Math Mondays with Tanner
April 29, 2024
Build Math Minds
"Knowing Mathematics for Teaching" - Episode 15
It's no secret that we teach math differently than we learned it. I was born in 1997, and math has even changed from when I was in elementary school! I have conversations with teachers each week where I run through practice problems and show teachers how to conceptually introduce math concepts to their students. So much of my time as a coach is also spent looking through resources, blog posts, sample questions, and creating lesson slides that are all focused on building conceptual understanding. One of my goals is for you to start your math block every day confident that you can answer questions and give a rationale for why you're teaching like this. In the words of Dawn Jacobs (a math instructional coach for the SC Department of Education that I follow on Twitter), I often ask myself if I'm helping our Ebinport teachers understand math the way I ask you to teach it. Tricks and rules are forgotten and expire, but conceptual knowledge closes gaps!
Christina from Build Math Minds wrote that"the students of teachers who answered more items correctly gained more over the course of a year of instruction. Our finding indicates that, while teachers' mathematical knowledge would not by itself overcome the existing achievement gap, it would prevent that gap from growing. Thus, our research suggests that one important contribution we can make toward social justice is to ensure that every student has a teacher who comes to the classroom equipped with the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching."
DreamBox Classes of the Week
These classes have the highest average growth so far this year for their grade level, as measured by DreamBox. This weekly reward comes with 10 extra minutes of recess. Thank you for prioritizing DreamBox and for helping our students close gaps and engage in enrichment opportunities!
SC Ready Math Boost
I will visit all of our third, fourth, and fifth grade math classrooms this week to lead our students (and you) in an "SC Ready Math Boost." I am working to implement these 30 minute sessions alongside Ashley Zegilla (my coach). Our big task will be working through a brain dump activity that students can carry out before they begin to answer questions on SC Ready. We did sessions with Mrs. Lundy and Ms. Rubio's classes on Friday, and they were very well received.
Schedule for Monday, April 29
- 9:00 Mrs. Davis (Block 1)
- 9:30 Mrs. Smith
- 10:00 Mrs. Davis (Block 2)
Schedule for Tuesday, April 30
- 8:30 Mrs. Varnadore (Block 1)
- 10:30 Mrs. Varnadore (Block 2)
- 11:00 Mrs. Morton
Schedule for Wednesday, May 1
- 9:30 Mrs. Rasmusson (Block 1)
- 10:00 Mr. Smith (Block 1)
- 12:30 Mrs. Rasmusson (Block 2)
- 1:00 Mr. Smith (Block 2)
This Week's SC Ready Essential Skills Check-Up
I will continue to create essential skills check-up quizzes for our third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers ahead of SC Ready on May 23. Many of our teams have been immediately analyzing this data and making action plans. We are quickly learning that some standards are worthy of whole group reteaching while others just have a few areas to polish off. As always, I am here if you need help finding resources or need help finding the time to realistically make this happen.
Tuesday, April 30
- 3.ATO.2 - divide using objects, drawings, and symbols
- 4.ATO.4 - factors, multiples, and prime or composite
- 5.NSBT.5 - multiply multi-digit whole numbers (fluency standard)
Thursday, May 2
- 4.NSBT.5 - multiply up to 1x4 and 2x2 using place value strategies
It's Not Too Late!
There are 27 more school days wake-ups as I write this blurb. As you're closing out the school year, I hope you realize that 27 school days is plenty of time left for you to grow as a teacher. It's also plenty of time for you to put me to work to support you! A prime example is how I am getting ready to partner with second grade as they start a "third grade boot camp" with multiplication and division.
Where Are My Slides?
Math instructional coaches are in the final stretch. Check out the chart below to see where we're at with the slides that have not been published yet. See me with questions or if you need resources.
Spring Math MAP Spreadsheet
Schoolwide data can be found at the link below. There are some reports that I generate that I don't publish for everyone to see (teacher impact data, teacher trend data, etc.). If you or your grade level have an idea for a different way for me to look at our math MAP data, please let me know!
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!
Upcoming Math Events at Ebinport
- May 14 - Math PD
- May 23 - SC Ready Math Testing
Links to Previous Weekly Newsletters
- Math Mondays # 17 - Week of April 22
- Math Mondays # 16 - Week of April 15
- Math Mondays # 15 - Week of April 8
- Math Mondays # 14 - Week of March 25
- Math Mondays # 13 - Week of March 18
- Math Mondays # 12 - Week of March 11
- Math Mondays # 11 - Week of March 4
- Math Mondays # 10 - Week of February 26
- Math Mondays # 9 - Week of February 19
- Math Mondays # 8 - Week of February 12
- Math Mondays # 7 - Week of February 5
- Math Mondays # 6 - Week of January 29
- Math Mondays # 5 - Week of January 22
- Math Mondays # 4 - Week of January 15
- Math Mondays # 3 - Week of January 8
- Math Mondays # 2 - Week of December 18
- Math Mondays # 1 - Week of December 11