Greetings, WCSU math nerds! I hope you're all having a fabulous first week back with our students. It was nice to catch up with so many of you last week. As always, I was reminded how fortunate I am to work with you. To kick off the year, I'd like to deliver this post in bite-sized chunks to update you on these news items:
Math Coaching goals, schedule and format for 2016-2017
Non-negotiables are "performance indicators?" - A summary of language changes
The math steering committee spent three days writing common benchmark assessments for math that are aligned with the scope and sequence and benchmark expectations (for levels of knowing) for October, January and April.
The assessments that we created for each grade level are available on the grade level tabs included in the header of this blog. For example, here is a screen shot of the Grade 3 tab:
The last bullet contains a link to the common assessments for grade 3 that are aligned with the scope and sequence linked in the first bullet.
In the next weeks, we will be cleaning up formatting and language... Please check out our assessments and provide us with feedback by posting a comment.
One or more of these strategies can be used to tweak the problem and increase the accessibility and reach of the problem. One strategy that I recommended was to re-write the problem in the form of a MadLib. I got this idea from a former colleague who created a MadLib project to teach qualitative graphing to her seventh graders. I thought the idea was pretty genius, so I have retooled it frequently.
Recently, I found this site where you can create your own MadLibs (or "MathLibs"). It's easy to use. Here's how it works...
A few weeks back, Carol Amos (principal at Berlin Elementary) asked me to put together a presentation for her staff to offer a big picture perspective on the changes in math instruction. Where were we? Where are we going? And why?
A couple of weeks ago, we spent the day doing clinical rounds in the primary grades at East Montpelier Elementary School with Mahesh Sharma. In the morning, we watched Mahesh work on additive reasoning and place value with a first grade class. In the afternoon, we saw Mahesh work with second graders on subtraction.
I made some videos of the lesson that I am embedding below. As you watch them, here are some questions that may help you to frame and reflect on what you observe:
Questioning: How does Mahesh check for understanding? How does he circle back and change his questions when a student has difficulty ("Give me ten. Make it twenty...")? What questions does Mahesh ask to promote reflection on the patterns students see?
Language: How does Mahesh distinguish between value and digit? What math language does Mahesh use? How does he clarify the meaning of math words?
Models: How does Mahesh move from concrete to symbolic representations and models?
Examples: Why does Mahesh chose the numbers and examples he does? How do the examples progress to show patterns? For example, in video 2, what is the logical progression from 7 to 17 to 19 to 29 to 39 to 49 to 29 to 39 to 59 to 19 to 29 to 99?
For those of you interested in the long term strategy for math improvement that WCSU is undertaking, here is a video available on the Vermont PLN vimeo channel:
A while back, I did a blog post sorting through the various assessments that comprise our "balanced comprehensive assessment system" at WCSU. As we roll into the SBAC testing window, here is some information and maybe a little food for thought...
What is it?
SBAC stands for "Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium." It is a computer based summative assessment for grades 3-8 and 11 that replaced the NECAP in 2015. It is aligned with the Common Core State Standards and is designed to assess mastery of those standards in schools statewide. In order to be eligible for federal funding, we are required to have our students take the SBAC. The SBAC is adaptive and includes multiple choice questions as well as open ended performance tasks.
How to prepare?
If you haven't done so already, familiarize yourself and your students with the online environment and take the training and practice tests. You can find a link to the practice tests and other resources at this WCSU SBAC Site.
Teachers should not feel the need to veer from their instructional path to do "review for the SBAC" or use released items in isolation. However, if there is a released item that fits in well with a teacher's instructional path, it is fine to use it. The Smarter Balanced website posts sample problems by grade level that you can check out by clicking here.
The whole idea behind the Common Core States’ Standards is to provide focus, coherence and rigor. So, the SBAC is intended to target depth rather than breadth. So, the best preparation for the SBAC is to provide coherent instruction that focuses on getting all of our students to a point where they can apply our non-negotiable skills flexibly to multiple contexts and communicate their deep understanding of how and why that concept applies.
Want more info?
For more information you can check out this informative article, or please email me or Jen Miller-Arsenault, our tireless Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.
