Successful Students and Reading, Thinking, Reasoning and Writing in Math Class

I can't believe it is already the 4th Quarter. I have been super busy and way bummed that I haven't had time to blog for a while.  A lot has been going on in my room and I am so excited about the progress my students have made this year in the first three quarters of this school year.

All of my "out of the box" ideas have been truly effective in helping my students with the rigorous concepts they are facing this year in 8th Grade Common Core Math.   I have made great progress with my Collaborative Teams idea, and in getting the students to read, think and write in Math.  There is no better feeling than to see your students embrace challenge and enjoy learning in a math classroom... :o)

This year I have put a lot of time and thought into everything that I do in my classroom. And one of the most important things is how I structure my class.  Our Math periods are only 50 minutes and I have such a short amount of time to get in a lot of curriculum and teaching.  So it was imperative that I structured my lessons to maximize the learning of all my students.  The key to this is my Collaborative Teams.  I have been tweaking my vision of effective "Collaborative Teams" for the last 4 years, and I finally made enough tweaks that they are extremely effective. This is a strategy that I could never do without. :o)

This year my Students are not afraid of "Reading" and "Thinking" in math.  All of the math problems I give my students require them to Read and Think. My students do not have a problem with Math Word Problems, in fact they actually like them.  Everything my students do in my class requires them to read and think.

 My Solve It! PROVE It! daily warm-up problems require my students to read and think.

My Team Tasks require my students to read and think.

My Recorder/Reporter Collaborative Team problems require my students to read and think.

My Worthwhile Wednesday Task require my students to read and think.

and ... My Concept Quizzes require my students to read and think.

My Students are not afraid to work in "Collaborative Teams".  One thing that makes this super effective is that my Collaborative Teams are randomly selected every week.  The students love the random selection, because every week they work with different people.  This has taught my students to be willing and able to work with anybody.  This has also helped my students to be open and to not be afraid of discussing the math.

Another reason that my Collaborative Teams are so effective is the consistency in my expectations and procedures from day one.  I am clear about my expectations.  My Collaborative Teams have structures and procedures that the students understand and use.  This year I have also incorporated the Math Practices into my teaching methodology and refer to them throughout the day. This has helped the students understand why I put an emphasis on attention to precision and justifying their reasoning.
 
Here are some examples of my students working together in Collaborative Teams; discussing, solving and justifying in Math.

There is still work to be done to get my students to have better math discussions, but I know that next year I can take my students to the next level in math discourse.  I have a foundation of what really works and next year I can take it to the next level from Day One.

My Students are not afraid of writing in Math.  My students write a lot in my math class.  They write in the Solve It! PROVE It!  They write on all of their Team Tasks. They write on of their Concept Quizzes to support their answers and justify their reasoning.  They write on the Worthwhile Wednesday TASKS. And they write a lot on their Benchmark Performance Tasks.  :o)

My students write to justify their reasoning...

My students write to reflect on their learning....

They also write digitally to justify and explain their reasoning using my favorite app Showbie.

All of these classroom structures were created with the intent to help prepare my students for the new Common Core way of testing and the CAASPP Summative Test that they will be taking in a few weeks....  I am hoping that my student's willingness to read, think and write in math class will help them be successful on Californias Summative Test. :o)

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog... Be sure to follow me on Twitter and get even more new ideas... :o)

Getting Students to Reason, Justify and Write in Math

I recently wrote a blog post Reflecting on My Journey through Common Core.  This year I have put a lot of thought into getting my students to the next level and not only preparing them for the Common Core way of thinking, but also preparing them for High School, College and Career.

We are now in the 3rd quarter of this school year and it is amazing to see the growth that my students have made this year as mathematicians.  This is the first year that my students are not afraid to learn.

In the past years my students would shut down when they struggle because the math becomes to hard. Over the summer I did a lot of research and thinking.  It was my goal this year to change that.  I blogged throughout the summer about my ideas and how I could get my students to persevere through their struggle in math.  It was my goal this year to change the mindset of my students.

I wrote a motivational letter to my students that they keep as the first page of their Interactive Math Notebook.

The students did a motivational "sticky note" prompt in the 2nd quarter to remind them about perseverance.  :o)

My students are successful this year because I sold them on the idea of learning from the beginning of school.  They are now eager for the product every day. :o)  Don't get me wrong.  It is not easy. As the Math continues to get harder, and they reach that "Struggle", I have to sell them on the product again, and encourage and motivate.  This is a continuous process, that I will continue to do throughout the year.  But because the foundation was set from the beginning it is a much easier struggle to get through. For all of us.  :o)

I am so proud of my students. This is the first year that my Students are not afraid to write in Math. More importantly, my students are not afraid to think.  :o)

This is the first year I have explicitly incorporated the Math Practices into my teaching methodology and refer to them throughout the day. Over the summer I did a lot of reading and research and realized that incorporating these regularly is crucial in helping my students to be successful in Math.

Emphasizing the Math Practices has helped my students understand why I put an emphasis on being precise and justifying their reasoning. Again, the key to this success was selling them on this idea from day one.
 
Justifying their reasoning is not only done verbally but through writing as well.  I created a Problem Solving Guide for my students' IMN to help them with their Writing about Math.

My students justify their reasoning and write a lot in my math class.  They write in the Solve It! PROVE It!  They write in all of their Team Tasks. All of their Concept Quizzes require them to write justifications.  They write during the Worthwhile Wednesday TASKS.  And they write to justify on their Benchmark Performance Tasks.  :o)

Here are some examples of how my students write in my math class. :o)

Writing to justify their reasoning in Solve It! PROVE It, Collaborative Team Warm-ups:

 Writing to justify their reasoning in Collaborative Team Tasks:

Writing to justify their reasoning on Worthwhile Wednesday Tasks:

And they write to justify their reasoning on Benchmark Performance Tasks:

My students don't only write a lot in my 8th Grade Common Core Math Classes, they also write a lot in my 8th Grade Common Core Math Support Classes.

Writing and Justifying in my (1:1 iPads) Math Support Class

The 8th Grade Common Core Math students are very fortunate this year if they have my 8th Grade Math Support.  My 8th Grade Math Support students actually write more in my Math Support class than they do in my Math 8 class.

I have blogged a lot about how I use iPads in Math, my favorite apps and how I use them in my 1:1 math classes.  We are now in the 3rd quarter and not only are my students not afraid to write in regular Math 8 class, they are not afraid to write in my Math Support class.

In my (1:1 iPads) Math Support class my students do a "Blast from the Past" Math Support daily warm-up on Edmodo.  In this daily warm-up, students solve a problem and justify their reasoning by leaving a typed written response.

The Math Support students also do a daily "Ticket Out the Door" Reflection Response on Edmodo.

In my Math Support class I use Showbie for "Paperless" Tasks.  In my Math Support Class students also justify their reasoning in all my "Paperless" Tasks that I create.

Students also leave a "Comment" after each Assignment in Showbie, summarizing and reflecting on the Assignment.

I love using Socrative for self-paced activities in Math Support. In these self-paced activities I am able to incorporate writing through justifying in the assignment.

Or by adding a "Sticky Note" response into the Socrative Assignment....

Students in Math Support also write in End of the quarter reflections

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There is still work to be done to get my students to write better in math and to have better written responses.  But the first step is getting the students comfortable with writing in math.  And I have achieved that goal.  This year I have created an environment where my students are not afraid to write and reason in my Math Classes. :o)

Next year, I hope to build on what I have learned this year. I am excited to see my students take my ideas of incorporating reasoning and writing in math to the next level. :o)

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog about my students and writing in math.... :o)