My Math Schedule/Routine

I'm chiseling out my vision of next quarter. Did you hear that I get to teach math for all three classes? As promised, I'm going to be spending the next few weeks posting about my plans. First up, an outline of my routines/schedule for math block:

I like to think of my math block as broken into at least two sections. (Maybe it's from doing a few quarters of station-type math instruction, but it seems to work well to plan for 25 minute blocks. This helps to make sure instruction is varied and that whole group, small group, and independent work can happen throughout the day and the week).

To begin planning, I laid out the quarter with our "Focus Standards" (new material) and "Review Standards" for each week. For the first part of the week, we will focus on our "Focus Standards" (catchy, I know :). I will provide students with typical math lessons, explorations, and problem solving, as well as have them practice independently through task cards.

Wait! That's not all! Task card time will also be differentiated--I'll take all of the independent materials I plan to use for a given concept and "level" the resources. I'll decide which resources my more advanced students can skip and which resources some of my students will probably not complete. Basically, I will have a continuum of task cards and activities and I will place students where it makes sense for them to begin on this continuum. For students, it should feel like they are working in "stations" because each task will be placed in a different area of the classroom.

Why go ahead and plan for review throughout the quarter? I know that I have a lot of kiddos who either did not master skills earlier in the year or that need to spend time making sure those skills are maintained. With that in mind, I wanted review (and intervention) to be an integral part of our week and 3rd quarter. I am going to quiz on the review standards that I have designated for that week and then students who do not demonstrate mastery will work in the "review standards" station on Fridays. Friday is a great day for me to differentiate for these learners because my AIG teacher will take the AIG students for a 30 minute lesson. For the other half of Friday time, students will work with me to get extra reinforcement on the new math concepts we focused on during the week. Of course, students will be split into two or three groups during this time to provide for more small group time. (The third group may consist of students who don't need to work in the review standards station but also do not go to AIG. In this case, they will use an online program like Mobymax to work on individualized concepts).

In future posts, I'll delve deeper into what other things on my schedule mean, including Math Exit Slips, tracking data, Algebraic materials and website suggestions, differentiating homework, and maybe even the map of my quarter. Hope you enjoy hearing about math! I sure love thinking about it!