Why Has Math Changed So Much? Want a Cheat Sheet?

Are you one of those parents who sits with his/her child doing math homework wondering, when did math get like this?  Why is it so different from what used to be taught in school?

I have found that actually looking AT the new Common Core Standards for Mathematical Content and Practice can give great insight into why math has changed so much.   So much is in the media about how bad these math standards are, but if one really takes a closer look and the actual standards, it does not seem all gloom and doom.

Want to look at a few key pieces from the standards that will help you understand their math homework a bit more?  Here are a few key pages and links to the actual standards too!

Mathematics Content Standards: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/
Standards for Mathematical Practice: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/

Not All Pair-Share is Created Equal

 Everyone knows that when students are given opportunities to collaborate and discuss what they are learning, they will retain that learning at deeper levels.  Over the past decade there has been an engagement wave building around kids interacting with other students in class. More and more, we see teachers assigning elbow partners or pair-share partners and are asking students to collaborate during class.  This is great right?  Exactly what we want? 

Not always.

Any student to student interaction in class needs to be meaningful and purposeful.   If a student can easily answer a question or a prompt without needing the help of another student, it may not be purposeful for the students to pair-share.  If the question or prompt does not require some deeper or more cognitively demanding thinking, the pair-share does not carry as much meaning.

Questions and prompts designed for pair-share need to be predetermined and constructed in a way that includes opportunities for students to use academic language in collaborative and meaningful ways.  

Time dedicated to pair-share should be appropriate to the task and create a sense of urgency for students to interact.

Low Quality Pair-Share Examples	Higher Quality Pair-Share Examples
Turn to your partner and tell them the letter.	Turn to your partner and tell them how you can tell the difference between the letter “b” and “d”.
Talk to your elbow partner about that.	Talk to your elbow partner about the change in the main character’s  motivation.
Turn to your neighbor and tell them if the number is prime or composite.	Turn to your neighbor and explain why you know that number is prime or composite.

While we need to continually plan opportunities for students to interact and use academic language in our classrooms, we need to strive to be more purposeful and meaningful in the questions or prompts we create.

What is Your Classroom Character?

In sports and in life, people say that "character is determined by what someone does in life when no one else is watching".  This commonly referred to phrase got the team from Leverage Learning Group thinking this week as we have been working in schools all over the west coast.  

Being a great teacher means that you are a great teacher all the time- not just when you are having a good day or when the Principal is in your classroom.  It means that everyday all of your students depend upon you to be ready, energetic, well planned, and engaged in your teaching.  It means that if prepping for tomorrow’s math lesson requires you to work beyond the contracted day, you just do it because its the right thing to do for your kids.  It means that when there are changes in curriculum, assessment, instruction, or standards- you do whatever necessary to get up to speed.  It means that no matter what, your students come first.

Being a great teacher takes A LOT of work.  It is the toughest job in the world that changes every day of every year.  It is the toughest job you will ever love. 

So, what is your classroom character?  

October is Here and it is CONNECTED EDUCATOR Month! Are You Connected?

Are you one of those people/ educators that wants to be "connected"? We live in the 21st Century and there are great things that we can do NOW to support our 21st Century Students.  This Month is Connected Educator Month and there are great supports and guides for those wanting to get "connected".  

We can all work together to get more educators proficient with social media to improve their practice.  We can deepen and sustain learning among those already enjoying connection’s benefits. We can help schools credential/integrate connected learning into their formal professional development efforts and stimulate and support innovation in education.  Join the Connected movement and do all that you can to support our 21st Century Students.

Check out the link below and GET CONNECTED! (and then Tweet about it too!)

https://www.edsurge.com/guide/all-aboard-the-connected-classroom?utm_campaign=cbdc245101-Innovate+190&utm_medium=email&utm_source=EdsurgeLive&utm_term=0_0f1ec25b60-cbdc245101-292149181

Are You 21st Century Skills Ready? Check Out this Teacher Technology Bucket List!

A very special thanks to Crechena Wise, Principal extraordinaire of Tetzlaff MS in ABC Unified for sharing this post with me.  Are you 21st Century Ready?

The Common Core standards require use of technologies. As more districts acquire more learning technologies and apply new strategies to comply, teachers are required to integrate new tools into their classrooms for learning and assessments. What do they need to know?

Brian Byrne – curriculum associate for elementary math in Stamford PS, CT, devised the Teacher Bucket List . “This is what I consider should be the bare minimum a 21^st century teacher should be knowledgeable about and utilize during instruction time with students. The list is in particular order.”

New Web 2.0 tools emerge all the time, and those educators at the cutting edge will find them, test them out, and spread the word about the useful ones to colleagues, who will further refine the list of what works for their students and under what circumstances.  At some point, use of these tools will reach critical mass as they become easy to use, transparent, and an essential component of schoolwork.  Educators will use sound pedagogical judgment to determine which tools – web-based and traditional – are best to use for student learning and when and how to use them.

Teacher Technology Bucket List

A 21^st century teacher should be able to:

1.     Create a Twitter account to communicate with all classroom stakeholders.

2.     Understand how to search for, download, use and remove apps.

3.     Scan a document and save it as a PDF.

4.     Attach a file to an email, post, etc.

5.     Create a blog and update it frequently with relevant information.

6.     Provide a place for students to create digital portfolios.

7.     Use the basic functions of Excel

8.     Put together a quality PowerPoint or Prezi presentation

9.     Understand how to operate and use their interactive whiteboard to enhance lessons

10.  Provide ground rules and expectations for students regarding digital citizenship

11.  Upload pictures from a camera and then use them within various platforms

12.  Support students in being creative and presenting their information in various ways

13.  Upload a video to YouTube

14.  Skype or videoconference

15.  Use Delicious.com and Pinterest to find teaching resources for the classroom.

16.  Collaborate with students via Google Drive

17.  Use a community forum like Edmodo

18.  Speak their language: know understand, and speak with kid-friendly language when appropriate.

19.  Experiment with comfort; accept that students may know more than you occasionally

20. Build a network by participating, sharing, and learning constantly.

Write More and Become a Better Reader!

Love this recent post by my literacy friend, Tim Shanahan.  For years people have asked me about the relationship between reading and "writing".  Repeatedly, I have been saying that explicit teaching and practice of writing (printing and cursive), has a positive impact on one's reading comprehension.  This blog post and reference to Ginger Berninger's research proves my point!

The more students write (frequency and duration) and the better students write (quickly and legibly), the better readers they will become!

Shanahanonliteracy.com

Not All Deconstruction is Created Equal

As I am working with a great cohort of Principals and Coaches in Anaheim City School District, I am reminded of the idea that common sense is NOT common practice.  Knowing and doing are not the same thing. This is obvious, but the obviousness doesn’t prevent us from falling victim to the assumption they are the same. We think once we know something we will always remember or be able to apply that knowledge, but this is definitely not true.  

Deconstructing standards seems like it is something that ALL teachers should do before lesson or assessment planning. The reality, however, is that teachers generally do not deconstruct standards, they just jump in and start teaching the standards.  What is the harm?  The harm is that we may not realize the intimate details of the standards at the particular grade level.  Not accessing those intimate details means that the students may not get what they need to be successful at the next grade or beyond. 

A couple of key questions to ask when deconstructing the standards help us see the standards from an INSTRUCTIONAL perspective.

1.  What do students need to KNOW?
2.  What do students need to DO?
3.  How will students be expected to SHOW their learning?
4.  What IMPACT does this have on instructional planning and delivery?

While we have been deconstructing standards for a few decades now, its important to remember that not all deconstruction is created equal and we need to make sure we are looking at the standards from an instructional perspective.  

Here is a visual I use with educators to assist in this instructional deconstruction.