Board Math is Back!!

Need a great way to preview and review material with your students? Board Math can be a highly effective strategy to work on skills mastery, as well as building problem-solving skills that can help students tackle HOT problems (problems that require higher-order-thinking, and yes, thinking deep is indeed hot).

When Board Math was first introduced, many middle school teachers struggled to fit it into their short blocks/periods. The beauty of Board Math, is you can really make it your own, having your students working through an entire board or just a few problems. The key is to chose your problems strategically. Today Maria Camisa invited me into her 6th grade classroom at CMS. She chose to include problems to review a skill that she identified as a class need through an exit ticket, as well as preview problems from her upcoming unit. Her students will complete two problems a day. This both minimizes midday prep, and allows for Board Math to be a quick 5-10 minute routine. The video below is of the launch of Board Math. All together, the launch and solving two problems took 12 minutes, from gather to dismissal. Please keep in mind when viewing, that there is much more teacher talk during a launch lesson than there will be during a typical lesson!

Work smarter, nor harder:

• Use Wet Erase markers to write out the problems, leaving out the names and numbers to write with Dry Erase so these can be easily switched up (you will work through one problem several times with the students, gradually releasing the responsibility of problem-solving). 

Some additional tips:

• Build in incentive and competition (as we all know middle school students love- see the video for one idea).
• As the year progresses, set your math board up by domains to ensure that your instruction includes spiral review of all domains.
• Throw in a fun technology component AND assess their learning from the week buy building a Kahoot as an individual assessment for the end of the week. Students LOVE this game-based assessment tool, and will be motivated to work hard towards the end goal of "playing" Kahoot. 

Pixar in a Box

Are you a Pixar fan? Looking for enrichment ideas for your Math+ classes, or some awesome math connections to integrate into your workshop classes? Look no further! Khan Academy recently released a series of lessons they developed in conjunction with Pixar called "Pixar in a Box". Click here to visit the lessons.

Most lessons build from a 6th grade level, and then cover 7th and 8th grade standards and beyond. I tested out the Environmental Modeling lesson, where you learn how a designer would model grass with parabolas. I thought this lesson would be perfect for 6th and 7th grade enrichment. The lesson dives deep into math when you start looking at parabolic arcs and using the midpoint formula to solve for the midpoints of line segments using averages of negative and positive integers. I found that this lesson really required conceptual knowledge of integers, and distance between integers, which I know many of our 6th & 7th grade classes are focusing on in their current lessons. The lesson concludes with application of animation skills and an art activity sewing parabolic curves on paper that would be awesome for STEAM workshops!

The units really emphasize the relevance of math in computer programming fields, and provide fun and engaging content as well as practice and application of skills. Let me know if you decide to try this out with your STEAM workshop or Math+ class and I would love to come support and see it in action with students!

Technology in Math Stations

Contrary to popular belief, stations are not just for primary grades! Math stations can be incredibly powerful with any age group in order to differentiate, pull small groups for instruction, and incorporate blended learning to individualize instruction.

Gloria McGriff's students work at a collaborative tech station.

Last week I had the pleasure of working in James Peng and Gloria McGriff's rooms at CMS and supporting stations in action. In James's eighth grade math class at CMS, he begins with a quick math warm-up, then gives a brief overview of the stations/grouping. He uses formative assessment tools (such as Kahoot) to group his students based on identified math needs.

Stations should vary based on the objective of the lesson. There is no one right way to arrange stations, as long as all stations are focused on specific learning targets and the method of delivery supports students in reaching these targets. In a traditional three station model, one station can include small group instruction with the teacher, another station independent practice of a skill, and another station based on collaboration or team application of concepts.

Aside from your teacher station, some station ideas that incorporate blended learning include:

• Using Blendspace to create self-guided lessons with embedded instruction and practice. Click here to view a 7th grade Blendspace lesson on subtracting positive and negative integers using a number line. 
• iReady lessons are automatically assigned based on the diagnostic and progress monitoring assessments, but you can also assign iReady lessons that are aligned to the current standards you are teaching as a content launch or as an additional support in reinforcing a concept. Click here for the iReady Math Correlations by grade level (a breakdown of iReady lessons you can assign based the standards you are currently teaching).
• Use Google Slides in conjunction with Google Forms to do pretty much anything! Build in instruction through embedded screencasts, assess understanding through Google Forms, assign practice problems through a linked Google Doc. Click here to view a sample 8th grade lesson on Law 1 of Exponents with Google Slides.

James Peng's 8th grade class working in a small group teacher station and a note taking station through Blendspace.

When you first implement stations, make sure someone is available to float the room to support the students in expectations with station rotations. This can either be another adult in the room to support the process, or you (allow yourself to skip pulling a group the first time or two). Setting high expectations for student productivity during station work sessions is crucial in successful implementation and well worth the front-end investment! Please continue to let me know how I can support you!