Action Plan

What was implemented?

For my study, I implemented math rotations to deliver instruction. In my math groups, students were divided into ability groups based on pretest performances. After analyzing pretest data, I divided students into three ability groups based on their scores: high, average, and low. During my data collection, I implemented pretests before a new topic, and I was able to administer three pretests and post tests, and one cumulative test that had content from the three topics I previously taught. When it came to the delivery of instruction, students rotated every 12 to 15 minutes to three rotations. One rotation was a note-taking station in which students watched a video of the lesson of the day. The videos that they watched were all created by me, and I would read them the notes, breakdown the content, and model examples of what expectations were when working on the content for the day. Another rotation that I implemented was a fact practice station. In this station, students practiced their basic facts from 0 to 12 from all four operations. Students primarily practiced their facts by doing mixed math tables that were self-timed by themselves, or they practiced on an iPad application called Freckle. Students also practiced their math facts on other applications or with card games too. The last rotation was the teacher station in which they worked on example problems of the content with me. During this station, we used an application called Classkick, and this allowed students to work through examples at their own pace. At the end of rotations, we would review our concept whole group, and then students would get the last fifteen minutes of class to work on their practice work.

Rotations

After analyzing various articles about differentiated instruction, I aligned my groups based off of the successes I found within multiple case studies in order to perform best practices with my students. In my classroom of seventeen, I did my best to divide groups based on abilities. Groups would not be the same, and they would change as they took a new pre-test every time we started a new topic or chapter. Before every topic, I gave an initial pre-test to divide my groups in order to find the low, average, and high achieving students. After analyzing initial pre-test results before the topic, I had to plan for each group and at what rotations they would start and end.

When it came to the low achieving students, I started them off at the note-taking station. Before students practiced examples of the work with me, they got a preview of the content as they took notes. Students in this group were able to practice content on their own after taking notes, and they were able to be challenged because I would not give them any indication from right or wrong on example problems until they came to the teacher station. The next station students went to was the fact practice station. Basic math facts were used all the time during my fifth-grade content and providing students’ opportunities in practicing their facts was a great warm up for them before diving into content. When they reached the teacher station, students were able to work on practice problems they received on their notes, and more examples on content with me. With my lower achieving group, I did more modeling, used manipulatives, and had them practice verbal explanation of their objective after examples in order for them to grasp the content mentally and physically.

When it came to my average achieving groups, rotations were the same, but differentiation was seen in their fact practice group and teacher station. Depending on the day of the week, the average achieving students performed fact practice differently than the other groups. For example, if my lower group is working on single digit multiplication and division and are timing themselves with a 6 minute timer, students in this group worked with double-digit equations from both operations or worked on the same facts as the other groups, but with a 5 minute or less timer. In the teacher station, students would still have the same manipulatives as all other groups, but depending on the lesson, I performed less modeling, and allowed them to perform more independent practice examples.

Within my high achieving group, students had to be challenged in order to build off of their individual strengths and also to keep them engaged throughout the entire lesson. In order to challenge students in the fact practice, students would do challenges based on accuracy and time. For example, when they were working on double-digit multiplication and division, they timed themselves in order to strengthen their recall abilities and checked their work after the timer to check their accuracy. In the teacher group, I did less modeling, but students in were challenged as they worked with more examples, larger numbers, and received questions in a different way. For example, instead of telling students the operation sentence, students sometimes read a story problem to determine the operation or equation of the example at hand.

Note Station

After analyzing studies about how and why to use note taking, I decided to implement flipped videos for students to use for notes. Flipped videos or flipped instruction is a strategy that allows students to preview the lesson before practice. Typically, flipped videos are all about the topic that would be learned the next day; students would watch the video and try example problems on the topic at hand before diving into the content the next day. Flipped videos were tailored in a way that students would receive notes either before or after meeting with me during rotations. Flipped videos worked with my particular classroom because all students had their own class iPad and headphones. Students who missed class would also be able to view the videos from home or the next day, since all of the videos would be posted on our class home database, Schoology. Schoology is a website that all students and parents have access to with their school email and lunch number. This database allowed me to post resources such as videos for students and parents to view too. Posting flipped videos not only presented videos to students, but parents and other teachers in my school or district would be able to access my videos if I gave them access.

My low groups would be able to watch the video and take notes on the daily concept before meeting me. Engagement was promoted since they had prior knowledge of the content being presented before practicing it. Students were able to ask or answer questions based on examples and notes that were taken. The high and average groups would still take the notes and watch the video, but their teacher station would be more problem-based as they would be challenged to try out the concept before note taking. With the average group, I would model more examples if they did not understand how to solve content quickly, but students were challenged as they had to try and think of how an example was solved before I told them how. With the high group, I was able to have them try to solve an example problem without explanation in order to challenge them too, but I would still explain the steps of solving content later.

In the flipped videos, students benefited by hearing my voice as I read them the notes. My class had iPads, and I had the digital resources for students to participate in flipped notes. In order to make this effective, I needed to model what notes should look like, and I needed to use symbols or colors next to key details. After researching the positives of note taking, one key finding that I read about was how powerful notes could be if the teacher modeled to students how to take and set up notes. Before the math lesson of the day, I was able to model and provide students time to write down the format of the notes, so when it came to the video, they did not have to write while they were receiving content. I differentiated instruction more through flipped videos by sometimes making different videos for each group. By making videos differently for each of my groups, I was able to challenge each group depending on their academic abilities. Meeting the needs of students lead to engagement since students were able to listen and hear me deliver content outside of the teacher station, a lack of frustration amongst students, and appropriate challenges to all learners. An example of a lack of frustration was seen with the groups that performed low on the pre-test. Since students were able to hear me explain the notes and model example questions, they were able to participate in the lesson during the teacher led group since they had prior knowledge and experience with the content of the day. If students were asked to help me answer example problems, and they did not experience me modeling the examples for them, then they might have shut down or not participated in instruction since they did not know how to answer or explain the example problems for the lesson.

Fact Station

Fact fluency was another rotation where students performed every day. Fact fluency is the ability to recall math facts from all operations within a timely manner with accuracy. In my classroom, fact practice was practiced in a variety of ways. Variation of activities promoted engagement amongst learners as they had various activities to use every day. Freckle was an application they used to practice fact fluency. On Freckle, students had fact practice of all four operations, and they were able to practice facts up to two times per day. Each fact practice is different amongst students, as it gives different fact practice examples depending on how each student performed on his or her practice. Another way that I wanted students to practice math facts was by doing cover, copy, compare (CCC) notes. In CCC notes, a fact or operation is chosen, the student studies the math fact, covers the practice sentence and then re-writes the fact into another column. If the fact was correct, he or she would move on to the next problem; if it is incorrect, the student would re-study the problem, and then copy it into the third column of the practice sheet. Instead of doing CCC notes, I decided to have them practice on mixed multiplication tables to practice their facts. The reason why I did not do CCC notes was because I thought students would lose engagement by doing this since it wouldn’t promote collaboration with peers. When I tailored my mixed multiplication charts, students challenged themselves in a way similar to CCC notes. CCC notes challenged individuals to remember their facts, but the mixed multiplication charts challenged students as they were able to answer up to 81 multiplication combinations while timing themselves to beat a personal goal. After the timer went off, another student would correct his or her answer sheet, and the students would graph their accuracy and time on a bar graph. Students not only challenged themselves to beat their personal time, but they were also able to collaborate with their class mates and think of ways to solve their misconceptions. Differentiation was seen in this group, as students were able to time themselves. If students were able to answer all 81 facts in five minutes, then they were able to challenge themselves by shortening the timer to 4 or 3 minutes.

The last way students practiced was through card games and task cards. Multiplication was also practiced in the whole group, small group, or in partners. For example, students might work in pairs by putting down two cards and multiplying the numbers together. Students could also work on individual task cards as well as on certain multiplication or division problems. When it came to fact practice, it was important for students to have a variety of activities to do in order for them to practice math facts, but not lose engagement in math. In order to be successful with card games, digital tools, task cards, and multiplication tables, I needed to model expectations and incorporate games and activities slowly while providing time for students to practice too.

Teacher Station

During the teacher station, I would work with students on example problems of the day's content. When it came to my low group, students were able to work on practice problems they received on their notes, and more examples on content with me. With this group I did more modeling, used manipulatives, and had them practice verbal explanation of their objective after examples in order for them to grasp the content mentally and physically. When it came to my average group, students would still have the same manipulatives as all other groups, but depending on the lesson, I performed less modeling, and I allowed them to do more independent practice examples. Students were able to be challenged as I would let them try to tell me how to solve an example problem, but I would make sure to model examples step by step after challenging them. When it came to my high group, I did less modeling, but students were challenged as they worked with more examples, larger numbers, and received questions in a different way. For example, instead of telling students the operation sentence, students sometimes read a story problem to determine the operation or equation of the example.

HOW WERE EQUITY AND ACCESSIBILITY FOSTERED?

During the implementation of my study, culturally responsive practices were met in order to promote student achievement, engagement, and fact fluency. Math instruction was delivered in rotations, and groups were made based on ability groups by the initial pretest. Since I was able to meet the students at their needs based on performances before diving into the new content, I was able to increase engagement by allowing students to work with others at similar skill levels, and deliver instruction in different ways in order for students to not be too bored or frustrated with new content. Since students were in ability groups, I was able to make accommodations based on the needs of various groups. For example, I used counters for my low group when solving for variables, but I used word problems with pictures to deliver the same content to my higher groups. Another culturally responsive teaching strategy that I used was integrating student-friendly word problems. Since I was able to build relationships with individuals, I was able to increase engagement and excitement during math by using their names or hobbies in example problems. Learning about my students was powerful because whenever I used student names and interests in examples, I was able to tell that students felt important and that I actually listened to them too.

Overall, all students were respected by their peers and developed positive attitudes during math every day. The environment of instruction allowed students to safely transition to rotations, promoted all learners to participate by being in a small group, and provided equal access to technology and supplies so all students were comfortable during rotations. All students typically were able to get their work done, as I provided time at the end of math for students to start their practice problems and ask questions on misunderstandings. By incorporating a plethora of culturally responsive teaching strategies, students were able to increase fact fluency, engagement, and achievement in math.

Stakeholders

Throughout this study, I was able to collaborate with internal and external stakeholder to work with me and students in order to enhance the learning environment and experience for learners. I worked a lot with my CADRE Associate on planning, receiving feedback, creating resources, and collecting data of students. When we planned together, we were able to talk about successes and possible changes to make to instruction based on previous lessons. We worked together to take notes on student behaviors and watched videos of observations in order to track students' engagement with one another. We also created mixed multiplication tables, task cards, and explained games to students to help them practice their math facts. Another person that I worked with was my teaching partner, as we also planned for the week together. When we planned for the week, I was able to learn about previous misconceptions from last year's students, and I was able to know what to possibly emphasize during instruction.

Outside of my school, I was able to work with CADRE students who were working on projects with math instruction too. During class meetings, we were able to collaborate and share ideas of how we were delivering instruction in order to give ideas for everyone to possibly try. I was also able to observe multiple teachers from other schools in my district teach math. I was able to see experienced teachers incorporate rotations, and I was able to take key components from their rotations into mine. By working with internal and external stakeholders, I was able to see and hear ideas to incorporate during instruction. Without collaboration with stakeholders, I would have struggled in planning, tracking data, and incorporating math rotations in my classroom.

How would i track data?

I noticed strengths and weaknesses amongst students through observation on engagement, remembering math facts, and recalling topic skills during the lesson. Due to the fact that my students showed a lack of engagement and fact fluency, I knew that their overall academic success in math could be hindered. When it came to devise a plan to meet the needs of all learners, I was able to conduct multiple forms of assessment, both qualitative and quantitative, in order to choose best practices moving forward to meet my students as learners.

In most math lessons before my action plan, fact fluency was tracked as I was able to see how many students used fingers to count, take a lot of time to recall math facts, or make errors on their practice sheets. On practice worksheets, I was able to see basic operation errors when students showed their work, or when they worked out examples with me. With the lack of fact fluency, students would be prone to making errors later on in the year as content would become more complex. When implementing rotations, I was able to track students by having them fill out a chart of the number of multiplication facts they answered correctly after timing themselves. I was also able to view their accuracy on their fact practice from all operations on an application called Freckle.

When it came to the topic of engagement, I noticed students through observation that looked bored or actually participated in whole group instruction before my action plan. During my math rotations, I was able track students through video recordings, or when a colleague was in the room to track the number of students who were on and off task during instruction. When my CADRE associate was in the room, observation of students was able to be tracked on a checklist or seating chart of the students. Through observation, I was able to note the number of students who would participate and contribute to whole group discussion. On the opposite side, I was also able to note the students who did not pay attention, “spaced off”, did not participate, or displayed off task behaviors such as talking or laying their heads down. If students cannot be engaged during a lesson, achievement in math could negatively be affected, as students may think a topic is too easy, too hard, or just uninteresting.

Lastly, when it came to overall math achievement, assessment data allowed me to see where all of my students were academically in math. Before math rotations, practice formative assessment worksheets informed me on what I needed to re-teach to the whole class or specific students. Post-tests informed me on what to reteach, as content concepts build off of each other as the year moves on. Pre-tests administered before topics showed me how I could differentiate instruction to similar learners based on their scores. In the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test, I was able to see mathematical concepts and areas that each student scored in in comparison to average fifth grade students across the country and in the district; MAP tests measure achievement, and each student's tests are unique because each question depends on how the previous one was answered. During my implementation of math rotations, I was able to administer three pretests and posttests to track math achievement. On graphic charts and application data, I was also able to track student progress on their math facts.

I was also able to differentiate data collection through the use of iPad applications such as Edmentum, Freckle, Prodigy, Math Buddies, and ClassKick. Edmentum is an application on the iPad that allows me to assign specific skills students can work on; on my end, I was able to see student accuracy and time on their specific assignments. In the applications of Edmentum, Freckle, and Prodigy, students have their own adaptive learning path. In Edmentum, each student's math practice is tailored to their MAP scores. On Freckle, students’ take a pre-test that decides which skills each student struggles with, and it starts them off at their weakest skills. On Prodigy, students take a pre-test that decides their lowest skills, and provides practice problems for students to answer before moving up levels or skills. ClassKick is another application that was used to allow students to work on classwork at their own pace. Although it calls for more planning and setting it up, the application allowed me to see how fast and accurate students were with the content, and students were able to work at their own pace while having the ability to check their work within seconds. In order to meet the needs of all learners, having multiple measures of data collection was necessary when it came to planning a way to improve students’ weak points in my classroom. Using one type of assessment for all learners can lead to inaccurate data collection as all learners show individual and unique levels of achievement.

After the plethora of qualitative and quantitative data collection, student engagement, academic achievement, and fact fluency among all students could improve if I were to make changes to my instruction. Due to this realization, I changed my math instruction in order to meet all the needs of my students. I believed that I could achieve this if I began guided math rotations.