Mims ES

11-17-15

Today Tracy (Math Coach) and I conducted coaching cycles together. I wanted to model the process so she can begin to conduct them on her own. She is ready to go!!!

Sixth Grade: Teacher identified Shifts 3 and 6 as her focus for the coaching cycle. Shift 3: Toward mathematical authority coming from sound student reasoning, and Shift 6: Toward focus on explanation and understanding.

Questions posed:

Why did you select these two shifts? Well the new standards call for more student explanation and reasoning.

Shift 3: How might you encourage students to reason on their own? She basically feels they are not capable of doing so yet. We suggested she use more open ended, higher order questions, in place of fill-in the blanks.

Shift 6: How might posing open-ended questions increase student explanations? She basically feels they are not ready for these yet.

This teacher will not be able to reach these shifts unless she is willing to let go of her control of the entire lesson. She is currently using a scripted online text that focus on lower level cognitive tasks. Today’s task had students looking for ratios between phone numbers in a phone book, I wish she would have connected it to something of interest. Number of girls and boys in each 6th grade class, sports, ect..

Fourth Grade: Some questions to continue to ponder?

Shift 1: What are some ways you can use differentiation with the higher kids?

Suggestions made: Create a menu so you can pull groups while other are busy halfway through your block.10 min math, 20 min whole group mini lesson, 25 min Menu (Task 1, 2, 3), while pulling students that need help or extensions, and 5 min Closure.

Shift 6: When posing a question how might you encourage more student explanations? Your question was, “What is a fraction?” For example, students can do jot thoughts/circle map in math notebooks independently and then share with a partner or in a small group.

Shift 6: Teacher Question was, “Is ½ always the same amount?”Good question. Is there anything you could have put in place for students to use to help them justify and explain their answer?For example, show a model like a snack size and regular size candy bar and ask students to talk to their group or shoulder partner. To hold them accountable, have a plan for sharing. I would like all the number 4’s to stand up and share what their table discussed.

Fifth Grade: Teacher selected shifts 2 and 6 due to the new standards for mathematical practice.

Shift 2: Toward a community of learners. What strategies have you used to encourage students to share their thinking? Currently just using “turn n talk” but lacks structure and accountability. We suggested using talking chips, assigning number or colors and randomly calling on a color or number to summarize for the group. Desk arrangements are not good for small group. We suggested she have them work in groups of three which will work with the desk arrangement.

Shift 6: Suggestion: When students share out their strategies, have the class compare how the strategies are similar or different?

Next week: Plan with grade levels throughout the day.

We would like to meet with third grade at some point to share materials we have for them and make sure they are on track. Sub funding from Title 1 was never approved. Do you have funding for a half-day session?