Last year I supported several of our teachers (both lower and upper elementary) in creating a math block that is both engaging and purposeful. I think we came up with a great recipe that is easy to replicate at any grade level.
Let's get to it!
Here is my recipe for a student-centered math block.
Spiral Review
All math blocks need to have a time set aside for spiral review. Students learn so much new content throughout the year and without a consistent spiral review they will more than likely lose some of their new learning. Spiral review should be short, quick, purposeful and filled with routines that can be applied to a variety of content areas. Some strategies that work well for spiral review are Number Strings, Number of the Day/Week, Number Talks, or Fact Practice. Remember, spiral review isn't the meat of your lesson and therefore shouldn't take the bulk of your time - keep it short - think 5-10 minutes.
Problem Solving
Problem solving is such a critical part of any math block. It's important that teachers dedicate part of their math block to giving their students opportunities to apply math skills to word problems, and more importantly, actually teach students specific problem solving strategies. Confession - my go to place for finding problem solving strategies is Pinterest :) UPS Check or CUBES anyone?
Provocation
This might be a new term for some of you. The goal of a provocation is to spark curiosity and interest in your students to get them thinking about the content you are going to teach. Rather than just jumping in and saying "Today we are going to learn about fractions", you might want to start with a question, controversial statement, picture, video, or anything that gets your students thinking. By giving your students the following statement "all halves are the same size" you get your students thinking about fractions. You can get students to take sides and defend their position. This gets them thinking about fractions and applying their background knowledge before you even begin your new instruction. Provocations are meant to be short (3-5 minutes max) and get students curious about what they will be learning.
Provocation Strategies: Tug-o-war, Bottoms-Up, Correct the Teacher, Pictures, Videos, 4 Corners, Think-Puzzle-Explore
Mini-Lesson/New Learning
This one is an obvious (or at least I hope it is). Most of the time your math lesson should be teaching brand new content, or extending your students' learning in a new way. The most important thing to consider when preparing your mini-lesson is to actually keep it mini (this means short).
These helpful hints can help keep you on track during the mini lesson. Give yourself a time limit, try to keep your mini-lesson less than 10 minutes. Limit teacher talk. Script out your questions and prepare your example ahead of time. Prepare student notes ahead of time. Remember that your students don't have to master the content by the end of the mini-lesson (that's why we have all the other parts of the math block).
Independent Practice
When you hear the terms Independent Practice how many of you immediately start thinking of worksheets? I know when I was in my first few years of teaching my vision of independent practice involved my students sitting quietly working on a worksheet while I walked around the room...boy, has that changed. I love giving students choice and the freedom to talk and move during independent practice. Independent practice can look like a worksheet, but there are so many other strategies that can be just as, if not more, effective.
Here are some of my favorites: Student Created Concept Posters, Rally Coach, Scoot, Quiz-Quiz-Trade
Reflection
I think this is one of the hardest parts of any lesson for a teacher to consistently incorporate, but I also think it is one of the most important. We need to give our students time to reflect on what it is they just learned and experienced as learners. This is where they begin to internalize the content, and let's be honest, if it was important for us to spend an entire 90 minute lesson on it, we want to give them time to reflect on it. There are several thinking routines that work great as reflections. If you take time to teach your students this routines at the beginning of the year you'll easily be able to cycle them through your math lessons throughout the year.
Reflection Strategies: I used to think/but now I think..., 3-2-1, Quick-Write, Draw-Label-Caption
So as you are planning your math block this year I hope this post gives you some new ideas and strategies to incorporate into your math block. I'd love to know which ones you try.
