Some Big Ideas from MIF Training

Welcome back everyone. I'm glad we could all attend the Math in Focus training with Shelly DuBose, and I know I am looking forward to the rest of our work with her.

I thought it might be a good idea to distill a few of the big ideas from the training here as a reference as we all start our work with these materials. It seems like a few critical pieces are

• Yes, it is hard. And it will be hard for the kids. But it won't always be hard.
• One of the key ideas in MIF is attitudes toward math, which includes perseverance and grit. And that gets developed through challenging tasks. So, in some ways, it should always be somewhat hard for kids. That's OK. We all grow through challenge.
• Kids get to operate where ever they feel they need to on the continuum of concrete to pictorial to abstract, even on assessments.
• MIF is designed for you to cover fewer topics at greater depth. So slowing down (to a degree) is just fine.
• You won't begin book B until after Valentine's day, because the meat of the work is in book A.
• Dip into the transition guide as you need to (at www-thinkcentral.com).
• Transitions seem to ease up after chapter 3, when the prior knowledge starts becoming things you have taught this year.
• There are 3 levels of mastery: 1. Computational  2. Direct Application  3. Novel Application
• That said, there are items on the assessments for each chapter that are hard, and were not designed so that every kid will answer them right. Let kids know this that ahead of time.
• Try to trust the materials and the process; we don't know everything about the program now, but in a year, we will know better what its strengths and weaknesses are. 

Scheduling Work In May

We will begin looking at our master schedule for next fall in May. While in the past people have had the opportunity to be involved with scheduling, this year this process will be more formalized, and we will have small working groups on May 9 to begin asking and answering some questions.

Each grade level and teaching area will be represented in the conversation, and there will be one "at large" slot as well. As of right now, all the slots are filled, but you are welcome to attend any session if you don't need a sub.

Here are some of the questions we need to ask ourselves:
1. How do we best accommodate interventions?
2. What do kids get pulled out of class for? How do we deal with these different purposes? How can that make the least possible impact on the whole class?
3. How would we like to look at the scheduling of assemblies and special guests?
4. How can we deliver specials in the most efficient, effective way?
5. How do we feel about lunch and recess in multi-age groupings? Are there alternatives?
6. What scheduling priorities does your grade level/working group have?


If you are representing a group during these meetings, it might be good to chat briefly with the stakeholders in that group to make sure you know what their perspectives are.

Teach Like a Champion: Draw the Map

Yet another technique from Doug Lemov, this one called Draw the Map. When Lemov examines how classrooms structure their environment, he encourages teachers to ask themselves the following questions about student interactions:
1. When should students interact in school?
2. How should they interact in school?
3. What does the ways kids sit signal and incentivize about different interactions?
4. Which kinds of interactions support which kinds of lessons?
5. What other kinds of ways can students be socialized to interact appropriately without necessarily building the classroom around that one idea every day?

He asks teacher to consider what behavior expectations they have for their students, and if their seating arrangements promote those goals. For example, do you want kids to make eye contact with you, but are some kids seated so they look at other kids, but not you? Do you like a quiet work environment, but squeeze kids together facing each other?

He also recommends considering the empty space in the classroom; can you easily maneuver to stand next to any child at any time, without disrupting someone else?

As we start to wrap up this year and think about next year, it might be a good time to start thinking about how we use space to promote our goals for kids.

Scheduling Workshops

As most of you know, Ted asked me to schedule some 45 minute sessions to discuss big picture schedule issues for next year. He would like each grade level and each teaching area represented in this discussion. So far, we still need one person from grades 4 or 5 to participate, and a person from grade 3.

Some of the topics we plan to discuss are alternative specials schedule, interventions, pullouts, special event/guests, mixed age recess/lunch and scheduling priorities.  


Here are the current groups for this discussion on Friday, May 9
8-8:45: TV, SS, AN
9-9:45: DA, NC OPEN SLOT
10-11: SD, OPEN, OPEN


If you would like one of the open slots, let me know ASAP!

Final Round of Grade Level Workshops and Skills Clinics

Here is the final round of grade level workshops and skills clinics with dates and times.

Monday, April 9 8-11:00: Intervention Specialists
Monday, April 16, 11:30-2:30: Content Specialists
Thursday, April 19 8-11:00: Grades 4/5
Friday, April 27, 11:30-2:30: Grade 1
Tuesday, May 1, 11:30-2:30: Grade 3
Wednesday, May 9, 11:30-2:30: Grade K

Skills Clinic schedule is as follows:
Thursday, April 19, 1-2: Jane Hill (KF, NP, JS, JS)
Friday, April 27, 10-11: Progress Monitoring ONE SLOT LEFT! (KF, SS)
Tuesday, May 1, 8:45-9:45: Online Math Resources (KF)

Teach Like a Champion: Shortest Path and Double Planning

Two other techniques Doug Lemov highlights in his book are to take the Shortest Path and to Double Plan.
Let's look at Shortest Path first. Lemov warns that is easy for teachers to ignore the shortest path for the showiest path. When we do that, we add in extra time and effort for things that do not improve the outcome for students, but might look like more fun. Essentially, when taking the Shortest Path, a teacher is always aware that the goal is to get as many students to the goal as possible in the shortest time. Don't create a lesson around other perceived criteria.

A warning, though, that the shortest path is not alway the same for each activity or lesson. A champion will look for the Shortest Path in many different places and techniques.


In Double Planning, Lemov suggests we always plan not just for what we, the teachers, will be doing during a given lesson, but also for what the students will be doing as well. This is a great place to think about and encourage different active engagement techniques. In fact, Lemov sometimes suggests that teacher write lesson plans on a T chart, with one side being devoted to the teacher's actions, and the other devoted to the student's actions. This will help you see the lesson from the eyes of the student, and again, remind us that learning, not teaching, is the goal.

Teach Like a Champion: Right it Right

Returning to Doug Lemov's book, Teach Like a Champion, let's look at his second technique: Right is Right.

Lemov describes the difference between a partially right answer and an all the way right answer. Demanding an all the way right answer makes children pay more attention to the details of the question and shows them your question matters.  Also, as soon as kids hear you say yes or right, they check out of needing to go any further.Great teachers, he says, always expect an all the way right answer. To do this, he says you should

• not round up. Don't add to the student's answer to get the expected details, then attribute the added information to the student.
• hold out for all they way. Don't confuse effort with mastery. Praise effort for what it is. Praise a correct answer for what is is. Don't say "yes, right, except. . . "
• expect students to answer the question you ask. The right answer to a different question is not what you need. 
• expect the right answer at the right time. Don't let kids get ahead of you; if they do, they are likely getting ahead of important ideas and others in the class.
• use (and expect kids to use) technical vocabulary. Push kids for the precise, technical vocabulary that they need for the highest levels of learning.

As Lemov says, always expect the types of answers students give to be ones that push them the extra step, and are the types of answers given by kids in the most top performing schools.

Math in Focus

Math in Focus will be our next program to review. It will be available to you on Friday. It is based on Singapore Math. In the mean time, here and here are PDFs that the MiF rep sent to us regarding MiF and the Common Core .in grades 1 and 4 as examples Take a look if you have some time, since that will prepare you to dig in to the materials. We will meet here in the library on Friday afternoon to give the MiF overview.

Everyday Math

Everyday Math materials will be in my room until Thursday. If you would still like to look at them, please come down and check some out. Just as a reminder, kinder is currently using EM, as are 4 and 5. Lorrie has also used EM and can also be a resource for you. Here are some basics about the program.

• Daily Structure 60 min+ (Review with Math Message, Facts Practice, New Concept, Ongoing learning and practice with games and math boxes, HW) 
• K-2 Calendar Routines (not explicitly laid out for teacher- not spelled out in lesson). Calendar activities are less extensive and more focused just on traditional calendar activities
• Concepts are taught in units and then they spiral back into lessons within Math Boxes
• Students have their own workbooks called Math Journals 1^st-5^th
• Online suite of tools 
• Minute Math has some extra “quickie” problems by strand that teacher can use whenever 
• Teacher’s Manual lays out when concepts are taught throughout the program.

Please give us all feedback on the use/structure/approach of EM!

Reviewing Math Materials

The math materials review is underway. We will be looking at 3 different programs: Everyday Math, Math in Focus (Singapore Math) and Saxon Math. Thanks to all of you who have come in to grab some materials and check them out. Here are a few general considerations as you look at the materials.

Everyday Math	Math in Focus	Saxon Math
Units based with spiraling review: Mastery by end of the year	Units to mastery	Incremental, integrated by lesson: mastery by the end of the year
60+ minutes	45-60 min (not including calendar routines)	60-75 min
2/29-3/8	3/9-3/16	3/15-3/30

 The bottom number is the dates we have the materials here in our school.

You can find the form right here for reviewing the materials.

4 Box Data Sorting Tool with Guiding Questions

Here is the tool for today's work during PLC: Please copy it and paste it into a Word Document.

Growth Breakdown By Class

Content Area____________________

Administration ___________________

2. Meets or exceeds proficiency but not typical growth (maintains RIT but not percentile)	1. Meets or exceeds proficiency and meets or exceeds typical growth (maintains/increases both RIT and percentile)
4. Does not meet proficiency or typical growth (maintains/decreases RIT and decreases percentile)	3. Does not meet proficiency but does meets or exceeds typical growth (maintains/increases both RIT and percentile)

Use your Student Goal Setting Worksheets to sort students into the above four categories. Write their names in the table.

After filling in the table, look at boxes 1 and 3. Highlight students who meet expected growth (maintain percentile) one color, and highlight those who exceed expected growth (increase percentile) a different color.

Guiding Questions:

1. What common things describe the kids in each box?
2. What support is currently in place for kids in group 4? What supports could benefit them?
3. What were strands were strengths of kids in group 4?
4. Why do you perceive kids landed in group 2? What strands were relative weaknesses of those students? What could help them move to group 1?
5. Are there any surprises in group 1? Why?
6. What were relative strand strengths for group 1?
7. What is working for the kids in group 3?
8. In group 1 and 3, what is in place that made students exceed expected growth? Did they show growth in specific strands?
9. Which next assessments would be most informative for each quartile?

parent survey

parent survey

Using MAP DeCartes to Write I Can Statements

Last week I had a post about building the data ladder using MAP. Let's take that information now and write I Can statements.

Often people write I Can statements from the state/district standards, but the MAP data ladder is a great way to do this and differentiate the I Can for each student's needs. Keep in mind, we can differentiate in three different ways: the process of a lesson, the presentation of a lesson, or the product of a lesson. In this case, we are going to differentiate the I Can (the learning target); however, in the long run, all kids are still accountable for the state/district standards. But as teachers, we know not all the kids will get there on the same day, and some may have gotten there last week.  This will allow us the ability to scaffold the learning of our struggling students, and enrich the learning of our advanced students.

After you have built your data ladder, as detailed in the earlier post, you will have a single strand highlighted across multiple RIT bands, covering all the students in your class. At this point, you have already grouped those RIT bands as well for instruction; so now it is time to write an I Can statement for each grouping.

If you listed these on the board as a ladder, for example, it would help students see the levels of progression for different skills and enhance the buy in that purpose provides to a lesson.

A Goal is a Dream With a Plan: Goal Setting for MAP

Goal setting can be a bit tricky. We can set MAP goals, but really we should be encouraging kids to set goals for learning, which will be reflected in their MAP scores. To make this happen, goal setting should start right after MAP testing ends. This way you can highlight areas of concern for kids and formulate a plan of how to learn the necessary things to make growth on MAP.  Whether you set class goals or help students set individual goals, remind them that a goal is a dream with a plan; without a plan, a dream is just a dream.

Goals can be set for overall gains or by strand. We'll look at both in this post. To set goals by strand, check the stands on the bottom of the teacher report for overall strands, or on the same sheet for individual strand standing.

You can also use the goal setting worksheet to consider strands or overall goals. Goal setting worksheets are listed under dynamic reports; choose goal setting worksheet from the left hand column. The buttons to produce the documents are at the top of the page. 

Here is a an example. The top, narrow box is goal setting area. That is related to overall goal setting.  In the area to the right of the report, you'll see "FALL 2011-SPRING 2012." Under that heading, you'll see a column titled "TYPICAL GROWTH." That is how much this particular kid needs to grow from FALL TO SPRING to stay at the same percentile. It is the typical growth for a kid with this initial score. If a kid is at the 48%ile in the fall, it may be reasonable to say, "48%ile is pretty good. Let's shoot for that typical growth. We will be happy with that." If a kid is at the 90%ile in the fall, you may say the same thing -- let's shoot for that typical growth goal. 

However, if your kid is in the 10%ile in the fall, you may say "Yeow! 105%ile is not high enough. Typical growth is not enough to catch that kid up! We need to aim for more."

A second part of the goal setting sheet is the narrower columns below; this is the strand goal setting area.  That is where you will see the strands listed, along with their RIT band for the strand. The highest one is in bold; the lowest is in italics.

In the next post, we'll talk about setting goals based on strands and what that might look like.

Build a Data Ladder with MAP

Here is a new level of using your MAP data to plan your instruction. Step by step, here we go:

1. Determine what you plan to teach. For example, you might decide, based on your general impressions of your data, that you want to work on Measurement.

2. Print the PGID or DesCartes for that strand.

3. Pick a skill. Follow that skill through the RIT bands and highlight them. Maybe you choose telling time, for example. (Hand courtesy of Kaye Peters.)

4. See which bands overlap or could easily be taught together. If you chose telling time, you might see how that progresses -- from the hour, to the half hour to the 5 minutes to the minute. Make groupings that feel good to you. Maybe it seems reasonable to group to the hour and to the half hour, and the one minute people need to go in a group alone. 

6. Think about what you already teach for this topic; it's likely that how you normally teach will reach some of the groups. This will help you think about how you will extend the lesson to reach everyone on both sides of "typical."

5. Then, look at the RIT bands for your kids in measurement. 

6. Place the kids on the appropriately highlighted strand, and yippee! You can now again think of what you have normally taught, and by looking at the RIT bands, determine where you might need differentiation.

7. Plan to extend/simplify/adapt what you teach to meet all the bands, so each kid can grow with this lesson.

Teach Like a Champion: No Opt Out

In the book "Teach Like a Champion," (Jossey-Bass, 2010) teacher Doug Lemov outlines 49 techniques that increase learning in classrooms. What I have enjoyed about this book is the practical, concrete nature of his techniques. His premise is that specific considerations are critical for maximized learning and use of time in the classroom, even though these techniques and procedures sometimes seem too mundane to merit consideration.

Technique #1 is "No Opt Out."  According to Lemov, No Opt Out means

"a sequence that begins with a student unable to answer a question should end with the student answering the question as often as possible."

There are several ways for this to happen, but in all cases, the student who either doesn't or can't answer the question is revisited after prompting or hearing someone else answer the question. In some cases, the student just repeats the answer they have heard from another student. In others, after prompting, the student is able to answer the question independently. In either case, the student recognizes that their answers and learning matter, and that voluntarily opting out of answering will not save them work.

Next Technique: Right is Right

Creating a Parent Survey About After School Needs

Our work today on parent outreach has generated a few good questions. One of the biggest is "What do parents need/want for after school programming for themselves and their children.

We know that the most successful Title 1 schools focus heavily on parents and home-school connections. After today's meetings, it seemed like we need to survey GV parents to see what they would like in after/before school offerings.

I hope to be making a survey that parents can complete during conferences that will guide us in looking for the right resources for our families.

What questions would people like to ask to find out parent needs?

Parent Involvement

We have had some interesting discussion about parent involvement today in our skills clinic sessions. It's pretty clear how much we want our parents to be involved in their student's education, and research shows it is absolutely critical to student success. In fact, family participation in education was twice as predictive of academic success in school than was the economic status of the family. That success rate increases as the intensity of parent involvement increases. See the details of these studies here.

When thinking about parent involvement, a complete program will include these six items, called the Epstein Model of parent involvement:
Parenting
Communicating
Volunteering
Learning at Home
Decision Making
Collaborating with the Community

In all these types of involvement, two way communication is critical. The community must reach out to the school, for example, in collaborating with the community. But the school must also reach out to the community, working to make the whole community a better place.

What are some of the ways we are meeting these six items for parent involvement?

Jan. 24 and Feb. 10: Mark Your Calendars

Sign up now for these exciting activities.  All topics on these days will be related to goals people have set for their evaluations. As always, a sub will be provided by me. Email me if you would like to attend.
I Can Statements -- Feb. 10
Parent Communication -- Jan. 24
Online Resources (facilitated by Susan) -- Jan. 24
Organizing/Tracking Assessments -- Feb. 10
Progress Monitoring -- Feb 10
Differentiation: Materials -- Feb 10
Student Behavior: Nonverbal Cues -- Feb 10

Jane Hill Skills Clinic POSTPONED

Due to MAP testing conflicts, we need to reschedule the Jane Hill/ESL clinic we were planning until Friday, Feb. 10, from 1:30-2:30.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Nancy Norman Videos Coming

Thanks to Nancy for coming last week to demo in grades 2 and 3. I did take video, and as soon as I can figure out how to make it work, I'll be posting those demo videos here. Check back soon for updates.

Our next Nancy Norman visit will be Feb. 9, from 10-1. Please let me know what things you would like to do when she is here.

Ashlock Trainings next week

Two more days of Ashlock Training next week:
Kinder training all day Jan. 10: focus on comprehension and vocabulary
1st grade all day Jan. 12: final exam, check offs, data and lesson maps.

Both are from 8:30-3:00 at MD training room.

Scheduling Form for Monday Early Release

http://schedtemp.wikispaces.com/space/contentscheduling template

Want to Watch Someone Else Teach?

I have a list of people who have asked to do observations of each other. I will start working with you to arrange those visits. I'd like to go with you for your observations whenever possible, so we can talk about it afterwards. To make that happen, I propose the following general protocol:
1. You agree to visit another classroom during your prep (if that works for the teacher being observed). I go with you.
2. We spend a few minutes afterwards debriefing.
3. I cover you for 45 minutes later that same day to ensure you have your allotted prep time.

There will be cases where that doesn't work, but I hope to do a number of observations that way when possible.

Nancy Norman Extravaganza!

Just a reminder about the Nancy Norman math classes this week for grades 2/3 and second year people. The second year people will meet on Wednesday, and grades 2/3 will meet on Thursday. Please be sure to call for your sub.

Also, Nancy will be here with us on Jan. 10 from 11-1. We plan on her visiting Ellen's class and Natasha's class.

I'll be sure to post video and pictures from her visit for your future viewing pleasure.

Erica's and Tia's Blog Up and Running

Check out the blog by our friends Erica and Tia.  Yeah you two! I know your blog was a long time in planning, so it is great to see you moving forward.

Fishin' in First

You can also find this link with the other blogs I follow if you click on my profile under my picture.

Workshop Dates for January

Welcome back everyone! I hope you had a relaxing and refreshing break. We are certainly hitting the ground running this month, so I wanted to remind you of upcoming workshop times and dates. All these workshops meet in my room, and I will get your sub for you. Also, please email me agenda items for these workshops so we can maximize our time together.

Special Ed (no subs), Jan. 9, 8-11
Grade 1, Jan. 11, 11:30-2:30
Grade 2, Jan. 17, 11:30-2:30
Grade 3, Jan. 19, 11:30-2:30
Grades 4/5, Jan 24, 8:00-11:00

Still working on a date for Kinders, so stay tuned for that.

Remember, opposite these workshops will be both drop ins and and skills clinics. More to come on those later today!

Looking forward to seeing you.