Project Title: 4.

2 (Pre-K 12 Curriculum)

By: Susan Samaha

Part 1: I met with my mentor to discuss the math curriculum in the district for pre-k to 12 on 12.9.2016.

Part 2: This meeting was to ask my mentor about the math standards, curriculum, and support from

district and understand what math instruction looks like at different grade levels. I chose Math, because

I have supported teachers in literacy for many years as an ESL teacher.

In the School Improvement plan, there are literacy and math goals for each school. Some

schools focus a lot of their support on literacy more than math. I wanted to learn the scope of math

instruction and assessment as well as the low-test scores for math through out the district.

There are four strands of math that are taught in our prek-12th grade instruction and they are as

follows; number and operation, algebra, geometry and measurement, and data analysis and probability.

Minnesota has not adopted the Common Core Math Standards, but teachers in Minneapolis Public

Schools use Focused Instruction to get the standard, bench mark and assessments for their grade level.

Teachers teach math as a whole class or co-taught. Teachers also teach small groups so students can

work individually using manipulatives. Teachers provide spaces for students to share their

understanding out loud to the whole class. This is one of my favorite strategies in math. There isnt one

way of solving a math problem, but students can share among their peers the different ways of coming

up with answers.

Observing math instruction in elementary school was delightful and challenging at the same

time. Teachers in elementary grade levels did not feel confident to teach math and often had the EL

teacher or the Instructional Coach co-teaching during math time. The elementary teachers used a

Guided Math Workshop. This was an hour block of a Number talk warm -up, mini-lesson and rotations.
There was a station from Kindergarten to 8th grade that was a computer program called Spatial-

Temporal (ST) Math. This is also available in High School, but it is not used in the high school I observed.

This consists of students learning math visually with no words or sounds. Elementary students for the

most part liked it, but it was not used much in Middle School. Teachers in elementary school called

students Mathematicians. In all the classrooms I observed, each class did Number Talks at the

beginning of each class. Students were able to share the different ways of coming up with an answer to

the whole class. Elementary teachers also came up with problems to solve that related to students

lives. Making connections, problem solving, representational strategies, and communicating

mathematical ideas are four powerful tools for developing understanding (Zemelman, p. 170).

However, in Middle School and High School, a licensed math teacher was teaching math. The

teachers had more confidence in the content. One math teacher had students interacting as a whole

group during the mini-lesson. Another math teacher taught the mini-lesson and gave students plenty of

time for independent work. The culture of math instruction changes from elementary school to high

school. Students should develop capability with five critical strategies that are based on creating

representations:

- Discuss the problem in small groups (language representations).

- Use manipulatives (concreate, physical representations and tactile sense).

- Act it out (representations of sequential actions and bodily kinesthetic sense).

- Draw a picture, diagram, or graph (visual, pictorial representations).

- Make a list or a table (symbolic representations) (Zemelman, p.171).

The strategies mentioned above are less evident in secondary. The key to good learning is creating

an environment where the above strategies exist as well as a growth mindset towards learning

math.
 Hattie (2009) described effective teaching in this way: The act of teaching requires deliberate

interventions to ensure that there is cognitive change in the student: thus the key ingredients are

awareness of the learning intentions, knowing when a student is successful in attaining those intentions,

having sufficient understanding of the students understanding as he or she comes to the task, and

knowing enough about the content to provide meaningful and challenging experiences in some sort of

progressive development. It involves an experienced teacher who knows a range of learning strategies

to provide the students when they seem not to understand. (p.23) (Dufour, p.16). Many elementary

teachers that I spoke with said they did not feel confident teaching math. They needed support and they

each have an instructional math coach. Elementary and middle school teachers meet to discuss pre-

assessments and post-assessments. They also bring student data to identify which students need more

support. There is an intervention time at the end of the day where students go into a classroom for a

particular enrichment. For example; the fourth grade team had only two teachers teaching math and

two teach literacy. The students would rotate to a different classroom during this time. This creates a

culture of true collaboration among a grade level.

School leaders must make sure teachers have a productive environment to make success for all

students a reality. The best way to cultivate such a productive environment is a system of support and

nurturing, followed by accountability (Muhammad, p.60). Teachers are expected in all grade levels

during Professional Learning Community meetings to bring student work to see where students progress

and areas of growth. This provides teachers an opportunity to identify if certain information needs to be

retaught using new strategies and which areas do students need more support.

Mathematical thinking is a normal part of everyones mental ability, and not confined to a

gifted few ( Zemelman, p.169). Creating a culture in the classroom where students see themselves as

mathematicians and are capable at being good at math is critical for their learning. There is a culture
during Number Talks about coming up with different ways to solve a mathematical problem. There is a

culture of celebrating differences and encouraging it during math time. The Guided Math Workshop is

also a great way of creating a space to learn math individually and with a small group. This would have

been wonderful to see in secondary. Many of the problems to be solved in math in secondary did not

connect to students real life. There was a Do Now, but it did not necessarily encourage students to

want to participate in the math conversation. Students need to understand how to use these ideas and

related tools to describe patterns in real-world contexts around them (Zemelman, p.175).

An instructional leader cultivates a culture of teaching and learning by focusing on relevance,

relationships and rigor. Creating a culture where having a growth mindset is important. Teachers and

students will make mathematical mistakes, but they will learn together. Teachers will try new strategies

in order for students to achieve their learning. Math is learned differently around the world and having

relationships with students to show their understanding will build their confidence in math. Instruction

is a means to an end student learning and thus the ultimate test of effective instruction is actual

evidence that students have learned (Dufour, p.142). I remember I would come home from school and

my father would solve the math problem completely different than how I learned it in school. At first, I

was getting upset, because I wanted to learn how the teacher did it. But, the teacher valued my fathers

way and said, and here is another way of doing the problem. I have heard teachers say to students

that there is only the classroom way of doing the math problem. This is where I believe the culture and

mindset conversation is critical for school environments.

I believe assessment is important for transition years. When students leave elementary, there

should be an assessment to identify where students need to be in middle school math. When students

leave middle school, there should also be an assessment in the ninth grade. Often times we find

students missing basic number facts, elements of solving a math problem or even how to use decimals. I
would embed math through out the day for students. I have seen math problems in the hallway or as

weekly math announcements for the whole school. Creating a culture where everyone feels they can be

successful in math and teaching that math is needed in the outside world is crucial for students. I also

want to highlight that students who are English Learners may need more time learning English, but may

have strong mathematical knowledge. These students can be helpful for supporting their peers in all

grade levels. In conclusion, I learn a lot about the how math is taught, supported and valued at

elementary, middle and high school. I hope I am able to embed math through my building in as many

ways as we do literacy.

Work Cited:

Dufour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of learning: How district, school, and classroom leaders
improve student achievement. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Muhammad, A., & Hollie, S. (2012). The will to lead, the skill to teach: Transforming schools at every
level. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Zemelman, S., Daniels, H., & Hyde, A. A. (2012). Best practice: Bringing standards to life in America's
classrooms. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.