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IL/IM Planning Resource

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by LaToya Byrd and Jenna Laib
School looks different this year. It's easy to focus on the changes that will need to be made-the new practices, the new routines, the new technologies-but we must first focus on our central beliefs about teaching and learning, and use those beliefs to determine what's important. It is essential to build a strong classroom community.

What does it look like?

This community should strive to be one where learners know, use, and enjoy mathematics. How do you envision this math class? And how does that relate to your own mathematical experiences?

Think back to your time as an elementary school student. How would you have defined "mathematics"? How did you feel about math class? There's no monolithic experience for teachers. When we ask this at professional development, we have heard teachers say things like:
Math was always about getting the right answer. No collaboration or sharing out our thoughts. Now that I am a classroom teacher, I ensure students get think time and encourage group work. We all have something to learn from each other. I also don't want my students to think I hold all of the answers. We are a team. I thought I was a good math student and smart, because that's what I was told. I knew my math facts and I completed assignments fast. That stopped when I was sitting in an Algebra I class with no reasoning skills. I didn't know what to do or how to ask for help. Math was fun! It was a different game every game. We had to work together to solve math mysteries. My teacher kept everyone engaged so we learned without knowing we were learning.
The kind of community we want to create rarely happens by accident. As educators, we can make deliberate choices that support and sustain our math communities. To support this, the authors of IM K-5 Math (currently in beta pilot across the US) embedded plans to build community into the first two weeks of lessons in the curriculum. This work then continues and is regularly reinforced throughout the school year.

At the Heart of Building a Math Community

Students need to feel ownership and agency within the math community. IM K-5 Math builds in opportunities for students to explore what it means to learn math by doing math, identify the associated actions, and relate the actions of doing math to norms that support that work.

There are two important considerations when planning the student experiences used to establish norms:

1. The experiences should be reflective of how learning math will look, sound, and feel all year.

2. The experiences should be connected to convey the message that learning math is a coherent journey.

Understanding What It Means to Learn Math by Doing Math

The work on community in IM K-5 Math is not a detour; it fits seamlessly into the curriculum. Lessons provide students opportunities to build on their prior understandings and experiences, to share their thinking, and to interact with the thinking of others. They begin with an invitational warm up, like the one below.

From IM K-5 Math, Grade 2, Unit 1

After engaging in authentic and meaningful mathematical ways, students are asked to reflect on what it felt like, looked like, and sounded like. The teacher records this in a T-chart titled "Mathematical Community," like the one below. For the first 3 days, the focus is on the left side of the chart: Doing Math.

Students mathematize. This might be in a classroom, or at home, or anywhere in between, but first things first: students must do some math!

Afterwards, students contribute to this chart in person or virtually. In the virtual environment, students might share out during a synchronous session while the teacher records responses on a slide, doc, or even paper or chart paper that the teacher is able to show on the camera. Students could also contribute ideas asynchronously that the teacher then consolidates into one chart.

Here is an example from a IM K-5 Math alpha pilot classroom after the first day.

Photo c/o Viri Hawkins, Grade 5

Identifying Actions Associated with Doing Math

The work continues the next day. After the second lesson of the unit, which again follows the same design structure as all IM K-12 Math curricula, students are asked to review the chart, and to revise or add to it based on their experience during the second lesson. The process continues on day 3, as students are prompted to think about the actions associated with doing math. What specifically did students and teachers do?

For classes that are meeting in person, the T-chart can be hung up in the room for students to review. The teacher should direct students to it before the lesson. After the lesson synthesis, the teacher may again direct students to review the chart, but this time to consider any revisions or additions.
The teacher may make similar moves in a virtual setting. The teacher can show the slide with the chart at the start of the lesson, and lead a brief reflection. The teacher cues the class to revisit the chart to close the lesson, as well.

Affirming and Reaffirming Norms

After the class has spent a few days fleshing out the Doing Math side of the T-chart, it is time to discuss explicit norms that make these actions possible. For example, "it may help us share our ideas as a whole class if we have the norm 'listen as others share their ideas.'" It helps to spotlight different norms, and to pause the class while working to call attention to them.

Photo c/o Valerie Effland, Kindergarten

For classes that are held in person, it is helpful to continue to reference the physical recording of the T-Chart. For virtual classes, the teacher can make the decision to show the entire record of the T-chart, or just the one norm in focus that day.

By week two, the teacher can start the class with a quick refresher of the agreed upon norms, and then end the class by asking students to share what norms they experienced during that class session. Or the teacher may ask students, "which one of the norms did you feel was most important in your work today, and why?" This could be done as a journaling exercise, or, e.g. in a synchronous setting, a class or small group discussion.

This work is not completed in September. Classes should revisit the T-chart throughout the year, to reflect on the state of collaboration and discourse, and recommit to class norms.

Impact on Classroom Community

Co-crafting explicit norms alongside students does more than create shared ownership and a productive atmosphere. This process is designed to promote equitable teaching practices, and impact teacher beliefs.

Co-crafting norms honors student voices. It centers student ideas, and positions teachers as learners, too. In a recent professional learning session with IM K-5 Math beta pilot teachers, one educator stated that they "[couldn't] think of a math training that talked about giving a voice to marginalized students the way [IM] did." Other teachers noted that crafting norms builds community, and that this work echoes how lessons emphasize community, from the invitational warm up to the lesson synthesis.

Co-crafting norms with students also asks a teacher to examine their own beliefs about math learning and teaching. "IM's curriculum is different," a teacher shared. "Different in a good way. Being forced to think about my beliefs and positioning can only make me a better teacher. I think we call that humanizing math."

Resources

There have been two IM featured blog posts about co-crafting norms with students: (1) Building a Mathematical Classroom Community; and (2) Co-Creating Classroom Norms with Students. The first post offers a downloadable resource that is similar to what is written into IM K-5 Math. Educators participating in the beta pilot benefit from having this built into their lesson plans, but it would be easy enough to incorporate into any lesson!

Next Steps

If you use this process, we would love to see your students' ideas and hear about your experience. You can share your pictures, blog post links, and reflections in the comments section below, or on Twitter using our #LearnWithIM hashtag and tagging @IllustrateMath!

Get more support with IM's collection of distance learning resources. This includes curriculum adaption packs for the 2020-21 school year that incorporate this work.

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Helping Elementary Students Cultivate a Strong Math Community - IM CERTIFIED® BLOG

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by LaToya Byrd and Jenna Laib School looks different this year. It's easy to focus on the changes that will need to be made-the new practices, the new routines, the new technologies-but we must first focus on our central beliefs about teaching and learning, and use those beliefs to determine what's important.

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This guide will assist you in reviewing Imagine Learning’s comprehensive print and digital solution.

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Classroom environments that foster a sense of community that allows students to express their mathematical ideas-together with norms that expect students to communicate their mathematical thinking to their peers and teacher, both orally and in writing, using the language of mathematics-positively affect participation and engagement among all students .

Principles to Action, NCTM

The beginning of the school year offers teachers and students a fresh start full of exciting possibilities. From the first day of class, as we begin to learn about each of the students in front of us, we have the opportunity to set the stage for how learning math will look, sound, and feel throughout the year. We also begin to foster the attitudes and beliefs that are important in shaping a mathematical classroom community in which each and every student is positioned as a capable learner and doer of mathematics, truly believes their voice is valued and heard, and understands that we learn math by doing deep and meaningful mathematics together. Building this classroom community requires a purposeful process that takes time and careful attention.

To build this community, it is first important to be mindful of who is involved in the process. While it may be fast and easy to simply tell students how they will engage in math this year by offering a given set of rules or norms, it completely removes student ownership in their own learning. It is also a missed opportunity to engage students in reflecting on the things they need to feel safe and successful in mathematics. To be invested in a classroom community, students should be active participants in identifying what it means for them to do math and the collective norms that allow each and every one of them the opportunity to do so.

Student-generated norms offer guidance and continuous reminders to students as to how they can work collaboratively and productively as individuals as well as in groups. Even with the best of intentions, however, all too often we establish norms at the beginning of the year only to struggle to maintain them. Creating norms within the context of building a mathematical community moves the norms from just a poster on the wall to a living, breathing culture in the classroom.

There are two important considerations when planning the student experiences through which to establish norms:

1. The experiences should be reflective of how learning math will look, sound, and feel all year.

2. The experiences should be connected to convey the message that learning math is a coherent journey.

If we want students to have access to, and engage in, deep and meaningful mathematics, their opportunities to do mathematics should be connected. A series of connected experiences that encourage mathematical discussions, collaborative work, and engagement in the Mathematical Practices not only create a mathematical classroom culture, but also give students a coherent picture of what it means to learn math. Through these experiences, the established norms are continuously reinforced.

T he first two weeks of class are often dedicated to giving students exciting math problems and establishing norms. While this is great for engaging students in mathematics, these activities are typically disconnected, isolated tasks that then create the need for the teacher to establish new routines and lesson structures when starting their first curriculum unit. These additional tasks take time and can add extra days into an already full year of learning, forcing teachers to make decisions about which content to cut later in the year because of pacing issues.

From the beginning of Unit 1 in the IM 6-8 Math curriculum, the problem-based lesson structure engages students in collaborative, connected mathematical experiences. Through warm-ups such as "Which One Doesn't Belong," "Notice and Wonder," and "Number Talks," and classroom activities that include card sorts and interactive Geogebra applets, the norms are intrinsic to the daily function of the mathematics classroom throughout the year.

Linked below is a process to start building a mathematical classroom community during the first week of school in Unit 1 of the IM 6-8 Math curriculum. In preparation for this work, we recommend teachers read the "What Is a Problem-based Curriculum?" section of the curriculum course guide to gain insight into the ways students actively participate in the learning throughout a lesson.

Download the Building a Mathematical Classroom Community plan.

Here are some ideas to help maintain your mathematical community norms throughout the year:

As the teacher, be a daily example of what it looks like to do math and be mindful of the community norms.

After the first week, be sure to revisit the "Mathematical Community" ideas and ask for revisions at least once a week. It is easy to focus solely on the math students are doing, but by revisiting this list it shows students that you value the mathematical community as much as you value the math.

To ensure this is a working and growing collection of ideas, make Post-its available to students and ask them to make suggestions or show evidence of either doing math or norms they experienced.

Before launching activities that require a lot of group interaction, remind students of their mathematical community ideas so the ideas are at the forefront of their work.

As students work during a lesson, occasionally monitor for evidence of their mathematical community in addition to the math. During the synthesis, highlight the actions and norms you saw being attended to during the lesson.

If time allows, periodically ask students to be more metacognitive about the norms by asking them which norms they think are the most difficult to follow, and why.

Organizational tip for the classroom: In the FB group, Lindsey K. posted, "I'm moving from elementary to middle school. I've always done collaborative norms and posted them. How do you do that for multiple classes? I was thinking of doing each class and then synthesizing all 5 on one anchor chart. Any other ideas?"

I thought this was a great question and one that many teachers face with limited wall space. I taught three 5th grade math classes and kept a separate piece of chart paper for each class because they were uniquely different. I also had an abnormally long room with a huge, empty wall that made it easy to do! If you are short on wall space, I think consolidating the class norms to one poster is a way to save space. And then, to value each classes' differences, you could make a 5×8 index card or copy of the norms on card stock to tape to the front of their workbooks or math journals.

If you use this process, we would love to see your students' ideas and hear about your experience. You can share your pictures, blog post links, and reflections in the comments section below, or on Twitter using our #LearnWithIM hashtag and tagging @IllustrateMath!

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Building a Mathematical Classroom Community - IM CERTIFIED® BLOG

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Classroom environments that foster a sense of community that allows students to express their mathematical ideas-together with norms that expect students to communicate their mathematical thinking to their peers and teacher, both orally and in writing, using the language of mathematics-positively affect participation and engagement among all students.

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Algebra 1, Geometry  and Algebra 2 Overview Brochure 9-12

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Algebra 1, Geometry  and Algebra 2 Overview Brochure 9-12

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Creating an Inclusive and Engaging Math Community Blog Post

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Creating an Inclusive and Engaging Math Community Blog Post

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Leveraging PLCs to Maintain the Magic in Math Communities Throughout the Entire Year

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Leveraging PLCs to Maintain the Magic in Math Communities Throughout the Entire Year

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By Meredith Dadigan Abel, K-5 IM Certified Facilitator

When teachers and students come back from spring break, spring fever is in the air, and classroom routines may falter. While teachers have spent the entire year setting high expectations and building strong relationships, they have also developed a sense of familiarity with students, which can sometimes lead to looser routines and classroom procedures. The familiarity students have with their teachers and classmates can be invaluable, but around this time of year, it might be time for a tune-up-revisiting community norms and intentionally working to strengthen classroom math communities.

Goal Setting in PLCs to Strengthen Classroom Math Communities

Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings present the perfect opportunity for teachers to reflect on their practices and devise a plan to continue building joyful class communities where all students are knowers and doers of math. One essential step to having successful PLC meetings is to work with the school leadership team to create space during PLC meetings to reflect on how math communities are functioning. Giving teachers time to reflect with an asset-focused approach can be exactly what is needed to ensure their math communities remain strong up until the bell rings on the last day of school. IM provides guidance to support this work in " Key Structures in this Course ," which is found in the teachers' guide. Teachers should reflect and brainstorm together as they set goals for their individual classrooms.

This is also the perfect time to develop or revisit school-wide goals connected to nurturing a thriving math community. Teachers can use each other as resources to reflect on strengths and areas of growth to help them align their expectations for classrooms. Phil Daro's teaching moves to support math community presented by the Serp Institute is another helpful resource to guide this work. (Click on orange "See teaching ideas" links.) These ideas can help teachers set goals about the teaching practices that can best support improving their math community.

Whether setting goals for the classroom or school community, make sure goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound), so that when faculty members check in about their goals, they are able to really share how their progress is going.

Student-Centered Data-Driven Practices

One way to start talking about the math community in PLCs is for teachers to include feedback from students. By providing developmentally appropriate student surveys with questions about the math community in their classroom, teachers can receive valuable feedback. Teachers bring this data to PLC meetings, reflect together, and make SMART goals for their classrooms based on student input. By including student perspectives, there is an opportunity to cultivate a sense of belonging for all students and for students to feel ownership in cultivating a strong math community in their classroom.

In addition, observing and examining student interactions can inform shifts needed to maintain a positive, inclusive math community, and can be a way to hold each other accountable. For example, teachers could bring a short video or audio clip to focus the discussion.

Another helpful practice is sharing teacher-created rubrics or anchor charts that have been effective for building community. This is also another measure of accountability and collaboration toward meeting set goals.

Teachers can also leverage observations to inform their practice. They can invite an administrator or coach to visit their classroom and create a transcript of what kids are saying during whole group or small group work. In my school, students knew that when a principal came into their classroom and recorded what they were saying, an important observation was being done. I explained to the students how we were able to learn and become better teachers by looking at these transcripts. We started using this practice to help students reflect on their math community. When a teacher or instructional coach came in to transcribe students' group work time, it gave them an additional sense of purpose and pride to show the strengths in their math community. We were then able to look at the transcript and talk about what elements of their math community we should celebrate and areas that they could continue to work on.

We're All in This Together!

The 'C' in PLC stands for community. It is essential to use PLC time to build community among teachers. Teachers have had many months to collaborate and build strong relationships, but as we approach the end of the year, we may need to reconnect. This requires all members to lean into a little discomfort to learn and grow together. Encourage teachers to be vulnerable with each other to improve their teaching practice. Engage in community building activities that are low risk and fun. Warm-up routines aren't only for the kids.

Making the shift to a problem-based instructional model is hard work. It requires a shift in mindsets, beliefs, and practices. Use PLC time for teachers to pair up, so they can take the time to visit one another's classrooms and observe each other based on their goals. This can add value to PLC discussions as teachers share their experiences. Observing each other supports the notion that we are all in this together and can learn from one another. As teachers take turns bringing video or audio clips to share elements of the math community that have been implemented successfully, their colleagues can borrow tested strategies. It is also a time to present aspects of their practice that aren't going as planned, so their colleagues can offer trusted advice for adjustments. At first, teachers might feel shy about bringing video or audio to meetings for everyone to watch or listen to, but once they realize how effective this practice can be, teachers end up loving this time.

At the beginning of the year, we walk into classrooms and see teachers using the first six lessons of IM to help them build a strong mathematical community. As the days get longer and the energy gets higher, math communities may start to lose a little bit of their magic. And the truth is that building a math community needs to be worked on throughout the entire year. Our teachers need a community to lean on, and it is our responsibility as instructional leaders to support teachers in reflecting and taking time to continue to do this work. Just as we ask our teachers to build community with their students all throughout the year, we owe it to our teachers to do the same for them. Supporting teachers in PLC time is the perfect place to start.

As you plan for the remainder of the school year, consider the following questions to guide your next steps. Choose one or two to focus on as you strive to finish the year strong:

How can you create teacher buy-in for using PLC time to set goals and reflect on their math communities?

What steps can you take to help support teachers with building relationships to create an environment where teachers feel safe being vulnerable with each other?

How can you make sure teachers are considering student perspectives so that teachers are co-creating the math community with students?

Meredith began her career as a member of the Urban Catholic Teacher Corps at Boston College, where she taught fifth grade while working toward her master's degree. She then worked for 14 years as a teacher and dean for Aspire Public Schools in California. While at Aspire, Meredith received the California Charter School Teacher of the Year Award and became a semi-finalist for The New Teacher Project's Fishman Prize for Superlative Classroom Practice. As dean, she coached teachers in improving authentic academic discourse in math classrooms. She now loves being an IMCF and helping educators implement IM in schools.

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Leveraging PLCs to Maintain the Magic in Math Communities Throughout the Entire Year - IM CERTIFIED® BLOG

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By Meredith Dadigan Abel, K-5 IM Certified Facilitator When teachers and students come back from spring break, spring fever is in the air, and classroom routines may falter. While teachers have spent the entire year setting high expectations and building strong relationships, they have also developed a sense of familiarity with students, which can sometimes [...]

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