Math 

Peer collaboration is crucial in the development and understanding of math knowledge and processes for students. Of course students learn from thier teachers, but having additonal interactions with peers allows students to further their thinking and view math coursework through a different lens. Some of the ways in which I have integrated peer collaboration in math during my student teaching are highlighted below. 

Sentence Stems: Sentence stems give students a template or guide to form thier answer in the way you want them to. Students who struggle with formulating ideas benefit from the structure of the sentence stem. Two examples of sentence stems I frequently use in my classroom are "I agree with you because ____" or "I disagree with you because ____." This gives students a start to what I want them to say while also allowing them to be creative in coming up with thier ideas and showing their thinking. 

Partner Work: Partner work or partner talk allows all students to share their ideas. When you use the hands up method of calling to share, not every student gets to share their ideas. However, when you give time to talk with a partner, every student gets a voice, and students can build upon their partner's ideas cultivating a deeper understanding. In addition to partner talk, partner work helps students improve thier communication and problem solving skills. Students learn to work with everyone in the classroom through partner work and I have seen first-hand improvement in communication and adaptability in students. 

Group Work: Group work, similar to partner work, helps students fine tune skills that are applicable in real-world situations such as problem solving skills, communication, adaptability, perseverance, and kindness. According to my school's research team, group work in first grade is best done in pairs. However, as a first grade team we integrate groups of three into our classrooom games and collaborative assignments. Students always look foward to working in a group, and the benefits are countless!

Whole-Group Collaboration: Colllaborating as a class in my classroom looks like students building upon other students' ideas. A sentence stem we use for whole group collaboroation is "To add to that, I think ____." This helps students create a chain of thoughts that deepen our thinking and understanding around math concepts. Our class is a team, and through teamwork we collaborate in math to come up with new ideas, strategies, and solutions. 

Supporting Articles:

•  Benefits of Collaboration

• Deeper Learning: A Collaborative Classroom is Key

• Enhance Learning with Collaboration

Precision and accuracy in vocabulary is crucial for student understanding of mathmatics. This focus on terminology is something that I personally believe has grown more and more important in education. When we are able to implement consistent vocabulary, students can transfer that knowledge across grade levels with minimal confusion. Accurate and precise langauge and vocabulary leads to accurate and precise solutions. In my student teaching classroom, accurate math vocabulary is used and immediately corrected so that we are creating a consistent math community. 

Supporting Article: The Link Between Math Vocabulary and Problem Solving 

Vertical spaces is a new concept I learned during my time student teaching. When integrating verticle spaces, we put problems we would like students to solve in a clear sleeve and tape them to the walls. We can utilize the strategy of partner collaboration paired with verticle spaces to create an enriching learning experience. The clear sleeve allows students to make mistakes and quickly erase them. Verticle spaces bring a sense of excitment and change into our classroom that elevates learning for children. Every PLC day, we utilize verticle spaces for our challenge problems. In my future classrooms I would like to use the strategy of verticle spaces each day!

Supporting Article: Three Ways Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces are Evolving Classroom Learning  

Productive struggle has many benefits in education. However, it must be implemented in a careful way so that it does not harm the confidence of students. My CT showed me how to pose a question to students in a way that allowed them to come up with creative processes and solutions. Allowing students to think back on what they know and apply it to new information has been an eye opening experience. I love to watch their "ah ha" moments and their eyes light up when they are able to independently make a connection and then further build on that connection.

Supporting Article: What is Productive Struggle in the Classroom?

Checks for understanding help teachers plan future instruction for thier students. Whether it is a check during or at the end of a lesson, a check for understanding is a crucial component of every lesson to see where instruction needs to go. When you check for understanding, students are able to show what they know and get exactly what they need to be successful.

Thumbs Up, Side, or Down: Thumbs up, side, or down is a strategy I have implemented in my classroom. It is important that your room is a safe space where students can be honest or this method will not be effective. I ask the students show me how you feel and they are able to quickly show me with thier thumbs. After this, I am able to decide on the spot if I need another example or further clarification for the whole group, or if I just need to check in with a few students to bring them clarity. 

Exit Tickets: Exit tickets are a great way for students to show what they learned during math for the day. A simple, quick problem can give teachers an idea of what needs to be reviewed the next day or which students are in need of extra supports for that specific lesson. During student teaching, students were responsible for completing an exit ticket each day before they left math class. This helped me guide my instruction and catch mistakes early. 

Warm Up Problems: Warm up problems help students refresh their memory from the previous day. This gets students in the mindset for math, and also helps teachers know if they retained the information from the previous day. During my student teaching, I sometimes chose to use warm up problems that related to the previous day; however, I also pulled problems from previous lessons or units that related to that day's concept.