practice. New
York, NY: Routledge.
Muhammad, Anthony and Hollie, Sharroky. (2012). The Will to Teach, The Skill to Teach:
Transforming Schools at Every Level. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
Zemelman, S., Daniels, H., and Hyde, A. (2012). Best Practice: Bringing Standards to Life in
Americas Classrooms. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.