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Chapter 7 – Your Turn!

1.       The first steps to implementing math workshop are simply to have a plan!  I am a paper and pencil kind of person.  I’ve got to write/draw out every step and go through and check it off as I complete it.  At the beginning of the year, while you are implementing and getting to know your students, plan workstations that will review the skills that were required in the previous grade level.  This will not only give students meaningful practice, but will also give you valuable information on each student’s ability. (Formative assessments!)

2.       There are lots of challenges you may come across.  This past year, I implemented just like I have in the past few years using the system that has worked – I called them Math Jobs.  This just did not work for my last group.  So I stayed one evening, scratched the entire process and started over.  Was it work? Yes.  Was it worth it? Yes.  I started over entirely with the implantation process, which put me further behind than I wanted.  But it was worth it because my students did know the expectations and we rarely had problems.

3.       There are several levels of support within our building.  Of course, the closest supports you will have are your peers.  Talk, discuss, collaborate.  Come up with ideas and don’t be afraid to voice your opinion, even if it is not the desirable opinion.  If it comes up in your mind, it probably has in others and will mostly likely have some validity to it.  We have an amazing Admin team.  They will do whatever they can to make sure you have what you need to ensure success and will help with anything possible.  Another support available is online.  I am a member of several teacher groups that are always bouncing ideas off of one another.  Don’t be afraid to join in on conversations!  Use the help you have available to make your Math Workshop the most effective that it can be!

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Chapter 6 – Implementing Math Workshop

Chapter 6 is all about implementing math workshop.  The past couple of years I have used the 15 or 20 day approach to implementing.  There are several different versions of this floating around.  Use the one that works best for you.  The key is consistently modeling, practicing, and discussing what is happening.  Make anchor charts for students to refer back to and practice, practice, practice!

1.       As I said, I currently use a similar implementation system.  I will continue to use one, whether it is this or another version.  I do know that I will spend more time on the practice and especially the discussion part…what went great, what needs more work, etc. And always hit the why.  Why did this work?  Why did it not?  This will begin the conversations that you want your students to be able to have while in stations when problems arise.  Talk it out rather than arguing, etc.

2.       I have used the role play situations when our class is coming up with rules and expectations.  It has proven effective in that students do openly discuss what was great or not so great and how it could’ve been done better.  I hadn’t thought of using the same thing while implementing Math Workshop…but of course, it makes perfect sense!  So we will be adding this as well as making sure I have anchor charts for those students who need that visual reminder.  This should hit all 3 types of learning – auditory, visual, kinesthetic.

3.       I truly believe that the most important steps in preparing students for math workshop work together: modeling, practicing, and debriefing.  I think the debriefing/discussion part often gets dropped off.  I would like to make sure that I am focusing on having these meetings afterwards to discuss what is happening in workstations.

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Chapter 5 – Math Workstation Tasks

“Without effective Math Workstation tasks, successfully implementing Math Workshop is impossible.”  Best words in chapter 5.  Simply put…you can’t last minute say…oh no, I forgot to change/add workstation.  Let me grab something really quick.

Just like your lessons are well thought out and planned, so should be your workstations.  This is one area where team collaboration truly shines.  Work together to come up with the best activities for all students.  In the end it is less work for everyone and you get a ton of great stations and ideas!

1.        I have seen/used several of these tasks within my classroom.  Though as I said in Chapter 4, I have been missing the mark on the differentiation piece.  I love that these tasks give you ideas on how to differentiate and give the talking points to initiate mathematical conversations within student groups.  The modeling of this will be absolutely necessary in order for this to become effective within the classroom.

2.       The tasks are made to encourage and support the independent thinking and learning of students.  By keeping activities in stations that spiral back to concepts already taught, these concepts become easier and easier for students to comprehend and use.  The more practice they have, the better mathematicians they will be.

I do not want to start over with workstations.  I will definitely be creating the differentiation piece to add to my station bags as well as the Talking Points.  I know this will take some  time, but will hopefully help me, my students, and other teachers once it is complete.

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Chapter 4 – Planning Math Workstations

1.        Grouping students heterogeneously allows for flexibility within your small groups as well as allowing for peer tutoring to naturally occur.  Of course, this requires some strategic planning on your part.  Be sure to put some of your independent, stronger students with others that may need help.  Homogenous grouping allows for students to work within their stations at the same level.  They can be working on the same activity at the same level which allows for mathematical discussions to naturally happen.  The talking points will help these conversations.  I have grouped students both ways.  I prefer heterogeneous grouping because it does allow for the flexibility within my groups.  Doing this, I always try to make sure that I will still have an even number of students left in workstations after I pull my group to ensure games will work appropriately.

2.       I have a lot of workstations that can be used already.  What I feel like they are missing are the differentiation piece.  I am realizing that I had a “one stop shop.” We’ve learned the material, reviewed the station, and so everyone should be capable of doing this…right?!?! Nope.  I need to make sure that each station is geared toward the needs of all students, not just the middle of the road.  I did add STEM Bins into my rotations last year and I enjoyed watching the students with that.  If you walk in, at a glance you may see what you think is play.  But when you listen to the conversations, students are discussing what does and doesn’t work and what they should try.  Stem Bins were new to me and are definitely worth keeping, but again, keep tweaking.

3.       I wish we had more technology available within the classroom (iPads and such), but there are still so many things that students can do with the Chrome Books.  We need to move beyond using these just for IReady and allow students some time with exploring flipped learning lessons and other websites to enrich what we are doing in class.

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I am so far behind.  Summer life got busy, but here's to catching up! :)

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Chapter 3 – Managing Math Workshop

Student behaviors are where I have the most worry during Math Workshop.  I will be honest – I have that fear of letting go of the control in my room and letting students work.  Of course, this is at the beginning and 99% of the students prove that they are capable of doing exactly what they need.  The key to making your vision a reality is practice, practice, practice.  Model expectations and give students the time to practice.  The more we do this at the beginning of the year, the less we have to go back to it throughout the year.  Students MUST know the expectations and you must follow through for Math Workshop to run the way you envision it.

My biggest concerns about student accountability is simply that they won’t do it.  As I implemented MWS in my class for the first time, I learned a lot…fast.  My first huge mistake was assuming they would be given instructions and be able to do it.  Nope.  Students must have time to practice what you expect.  Spend the first month introducing stations and practicing how they should run.  Use this time to observe, model, and confer with small groups and practice accountability talks within this time.  This does not mean you cannot pull groups for targeted intervention.  You will be able to, but in order for your stations to be effective, use the time at the beginning of the year to train your students on what is expected.

Implementing or revamping your Guided Math Workshop is a process. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!  I do not know a single teacher or administrator that would deny help when asked for!  We all want our peers to be successful.  Lean on each other to learn and grow!  Ask for resources, ask to watch someone else, ask for help.  Even if you don’t necessarily need help, per say, it is always great to see how others make it work…learn from your peers.

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I'm a little behind - we were out of town and then the rest of the week was just busy!  So, here it goes - for what it is worth - Chapter 3 reflection!

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Our school counselor would come around each month and teach the kids about Kelso's Choices. It's kid friendly and helps the kiddos try different things to work out their problems.

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Hi there! Sorry it's been awhile! Been a little crazy the last few weeks. I completely agree with as the year goes on getting busier, more tired, and less organized. That is one of my goals this year is to stay more organized. I bought a planner, and extra folders to organize papers instead of putting them on my desk. Then, at the end of the day they get put on my chair so my desk looks decent. Ha...For my math workstations, I basically had the tables set in a circle, so the students would easily rotate from table to table. The math manipulatives were always accessible on the wall. I like the idea to "Containerize." I put the materials together, but not in a container together. I like that idea. My homeroom knew to put the manipulatives back on the shelf at the end of each day.  I completely agree with spending time, especially at the beginning of the year to model and practice everything. It makes a huge difference in how the rest of year will progress and whether or not it was purposeful.     I also love the Must Do and May Do for each station because it allows them to expand and further their current skill they were working on. I never really thought about using the talk points cards, but I think it is great because it helps with vocabulary.

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I can't wait to hear your thoughts so far! I will catch up with the next chapter Tuesday evening or Wednesday once I get back into town!

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I have so much to say about Chapter 2 – Organization!  I will try to stay on topic though.  Organization tends to be where I feel things slide for me.  I start out very organized and as the year goes on, days get busier, and I get tired, less and less gets organized.  I feel the same way about my house!

One key point that hit home for me, maybe because I’m decluttering at the moment at home, is to GET RID OF THE CLUTTER!  Remove things that do not have a purpose, use furniture creatively, and make more room.  This always seems to be a battle for me, though I think in the past few years I’ve gotten much better at it.  I have focused more on having defined small group spaces and whole group carpet areas to gather.  My desks have become the working areas.  It’s been commented on many times by admin and other teachers…well the people sitting here can’t see the board/screen/etc.  Well…true, but they don’t necessarily need to for the purpose of learning.  My teaching is done with my kids gathered around me and in groups.  Further, with my setup, my students know to get up and move if they cannot see.  I rarely have students take advantage of this as it is taught and practiced.  Bottom line – I love my desks on the perimeter of my room because I love the open spaces.  It allows me to see all students easily while I am working in small groups.

The next point that I loved…”When you know WHAT you have to teach with, it makes it easier to think about HOW you teach.”  If you were with us last year, you know that Mat went through tons and tons of manipulatives.  I wonder…how much of this was just thrown in a storage closet somewhere?  How much is PURPOSEFULLY used?  I know that I had a ton of things on my storage shelf that were never used.  Why…no quick access, not sure what was covered in all that dust.  But I did use the manipulatlives that were stored in my room, in the tubs that I had created and knew exactly where they were and what was in them.  *The students did too.*  They knew where to get these things.  We have talked about housing all of these items in one common area and having a check out system so that we can get and use the items that will help our students in their learning.  Some manipulatives could stay with you all year, others you may need for a few weeks or a few months.  I think this is a GRAND idea!  To think…”Something as simple as storage can impact the EFFICIENCY of math workshop.”

So how do we get there?  It sounds good…it sounds great…but how do we do it?  Consistency.  Consistently model and practice how to take out items for math workshop and how to clean up.  The more time you spend modeling at the beginning of the year, the easier it will make your math workshop time.  Students will know the expectations from the beginning and be held responsible for this.

There are a couple of things I wish I had implemented within my classroom and I will be exploring and hoping to help some of you with.  The task menus…I love the Must Do, May Do idea for each station.  This ensures that students are working on current skills and then spiraling other skills.  I especially like the Talking Point Cards to encourage appropriate use of math vocabulary.  As we get into our Essential Standards and planning, I would love to help create these and store them on our Google Drive for us to use in our classrooms!  I also mentioned in one of our meetings that I would love to have a running file of good for you workstation activities…so if you have anything to share I would love a copy!  This will be a long term goal and will take collaboration…all of us working together to make the best collection of resources for our teachers and students!

Have a fabulous day, friends!

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I love the verbiage kid size and adult size problems!  Can you tell us more about Kelso's Choices? I've heard of it, but don't know much about it!

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2. Consider your teaching style & classroom preferences. Taking these into consideration, which model do you think is best for your Guided Math Classroom?
Well, when I think about this question, I think there are a couple of ways to approach this.  Based on my style and preferences, I do like the rotation model because I was able to control noise levels and monitor activities a bit easier. With that said, I truly think it depends on the needs and abilities of your students.  I started 2017-3018 attempting to use the same model I had used the past few years - it didn't work! (Math Jobs). It didn't work, I panicked - I knew how Math jobs looked and worked - what would I do?!?!
So, we scratched it and started over with rotations and it ran smoothly from there on out.

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1. Have you tried to create a Math Workshop in your classroom?
Yes. I've had math workshop running in my classroom for the last 5-7 years. Before that, we were more based on whole group lessons with centers that went with the lesson.

What model did you use?
This past year I used the Rotation Model with my Teacher Table as part of the rotations. This meant that my groups were mostly homogeneous, however my students knew to expect that anyone could be called from their station to my table as needed.  My groups changed frequently (sometimes more often, sometimes less - depending on needs).

What aspects of it worked well for you?
The organization. I like to know exactly what everyone is working on at all times and this model allowed for me to know exactly where students were supposed to be and I could easily keep track of completed stations.
I also enjoyed the flexibility of pulling a variety of students as needed.  Even though my table was part of the rotation, I could switch or add students as needed.
With this flexibility came the flexibility of the schedule.  There were days that math workshop did not happen due to schedule conflicts or other things.  We were able to easily pickup where we left off.

Did you encounter any problems? How did you resolve them?
Of course I did!  There is no perfect classroom and no perfect world! Some of the problems we have encountered were technology issues - logging on, accessibility, etc, students not knowing what to do, arguments - even your best thought out groups can still have disagreements!
To resolve most of the problems we had things in place to help:
- Teacher Helper (can help with most any problems, unless emergency)
- Ask 3 Before Me (your group, teacher helper, another classmate)
- 4 Finger Rule - don't interrupt teacher table (use other methods to get answers) unless it's one of these four - flood, fire, blood, vomit
- Have a question for me? Write it on a sticky note and put it on the board. It will be addressed at the end of the rotation.

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Have you tried to create a Math Workshop in your classroom?

Yes, last year I used math workshop in my classroom.

What model did you use?

I used the rotation model. I had 5 rotations. My groups also changed regularly. The students looked forward to this time every day. It was also my favorite time because I was able to meet with everyone.

What aspects worked well for you?

I loved that I was able to meet everyone almost every day. I knew exactly where they were and what they needed help with. Just like Kristi said, it is flexible, making it easy to pick up where we left off if something came up.

Did you encounter any problems? How did you resolve them?

Yes, I did. I noticed that the students were taking their time cleaning up and continuing to work when the timer went off. We stopped and practiced on cleaning up using a 30 second timer and rotating (Stand up, push in your chair, and rotate.) Another problem I encountered was students arguing. I originally had 4 groups, but made another to also help with this. I also put into place: Hand signals for “kid size problem” or “adult size problem.” If it was a kid size problem, students knew they needed to use some of Kelso’s choices to solve their problem. Also, Ask 3 before me—I had a light on at my back table that said ask 3 before me. The last one, the three B’s- don’t bother me unless you are barfing, bleeding or have a broken bone. (Didn’t think about fire, but that is an important one also.)

Which model do you think is best for you?

I believe the rotation model is best for me. I feel it meets the students’ needs the best because I am able to help them where they are struggling and see them on a regular basis.

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Today is the day! Join in when you are ready. Use the Review & Reflect Questions to guide you and ask (and answer)any questions!

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My favorite quote in the introduction.
"When students recognize the meaning behind procedures, they are much more likely to remember and apply them appropriately in other contexts."

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Here is our pacing guide!  I hope you enjoy...and even if you are following along without access to the book, the reflective questions are fabulous for thinking about what you have already done and how to improve what you are doing.

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I am super excited to join a book study!

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I have read the Guided Math and Guided Math in Action this will be new for me.  I am very excited.

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I will have the schedule up by the end of the week along with some things to be thinking about as you read.

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Let's make it a July Book Study - giving everyone a chance to get the book and get started!  I will post a schedule for us to stay together.  I'm looking forward to learning with you!

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Hi!  There were several people interested in our Guided Math Workshop Book Study.  Unfortunately it was a link to a previous book study.  But that is OK!  Let's use this padlet as a way to discuss what we are learning about!