LMU CMAST MAST Module 1 Teaching Mathematics or Science to Engage and Retain: Building a Culture of Trust and Success Students are engaged before the lecture or activity through the teacher s connection of an experience from the student culture to the learning culture of mathematics or science. Hook A brief activity at the beginning of the lesson that effectively engages all students in the topic by relating to their own life experiences and background knowledge. The activity allows the students to become mentally engaged in learning. Teacher starts with an activity (i.e. reading a children s storybook, showing a video clip, starting a mini-lab, playing a game or puzzle) and poses a Think- Pair-Share (TPS) question that engages all students in thinking about and making the connection of this activity to the essential math or science content (Activity Before Concept, or ABC). Students engage in inquiry through an activity that appropriately connects past and present academic content within the frame of a story. Activity Before Concept (ABC) An activity that constructs the learning task. This activity should make a clear connection from the hook into the lesson, bridge past and present learning experiences, and allow students the opportunity to connect their pre-existing knowledge of mathematics or science to the current concept to be explored (pre-assessment of student learning). Students respond to a criticalthinking question during TPS that connects their understanding of the math or science concept represented in the Hook to the essential math or science content in the Deductive Structured Notes. Students engage in Active Practice of past material that connects prior skills to new skills and explore (inquiry) a higher cognitive TPS math or science focus question that leads into the essential math or science concept being uncovered through the Deductive Structured Notes. Student work and teacher evidence clearly support student learning of essential math or science content. Story/Theme with Essential/Focus Question The scope and sequencing of essential math or science content that sets students up to understand the complexity and depth of the concepts. The flow of the content is clear for Teacher starts the year by presenting the overall Story/Theme (i.e. Communicating the Language of Math in Order to Build students to articulate. Students are able to make Relationships ). The teacher 1
Structured Notes Learning Targets Interactive Mini-Lecture sense of and connect each learning objective and target within a unit and between units to illustrate a story to support long-term memory and retention of content. The sequencing of questions help foster the development of students critical thinking skills and higher-order capabilities such as problem solving and understanding complex systems. A note-taking strategy in which students are able to organize information by separating teacherprovided material from self-generated/practice material and are able to use it to practice and study effectively, perform error analysis, and selfreflect. The Note-taking notebook/section is: A space in which mathematically sound information is chunked/scaffolded for student understanding Used to compare with selfgenerated/practice material The Practice/Problem notebook/section is: A space in which students may comfortably take risks throughout the learning process Connected to each section in the notetaking notebook Learning targets define what students are expected to know, understand, and be able to do at the end of the unit. The teacher includes these targets in planning and delivery of the lesson, i.e. the teacher communicates these to the students at the beginning of the unit. In collaboration, the students and teacher constantly review learning targets to support the analysis of learning. A method of delivering academic content that supports understanding of essential math or science content by engaging students in actively thinking about and communicating around the content as the teacher delivers it. presents each lesson as a connected part of this story or theme. Hooks and ABCs are thoughtfully crafted to connect to this theme. Students answer an Essential/Focus Question of the day phrased to probe for deeper meaning connected to the story flow while setting the stage for further questioning in the classroom. Students can answer this question at the end of the period or lesson as closure on an Exit Slip. Students are directed to take out their Dual Notebooks (one notebook for structured notes taken in the context of an interactive minilecture and one for practice problems) at the start of each class and are guided to use their notetaking notebook as a resource to independently access information during Active Practice. Students refer back to their notes while they work out problems in their practiceproblem notebook. Teacher will guide students to use their Split Notebooks by consistently directing students to the right-side page of their notebook during interactive mini-lecture and their left-side page during practice to work out their problems. Teacher starts Deductive Structured Notes with the learning targets and explicitly connects these to Active Practice, Questioning Techniques, and Assessment. Students use the learning targets to design mind maps and study guides. Students participate during the lecture by communicating their understanding and thinking with 1-2-3, Thumbs up/down, Mini-whiteboards, Think- Pair-Share, Brain Bubbles, and Think Boxes. Teacher uses this information to inform how the lesson will move forward to support student learning. 2
Guided Practice Students build their understanding of the essential math or science content guided by the teacher through three phases of working through problems where teacher models process, then students participate in teacher s explanation of process, and finally students work independently of the teacher. Students participate in I Do, We Do, You Do in Dual/Split Notebooks as part of the Interactive Mini-Lecture. During We Do, students can participate using Mini-whiteboards and communicate their level of understanding to demonstrate their readiness to independently practice in the You Do with Active Practice activities (i.e. Bingo, Matrix, Round Robin, etc.). Teachers can provide choice at different levels for problems to be completed by students independently (connected to data gathered during 1-2-3 checks for understanding). Students engage in the lesson as the teacher connects it to previous content and illuminates the part of the story being told by the teacher around new essential content. Deductive Structured Notes A way to deliver notes in which information is presented in a logical sequence and highlights connections between and among topics that are aligned to a structure. This deductive design for lecture notes includes the following details: Major concepts (theorems, definitions) Correct mathematical notation Illustrations of the concepts Connections to prior knowledge (prior box) Process Metacognitive analysis of the process These details are presented through a structure that: Is a thorough set of examples at all levels (basic, proficient, advanced) Uses visual prompts (outlining, underlining, colors, shapes, symbols, etc.) to highlight key information Teacher provides notes during the Interactive Mini-Lecture that clearly and explicitly establishes connections for students between concepts, processes, skills, and prior skills. This bridges the essential math or science content introduced by the Hook and ABC and the practice to solidify understanding during Active Practice. Brain Bubble Interactive note-taking in which students are provided time to interact with material presented in the context of Deductive Structured Notes to make connections as teacher models metacognitive processes. Brain bubbles provide a space to explicitly connect to piror knowledge and lead to targeted, focused re-teaching Teachers include Brain Bubbles during the Deductive Structured Notes to demonstrate the metacognitive process a teacher follows when thinking about content, connect prior content to current content, re-teach, and extend the power of the Hook or ABC to support retention of essential math or science content. 3
Students simultaneously respond to content appropriate lower cognitive questions and frequent checks for short-term and long-term understanding. 1-2-3 or Thumbs Up/Down Mini-whiteboards Formative assessment used by the teacher during instruction to make immediate adjustments to the lesson delivery. Teacher poses a question that requires all students to respond quietly (responses may be indicated with a showing of fingers/thumbs or mini-board). Based on student responses teacher will reteach, provide more of the same type of examples, move to the next type of example/concept, or insert more complexity into the problem to differentiate. Formative assessment used during instruction to make immediate adjustments to the lesson. The teacher poses a question that requires all students to respond using mini-whiteboards to share their responses. Based on student responses the teacher will re-teach, provide more of the same type of examples, move to the next type of example/concept, or differentiate. Teacher asks students to communicate their understanding after We Do problem (Guided Practice before moving into Active Practice) to a rubric with number of fingers: 1 = lost 2 = slightly confused; sort of get it 3 = get it If 60% of the class communicates a 3, move on and build in individual re-teaching during activity (not for whole class). Teacher asks students to complete a problem on Mini-whiteboards or Practice/Problem Notebook/Section during Interactive Mini-Lecture and directed to show: 1 = your (student s) response matches my (teacher s) response 2 = your (student s) response does not match my (teacher s) response Teacher asks students to answer a question and compare options on the board. Students are directed to show number of fingers for response. Teacher directs students to use Miniwhiteboards to complete work during Guided Practice, Quick Checks, and lower cognitive questions during Interactive Mini-Lecture as well as giving students the option of using it during Active Practice. 4
Students engage in content appropriate higher cognitive questions that involve individual thought and collaboration with adequate wait time on the essential content. Think Pair-Share (TPS) Students engage in critical thinking and access knowledge independently, communicate about their thoughts to refine thinking, and build confidence in communicating about content. Students think quietly or provide a written response (Think), share thoughts/responses with a neighbor (Pair), and the class shares out Teacher gives students a template that provides a scaffolded approach to TPS during Interactive Mini- Lecture. Teacher closes lesson by having students engage in TPS with Essential/Focus Questions. thoughts and results of collaboration (Share). It Students answer a higher cognitive supports checking for understanding by question as a TPS within a Think Involving each student Valuing what each student brings to the Box during the Interactive Mini- Lecture. content Increasing wait time for higher cognitive questions Allowing for communication between students about math or science Think Box Interactive note-taking in which students are provided time to interact with and digest material presented in the context of Deductive Structured Notes to promote higher cognitive thinking around new concepts. This provides students a window into the divergent thinking associated with the content instead of the repetition and memorization of facts, procedures, formulas, and vocabulary. Teacher presents two concepts within the Deductive Structures Notes and directs students to answer a higher cognitive question comparing/contrasting the concepts in a Think Box. Students actively practice and effectively use mathematical and scientific vocabulary and reasoning to communicate about content in order to transfer their understanding to independent practice. Active Practice A selection of activities used to include and engage students in practice work. These activities may include movement around the room and always foster student communication around the content. The goal is individual mastery of content. Differentiation is incorporated. Teacher checks for understanding (1-2-3 or Thumbs Up/Down) and starts the practice time when most of the students are ready to independently practice. Activities to support communication include Round Robin, Gallery Walk, Cube, Stations, Find Someone Who, Give One-Get One, Bingo, Think-Dots, Matrix, True-False Strips, and Mix- Match-Freeze. Students practice at different levels to support individual learning and use their Deductive Structured Notes to solidify 5
understanding. Students assessment responses demonstrate their current strengths and areas for growth to inform next steps for mastering essential content. Quick Check One- or two-question formative assessment connected to essential math or science content that requires students to solve, explain, and connect. It is used to assess the transfer of information from short-term memory into longterm memory. Concept on the Quick Check must be from lessons taught at least 7 class-days (or more) previously and should be given to students randomly in the middle of a lesson on a different topic. Levels/Rubric is used to measure learning. Closure Assess retention of information. Must be timed; students need to transition mentally from one concept to the Quick Check. Formative assessment used as an individual closure to measure student mastery of the content upon completion of a lesson or series of lessons. These assessments provide an opportunity for students to work individually and assess understanding at the given point in time for the purpose of improving learning. Teacher uses the responses to inform re-teaching within a lesson and to evaluate and modify action plan. A quick assessment of previously taught content in the middle of Active Practice (such as a matrix) where students solve, compare responses immediately to model response from teacher and analyze strengths and areas for further focus. Teacher carefully observes analysis and makes decisions around how to strengthen student understanding of mathematics or science within the next lesson or during active practice. Students demonstrate their retention of essential math or science content on a quick assessment during transitions from one activity to another. At the end of a lesson, teacher closes student thinking with an Exit Slip connected to analyzing notes/learning. This can be a question that is used to assess short-term student learning of the lesson objective(s) (academic exit slip) or a student reflection of content (self-reflective exit slip). Levels/Rubric is used to assess learning. MAST Culture of Trust and Success: Students actively engage in a learning culture that values mathematical and scientific thinking connected to mastering essential math or science content and where lesson components are seamlessly integrated into learning content. Description Possible Implementation Connection to Module 2 Teacher cultivates and strengthens the teaching and learning environment for students to engage in and achieve mastery of essential math or science content. Students are continuously active in communicating and processing information at different levels of thinking. Teachers are continuously active in assessing and Teacher uses the MAST-sequenced Lesson Plan and Block Plan while planning for their lessons, units, and year to engage students in mastering essential math or science content. Student input (i.e. surveys, focus groups) is used to validate their interests and how they learn. During active assessment, the teacher and students collaborate around student data to create next steps for student learning. Teacher implements differentiated active practice in which students work on focused practice to achieve their individual learning goals. Teacher also implements more quick checks to support student learning. This active learning will have a positive 6 using data to inform student learning.
In this environment, students feel validated because their experiences, thinking, and background are used as a starting point in teaching mathematics or science and is used to move learning forward and reverse academic proficiency gaps. impact on active assessment in the classroom. 7