Back in June, I was very excited about the idea of flipping my classroom in math, but because my students can't take their devices home, I didn't feel this was going to be our best use of time in math. However, as a former math-hater, I'm constantly striving to make math not only click for my students, but to also be something far from a hated subject. It's way too important (believe me, I found out the hard way), to simply ignore and hope you can get by. Do I sound like an old grouchy teacher yet? :)
Instead, I've taken a big leap, and I've set up guided math in my room. With a new block schedule, we have 90 minutes of math each morning, which gives us plenty of time to rotate between four stations after a whole-group lesson each day.
Instead, I've taken a big leap, and I've set up guided math in my room. With a new block schedule, we have 90 minutes of math each morning, which gives us plenty of time to rotate between four stations after a whole-group lesson each day.
Our four daily stations are usually about 15 minutes each:
M - math facts gives that constant practice of facts that are, unfortunately, never going away. I do quiz this in a timed test weekly, but at this station, flash cards and partner games lend to daily practice of multiplication and division, for the most part.
A - at their desks, students have a built-in block of time for their daily assignment.
T - during teacher time, each group comes to me for individualized instruction, based on a pretest I give before each unit.
H - this is a flexible station. I would say 80% of the time, this is where they complete a problem of the day and a spiral with ongoing review work. However, at least once a week (sometimes twice), I'm pulling hands-on activities and games that allow them to practice the day's skill in a different modality.
M - math facts gives that constant practice of facts that are, unfortunately, never going away. I do quiz this in a timed test weekly, but at this station, flash cards and partner games lend to daily practice of multiplication and division, for the most part.
A - at their desks, students have a built-in block of time for their daily assignment.
T - during teacher time, each group comes to me for individualized instruction, based on a pretest I give before each unit.
H - this is a flexible station. I would say 80% of the time, this is where they complete a problem of the day and a spiral with ongoing review work. However, at least once a week (sometimes twice), I'm pulling hands-on activities and games that allow them to practice the day's skill in a different modality.
This seems to be going well, and the biggest piece I'm constantly reminding them of is the expectation for transitions and quiet work-time. I'm able to project from my guided math table via an Apple TV, and I have a timer for each station, a transition timer, and a power-point slide with the day's activities projected throughout our stations.
