What does the class period look like during Math Investigations?

Math Investigations contains three parts: an Opening, a Work Session, and a Closing.

Ø  During the Opening, for 5-10 minutes the teacher directs the learning experience, helping the classroom community participate in a common set of experiences that develop a common vocabulary for the mathematical discourse.

Ø  During the 25-35 minute Work Session the students work independently and in small groups

Ø  The 20-25 minute Closing brings the students back together to share what they learned as mathematicians. Sometimes the Closing is used to clear up misconceptions that the teacher has observed during the Work Session.

Math Workshop?

It takes a teacher about a month to six weeks to establish the rituals and routines of the Workshop.  They are explicitly taught during the Opening.  Mini-lessons might include:

Ø  What students do when entering the classroom

Ø  How the room is arranged

Ø  Where specific activities take place in the room

Ø  Where things are kept

Ø  How and when movement is constrained and not constrained

Ø  How student work and oral participation is respected

Ø  What to do when one activity is completed

Ø  How and when to use the tools of mathematics

Ø  How to behave when working with a partner, a small group, or participating in whole class discussion

Ø  How, when, and where to turn in work

Ø  How to get the teacher’s attention

Ø  How to behave when other students are working/ talking

Ø  How to leave the classroom

Ø  How to evaluate work (one’s own or a peer’s work)

What artifacts do you expect to find in the Math Workshop?

The Standards

Ø  The central artifact; all activities and lesson relate to the standards

Ø  Define what the student must learn and how well they must learn it

Ø  Are visible in the room

Ø  Students know the standards and explain how their work relates to the standards

Ø  Students use the language of the standards to describe and evaluate their own/other’s work

Ø  Teachers use standards to create student assignments

The Mathematics Journal

Ø  A place to record Problem of the Day and solution(s)

Ø  A place to record assignments, to reflect on learning, to note things that are confusing, to pose questions

Ø  A place to record strategies learned

Ø  Each entry begins with a date/ No pages torn out

Ø  Students always bring Journal to class and occasionally take it home to complete tasks

Charts

Ø  Teacher-made – place a value on the work of the class

Ø  Created during Closing

Ø  Showcases work – student-developed strategies and solutions

Ø  Display for future reference – a model for students to use as they develop understanding

General Math References

Ø  Hundreds chart

Ø  Number line (showing positive and negative numbers)

Ø  Problem solving methods

Ø  Multiplication chart (skip counting) – if applicable

Class Diagnostic Notebook (binder)

Ø  Individual Standardized Test results e.g., FCAT, County Benchmark data

Ø  Individual school Diagnostic results – tests and profile sheets

Display of Student Work (bulletin board and/or wall space)

Ø  Changed regularly to show current work

Ø  Accompanied by related standards, circumstances of performance, rubrics

Word Wall

Ø  Mathematics vocabulary relevant to current work

Manipulatives (on shelves or in baskets)

Ø  In central location and labeled for easy access

Conference Table/ Area

Ø  Accompanied with a conference notebook or clip board to document meetings with students

Student Portfolios (in binders or hanging file folders)

Ø  Showcase student work and strategies used to solve problems

Ø  May also store graded/ corrected assessments once seen/signed by parents

Ø  Math-related Literature

Ø  Each Investigation unit offers a list of recommended literature to read aloud to students