Write all group member names and numbers on ½ paper and bring to front table.

 You have… 2 students who don’t know their multiplication facts 1 student who does not remember what x represents 2 students who have no idea what this means or where to begin but do know some multiplication facts

 With your table partners, brainstorm words or phrases to describe… “A successful math student” You have 5 minutes!

5 curriculum/instructional approaches that may negatively impact the mathematics learning of struggling learners.

1. Spiraling curriculum 2. Teaching to mastery 3. Teaching understanding vs. algorithm driven instruction 4. Reforms that are cyclical in nature 5. Lack of implementation of effective teaching practices for struggling learners

o Why might this be problematic for struggling learners? o Limited time to devoted to each concept o May never truly be able to master concept or skill o Without opportunities to develop understanding of concepts in meaningful ways, may only partially acquire an understanding of concept or skill o Struggling learners need frequent and prolonged opportunities to “practice” skills in meaningful ways

Requires that both the teacher and the student monitor the student’s learning progress. – RTI requires that teachers routinely monitor progress for struggling learners “progress monitoring” – By involving students in monitoring their own progress as they learn, teachers activate metacognition, which enhances students’ ability to think about what they are learning as they continue to make connections between ideas – Intervention Central | CBM Warehouse Intervention Central | CBM Warehouse

o Struggling learners spend most of their math time learning and practicing particular computational procedures – steps to memorize o Struggling learners have difficulty accurately performing multi-step computations learned in this way because… o IEP’s have become standards-based to address this issue – no longer focusing primarily on computation

o Reforms in mathematics instruction can swing from a primarily skills-based emphasis to a primarily meaning-based emphasis – depending on philosophical and political trends o Change is difficult for struggling learners o They require support for learning the “procedural” and “conceptual” aspects of math

o Teachers are often more focused on the product than on the process o Use a teacher-centered approach to learning math – unaware that students think about math differently than adults

How do teachers make instructional decisions?

o For the selection and implementation of effective mathematics instruction for struggling learners o 2 phases: 1. Making decisions about how to incorporate student interests and experiences in mathematics instruction to make it meaningful and relevant 2. Making decisions about what and how to teach on the basis of students’ learning needs

Research clearly supports the effectiveness of anchoring instruction by integrating students’ interests and experiences (Gersten, 1998; Schumm et al., 1995; Whemeyer, Palmer, & Agran, 1998) Doing so creates meaningful learning contexts for students, and meaning affects learning in several positive ways: – Enhances memory retrieval – Increases attention – Helps students with diverse backgrounds find relevance in learning

Teacher asks students to describe the kinds of things that they do in various situations (e.g., at home, with friends, in neighborhood, etc.) Then teacher reviews all responses and organizes them in a functional, user- friendly way Finally, teacher thinks about the type of authentic contexts that can be created given selected mathematics concepts

1. What is the age of the students? 2. What grade? 3. What questions did you ask? How many? 4. Was it a struggle to get the inventories completed? 5. What did you find interesting? 6. Did your mentor teacher give a similar inventory this week?

Period/Class: School Year: InterestsRelevant Mathematics Concepts/Skills/Strategies I Teach That Match My Students’ Interests Ideas for Creating Authentic Concepts Individual/Peer Activities

o 2 phases: 1. Making decisions about how to incorporate student interests and experiences in mathematics instruction to make it meaningful and relevant 2. Making decisions about what and how to teach on the basis of students’ learning needs

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CRAA provides students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of a mathematical concept or skill at any of the 3 levels of mathematical understanding (concrete- representational-abstract) The tasks should allow student to demonstrate receptive and expressive understanding in C-R-A ways

 Using the CRAA Planning Form on page 95 of your course text, develop an assessment for the following: M.TE Find one dimension of a rectangle given the other dimension and its perimeter or area. 6 P = 28 A = 48

6 primary pieces of info: – Student interests/experiences – The level of structure and explicitness (teacher support) required by students – The level of understanding (C-R-A) that students have regarding a target concept – Whether students have receptive or expressive response abilities – Where to begin instruction – What misconceptions students might have

 Course Text: Ch. 5 & 7  Conduct 2 nd math observation  Bring hard copy of Project 2  Related article