Math Mondays with Tanner

February 5, 2024

Build Math Minds

"Purposeful Practice" - Episode 40

Students have different reading abilities, so we give them baggies of books that are "just right." Students have different math abilities, so we give them the same worksheet and get frustrated when they aren't making progress. Does this add up? This week, I urge you to consider how you create and assign purposeful practice. To do this, think about the work you assign your students when you send them off after your mini-lesson. Are they all working on the same thing? Is there an element of intentionality in your partnerships or groupings as students work together? Are you pulling students or making yourself available for support and feedback as you try to reach all of your students (whether they are high-support or low-support)? This is food for thought!

"Leveling workstations addresses the idea that meaningful practice should be individualized. When students are working in their zone of proximal development, they are not bored or frustrated. They can actually build a solid foundation of understanding. This specifically looks like some students working on making tens facts and other students working on making doubles. Everyone is working towards the grade level standard but at their own pace. In literacy we would never say that everyone has to read the same books at the same time, but in math we do exactly that! It doesn't work for literacy and it doesn't work for math either. Students will progress towards grade level standards at different times and that should be expected and respected."

Item Analysis Mastery Trackers

One of the downfalls of using the district common summative assessments is that we no longer have access to the Mastery Connect item analysis reports. Chanda Church, the math instructional coach at Richmond Drive, has been toying around with a homemade item analysis mastery tracker. I've learned from her and have recently started creating these trackers with our fourth grade team. JW and Christine grade their class' common summative assessments, pass them onto me, and I input their individual scores into the spreadsheet. When we meet for our weekly math PLC / planning meeting, we look through the item analysis and determine our next steps for reteaching and enrichment. Using these mastery trackers will most likely be an Ebinport requirement next year, so if your grade level is interested in starting this process now, I'm more than happy to help and do the leg work! The goal is to strengthen our data analysis process and make more data-informed instructional decisions. I've included a snapshot of their most recent item analysis report.

Math MTSS Updates

Leslie, Anita, and I will meet on Wednesday to look through results from MAP testing. During this meeting, we will determine new caseloads. Because you know your students best, we may quickly text you or pop by your room to ask if a student needs Tier 3 interventions. This is especially true if there is a funky situation (i.e. student's MAP scores drastically improved or suddenly dropped). The goal is for these new Tier 3 groups to begin on Monday, February 12. More information to come!

Where Are My Slides?

I hope you found the district slides to be thought-provoking and useful during first semester. Whether you used them daily or if you just paged through them to find activities and to make sure your instruction was up to par with the level of the standard, these slides continue to be a resource for you to use. As you look ahead on the Quarter 3 pacing documents within Canvas, you may be thinking "where are my slides?" A team of four math instructional coaches (myself included) are in the process of creating these slide decks. Across six grade levels, we are creating slides for 270 days of instruction for just this quarter alone. Our goal is to provide quality material - even if that may take a little bit longer. We are committed to publishing each slide deck by the teaching date on the district calendar. We all appreciate your flexibility and hope the wait is worth it. Let me know if you have any questions or if your team needs materials while these slides are in progress.

Tanner's Schedule for the Week

As a coach, my schedule is flexible. Please realize that my schedule will change based on what is included below. This gives you a rough idea of when I will be out of the building, in coaching cycles with teachers, or in meetings. If you need anything, reach out and let me know how I can help!