Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices | Bloom's Taxonomy in the Math Classroom | "Look Fors" in the Math Classroom

• DO NOW: Every lesson should start off with a quick 3-5 minute Do Now. This serves as an entry point for your lesson that is based on the scholars' prior knowledge. The benefit is twofold, because this assignment is based on prior knowledge it is often an easy "win" for scholars at the beginning of the session - boosting their confidence and investment. A Do Now is also a fast and effective way for teachers to get a pulse of where scholars are in terms of foundational knowledge.

• LAUNCH: After the Do Now, a 5 minute Launch is utilized to invest scholars in the lesson. The teacher explains what the goal of the lesson is and provides a strong real-world connection for the class to ground their thinking in.

• EXPLORE: The Explore is where students work individually or in small groups to solve the problem. This is their chance “to get messy with the math." During this 15-20 minute block, the teacher circulates the classroom to listen and engage in discussions with scholars as well as review work product as scholars are completing the assignment.

• DISCUSS: Using the informal data collected during the Explore, the teacher uses the next 10-15 minutes of class to facilitate a discussion on common misconceptions or key concepts discovered during the work time. This discussion should be predominately scholar voices to ensure the thinking work is on the students.

• EXIT TICKET: Each lesson should end with a quick 3-5 minute exit ticket. Exit tickets should be strategically created to help identify various components of comprehension (ie. conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and problem-solving). Exit Tickets should be graded and reviewed by the teacher prior to the following lesson to determine the best starting point for the next class.

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