Where do we go from here?

And so we come to the end of our four part series. We truly hope you found it informative and maybe even transformative in the way you think about Operation Sense. We've certainly learned a lot, and look forward to the many ways that your ongoing work with students will advance this learning further for all of us. Please continue the conversations with grade teams, across schools, within your district and perhaps even across the province.

So What Now?

This series may be over, but the learning is just beginning. Take some time to talk about the ways you will apply and extend this learning to your own context. Below are just a few ideas you may consider. If you don't mind, share some of your ideas for next steps in the Contact Form. We're very interested in hearing your plans and intentions and to hear about how these sessions helped (or didn't?)

Thank you for your great thinking and conversations throughout this time. We sincerely wish you all the very best as you continue making sense of the operations with teachers and students alike.

Ideas for School-Based and District Leaders

Explicit instruction on Operation Sense, and in particular the meaning, types and structures of the operations, has been shown to have significant impact on improving student learning (see Recommendation 4 of this research report). And yet it remains largely unexplored. You could begin to change that. Why not make Operation Sense a focus for your school or even the district? You may even find that some of the wording of Recommendation 4 is helpful in shaping your own school or board improvement plans.

For District Mathematics Leaders, perhaps this module provides a starting point for your session planning with Lead Teachers. Use what you wish. Augment with your own work samples, thinking and research. Perhaps this online guide could help Lead Teachers share their learning and work through the ideas with others in their school.

As for School Administrators and Coaches, Operation Sense is a powerful focus for K-8 (and beyond) whole school professional learning. In conjunction with your Lead Teacher or a Coach, maybe ideas from this series could become a source for year long, whole school professional learning. Pick and choose activities and tasks for use at staff or grade team meetings. Or partition this series into smaller chunks -- a video and task per meeting, for example -- and spread the learning across over a prolonged period of time.

Whatever you choose, we will look forward to hearing the stories of how the learning about the operations has enhanced learning in your context and with your people.

All Ministry developed resources for mathematics can be accessed at math.thelearningexchange.ca/educator-resources/

Please, please share with us about your experience with Operation Sense. Was it helpful? Did it actually make things worse? Do you have suggestions for improvement?

Please use the Contact Form to provide us Feedback.