Getting Guided Math Going
For some reason I decided to tackle two huge concepts this summer in hopes of not only implementing both in my classroom but encouraging my whole team to do so as well!
I first came across the idea of Guided Math on Pinterest (yay!) over Christmas Break. This article on Scholastic.com suggested I group my students developmentally and teach lessons to smaller groups. I know right!?! Mind blowing! I love those moments when I come across an idea that is so simple and obvious I feel like an idiot for not thinking of it myself.
From August-December I'd struggled with group lessons that hit 50% of my class at best (faaaar below my principal's engagement expectations). I was struggling to differentiate for those who were multiplying and those who could not even count to ten! In addition, we primarily use Investigations, which heavily relies on games to reinforce skills, but in pulling my low students I was pretty much doing Guided Math anyway, so might as well jump in all the way.
My class had whittled down to 19 students by the time I implemented Guided Math so I opted to have 3 groups of 6-7 students. My students rotated through 1) Teacher Table/Lesson, 2) Independent Practice, and 3) Math Games. My district uses both Investigations, which lent itself nicely to the Math Games center, and EnVision, which helped fill in for any indpendent practice. Ok, and I spent a million hours on TpT and created games when needed - like to practice Ten More, Ten Less.
I started each math period with calendar and a warm-up before quickly introducing or reviewing our main skill for the day. My highest group went straight to Independent Practice, and because I allowed them to work as a group they never had difficulty with this, then Games, then Teacher. My middle group started at Games, then Teacher, followed by IP. My low group came to me first so I could spend the most time with them, then IP, and last Games if they finished the previous center.
Now that I've had time to reflect and read a few more blogs about Guided Math I'll be changing a few things. <Side Note: Debbie Diller's book "Math Work Stations" comes highly recommended. I personally found these blogs helpful - Learning to the Core, Simply Skilled in Second, and Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits .... clearly I have plenty of room for improvement!>
My groups will be smaller to accomodate the myriad of students coming up with minimal number sense. That also means I'll be creating another center - my ideas so far are to separate games into current skills and past skills, or to make it a Word Problem of the Day type thing with math journals.
Speaking of math journals, another "new" idea I've stumbled upon is this interactive notebook thing. Gotta be honest again, I'm still not sold. But I'll save my discoveries/thoughts/ideas on that for another day.
So, how many of you use Guided Math/Math Centers? Any tips for me? Things that have or haven't worked? Ideas on how to convince my team that this is an AMAZING way to revolutionize your math time and differentiate lessons?
I first came across the idea of Guided Math on Pinterest (yay!) over Christmas Break. This article on Scholastic.com suggested I group my students developmentally and teach lessons to smaller groups. I know right!?! Mind blowing! I love those moments when I come across an idea that is so simple and obvious I feel like an idiot for not thinking of it myself.
From August-December I'd struggled with group lessons that hit 50% of my class at best (faaaar below my principal's engagement expectations). I was struggling to differentiate for those who were multiplying and those who could not even count to ten! In addition, we primarily use Investigations, which heavily relies on games to reinforce skills, but in pulling my low students I was pretty much doing Guided Math anyway, so might as well jump in all the way.
(Please excuse my end-of-year mess in the background!)
My class had whittled down to 19 students by the time I implemented Guided Math so I opted to have 3 groups of 6-7 students. My students rotated through 1) Teacher Table/Lesson, 2) Independent Practice, and 3) Math Games. My district uses both Investigations, which lent itself nicely to the Math Games center, and EnVision, which helped fill in for any indpendent practice. Ok, and I spent a million hours on TpT and created games when needed - like to practice Ten More, Ten Less.
I started each math period with calendar and a warm-up before quickly introducing or reviewing our main skill for the day. My highest group went straight to Independent Practice, and because I allowed them to work as a group they never had difficulty with this, then Games, then Teacher. My middle group started at Games, then Teacher, followed by IP. My low group came to me first so I could spend the most time with them, then IP, and last Games if they finished the previous center.
My groups will be smaller to accomodate the myriad of students coming up with minimal number sense. That also means I'll be creating another center - my ideas so far are to separate games into current skills and past skills, or to make it a Word Problem of the Day type thing with math journals.
Speaking of math journals, another "new" idea I've stumbled upon is this interactive notebook thing. Gotta be honest again, I'm still not sold. But I'll save my discoveries/thoughts/ideas on that for another day.
So, how many of you use Guided Math/Math Centers? Any tips for me? Things that have or haven't worked? Ideas on how to convince my team that this is an AMAZING way to revolutionize your math time and differentiate lessons?
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