Instructional Minute

As the school year comes to a close, it’s a great time to reflect on what we’ve learned—and set a strong foundation for what’s next. What better way to do that than by hearing from real science educators like you?

Tune into our upcoming free webinar featuring leaders and teachers as they reflect on the impact of 3D teaching and learning in their science classrooms and what they’re looking forward to in the year ahead. Moderated by the Professional Learning team at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, this panel will bring you stories about real-life challenges and successes of phenomena-based teaching and learning.

You’ll find Amplify's template to send updates home to caregivers on the Year Overview page for each grade. It can be useful to share results from Benchmark Assessments or other assessment information, along with any anecdotal data to help caregivers understand their student's progress.

If you want to end the year with something different, we have several ideas for you:

• Take advantage of the Novel Guides or Poetry in America units to introduce students to unique texts.
• Implement the interactive digital media projects in the Collection units you may have skipped to give students an opportunity to conduct short, supported research based on their areas of interest.

Access these resources

Jack Miller Center is a civic education nonprofit organization focused on promoting the teaching of America’s founding principles and history on campuses and in classrooms across the country.

The Jack Miller Center will be holding a primary source-focused professional development program for K-12 social studies educators in East Lansing with our partners at Michigan State’s James Madison College on July 9 – 11. This is a great opportunity for teachers to dive into content and gain summer PD hours.

The theme for the program will be “Great Debates in American Politics” and it will cover key political debates from the Founding Era, the Antebellum and Civil War Eras, and the twentieth century. The program will include primary source discussions led by MSU faculty as well as an application session led by, Emilee McHorney, on strategies for teaching the primary sources discussed to K-12 students.

There is no fee to attend and teachers will receive a $300 stipend for completion of the program.

The link to register can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeBaPtOAjWBKvGWWrrk_n6tOBX6zmJ_GkYRnQqZdvrxdZBdMw/viewform

As we work together to build a strong, cohesive K–12 mathematics program, it’s important to reflect on how certain instructional practices—though well-intentioned—may unintentionally hinder student understanding over time.

What Are Rules That Expire?

The concept of Rules That Expire (RTE) was introduced by Dougherty et al. (2017) and Karp et al. (2014, 2015). RTEs refer to teaching techniques such as tricks, shortcuts, or disconnected steps designed to make math learning easier in the moment but that fail to support conceptual understanding.

While these strategies may help students complete tasks quickly, they often create confusion as students encounter new mathematical ideas—especially when they extend their understanding beyond whole numbers into decimals, fractions, and negative values.

🧠 Why Do RTEs Matter?

Although these rules are typically used with the best of intentions, they can:

• Lead to misconceptions that are difficult to unlearn

• Undermine students' confidence in math when rules “stop working”

• Prevent students from seeing mathematics as a connected, logical system

In their article From Rules That Expire to a Journey Aspired, the authors highlight how to shift toward practices that support deeper learning. Here are two examples:

❌ RTE Example #1: "Two Negatives Make a Positive"

This rule is usually taught with multiplication and division of integers. However, it does not apply to addition and subtraction.

🧩 Consider this example:
-5 + (-3) - (-8)
This expression is not simplified by the “two negatives” rule—and relying on it may confuse students.

📌 Expiration Date: Grade 7 (7.NS.1)

❌ RTE Example #2: "When You Multiply by 10, Just Add a Zero"

This shortcut works for whole numbers (e.g., 6 × 10 = 60), but it fails with decimals.
For instance:
0.25 × 10 = 2.5 (not 0.250)

📌 Expiration Date: Grade 5 (5.NBT.2)

✔️ Our Call to Action

As educators, we must ask: Are our teaching strategies promoting memorization or meaning?

By identifying and moving away from Rules That Expire, we can:

• Strengthen students' mathematical thinking

• Foster long-term understanding

• Help students see math as coherent and logical, not a set of rules to memorize

Let’s continue building a math program that supports students’ success today—and in every future math class.

Actionable feedback for students provides specific, clear suggestions for improvement that students can use to enhance their learning. It focuses on behaviors or skills rather than just the final product and includes concrete next steps.

Math:

Instead of "Good job," say "You correctly solved the equation. Can you explain the step-by-step process you used to arrive at the answer?"

Writing:

Instead of "This is a great essay," say "The introduction effectively grabs the reader's attention. To strengthen your conclusion, consider including a summary of your main points and a final thought that leaves the reader with a lasting impression."

Presentation Skills:

Instead of "That was a good presentation," say "Your visuals were engaging. To further enhance your delivery, practice pausing between slides to allow the audience time to absorb the information and make eye contact with different members of the audience."

Collaboration Skills:

Instead of "You're a good team member," say "You actively listened to and incorporated your teammates' ideas into the final product. Next time, try sharing your ideas more proactively to ensure your contributions are fully utilized."

Specific and Clear:

Avoid vague statements like "Good job." Instead, clearly identify what the student did well and what they can improve.

Provides Next Steps:

Offer concrete suggestions or strategies that the student can use to improve their performance. If using a rubric or learning scale, be specific about the steps required of a student to move their learning to the next level.

Digestible Chunks:

Instead of giving actionable feedback about every component of the student’s work that could be improved, stick to the most pertinent feedback to reach proficiency on the specific learning target.

Positive and Supportive:

Use a positive and supportive tone to encourage students to take ownership of their learning and to feel confident in their ability to improve. Feedback shouldn’t always be about what is wrong. In fact, many experts recommend a 4:1 ratio of positive to negative feedback.

We are excited to invite a cohort of teachers, high school students, and preservice teachers to collaborate in writing culturally responsive math tasks/lessons. These lessons will be piloted in teachers’ classrooms during the first semester of the 2025–2026 school year. Throughout the institute, teams will work alongside researchers and experts in culturally responsive teaching and mathematics education. These experts will facilitate learning sessions, guide the development of high-quality lessons, and provide constructive feedback to help teams refine their work. We believe deeply in the power of teachers and students working together. By combining educators’ expertise with students’ lived experiences and perspectives, we can create engaging, meaningful lessons that reflect and celebrate the rich diversity of our learning communities.

The institute will be held virtually from June 16–18 and June 23–27, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. each day — totaling 8 days of collaboration.

Stipends are available:

• Teachers will receive $50 per hour up to $2400.

• Students will also receive a monetary stipend.

Priority will be given to teachers from 23h partner schools and schools designated as TSI, CSI, ATS, or part of partnership districts. However, all teachers are eligible and strongly encouraged to apply.

Please complete the short application below, if you are interested in participating in this project. If you have any questions please contact your respective ISD contact listed below:

Click Here for Teacher Sign Up

Click Here for Student Sign Up

Click Here for Pre-Service Teacher Sign Up

As the end of the year is quickly approaching, we would love your feedback! Please take a moment to fill out this survey on our Instructional Minutes for this school year.

24-25 Instructional Minute Survey

K-8 Science:

• May 14th

K-8 Math:

• May 20th

9-12 Math:

• May 15th

Click on the above title to view the evaluation documents for staff!

Below you can find the new, updated required instructional minutes by grade level and content area. Each grade level also includes a sample schedule.

Teachers are encouraged to monitor student progress regularly using formative assessments and adjust pacing as needed based on classroom data. However, teachers should aim to stay within two weeks of the pacing outlined in the guides to maintain alignment with district-wide goals. While we do not adjust pacing for snow days, the pacing is a guide and the expectation is to stay within the established two-week time frame.

The documents attached outline K-8 curricular resources, standards and pacing. This can also be found by clicking here on the LSD website.

The document attached outlines 9-12 curricular resources, standards and pacing. This can also be found by clicking here on the LSD website.

A resource to use as you see fit.