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Here's a Q&A doc to ask questions and get support!

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Here's a Q&A doc to ask questions and get support!

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Imagine Learning Core Programs Explore Our Curricula English Language Arts Learn More Mathematics Learn More Science Learn More Social Studies Learn More English Language Arts Grades K-8 A comprehensive, digital-first, core language arts program for grades K-8, in which students focus on mastery of knowledge and skills and demonstrate high-quality work while building habits of [...]

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Teacher log in
Email: imagineimdemoteacher@example.com
Password (9/15-9/30): #Literacy18!

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IM 6-12: Grading and Homework Policies and Practices

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IM 6-12: Grading and Homework Policies and Practices

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IM Author Bill McCallum paints a picture of what Illustrative Mathematics will look like in your classroom.

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IM 6-12 Math: Grading and Homework Policies and Practices - IM CERTIFIED® BLOG

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Today I am being trained on... Core Curriculum

Core Curriculum... Illustrative Mathematics

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Weld North Education is becoming Imagine Learning

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Weld North Education is becoming Imagine Learning. Find out what this means for you and the products you use.

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The beginning of each unit includes an Inspire Math Video which showcases the mathematics of the unit in a real-world, engaging context. These videos are also available in Spanish.

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Imagine IM: Enhanced Illustrative Mathematics

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An emphasis on collaboration can support all students seeing both themselves and their classmates as competent sensemakers and powerful mathematicians.

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Unit 9 in IM Grades 6-8: Hidden Gems - IM CERTIFIED® BLOG

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By Lisa Matthews, IM Certified® Facilitator and PL Specialist Team for Grades 6-12 The IM curriculum is so thoughtfully designed and written that even those of us who have spent years with IM often find content that is new, or ideas within it that deepen our math teaching practice.

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Weld North Education is becoming Imagine Learning

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Weld North Education is becoming Imagine Learning. Find out what this means for you and the products you use.

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Unit Assessments, Digital Task Statements, Cool-Downs, etc.

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Assigning, scheduling, changing assignment status, grading, feedback, sorting by students' first and last name, moving assignments to a different class.

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The 5 practices were designed to help teachers use

students’ responses to advance the mathematical

understanding of the class as a whole.

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There are 3 major design principles to support all learners: provide access to all, presume competence, provide a strength-based approach.

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Consider what your students need to encounter math more deeply and in collaboration with others. More heads are better than one!

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Math teachers can talk all day about math! We get super excited when we encounter someone else who enjoys these conversations as well.

But too many of our students don't get to experience that joyful discourse, which limits their understanding of and positive experiences with math.

How would our students' math learning and perception about math improve if they also had regular opportunities to talk about math? How might these opportunities help us create a world where learners know, use, and enjoy mathematics?

Let's explore the Math Language Routines, which are embedded in IM K-12 Math.

What are math language routines?

Stanford Graduate School of Education's Understanding Language and the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) designed eight Math Language Routines (MLRs) to help teachers "amplify, assess, and develop students' language" in math class. These routines are structured, but adaptable to the content and classroom context. The routines "emphasize the use of language that is meaningful and purposeful, not inauthentic or simply answer-based . . . [and] can and should be used to support all students learning mathematics." (from Understanding Language/SCALE's Principles for the Design of Mathematics Curricula: Promoting Language and Content Development ) There are four specific design principles used to entice students to discuss the concepts and ensure that the discussions provide opportunities for students to learn something new. The Math Language Routines also provide opportunities for students to engage in the Common Core's Standards for Mathematical Practice .

As students engage in math language routines, MLRs help students to advance their thinking in the following ways:

OPTIMIZING OUTPUT as students describe their own math thinking to others orally and visually or writing as physical, graphical, pictorial, or symbolic representations.

SUPPORT SENSE-MAKING as students scaffold their thinking and amplify language so students can make their own meaning between concepts and representations.

CULTIVATE CONVERSATION by providing opportunities to simultaneously make meaning, communicate that meaning, and refine the way content understandings are communicated.

MAXIMIZE META-AWARENESS as students organize their own experiences, ideas, and learning for themselves through reflection of the experience of discussing their math ideas, reasoning, and language.

This doesn't just mean that teachers tell students to talk about math and they do. We know that if we simply open the space and tell students to talk, much of the discussion will veer off-topic. Math Language Routines help teachers create a structure in which students can bring those four design principles to life.

Let's see what opportunities each MLR provides for students to practice exploring their math thinking and the MLRs' connections to the Standards for Mathematical Practice .

MLR 1: Stronger and Clearer Each Time - Students write a response to a math problem, then verbally share their response with a partner to get feedback from the listener to improve the response, and revise their original written response based on the feedback they received.

Students learn to both listen to their own thoughts and the thoughts of another with the purpose of strengthening their "first draft" thinking. This MLR strengthens student communication of their thinking. They make their explanations clearer through repeated "reviews" and revisions, which allow them to practice giving, receiving, and applying constructive feedback, and develop listening skills. This MLR helps students communicate their mathematical reasoning with greater clarity and focus.
(This connects to Standards for Mathematical Practice 1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, 3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, and 6: Attend to precision. As students verbalize and review in writing the strategies they used and justification of those strategies, students have the opportunity to get feedback which can be used to critique the precision of their solution strategy and answer.)
MLR 2: Collect and Display - Students access their own and others mathematical ideas as the teacher scribes the language, strategies, and concepts students use during partner, small group, or whole-class discussions using written words, diagrams, and pictures.

By creating stable representations of student thoughts, the teacher extends the involvement of students in the math classroom. Student contributions are displayed for everyone to see. During that discussion as well as future conversations, students refer to these written ideas to improve the clarity and focus of their own communication. They can use the vocabulary, reference previous relationships between concepts, and identify new connections. This MLR helps make student thinking visible and promotes student ownership over mathematical ideas.
(Standards for Mathematical Practice 3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, and 6: Attend to precision. As students view the thinking of their classmates from the representation, they can address any differences they see between their representation and their classmates' representation in type and kind, further pushing students to find the most efficient or precise representation to solve the problem.)
MLR 3: Critique, Correct, and Clarify - Students rewrite a math response from an example that is incorrect, incomplete, or otherwise ambiguous.

In addition to providing students with a space to further engage in math, students employ a "growth mindset" and consider revisions to their work in order to strengthen their communication. This MLR helps students "try on" others' math thinking in order to improve it.
(Standards for Mathematical Practice 3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. Similar to doing error analysis, students have the opportunity to engage with a strategy for solving that might be different from theirs in order to find ways to improve the situation representation, address and clarify misconceptions about the math, and "borrow" parts of the strategy that were relevant to add to their toolbox.)
MLR 4: Information Gap - In a group, each student has different parts of the math context and they work together to piece together that information orally and/or visually to bridge the gap between the parameters of a math situation and a question to solve a math problem.

As students work to make sense of individual pieces of information about a math context, they also identify what information they need in order to answer the math question. This creates an environment where students work together as they consider which strategies are the most efficient and what information they need to know to solve the problem. This MLR helps students explore math contexts with a purpose.
(Standards for Mathematical Practice 2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively, and 4: Model with mathematics. As students imagine the kinds of information they need to know and explain why they need to know that information, they are building an understanding of the problem and possible solutions related to the parameters of the problem and the kinds of data they need to solve for an answer.)
MLR 5: Co-Craft Questions and Problems - Students take a provided math "answer" to create a problem that could result in that answer or use a given context to create a problem that can be answered using that context.

With this MLR, students use their creativity to explore a math context as they iterate their understanding in order to identify questions that can be asked and answered by the context. As students share their understandings with others, they also uncover the importance of slowing down to explore and think before they try to answer a question, which results in students understanding the math more deeply. This MLR helps students define math contexts.
(Standards for Mathematical Practice 4: Model with mathematics. By creating their own questions and problems, students learn to visualize the parameters of the problem as they consider what kind of answers are possible with the information the problem provides.)
MLR 6: Three Reads - Students are guided to read the problem three separate times with three separate purposes with quick discussions between each read.

When students slow down to consider how they can use the information in a problem, they notice things about their understanding of the problem context and their own math understanding that they wouldn't have noticed before. Giving students a purpose to read helps to focus students to identify (1) the context of the mathematical situation, (2) relationships that exist within that context, and (3) strategies that can be used to answer the question using the problem context. This MLR helps students think metacognitively about their math problem solving.
(Standards for Mathematical Practice 1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. As students set a purpose for reading each of the three times, students practice and see the importance of understanding the problem context and using the information they know from the problem in order to identify a strategy for solving that relates directly to the problem context and available information.)
MLR 7: Compare and Connect - Students identify, compare, and contrast their own understandings with other students' mathematical approaches, representations, concepts, examples, and language.

As students encounter other's math thinking, this MLR opens the floor for students to consider how they see and talk about math. This MLR specifically helps students interact with each other's thinking.
(Standards for Mathematical Practice 4: Model with mathematics, 6: Attend to precision, and 7: Look for and make use of structure. As students compare (find differences) and connect (find similarities) between their strategy for solving and another classmate's strategy for solving, students mine their understanding of the math concept in relation to the structure and steps of another student's understanding of the math. This allows both students to attend to precision because to be understood by another, they have to be precise with their explanation.)
MLR 8: Discussion Supports - Students access strategies in multi-modal ways, like visuals, aural, animation/movement, and symbols as modes, to help students better make sense of complex language, ideas, and classroom communication.

Enhancing access to the mathematical context through these multi-modal supports helps students develop understanding while also continuing to work on their mathematical communication. This MLR helps students deepen their mathematical understandings, and find ways to communicate their understandings in different ways.
(Standards for Mathematical Practice 1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, 3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, 5: Use appropriate tools strategically, and 6: Attend to precision. Using discussion supports helps students to see the reasoning of others as well as identify which tools to solve are most appropriate. In using these supports, students can be successful with in-depth or multistep problems with support from teachers and classmates.)
Next Steps

Consider what your students need to encounter math more deeply and in collaboration with others. More heads are better than one!

Looking for more support for distance learning ? Check out IM's collection of resources.

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Math Language Routines: Discourse with a Purpose - IM CERTIFIED® BLOG

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Eight Math Language Routines (MLRs) are embedded into lessons to support in both learning the English language and learning the language of mathematics.

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Raise your hand if you have been perplexed by professional learning that told you your class needs to be culturally responsive, but left you completely unsure about what that means in a math class. Yup, been there, done that! Often the techniques, tools, and suggestions are aimed at courses where, traditionally, students write many papers and have robust discussions about the world-the humanities. I, like many other math teachers across the country, have found that this may stem from a misconception about what culturally responsive teaching is. There are universal methods for integrating its tenets into our teaching practices. Educators teaching with IM K-12 Math are fortunate because IM's language and instructional routines support culturally responsive pedagogy. This can open a door of opportunity for us to prepare students for active citizenship-to be able to critically analyze society.

As described by Zaretta Hammond, culturally responsive teaching is about "rebuilding trust with [students] through a learning partnership, and using that rapport and trust to get permission from students to push them into their zone of proximal development." For too long we've had culturally responsive teaching simplified to being about employing strategies for engaging students or solely building race-based connections. Although elements of this may exist in a culturally responsive learning space, they are topical and alone are not culturally responsive. Gloria Ladson-Billings, an American pedagogical theorist and teacher educator has identified three elements that must be true in culturally responsive learning spaces (1) students must experience academic success, (2) students must develop and maintain cultural competence, and (3) students must develop a critical consciousness through which they challenge the status quo of the current social order. (But That's Just Good Teaching!)

IM K-12 Math has several features that support culturally responsive pedagogy, including focused and coherent courses of study, attention to the selection of real world tasks and contexts, and the way lessons and activities are structured. In this blog post, I am going to focus on the way that instructional routines and activities are structured. We can use our students' cultural learning styles and tools to leverage the brain's memory systems and information processing structures. Three strategies that Hammond suggests accomplish this are "gamifying, make it social, and storifying it" and I think we'd all be pleasantly surprised to know that examples of this exist in Illustrative Mathematics' instructional and language routines.

When an assignment is "gamified," students use repetition, solve a puzzle, or make connections between things that don't seem to be related. Specifically we are catching students' attention while building their academic skills. Information Gap is a curriculum-based routine that does just this. In this routine, students follow a structured pattern of asking questions and responding with answers in order to solve a problem. Throughout this ping-ponging conversation, students pose and answer questions, clarify what is asked and happening in a problem, build common understandings, and share experiences relevant to the topic to then be able to solve the math problem. For anyone who has done this routine, we know that it is challenging for students. By playing with a partner, the stakes are lowered and the process is valued alongside the answer.

The second strategy we can use is to "make it social". IM has been intentional about shifting from the traditional I do, we do, you do and instead has flipped the experience to be you do then we do, ending with the teacher and students stamping the learning. Changing this orientation allows students to come to conclusions for themselves and then build understanding with and from their peers. In addition, a few language and instructional routines also create a communal environment for learning. Stronger and Clearer Each Time has students think or write individually about a response, use a structured partner strategy with multiple opportunities to refine and clarify the response through conversation, and then finally revise their original written response. Collect and Display is another routine that stabilizes the fleeting language that students use during partner, small-group, or whole-class activities in order for a student's own output to be used as a reference in developing their mathematical language. The teacher listens for and scribes the student output using written words, diagrams, and pictures. This collected output can be organized, revoiced, or explicitly connected to other language in a display for all students to use.

Lastly we have opportunities to "storify." The brain is wired to remember stories and to use narrative structure to make sense of the world. All students learn content more effectively if they can create a coherent narrative about the topic or process presented. One of my favorite routines is Three Reads because it helps students reframe how they approach word problems. The first read is about students being able to make sense of the word problem in students' own language, without considering the numbers. Simply, what is happening in this situation? The second read is when students, who are familiar with the story from the first read, now attend to the numbers. In this way, students are able to understand the numbers in context to make sense of their relationship to each other in preparation for the third read, where students decide how they will approach finding the solution. Word problems are a way of storifying equations which is essential in preparation for courses like algebra, where students make sense of multiple representations (graphs, tables, equations, and writing expressions).

Hammond's three tools give us a framework for students to experience academic success, which is one of the three elements needed for a culturally responsive classroom. Maintaining cultural competence and developing a critical consciousness then becomes the work of the practitioner; this should be tailored for your students. Maintaining cultural competence means that teachers and classrooms need to be a place where students' whole selves are welcome. Consider the music played in the background while students are working, and the names and places referenced in word problems. Students need to be able to be themselves and be in an environment where excellence is seen as an extension of who they already are.

The last element of a culturally responsive classroom is building critical consciousness to challenge the status quo. Personally, I think this is one of the greatest gifts in teaching a culturally responsive math class. When students ask why something is important to learn, I can with confidence always answer that math is about all of the ways we can creatively solve problems. In math, we consider the connections between abstract understandings, explore multiple ways to approach an understanding, analyze information that is offered, and work collaboratively to find solutions. As educators, our work is to then offer opportunities for students to use these same skills to make sense of the world beyond the classroom. This means that our classrooms and schools need to be learning environments that can evolve and respond when challenged by students who are developing their critical thinking. As educators, we have to be open enough to realize that when we immerse our students in a culturally responsive learning environment, they will be looking to see those values reflected in the overall culture of the school.

Next Steps

Where do you see opportunities in IM K-12 curricula to gamify, storify, and make it social? What does it look like to maintain cultural competence within the math classroom? How can you support students in building critical consciousness?

Read more about culturally responsive teaching and IM curricula in the following blog posts:

You can also view the webinar IM K-5 Math as a Support for Culturally Responsive Pedagogy , with Dr. LaToya Byrd.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and Math - IM CERTIFIED® BLOG

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Raise your hand if you have been perplexed by professional learning that told you your class needs to be culturally responsive, but left you completely unsure about what that means in a math class. Yup, been there, done that!

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The instructional routines embedded within the Imagine Learning Illustrative Mathematics lessons create structures

so that all students can engage in and contribute to mathematical conversations.

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Make a copy for our session!

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IM Imagine Learning Classroom and Google Translate (1).pdf

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For getting students caught up who have been absent... there are many different options for this depending on the amount of time the student has been absent.  Here are a couple of ideas, specific to 6-8.
--assign the student spotlight lessons for the students to complete outside of class time.
--use a day for other students to practice or extend their learning with the Are You Ready for More while doing mini-lessons for students who have missed lessons due to absence
--utilize the video lesson summaries - either assigned to be done outside of class or in class while other students are doing practice or extensions
--assign the cool-downs for the days missed and respond to the data as needed.

If students have only been absent for a day or two, bring them into the current day's lesson.  See how much they catch on during the conversations taking place.  Be extra mindful of their cool-down data.  Assign the cool-downs from the day missed to see if the student was able to catch on.

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Instructions on implementation of student spotlight lessons and a complete list of lessons for Grade 7.

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Fostering Teaching Practices to Nurture Opportunities for Students to Shine

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Fostering Teaching Practices to Nurture Opportunities for Students to Shine

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Fostering Teaching Practices to Nurture Opportunities for Students to Shine - IM CERTIFIED® BLOG

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By Tori Cole, Specialist, IM Certified Facilitator Timesha Brooks, Specialist, Math Client Support Engaging Reluctant Math Students Have you encountered students who are reluctant to engage in math? Students who have already decided they are “bad” at math? How do we support students whose mathematical identities seem fixed before they even enter our classrooms? As […]

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This will work for Cool Downs, Checkpoints, etc.

Your district currently doesn't allow permissions to edit mid or end of unit assessments.

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Adding Symbols Using the Rich Text Editor

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Adding Symbols Using the Rich Text Editor