Collecting information from students is a very powerful teaching practice. Teachers can collect information about student interests, knowledge, or even self assessments. For example, teachers can use information collected from polling students to individualize math problems or use teaching practices that are more engaging. Another use of student poll data is to collect and use data on what students know or don’t know. A great method of polling your class is through an classroom internet website site or the eClicker app on the ipad.
Author: oursland
Using Student Responders in a High School Math Classroom
All math teachers are trying to find methods of using formative assessment to improve student learning. Aaron Brien of West Valley High School studied the effectives of using student responders (clickers) to teach high school math. Read about his finding and recommendation in this Action Research Project: The Effects of Formative Assessment Via Student Responders in High School Math ClassesThesis.
Collaborative Mathematics Projects
A classroom math project can be come more meaningful by collaborating with classrooms all around the world through the Internet. In this blog I will suggest features that are part of good collaborative projects and some examples of ways to make math activities from existing global collaborative projects.
Features of good collaborative projects:
1. Central question engages student to think.
2. Students can share data, solutions, and strategies.
3. Students can peer assess and tutor via the internet.
Guidelines and requirements:
1. Teachers should know who and how students are collaborating.
2. Teachers must make sure that students are following district Internet policies.
3. It is easiest to use existing Internet sites.
4. Get parent permission to internet publish reports, artwork, pictures, or video.
Math activities ideas using existing global projects:
The Big Mac index was invented by The Economist in 1986 as a lighthearted guide to currencies but now it is used for much more. This index allows teachers and students to ask mathematically testable questions, such as, “In what countries could the average person work for one hour and buy a Big Mac?” Collaboration comes from reading the blog posts on The Economist website and posting a hypothesis or some analysis through the teacher.
The Down the Drain Project is a collaborative community that analyzes how much water people use everyday. This project has worksheets and guidelines that support the teaching of creating hypothesis, making predictions, analyzing data to test predictions, and write conclusions. There is a worksheet calculating daily water use and sharing the data with the collaborative project members.
Site for starting a new collaborative project:
Class2class is an Internet service where math teachers can come to join in new projects and collaborations.
Implementing Student Voice into Mathematics Teaching
Just like Performance-Expectations (PE) Student-Voice is a Washington State term that refers to teaching practices focused on the student involvement. Some of the principles of Student-Voice are: 1. Eliciting student understanding of the learning targets; 2. Supporting student use of resources to learn and monitor their own progress; and 3. Teachers reflection on Student-Voice evidence to improve instruction. Recently two mathematics masters students and Washington State teacher conducted action research projects related to Student-Voice. The reading of these action research projects will help mathematics teachers and pre-service teachers understand what Student-Voice is, why it is important, and how to implement teaching practices related to this area teaching best practices.
Emphasizing Performance Expectations to Increase Student Achievement, by Jennifer Coulson Emphasizing PE to Increase Math Achievement-Jennifer Coulson
Using Learning Targets to Encourage Student Self Assessment and Increase Student Achievement in Geometry, by Katelyn Marie Pierce UsingLearningTargets_Geometry_Pierce_project
Using Technology to Implement the Common Core State Standards in Math
To implement the Common Core State Standards for Math, math teachers must focus on what math is important and teach it in a coherent manner. Teacher can do this by communicating their curriculum, instruction, and assessment plans through learning progressions, benchmark assessment items, and classroom assessment items. This is just the beginning because to truly impact student learning math teachers must collaborate to make systemic changes. This can be done by communicating a common vision for implementing the CCSSM and then organizing resources to plan and implement the newly aligned curriculum. Also teacher must align their professional learning resources and accountability measures to achieve the communicated vision. Resources for this process is the Dana Center.
Web resources for are valuable for implementing the CCSSM in a focused and coherent manner. The Common Core Converations webpage is a great place to start.
Post a blog about a technology that you plan to use in the upcoming year to implement the CCSSM. Make sure to identify the categories of Assessment of CCSS-Math and Technology Teaching Issues.
How do we increase math achievement?
Watch this video by Uri Treisman, Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize. What is your reaction to Uri’s analysis of the math education in the United States and what changes in math education does this analysis suggest?
Individual Post
What can math teachers do to increase mathematics achievement in their schools districts (as a change agent)?
Group Post
What roles do you think a student focused assessment system plays in increasing mathematics achievement (at the district and classroom levels)?
Give improvement feedback to peers on their learning progressions, benchmark assessments, and classroom assessments.
Ideas for Using ipads in the Math Classroom
This podcast video has lots of ideas for using ipads to teach the mathematical practices from the Common Core State Standards for Math.
Building Assessments Aligned with the CCSS Math
It is essential that school districts collaborate to build an assessment system aligned with the CCSS math. Collaboration between math teachers to design benchmark and classroom assessments will give the administrators, teachers, students, and parents the information they need to focus on the important mathematics at the heart of the CCSS Math. When teachers work together to design learning progressions and benchmark assessments they learn how the CCSS Math is focused on big ideas and how important it is that all math teachers teach these ideas in a consistent manner. Finally, as math teachers create and collaborate to design classroom tasks consistent with the learning progressions and benchmark assessments their teaching begin to become more focused and consistent with the CCSS Math. The vision is a math classroom where students are engaged in meaningful mathematics and teachers collect and use assessment information to guide and inform everyone about the mathematics achievement progress of the students.
This is a resource from Oregon of assessment tasks aligned with the CCSS Math.
Learning Progression aligned with Functions CCSS
This is learning progression for the Math 3 courses that uses Integrated Mathematics 3, Rubenstein, Craine, and Butts, published by McDougal Littell.
Learning Progression Building new functions from existing functions
Bench-mark Assessment Building Benchmark Assessments
Create Benchmark Assignments Aligned to the Common Core
Use on-line resources to write benchmark assessments align to the common core and learning progression for your district’s math curriculum.
example Building Benchmark Assessments