How do you teach math? I, We, You vs. You, Y'all, We

Math is a touchy subject for me. I excelled in math in school -- until I didn't. Our district let students skip ahead a grade in math if we did well, even to the point of busing us to the middle school and the high school when we were in 6th and 8th grades. So when I started floundering as a freshman in what my school called Honors Algebra 3-4, I fell off the honors math track and had trouble landing anywhere. I'll spare you the dull details of my circuitous journey through my school's tracked math courses and just sum up by saying I (and my parents) could not understand why math was a snap for me for nine years, and then I suddenly started failing.

I began piecing together what might have happened nearly 15 years later when I was taking my math pedagogy course. In my late twenties I was finally learning the concepts behind all those algorithms that only got more confusing with each year. The class was amazing and it left me with a lot of big ideas about how I wanted to do things in my classroom once I finally had one. Teaching concepts, then letting the algorithms reveal themselves as students honed their own problem solving strategies.

But when I did finally get a job, the students had already been in school for three days. I had to hit the ground running, so I started from square one with the district curriculum, branching out and adding on little by little as I got more comfortable. When I moved to first grade last year, I did the same. I was essentially winging it in my ELA curriculum by stepping away from our lackluster language arts curriculum and teaching CAFE and Daily 5. So I leaned on the math curriculum once again, which was quite a bit different in the primary grades.

Math became my least favorite time of day. Each lesson was set up with a math meeting/calendar time (which I was able to do my own way), fact practice that ate up a ton of time, a very teacher-centered scripted lesson, and "guided practice" that was a big worksheet we all did together. The students struggled to stay with me through the whole thing as I struggled to differentiate my instruction and cram everything in to the hour or so we had for math each day. That hour fell between lunch and specials (art, music, library, PE) that took us right up to dismissal, so nobody was exactly bursting with energy at that point either.

I am resolving to start anew this year, to teach concepts and to structure my math block like my literacy block: with time for independent and cooperative learning, and for differentiated instruction with strategy groups. I am mining EngageNY and other resources for lesson plans and trying to learn as much as I can about Daily 3 math. If you have experience with either, I'd love to hear about it. I also read this yesterday:

Why Do Americans Stink at Math? By Elizabeth Green for the New York Times.

The headline is a little bit of clickbait, to be sure, but the story is fascinating. A teacher in Japan revamps his instructions based on the recommendations of a consortium of educators in America. It's referred to here as "You, Y'all, We," meaning students are given a problem to grapple with, to give them an opportunity to apply what they already know (You). Then they share their thinking with groups or partners and compare notes (Y'all). Finally the class discusses the solutions as a whole group (We). 

This is contrary to the popular (old-fashioned) method like the one my curriculum uses, referred to as "I, We, You." The teacher demonstrates how to solve a problem (I). The class tries the teacher's methods with support from the teacher or other students (We). The students work independently -- this is a large chunk of the instructional time that mainly boils down to practicing a series of similar problems (You). 

The teacher trying the You, Y'all, We method goes on to get amazing results and trains other teachers who experience similar results. Then he comes to teach in America, only to find that we (American teachers) are using none of these same methods. Why? The sources in the story posit a few ideas: uneven training, turnover, unclear expectations for teachers. The recommendations are from NCTM, or the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, which has been busy since the 1980s coming up with these ideas.

Obviously, Common Core State Standards have a much broader reach. Unless you are in one of the two states that haven't adopted them, they are a big part of your professional life right now. I think Common Core, especially the Standards for Mathematical Practice, ought to reinforce this type of teaching. But, as the article point out, it's suffering from some serious implementation issues. Teachers all over the U.S. are being asked to develop their own curriculum with very little guidance. OK. I think we are capable. But if our new curriculum is to represent a serious shift in how we teach, we need to clearly understand what it should look and sound like. Anyone, whether it's a large producer of educational materials or a teacher with a TpT store, can say that their materials are aligned to the Common Core. Slapping that label on it doesn't make it so. Just because a lesson, product, or "activity" touches on some of the ideas in the standards doesn't mean it represents meaningful instruction or creates real opportunities for learning.

How do we shed the skin of teacher-centered, dull lessons and meaningless busy work? What type of support do teachers need to put these practices into action? What has worked for you in your classroom?

Five for Friday

Today I'm trying out my first Five for Friday by linking up with DoodleBugs. I picked a crazy week to debut -- I can't say they'll always be this eventful!

A major upheaval in my worldview led me to the conclusion that my house needs a command center. I'll truncate a long and boring tale by saying that I lived a long time in denial of the fact that I needed any level of organization. We have a small house with an open floor plan, an unusual combination that has led to eight years of paper flotsam accumulating in the corners of all the countertops, on all unoccupied kitchen chairs, and even the bedroom closet. Something had to change.

If you're reading a teacher blog, I don't have to explain to you the power of Pinterest to inform us of all the domestic things we had no idea we were supposed to be doing. Don't get me started on how this targets women and the gendered expectations to which we are held. But the command center intrigued me right away.

I have looked and looked and looked at other peoples command centers, like this one and this one. I had to scale it down to my level (differentiating, you know). And this is what I came up with. Ta da!

View from above.

Organizing papers.

Lettering!

Basket o' bags.

Pens, coupons, etc.

I cannot believe I actually got it done -- and in one nap! This is why I only have one kid. OK, this and a few other reasons.

I got as much as I could in the One Spot at Target: buckets, letter stickers. The picture frame at the top (which still needs pictures) was about three dollars. I got this one for two dollars:

I just flipped the cardboard inside to the back and used the letter stickers, then stuck Command hooks on the glass.

The mesh cups and big file are from Staples (and way overpriced, but I couldn't track them down anywhere else). The whiteboard we'd had for years but was buried under a pile of papers on the fridge.

You may have heard this elsewhere, but it's really true: if I can do it, literally anyone can.

This one is from the parenting files. My son is just over two years old. Potty training has hit a serious wall, but hope springs eternal. I thought maybe it might be smart to move little man over to a toddler bed in anticipation of the day that he rises from bed, realizes he needs to go, and takes himself to the potty. WHOA dream big.

So on Tuesday night, this happened.

The point of no return.

Mr. W bought a camera so we could watch the action. At first, I couldn't tear myself away from the video feed on my phone. We'd never used a video monitor so I was unaccustomed to this much information about what went on after we put the little guy to bed. But time passed, he fiddled around...and then went to sleep. That's it! He woke up once with a bad dream, but just stood up in his bed and yelled just like he did when he was in his crib. I hugged him and put him back down and he went right back to sleep.

In the morning, he usually wakes up and sings and chatters long enough for me to hop in the shower. I wasn't sure how that would work out on Wednesday morning. So I turn on the video feed, then the shower...and he instantly wakes up. I watched and watched, and he seriously just sat there in bed looking around. I kept waiting and waiting for hijinks to ensue and they just did not. So I took a shower and eventually he started asking when we were coming. At one point before I was, ahem, ready to head into his room, Mr. W walked in to say goodbye on his way to work and told him he could get up and start playing. Only then did he wander over to his toy box and stand next to it.

I just hope this continues when school starts.

I finally dragged myself back into my classroom to do some physical work. I've been busting my butt from home in as many ways as I could think of until now. But it was time. The little man is going to a new day care next year, and I wanted us to try it out a few times before he goes full time. And I am planning some big changes for next year and needed to start doing the summer shuffle.

First up, Daily 5. Last year was my first in first grade, and my first with Daily 5. It took a lot of trial and error to get to a good place with it. One thing I never quite got how I wanted it was the procedure of getting everyone to whatever their choice was. I know some teachers just assign, some rotate groups, etc. But I really wanted to preserve the student choice aspect of it because I think it's really important. But I also wanted some control over how many kids ended up in one place and to make sure the kids were truly changing up their activities, without micromanaging.

I ended up putting a choice board up on the SMART Board with each kid's name and a certain number of spaces for each area. One student would draw names until everyone had a turn. I was able to start my strategy group while the others were choosing their area and getting settled. That was great. What was not so great was that the students in line would go bananas until they got to the board, where they would stand and stare for several minutes until they could finally choose something. And because it's a SMART Board, only one student could choose at a time and everyone else had to wait (and continue to go bananas with ever-increasing volume). I had a 15-minute timer on the board, and it could take up to 8 minutes for all the kids to get settled.

This year I am going low tech. I want kids to have a sense of urgency to choose their activity (before it fills up!) and I want several to choose at a time. So I'm still planning on having a student pull names on popsicle sticks, however, now students will take their popsicle stick where they want to work. Each activity is getting a little library pocket for the sticks.

These are the Word Work choices, with some of the portable (desk) activities right below.

The little pockets are in packs of 10 at Dollar Tree. I got some colored popsicle sticks at a garage sale, so I'm thinking of doing a color for each rotation.

I was very much hoping to have photos of my "I Can" Statements posted in my room in time for today. No such luck: I'm still waiting on the color ink I ordered to get here. I guess I'll just have a printing party this weekend, because I did get this:

Squee!

I don't know what having my own laminator says about me, but I guess I'll take it! I got a Word Work banner from a Sunny Day in First Grade that I'm really excited about, and plans for some other things I need to create.

So for my fifth thing, I will just have to casually remind you of the majesty of my I Can statements, and hopefully next week they'll be hanging up all over my room!

Written to make sense to you and your students.

I have reorganized my Word Work area, where I can hang the Reading Foundations standards, and my Writing area, phonemic awareness area...you get the idea! I have report covers galore and just need to track down some binder rings. 

Have a fabulous weekend!

Mrs. F-W

When students design their own learning

Just read this article about a program at a public high school that allows students to research what interests them in a supportive group. For one semester, they devote the entire day, every day, to researching a weekly question for the group and an individual endeavor. Check out this video.

Obviously, first graders couldn't do this. But it has me wondering: how could I give them more opportunities to learn more about what interests them? How do I help them tune in to what they wonder about and connect them with the resources to find the answers? The CCSS for writing include a standard that refers to a shared research project. If we are going to be teaching first graders to research a topic and write about it, we'd be improving everyone's experience by giving them some control over the process.

What are you thoughts?

ELA "I can" Statements

I finally polished these off tonight! If you know me personally, you know I am a little obsessed with (preoccupied with, fixated upon, dedicated to) finding exactly the right word for everything. That means, as I read each standard, I had to pretend I was explaining it to my students and think of how I would translate it. Some didn't change very much, but most I completely reworded.

I am really excited to get them all up in my classroom (and take some pictures). I'll be in there sometime next week when I can finagle everything with my little guy's day care. He's going to a new place this year, which makes me nervous. They are also apprehensive about his cloth diapers. My master plan is to have him potty-trained in the next three weeks! That sounds like it should work out just perfectly. ;)

Displaying your CCSS "I can" statements

I have been busy the last few days creating "I can" statement posters for all the first grade Common Core State Standards. When I first decided to do this and put it on TpT, I thought I would do one for each set of standards (literature, informational text, writing, etc.) That way I could release one every couple of days, then a package when they were all done. But I checked out how others were packaging theirs and see that they are selling full sets of ELA and math standards, and full grade level standards. Wow!

If you check out my silly little TpT widget, you can see that I'm not a very experienced seller. I don't create a lot of printable items for my classroom. Most of what I create goes on the SMART Board. But I really wanted a set of "I can" statements that I felt good about. I have a set that I downloaded from somewhere, but I didn't love the way they were worded. I think that they need to be written so that my students can understand them, but they still need to use the academic vocabulary that we are teaching them.

I also wanted them in poster form. The ones I had were strips for a pocket chart. The advantage to that is that it makes them easy to display and doesn't eat up valuable wall space. The downside is that they end up being so little, you can only read them from a few inches away. I never figured out a good system for storing the little strips and changing them needed, and the pocket chart was so out of the way, I never remembered to refer to it during lessons.

So here is my plan: a poster for every standard. By poster, I just mean a regular 8 x 11 sheet of paper. I've been color coding them and plan to slip them into plastic sheet protectors and hang them in sets. Then I can just flip to the ones I need, no extra storage needed. I've kept the design very clean and simple and focused all my energy on making sure I've chosen each word carefully.

If you are cunning enough to be reading this blog in its infancy, here is your prize: I'm going to post the reading literature standards here for FREE. I'll eventually put the whole ELA packet on TpT, but until then I would love for you to download it and tell me what you think! I'll put up a discounted packet with no literature standards if you decide you like the posters and want the rest. I'd love to get some feedback before I put them in the store.

If you're anything like me, you've been mentally (and physically) rearranging and redecorating your classroom all summer. I hope this helps!

Mrs. F-W

UPDATE: Get the whole set of ELA standards here!

Welcome!

Glad you're here! I'm excited to hop on the teacher-blog bandwagon and start connecting and sharing ideas with other teachers.

As the last of the summer trickles away, I plan to share here some of the big plans I am cooking up for next year. Last year was my first teaching first grade and I feel like I spent a lot of it just figuring out what first graders need to learn. This year, I plan to teach as many Common Core units as possible. It will be my second year teaching my literacy block with Daily 5 and CAFE, so I plan to share some of the ways we use that in our classroom. I loved Daily 5 so much that I am (gulp) stepping away from our math curriculum so I can use Daily 3 math to teach Common Core units and differentiate instruction with small groups. Our district also uses Kagan Cooperative Learning. I am always looking for new ways to use the structures in my teaching. If you are a Kagan teacher too, I'd love to hear how you use it! If you're not, I'm pretty sure I can sell you on it. ;)

Let's start off with something free! I am planning to teach a unit early in the year about numbers in base ten and groups of 10. I love ten frames for this, but stuck so religiously to our district curriculum last year that I never got to use them. This document includes a page for use as a Daily 3 game. You could other run off lots of copies (not what I'd recommend), or save a tree and laminate it to use with wet or dry erase markers.

 The next few pages are ten frames with zero to ten spaces filled in. These can be copied, laminated, cut apart and used for about a million things. The last page has links to ten frame games for an interactive whiteboard.

Let me know what you think!

Mrs. F-W