We are teaching what seems like a lot of standards to a lot of students this year in math. It's a team effort as we try to teach with meaning and engagement. Overall students are making good progress. Yet as I reflect there's room for greater growth and betterment too. What can we do?
Homework
Though the research points to little gain for homework at the elementary level, our school still assigns homework. Students are expected to study math for twenty minutes each school night. There are assignments that take the average student about twenty minutes, but for some that means forty minutes and for others that's ten minutes. With that span in mind, I will plan to gauge the homework for the 10-minute time frame, and then add bonus for those who want to work for the entire twenty minutes. I think this will be a more reasonable and successful approach.
Extra Help
I'll continue to offer the extra help sessions. The one-to-one support and learning gains from these sessions are substantial, enjoyable, and positive--a win-win for all.
Study Guides
The use of the study guides are helping students, teachers, and families to know what's expected, learn the language of the unit, and understand the visual models, skills, and concepts associated with the unit. These packets also offer a fair amount of independence and review. I'll continue this practice.
Online Supports
Though a bit dry, the online supports of That Quiz, TenMarks, Illuminations, and Symphony Math do help students to master the standards. I would like to add some more engaging sites as time goes on. I also believe that students should have a steady diet of computer programming at fifth grade as that's a terrific way to build mathematical thinking and proficiency.
Math Website
The math website is a good resource guide for teachers, students, and family members if needed.
Online Assessments
The addition of online assessments help students to learn how to take tests online. Students make a lot of mistakes inputting data and reading and responding to the questions. These mistakes serve as teachers with regard to students' ability to successfully take tests online. The standardized online assessments students take give us a good touchstone with regard to where students fall with regard to math mastery in all areas of study, and also demonstrate if children's skills are growing. These help to keep us on track, but I sometimes worry that we have too many assessments.
Project Based Learning
I continue to wish we had more time for this, and this is an area I'm researching and hope to include more as time goes on.
Family Communication
We notify family members weekly about what's happening in math, and I contact families with regard to student's individual needs and homework performance. I also send home notes from time to time noting students extraordinary efforts and accomplishments. I want to think more about how I might team with families to build even greater capacity with math teaching and learning. I'm curious about what parents think in this regard and may send out a survey in the new year to gain some input in this regard.
Teamwork
The grade level team works tirelessly to support the math program, and this is wonderful.
Professional Learning
As noted above, I would like to delve more into Boaler's work related to project/problem based investigations in math. I also want to build the Standards of Mathematical Practice efforts as part of this.
There's lots to consider with regard to developing and implementing a successful math program. I welcome your suggestions.