Education WeeK Spotlight on MATH Instruction
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edweek.org
Brett Flashnick for Education Week
On Elementary Math
Published August 7, 2013, in Education Week
Scholars Craft New
Approaches to
Teaching Fractions
Sylvan Learning Center teacher Christine Miller, works with 8-year-old
Asia Brown on a worksheet at the “Fraction Action” camp.
T By Sarah D. Sparks
here are some basic properties of whole numbers any 3rd
grader can tell you: Each number is represented by a single
symbol, and followed by a single successor. Multiplication
makes a number bigger; division makes it smaller.
The problem is, none of those qualities is true when it comes to
fractions, one of the most chronically troublesome basic mathemat-
Table of CONTENTS:
Editor’s Note: New research on elementaryschool math is helping to give shape to
instruction that builds math skills at an early
age. In this Spotlight, see how schools are
taking new approaches to teaching fractions,
developing young learners’ spatial and task
skills, and opening new doors to math learning.
1 Scholars Craft New
Approaches to Teaching
Fractions
3 Studies Link Early Spatial Skills
to Math Achievement
4 Study Dissects Gender
Effects in Math Teaching
5 Museums Open Doors to
New Ways of Learning Math
Commentary:
8Why STEM Education Must
Start in Early Childhood
7 PBS Math Supplement Boosts
Math Skills For Young
Resources:
Children
10Resources on Elementary
Math
7 Gains Found for Several
Mathematics Programs
Back to Table of Contents
Education WeeK Spotlight on Elementary Math
ics areas for children and adults. Now, as the
Common Core State Standards push for earlier and deeper understanding of fractions,
researchers and teachers are exploring ways
to ensure students learn more than a sliver of
the fractions pie.
“Developmental research shows even very
young children have a fundamental grasp of
fractions that can be built on through instruction,” said Nancy C. Jordan, a professor of education at the University of Delaware. But, she
added, “if children are taught math in a way
that’s very rote, where they memorize procedures, … it really doesn’t help you much.”
‘Whole New World’
The traditional approach to teaching fractions can make it more likely for students to
show superficial progress without real understanding, some researchers and educators
argue.
“We’ve had a tendency in our traditional
scope and sequence of math that you teach
all this whole-number stuff … and then, all
of a sudden, you get to fractions, and it’s a
whole new world of what to do—everything
they learned in whole numbers has nothing to
do with how you do fractions,” said Linda M.
Gojak, the president of the National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics, in Reston, Va., and
the director of the Center of Mathematics and
Science Education, Teaching, and Technology at John Carroll University in University
Heights, Ohio. “It’s one of the hardest things
for kids to get their heads around.”
Cynthia Hacker, the education director for
Sylvan Learning Center of Irmo in Columbia,
S.C., sees that confusion a lot. For more than
a dozen years, the center has run a weeklong
“Fraction Action” summer camp, at which students play games using shapes and number
lines to compare fractions of different sizes
and practice multiplying and dividing mixed
and improper fractions.
A lack of fractions understanding has been
cited as second only to word-problem difficulty
as the top handicap for students learning algebra, in a survey of a representative sample
of 1,000 algebra teachers conducted by the
National Mathematics Advisory Panel.
The typical American approach to teaching fractions can overemphasize procedures
at the expense of an understanding of the relationships among numbers, which is needed
for higher math, according to Lynn Fuchs, a
professor of special education at Vanderbilt
University in Nashville, Tenn.
In the United States, curricula mostly focus
on understanding fractions as parts of a
whole, using area models and pie charts, and
teaching students the procedures for adding
or multiplying, for example.
That’s soon to become an even bigger hur-
dle, as the common core in math push more
work on fractions into 3rd grade, as opposed
to 4th and 5th grades. The common standards
also call for teachers to focus less on the procedures for specific fraction problems and more
on getting students to understand the relationships between numbers that underlie a
fraction problem.
Some Asian countries, by contrast, focus on
what Ms. Fuchs calls a “measurement interpretation” of fractions: how they fall on a number line; the relationships between numbers
represented by a fraction.
“It’s actually a very different way to teach
fractions,” Ms. Gojak said.
In a 2012 essay, Robert Siegler, a professor
of cognitive psychology at Carnegie Mellon
University, in Pittsburgh, and his colleagues
call fractions a “new frontier” for understanding students’ numeracy development.
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“
We are teaching
children to think of
fractions in terms of
quantities, how
different-sized
fractions compare to
one another. We’re
trying to teach them a
more sophisticated
understanding of
fractions and help them
do well.”
Building Better Fractions
The National Center on Improving the
Learning of Fractions, a multi-university
project based at the University of Delaware,
in Newark, and supported by the federal Institute of Education Sciences, is trying to help
students and teachers become more adroit
with fractions.
Ms. Jordan, Mr. Siegler, and Ms. Fuchs are
working with Nashville and other public
school districts to explore more effective ways
to teach those concepts.
Beyond simply being able to count, Mr.
Siegler said, fraction knowledge in 5th grade
“uniquely predicts” a student’s 10th grade
math achievement, beyond the student’s IQ,
family background, or even knowledge of
other parts of mathematics.
Ms. Jordan’s research has found that students’ ability to understand and estimate
where fractions would fall on a number line
and explain magnitude—that a number represents a set of items that can be changed or
compared to other sets—will predict how well
they perform in math over the long term. She
is developing a screening tool for 4th to 6th
graders to identify children who are having
trouble learning fractions and the instructional areas their teachers need to emphasize.
Mr. Siegler and his team at Carnegie Mellon are developing a board game to help
early-elementary students understand and
compare the magnitude of different fractions.
The computer-based game, Catch the Monster,
asks students to find a monster hiding along a
number line by estimating the point closest to
a location, using a fraction-related hint.
In one of Ms. Fuchs’ studies, students in 53
4th grade classes in 13 schools were randomly
assigned to take part in either their schools’
regular fractions instruction or a 12-week intervention focused on teaching the underlying
n
Lynn Fuchs
professor, special education,
University of Vanderbilt
relationships in fractions. The intervention
students performed significantly better than
peers who had received the regular instruction on a test of fractions problems culled
from the National Assessment of Educational
Progress. Plus, the achievement gaps between
students considered “at risk” in math—those
initially in the lowest 35th percentile on a
standardized test—and those not at risk
closed significantly for program participants.
“We are teaching children to think of fractions in terms of quantities, how differentsized fractions compare to one another,” Ms.
Fuchs said. “We’re trying to teach them a
more sophisticated understanding of fractions
and help them do well.”
Coverage of “deeper learning” that will prepare
students with the skills and knowledge needed to
succeed in a rapidly changing world is supported
in part by a grant from the William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation, at www.hewlett.org.
Education Week retains sole editorial control over
the content of this coverage.
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Education WeeK Spotlight on Elementary Math
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Published May 15, 2013, in Education Week
Studies Link Early Spatial Skills
to Math Achievement
By Sarah D. Sparks
P Arlington, Va.
reschools and kindergartens long have
taught children “task skills,” such as
cutting paper and coloring inside the
lines. But new research suggests the
spatial and fine-motor skills learned in kindergarten and preschool not only prepare students to write their mathematics homework
neatly, but also prime them to learn math and
abstract reasoning.
“We think of early-childhood classrooms as
being really high in executive-function demands, but what children are being asked
to exercise [executive function] on end up
being visual-motor and fine-motor tasks,” said
Claire E. Cameron, a research scientist at the
University of Virginia’s Center for Advanced
Study of Teaching and Learning, in Charlottesville. She spoke at a forum held here last
week by the Needham, Mass.-based Learning
and the Brain Society.
Put yourself in the mind of a 4- or 5-year-old,
and copying a shape on the blackboard onto a
piece of paper is a much more cognitively complex task than it is for an adult: Understanding the design, then holding that shape in
your mind and deciding how to start copying,
requires working memory, one of the brain’s
executive functions. Gripping the pencil properly, applying the right pressure to avoid tearing the paper, and keeping the paper oriented
on the desk all need fine-motor skills that also,
at such ages, require focus and self-control.
“Children learning to write have not automated these skills,” Ms. Cameron said. “Even
sitting up straight so you can face the paper
can be difficult.”
Children deemed “typically developing” can
still show a wide range of visual-motor skills.
In one test, children are asked to draw increasingly complex shapes.
“Some kids are actually seeing parts that
aren’t there,” Ms. Cameron said, noting one
attempt at a cross that looks more like an abstract animal.
“This is a normal developmental state,” she
said. “When we copy something, we have a
mental image and we are manipulating it and
coordinating what you see with your movements.”
Other researchers at the University of Virginia center have found executive function,
fine-motor skills, and general knowledge in
kindergarten are better predictors of 8th grade
reading and math achievement than earlyliteracy skills.
Moreover, the black-white achievement gap
in elementary school also may have some of its
roots in those foundational skills: Black children studied by the center entered kindergarten on average 9½ months developmentally
younger than their white classmates in executive function and 8 months developmentally
younger in visuo-spatial skills, though it’s not
yet known why.
Researchers led by David W. Grissmer, a research professor at the university, found 1st
graders who had attended high-poverty preschools often had never built with construction
paper, blocks, or modeling clay.
Precursor for Math
And, in a separate, ongoing study of nearly
500 preschoolers, Ms. Cameron found about
a third tested high in both executive-function
skills—such as following directions amid distractions—and visual-motor skills, such as
cutting paper. Children who performed well in
either or both executive-function and visual-
“
mer and his team worked with after-school
programs at three high-poverty, high-minority
elementary schools in Charleston, S.C.
For 45 minutes a day, four days a week, for
seven months in fall 2010 and spring 2011,
groups of five to seven kindergartners and 1st
graders played games that required them to
copy designs and shapes. At the start of each
class, the pupils took part in “calirobics”—
handwriting and line-tracing exercises set to
music. During the rest of the class they copied
a pattern or picture in a variety of materials.
Some days, students cut and pasted construction paper to make chains or built models out
of clay or Lego blocks; other days, they used
stencils, pattern blocks, or fusible plastic
beads.
The children were not taught any math, and
the teachers did not draw any links between
the art projects and math skills, but by spring,
the 1st graders showed significant improvement in both math and executive-function
skills.
At the start of the program, the students
had tested at the 30th percentile nationwide
in numeracy and “applied problems” on a standardized test of early math knowledge; by the
end of the program, they had moved to the
We start kids too early on math and reading
when they don’t have these foundational skills.
In the earliest grades, you can’t just teach reading
and math to get higher reading and math skills.”
David W. Grissmer Research Professor, University of Virginia
motor skills achieved well in both math and
reading achievement and class behavior later
on in the early-elementary grades.
“It’s the children who are low in both who
are struggling,” Ms. Cameron said. The more
quickly children become automatic in mentally coordinating an action or repeating a
design, the more they can free up working
memory and organize their thinking for more
abstract problems.
As part of a $1 million pilot project supported by the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development, Mr. Griss-
47th percentile in those areas. The participating students showed similarly large improvements in looking, listening, attention, and
executive-function skills.
The development of fine-motor coordination
and executive function may be more critical
than subject content for early-childhood classrooms, Mr. Grissmer said.
“We start kids too early on math and reading when they don’t have these foundational
skills,” he said. In the earliest grades, he said,
“you can’t just teach reading and math to get
higher reading and math skills.”
Back to Table of Contents
Education WeeK Spotlight on Elementary Math
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Published January 16, 2013, in Education Week
Study Dissects Gender Effects
in Math Teaching
Greater impact seen for female
students taught by women
By Sarah D. Sparks
F San Diego
emale elementary school teachers’ comfort with mathematics has an outsize
effect on the girls they teach, according
to new research.
Girls taught by a female teacher got a learning boost if that teacher had a strong math
background, but had consistently lower math
performance by the end of the school year if
she didn’t, according to a study presented at
the American Economic Association’s annual
conference here.
By contrast, boys’ math scores were not affected by having a female math teacher, regardless of the teacher’s background in that
subject, and there were no differences in math
performance among male and female students of male teachers of different math backgrounds. The study adds to growing evidence
that children’s gender biases can significantly
affect their own ability.
“Children’s perceptions of gender start
emerging between the ages of 7 and 12,” said
study coauthor I. Serkan Ozbeklik, an assistant economics professor at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. “Positive or
negative, the primary school experiences may
shape the academic course of students, leading
to long-term consequences like choice of study,
choice of major, and occupation.”
Scope of Research
Researchers led by Heather Antecol, an
economics professor at Claremont McKenna,
analyzed the mathematics performance of
more than 1,600 1st through 5th grade students under 94 teachers in 17 high-poverty,
high-minority schools in Baltimore, Chicago,
Los Angeles, Houston, New Orleans, and the
Mississippi Delta region between the 2001-02
and 2002-03 school years.
On average, the teachers had more than
six years of experience, but only 11.5 percent
of the study’s students had a teacher with a
bachelor’s degree in math or a related field like
engineering, economics, or accounting. Nearly
a third of the teachers were men, far above the
national average of only one-tenth of primary
school teachers.
Ms. Antecol and her colleagues found that
girls taught by a female teacher, as opposed
to a male teacher, saw their math test scores
drop by 4.7 percenage points by the end of the
school year. Moreover, those girls performed
on average 1.9 percentage points lower than
their male classmates, about 10 percent of a
standard deviation. The researchers characterized both effects as strong.
By contrast, boys saw no drop in math performance under the same teachers.
While education-watchers have voiced similar concerns about gender stereotyping of boys’
reading ability, the study found no differences
between boys’ and girls’ reading performance
based on having a male or female teacher.
Seeking Explanations
The findings prompt the question: Does this
mean men are naturally better math teachers
than women? Not at all, according to the researchers. When they broke out students’ performance based on their teachers’ college math
background, the gender gap disappeared. Girls
taught by women with a strong math background actually got a boost compared with
their male classmates. Also worth noting, the
researchers found no evidence of differences in
teaching styles between the women and men
teachers.
Marianne E. Page, an economics professor at
the University of California, Davis, who was
not part of the study, said the findings build
on “a rapidly expanding literature on teacher
gender and student achievement.”
She said she was surprised by the findings.
“It’s really hard for me to believe that math
competence matters only for female students
with female teachers and not male students,”
Ms. Bertrand said. “It may be that the psychology of the situation speaks to that.”
In particular, the paper points to evidence
from a 2010 study by Sian L. Beilock, a University of Chicago psychology professor and
the author of Choke, a 2010 book on brain responses to performance pressure.
Ms. Beilock found that 1st and 2nd grade
“
Children’s
perceptions of gender
start emerging
between the ages of 7
and 12. Positive or
negative, the primary
school experiences may
shape the academic
course of students,
leading to long-term
consequences like
choice of study, choice
of major, and
occupation.”
Serkan Ozbeklik
Assistant Economics Professor, Claremont
McKenna College, Claremont, Calif
girls who started the school year performing
as well as boys, but then were taught by a female teacher with high anxiety about math,
had lower math scores than their male peers
by the end of the year. Moreover, those girls
were more likely to draw pictures evoking gender biases that suggest “boys are good at math,
while girls are good at reading.”
Ms. Beilock’s study did not include male
teachers—in part because they can be hard
to come by in primary school—but Mr. Ozbeklik, co-author of the male-female comparison
study, said the new study does seem to suggest
that a teacher’s math anxiety or adeptness
could aggravate or lessen students’ gender
gaps in the subject.
The link between a teacher’s comfort with
her subject and student achievement could
also explain why studies of college-age students generally find women performed better
in math classes taught by other women, Ms.
Page said.
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Education WeeK Spotlight on Elementary Math
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Published June 5, 2013, in Education Week
Focus On: Informal Learning
Museums Open Doors to New
Ways of Learning Math
By Caralee J. Adams
M New York
ath has a bit of an image problem.
It’s often seen as hard, abstract—
even pointless.
The creators of the National
Museum of Mathematics in New York City are
all about turning that image around and convincing young people that mathematics is cool.
“Changing perceptions is our goal,” said
Cindy Lawrence, the co-executive director of
MoMath, as it’s quickly become known. “From
the minute people walk in the door, we try to
highlight the creative side of math: that it’s
colorful, it’s beautiful, it’s exploratory, fun and
engaging. None of these are words people typically associate with math.”
Such efforts are not just happening at MoMath, which opened in Manhattan on the
mathematically hip date of 12/12/12.
Although it’s the only museum entirely devoted to the subject in North America, curators of math exhibits at science centers across
the country are also inviting the public in to
experience math in a hands-on, fun way.
They want people to see that it’s about
thinking and discovery, rather than rote
memorization. And far from irrelevant, math
is everywhere—from highway design to musical composition to roller coaster construction.
As educators and policymakers push to cultivate the nation’s math and science talent,
the museums provide a timely opportunity to
inspire students in those challenging subjects
in informal, engaging ways. As higher math
standards roll out as part of the Common Core
State Standards, educators are eager for creative ways to deepen students’ understanding
of math.
Making Connections?
Jonathan Ostrow took 66 7th graders from
PS 232 in Queens on a field trip to MoMath
last month. In his classroom, Mr. Ostrow tries
to help students make connections with math,
mentioning careers where it is needed and
using objects like Play-Doh for hands-on learning. But it’s a struggle.
“Outside of money, they don’t see math as
anything,” he said.
Inside the 20,000-square-foot, two-story museum, he watches his students bounce to and
from its 30 exhibits, dancing in front of screens
that illustrate fractals and riding an oversize
tricycle with square wheels on a bumpy track.
“They are interested,” he said. “But I’m not
sure they understand what everything is for.”
The museum is responding to feedback from
visitors who have said, “Wow, this is wonderful, but I don’t see how this is math,” said Ms.
Lawrence, who directed a program for gifted
math students before she was recruited to
help launch the museum by Glen Whitney, a
former hedge-fund analyst and now the president and co-executive director of MoMath.
The focus at first was to create the most engaging exhibits, but it was difficult to decide
how much detail and what level of explanation
to provide. Museum educators have come up
with touch screens next to some exhibits with
information from basic to in-depth.
The museum was designed to spark an interest in learning, but not necessarily to di-
“
at the museum: “I thought we’d read theories
of people who came up with the square root
of two, and it would be more history, but it’s
hands-on.”
Cultural Problem
MoMath was the brainchild of Mr. Whitney,
who was disappointed when the Goudreau
Museum of Mathematics in Art and Science
closed on New York’s Long Island a few years
ago. He wanted to create something bigger in
Manhattan to get people to think about math
in new ways.
“This country has a national, cultural problem with its view and attitude toward mathematics and the role it plays in our culture, so
we needed a national, cultural institution to
face that head-on,” Mr. Whitney said.
Math educators are eager to join in the effort. The National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics is working with MoMath on a
public-image campaign designed to excite
older elementary and middle school students
Math is scary for a lot of kids. It’s a performance
subject, and you have to know your stuff to perform.
If you understand why math happens, you retain it
better.”
Amy Zimmerman 5th and 6th grader Teacher, Summit Christian Academy, Clarks Summit, Pa.
rectly raise test scores, added Ms. Lawrence.
“Just the fact that a kid might come into a
place that says math on the front door and
have fun, in my mind, that’s score one,” she
said. “There is now an association with math
and something fun.”
In an exhibit about efficiency, 12-yearold Seeanna Mahabir is trying to fit various shapes into the smallest boundary on a
brightly lit table. After her turn, the computer
screen flashes: “Congrats, you set today’s record!”
Seeanna said she didn’t know what to expect
about math, said Linda Gojak, the president
of the NCTM. “We want them to see the importance of math and its connection to their
future opportunities.”
She applauds various museums’ attempts to
hook children with fun math exhibits, but said
more can be done to link the activities with
math concepts and what’s happening in the
classroom. Math teachers have been useful
consultants to many projects and have asked
relevant questions about making the experience stick, rather than just play for students,
said Ms. Gojak, who also directs the Center of
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Education WeeK Spotlight on Elementary Math
Mathematics and Science Education, Teaching, and Technology at John Carroll University
in University Heights, Ohio.
At MoMath, 7th grader Justin Burgher tries
to put together a large, colorful foam tetraxis
geometric structure with his friends. Some
girls come by and interrupt: “Say cheese!” Justin smiles and poses for a picture next to his
creation.
What does he think of math? “It’s a fun subject. It’s fun, once you get it,” he added. “If I
have a career in math, I’d be a code breaker
for the CIA. It would be very tricky, but cool.”
Cryptography and knot theory are taught by
MoMath educators such as Lynn CartwrightPunnett in 45-minute sessions that often kick
off the visits.
“The topics we have chosen are ones that
they wouldn’t be exposed to in the K-12 curriculum,” she said. “They are advanced college
topics and an opportunity to see what you’d do
with math if you are a professional.”
While the exhibits at MoMath weren’t created around the common-core math standards,
many do cover the concepts, and educators are
developing post-visit packets for teachers to
use in the classroom to build stronger links to
the schoolwork.
Informal learning at museums can be an effective classroom supplement and fill in parts
of math lessons that are not covered in the
common core, such as data analysis for K-5
students, said Andee Rubin, a senior scientist
with TERC, an education research and development organization in Cambridge, Mass.
“In general, the math that kids encounter in
school is often restrictive and, for many kids,
it turns out to be a less-than-positive experience,” Ms. Rubin said. Informal encounters
with math at museums provide an opportunity to turn those negative feelings around,
she said.
It’s an uphill battle to improve math’s reputation, said Ms. Rubin. “People say, ‘I’m bad at
math,’ and it’s socially acceptable, even cool.
But people wouldn’t say, ‘I’m bad at English.’ “
A recent report from the Washington-based
National Center on Education and the Economy suggests that many new college students
don’t have a solid grasp of basic math concepts
often taught in middle school. Rather than
pushing students to take high levels of math,
such as Algebra 2 and calculus, the report proposed that students are better off focusing on
the mastery of the fundamentals, including
ratio and proportions.
Classroom Prep
Outside New York, science museums have
developed dedicated math exhibits with funding from the National Science Foundation in
the hope of inspiring young people to think differently about math.
The Exploratorium in San Francisco unveiled the Geometry Playground in 2010. It
has giant mathematical structures designed
for students ages 7 to 12 to climb on and gain
a deeper understanding of spatial reasoning.
“The thrust of the exhibit was to create a
whole-body, immersive experience where people are navigating through space,” said Josh
Gutwill, the director of visitor research and
evaluation at the science museum.
Visitors use 12-sided figures to build structures and try to play hopscotch in front of a
curved mirror. While most people think of
math as a “cerebral domain,” Mr. Gutwill said
students can better understand it through
physical, interactive experiences.
The same year that exhibit opened in San
Francisco, the Oregon Museum of Science and
Industry unveiled the Design Zone, with 25
exhibits to engage 10- to 14-year-olds in algebraic thinking. The 6,000-square-foot exhibit
has been touring the country and is booked at
museums through 2015. “Our field has lots of
experience with science, technology, and engineering, but less with facilitating math learning experiences,” said Karyn Bertschi, a senior
exhibit developer at the Portland museum.
“People think about algebra as a gatekeeper
subject. Without success in it, many students
are blocked from other opportunities.”
Design Zone creators consulted with disc
jockeys, who used math to put together music
tracks, as well as video-game designers and
others to create real-life examples of math
at work. The museum staff looked closely at
math standards in algebra developed by the
NCTM and incorporated reasoning about patterns and relationships.
To make the exhibits appealing to students’
interests, they consulted with children in the
target age group for their feedback.
“We wanted to make sure [visitors] were
having fun, learning, and knowing they were
using algebra,” Ms. Bertschi said.
Molly Kelton, a doctoral candidate in math
education at the University of California, San
Diego, studied classes that visited the math
exhibits at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
“Teachers really view museum-based math
exhibits as pretty powerful enrichment opportunities for their kids,” she said. “They talk
about how many resources there are at the
museum that they don’t have access to in the
classroom.”
The students who got the most out of the experience had extensive classroom previews of
the field trip material and follow-up activities,
Ms. Kelton said.
“There is a lot of benefit to looking at the
curriculum,” she said, “and trying to arrange a
trip so it is really integrated into what you are
covering in class.”
The Math Moves exhibit at the St. Paul
museum involved collaboration with science
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museums in Boston; Durham, N.C.; and Albuquerque, N.M. It opened last year with activities focusing on ratio and proportion experiences in math through physical movement.
In an exhibit with a bright light shining on
a 12-by-12 wall with grids, people can make
shadows and measure themselves. Another
exhibit involves three chairs, and visitors use
tape measures and wooden sticks to compare
sizes and volume.
“The idea is that you don’t just learn with
your mind and by reading words, but with
movement and gestures your body makes,”
said J. Shipley Newlin Jr., the director of
physical sciences, engineering, and math at
the museum.
Mr. Gutwill of the Exploratorium said curators and mathematicians have only scratched
the surface when it comes to ways to demonstrate math in museums. “This is like a vein of
gold,” he said. “There are so many ideas.”
Funding Sources
While the exhibits have been popular and
school groups have reported high levels of engagement, expansion is uncertain. Ms. Rubin
of TERC and others worry about funding, with
many exhibits using the NSF for support, and
that federal agency’s budget for informal education is in flux.
In Minnesota, Mr. Newell has found outside
support for math programming from insurance companies and 3M. “Our experience is
that corporations like what we are doing with
math. It made immediate sense to them,” he
said. “People are interested in developing the
workforce.”
The public is also responding. The creators
of MoMath anticipated about 60,000 visitors
in the first year. The museum had that many
people through the doors in the first three
months. It is fully booked with school groups,
with about 15 daily.
Amy Zimmerman heard about MoMath on
“CBS This Morning” and organized a field trip
for her students from Summit Christian Academy in Clarks Summit, Pa., a two-hour drive
from New York City.
“Math is scary for a lot of kids,” said Ms.
Zimmerman, who teaches 5th and 6th graders. “It’s a performance subject, and you have
to know your stuff to perform.” She said she
hopes being at the museum will help students
look at the subject in a new way.
“If you understand why math happens, you
retain it better.”
Coverage of science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics education is supported by a grant
from the Noyce Foundation, at www.noycefdn.org.
Education Week retains sole editorial control over
the content of this coverage.
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Education WeeK Spotlight on Elementary Math
Published November 27, 2013, in Education Week
By Christina Samuels
A One group received the PBS Kids Transmedia Supplement, which included Ready
to Learn videos, preschool-specific interactive white boards and laptop computers,
and non-digital support materials. Teachers also received a guide of activities to
follow, and were offered pre-study training
and support during the project.
n A second group of children received technology resources, and teachers were
trained in targeting math skills, but did
not get the specific curriculum supplement. Instead, the teachers were encouraged to use the new technology, and were
given pointers on where to find materials
to support their classroom work.
n A third group of children, the control group,
did not receive the new technology, and
their teachers were not given any additional support or training.
n
The math supplement offered 10 to 25
minutes of activity four days a week. For example, one day’s activity might be watching a
25-minute video, while other days could fea-
edweek.org
7
Published October 9, 2013, in Education Week
PBS Math Supplement
Boosts Math Skills
For Young Children
n Education Department-funded
study of a math enrichment program featuring characters such
as the Cat in the Hat and Curious
George showed that the 10-week program
boosted early math skills for 4- and 5-yearolds from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
The program was evaluated as part of
the Ready to Learn initiative. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public
Broadcasting System are in the middle of
a $14.6 million’ five-year grant to develop
“transmedia content”—video, online games,
apps, and interactive white board applications—intended to increase early reading
and math skills.
This study measured results among 92
early-childhood classrooms in New York City
and in the San Francisco Bay area. About
900 4- and 5-year olds were divided evenly
among three groups:
n
ture 10 to 20 minutes of games, guided reading, or computer time. In addition to Curious
George and the Cat in the Hat, other characters used in the curriculum supplement were
Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train.
The study found that children in the group
receiving the curriculum showed significant
improvement in their early math skills, such
as counting, number recognition, and recognizing shapes and patterns, compared to
children in the other two groups. The group
that received technology resources and extra
teacher training did not improve significantly compared to the children in the control group.
“We know that familiar characters that
kids have a parasocial relationship with can
be used as learning resources if they’re harnessed in the right way,” said Carlin Llorente,
the study’s co-author and a senior research
social scientist for the Center for Technology
in Learning at SRI International, headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif. The curriculum
can be easily adapted for the center-based
learning that is a feature of early-childhood
classrooms, he said.
Shelley Pasnik, the director of the Center
for Children and Technology at the Education Development Center in New York City
and also a study co-author, said the finding
suggests that technology tools can be helpful
supports for education, but only when they
are accompanied by support for teachers in
how to use that technology well.
“There are developmentally appropriate
ways that technology can be used by early
educators, but it is really fundamentally important that those educators are supported
and prepared,” she said.
Gains Found
for Several
Mathematics
Programs
“After Two Years, Three
Elementary Math Curricula
Outperform a Fourth”
E By Sarah D. Sparks
lementary students made similar
gains in math after two years using
three different curricula with varied
approaches, according to new findings from Mathematica Policy Research.
The report is the second and final report
in a large-scale evaluation of elementary
math curricula supported by the federal Institute of Education Sciences.
In the first study, two programs—Math
Expressions and Saxon Math—both led
to equal mathematics gains by the end of
1st grade. In the second study, researchers
found students studying enVision Math
(previously called Scott Foresman-Addison
Wesley Mathematics) caught up with students using the others by the end of 2nd
grade.
However, students using Investigations
in Number, Data, and Space lagged behind
students using the other curricula in both
studies.
For the study, researchers randomly assigned the four commonly used curricula to
111 schools in 12 districts during the first
year, and 58 schools in seven districts for
the follow-up study.
The four curricula differ in how much
they focus on open- versus close-ended class
questions, how quickly teachers give feedback on correct answers, and how many
challenging questions are used.
“More-effective curricula differ in their
approaches to instruction and learning, so
educators can choose the program that best
suits their teaching style,” said Roberto Agodini, the study’s director and a senior economist at the Princeton, N.J.-based research
group, in a statement.
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CASE Study
NEwArk ANd wiLMiNGtoN, dELAwArE
LEARNING
Supporting Blended Learning, Personalized
Learning and the Common Core
Making math gains in varied learning environments
CHRISTINA SCHOOL DISTRICT
FAST FACTS
• Largest public school system in Delaware
CHALLENGE:
• 18 elementary (K–5) schools
Reaching every student, everywhere
• 17,400 total students
The Christina School District in Delaware,
comprised of both urban and suburban
schools with a diverse group of learners,
• 59% eligible for free or reduced lunch
• 41% African American, 35% Caucasian,
18% Hispanic students
DREAMBOX IMPLEMENTATION
• Deployed since 2011
• 7 elementary schools
• Various blended learning models
• PCs, laptops, and iPads
• Supports Response to Intervention,
among other initiatives
FUNDING SOURCE
• State funding and Partnership Zone
(Race to the Top) grants
ABOUT DREAMBOX LEARNING
DreamBox® Learning Math provides a
deeply personalized, PreK–6 math learning
experience that differentiates content,
pace, and sequence for the highest levels of
student achievement. Powered by Intelligent
Adaptive Learning™ technology, DreamBox
Learning combines rigorous elementary
math, an engaging, game-like learning
environment, and real-time feedback for each
student. It motivates and guides all levels
of learners to persist, progress, and achieve
math proficiency. This results in increased
achievement, deep understanding, and lifelong confidence in math.
was interested in how technology
could be used to improve their math
instruction while still giving individual
schools and teachers as much autonomy
as possible. Adopting a blended learning
strategy for math provided many
opportunities for educators to integrate
technology into their teaching.
Blended learning is a formal education
method that has students learning for
a portion of their time through online
delivery of content and instruction, with
some element of student control over
time, place, and pace. Supervision and
tutoring then takes place part of the
time in a classroom or brick-and-mortar
location away from home. The use of
blended learning as a best practice
is backed up by research, including a
2010 study by the U.S. Department of
Education, Evaluation of Evidence-Based
Practices in Online Learning: A MetaAnalysis and Review of Online Learning
Studies.
The Christina School District needed
a rigorous, flexible, and personalized
solution that would support their
transition to the Common Core and
provide the data needed to inform
instruction, and a game-based
environment that could engage their
diverse student population. It also
needed to be easy enough to use
in multiple environments, including
Response to Intervention (RtI) pullout
classrooms, computer labs, classroom
stations, for homework, and in summer
programs, before- and after-school
programs, and by local after-school
programs administered by groups
such as the Boys and Girls Club. Upon
Growth in Math Proficiency for
Grade 3-5 Students
© 2014 DreamBox Learning, Inc. All rights reserved. DB014_0114
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in 2011, using the program mostly in
“DreamBox has been very instrumental in helping my school meet
State of Delaware Goals and AYP by decreasing the Educational
Gap. After using it with our English Language Learners for just
five months last year, they met our AYP in math for the first time
ever—on the first attempt!”
—Marilyn Dollard, Principal, Oberle Elementary
surveying the marketplace, there
was only one solution that met all
of those requirements—DreamBox
Learning Math which soon became the
foundation of their blended learning
teacher-guided practice (or projects)
on campus during the standard school
day, and online delivery of content
and instruction of the same subject
from a remote location (often home)
math solution.
after school, with content delivery
being primarily online an individual
SoLutioN:
a blended learning rotational model
on classroom PCs and laptops. One
school, Bancroft Elementary, made
the system available to its before- and
after-school programs while another,
Brookside Elementary, allowed at-home
access. The results were so encouraging
that four other schools in the district
recognized the need to bring DreamBox
into their classrooms.
There is a considerable need for
reporting to outside stakeholders,
especially when working under a
Race to the Top grant, and Christina’s
teachers particularly appreciate the
wealth of data that is available to them.
With DreamBox, student performance
Blended learning—the method of
using multiple media and methods of
instruction to teach—has been around
rotation model which is customized to
each student’s individual schedule and
needs. It differs from the other rotation
models because the student does not
necessarily rotate to each available
for decades, but in the past it required
intensive preparation and manual data
crunching. However, blended learning
station or modality, and the content
delivery is not necessarily primarily
online.
has evolved significantly in the last 20
years, and it is now much easier for
educators to meet teaching challenges
and make learning more personalized
for students.
There are four basic blended learning
Regardless of the blended learning
model, when using DreamBox, its
Intelligent Adaptive Learning™
technology continually differentiates for
students in real time, and students are
able to move at their own pace making
rotation models. The station rotation
(or in-class rotation) and lab rotation
self-directed choices. Also, teachers
receive better data allowing them to
(moving to different locations within
the school) blended learning models
allow students to visit various stations
or centers during an allotted time for
a specific subject. For example, during
math time students might rotate
between one-on-one or small-group
have more opportunities to differentiate
for all students during whole class or
small group work. During face-to-face
time in classrooms or in small group
sessions, students can explain thinking
and meaning around their math work,
as well as investigate rich problems and
work with the teacher, working on
computers or tablets, using additional
tasks in the school’s curriculum. Time
is better spent, because students are
program—although each has chosen to
use the system in a different way.
centers or stations the teacher has set
up using manipulatives, or working
on projects. The flipped classroom
model has students rotating on a
fixed schedule between face-to-face
guided to devote the correct amount of
time to tasks and to receive “just right”
instruction levels.
Three of Christina’s elementary
schools began a pilot with DreamBox
For example, Leasure Elementary
has found success using DreamBox as a
pullout intervention for RtI Tier 2 and 3
struggling learners; Bancroft has made
DreamBox a key piece of their summer
Blended learning rotation model
© 2014 DreamBox Learning, Inc. All rights reserved. DB014_0114
data can be brought together with
attendance data on benchmarks
and state assessment, as well as
personalized goals, so that students,
teachers, parents, and administrators
can quickly and easily examine a
complete view of each student’s
learning progress.
“The Common Core Standards
Report,” said Shannon Freel, a teacher at
Bancroft, “helps me to see exactly what
areas the students are working on and
passing. I can also see where they are
having difficulty and spending more
time. I use the data for small group time
where I can focus on specific areas.”
iMPLEMENtAtioN:
Blended learning works in every situation
teachers can dream up
District wide, six of Christina’s
elementary schools are now using
DreamBox as part of a blended learning
2
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program (Stubbs Elementary plans to
follow suit this summer); and Oberle
Elementary has shared DreamBox logins
with local daycare providers and the
Boys and Girls Club so students can
spend additional time with DreamBox
outside of school hours. However, all
of the schools still have the rotational
blended learning model available
in their classrooms, making greater
differentiation and more personalized
learning possible on a daily basis, and
integrating online learning in individual
student cases for remediation,
enrichment, or supplemental support as
needed. DreamBox—with its Intelligent
Adaptive Learning technology and
game-based environment—keeps
student engagement at a high level
while ensuring improved math learning.
It is designed to provide tasks that build
upon a student’s prior knowledge,
while helping the student make
connections to concepts, procedures,
and understanding.
“DreamBox has been
instrumental in helping our
teachers address gaps in
conceptual understanding
and maximizing instructional
time in the classroom.”
— Laura Brace,
Elementary Math Curriculum Specialist
“DreamBox supports my teaching by
‘filling in gaps’ that [students] may have
in knowledge,” said Christine Jimenez,
a bilingual kindergarten teacher at
Oberle. “Students come with a wide
variety of skills and on vastly different
levels. It also helps that I can give the
students an interactive game aligned
© 2014 DreamBox Learning, Inc. All rights reserved. DB013_0114
Back to Table of Contents
“I was a huge supporter of bringing DreamBox to Stubbs Elementary
after seeing great success with it while I was assistant principal
at Oberle last year. We saw a huge increase in our math scores in
one year and the only thing we did differently was use DreamBox.
Closing the achievement gap in math is a priority for our schools and
I am excited to see the impact it will have on our students here.”
— Melissa Brady, Assistant Principal
to the Common Core that I can have
effective use of student data to inform
them do independently while I rotate
teaching math in small, flexible groups.”
Delaware assesses student achievement
in both the fall and the spring, which
makes learning gains especially
visible, and among the schools that
use DreamBox in the Christina School
District, that growth is striking.
Brookside, a suburban school, had only
17 percent of their Grade 3–5 students
meeting expectation in math in the fall
of 2012, but in the spring, that number
had increased to 61 percent—an
improvement of 44 percentage points!
At Pulaski Elementary, a more urban
school, only 6 percent of students were
proficient at the beginning of the year,
personalized learning plans for students
and core instruction time. She attributes
this increase in math achievement
scores directly to DreamBox. “DreamBox
has been instrumental in helping our
teachers address gaps in conceptual
understanding and maximizing
instructional time in the classroom.”
Melissa Brady, an assistant principal in
the district, sums up why DreamBox is
spreading among the Christina schools.
“I was a huge supporter of bringing
DreamBox to Stubbs Elementary after
seeing great success with it while I was
assistant principal at Oberle last year.
We saw a huge increase in our math
scores in one year and the only thing
we did differently was use DreamBox.
Closing the achievement gap in math
is a priority for our schools and I am
but by the end of the year, 43 percent
were considered to be working at
grade level. Oberle saw a 39 percent
excited to see the impact it will have on
our students here.”
With the success of the Christina
increase in math proficiency by ELL
alone, moving from only 13 percent of
School District, it’s apparent that
DreamBox can be a valuable partner
Grades 3–5 at standard to 52 percent of
students proficient.
Laura Brace, Elementary Math
for any school or district interested in
changing their math culture, no matter
how complex their needs.
rESuLtS:
Progress throughout the year
Curriculum Specialist for the district,
leads Christina’s efforts in the
For more information, contact Client Care at 877.451.7845,
email [email protected], or visit dreambox.com.
3
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Education WeeK Spotlight on Elementary Math
n
edweek.org
8
Published March 6, 2013, in Education Week
Commentary
Why STEM Education Must
Start in Early Childhood
A By JD Chesloff
ccording to a 2010 survey by
Change the Equation, a nonprofit,
nonpartisan corporate initiative to
further math and science learning,
nearly one-third of Americans would rather
clean their bathrooms than do a math problem. In a globally competitive economy, with
employers of all shapes and sizes increasingly
seeking workers skilled in science, technology, engineering, and math, this is humorous and more than a little troubling. Investing to ensure a pipeline of workers skilled in
STEM competencies is a workforce issue, an
economic-development issue, and a business
imperative. And the best way to ensure return
on these investments is to start fostering these
skills in young children.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to define
a STEM “job.” Regardless of the industry—
manufacturing, utilities, construction, technology, financial services—employers are looking
for a talent pipeline that can produce workers
proficient in the STEM disciplines. Concepts
at the heart of STEM—curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking—are in demand. They also happen to be innate in young
children.
As employers look at the workforce pipeline
over time, they ask themselves a simple question: Where are we going to find workers?
There is cause for concern:
• According to a 2010 study from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and
the Workforce, about 76 million baby boomers will soon retire, and only about 51 million
people are in line to replace them, creating a
“worker gap” of 25 million.
• This past summer, the Center for American Progress and the Center for the Next Generation released a joint report showing that
more than half of U.S. postsecondary students
drop out without receiving a degree.
• And perhaps most alarming of all, of the 39
million young adults in the United States ages
17 to 24, the Pentagon reports that 75 percent
do not qualify to join the U.S. military because
they cannot meet the physical, behavioral, or
educational standards for service—standards
that are similar to those many industries use
in hiring.
When it comes to STEM jobs, the pipeline
issue is complicated further. The U.S. Department of Commerce projected that in the
decade leading up to 2018, STEM occupations would grow by 17 percent, compared
with 9.8 percent growth for all other occupations. Across the country, across all occupations, there are 3.6 people for every one job.
In STEM fields, there is one person for every
1.9 jobs. Employers can’t find the talent to fill
these jobs, which is even more surprising considering that the U.S. Census Bureau recently
reported that the median salary for engineering majors was the highest of any profession.
Supply is low and demand is high. There is
a mismatch between projected future jobs requiring STEM skills and the projected supply
of qualified workers to fill them.
In 2009, at the urging of the Massachusetts
Business Roundtable and a coalition of business leaders working closely with the state’s
lieutenant governor, Tim Murray, Gov. Deval
Patrick created the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council to develop a state STEM plan
that would ensure that the education pipeline—from pre-K through higher education—
is producing workers who are skilled in STEM
competencies. The implementation strategy
has a component focused on pre-K. Both the
plan and the implementation are now national
models.
There are many ideas about the most effective entry point in the education system for
making an impact on student interest and
achievement in STEM. Some say high school.
Some say that’s too late. Some say middle
school. Some say 3rd grade. The Raytheon
Co., one of Massachusetts’ leading employers
of STEM professionals, conducted a survey of
1,000 middle school students across the country and asked them if they preferred doing
math homework or eating broccoli. The winner, with 56 percent of the vote was ... broccoli.
It is my feeling that you can’t start early
enough: Young children are natural-born scientists and engineers. Like STEM, investment
in early-childhood education is a workforcepipeline issue. Research has shown that high-
quality pre-K cuts the rate of children being
held back a grade in half; decreases juvenile
arrests by a third; and increases high school
attendance by a third, college attendance by
a whopping 80 percent, and employment by
23 percent. High-quality early-learning environments provide children with a structure in
which to build upon their natural inclination
to explore, to build, and to question.
There is an exciting and powerful link between STEM and early childhood. Research
confirms that the brain is particularly receptive to learning math and logic between the
ages of 1 and 4, and that early math skills are
the most powerful predictors of later learning.
Research from the University of California,
Irvine, confirms that early math skills are a
better predictor of later academic success
than early reading is. The study found that
in a comparison of math, literacy, and socialemotional skills at kindergarten entry, “early
math concepts, such as knowledge of numbers
and ordinality, were the most powerful predictors of later learning.”
If math skills are such an important component of academic success, but people would
rather be cleaning their bathrooms or eating
broccoli, I’d say we have a problem. Math skills
and other STEM competencies are important
to the country’s long-term competitiveness
because today’s young children are tomorrow’s workforce. Workers who are fluent in
these competencies will be more prepared and
qualified to fill the jobs that our innovation
economy demands.
This concept is integrated into the Massachusetts education system, beginning at the
earliest stages. The strategic plan of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education
and Care officially recognizes that “inquiry
and exploration are foundations for math and
science and are also the foundations for early
learning.” The department’s commissioner,
Sherri Killins, has made remarkable strides
in linking STEM and early childhood by encouraging STEM professional-development
opportunities for early-childhood educators,
aligning state standards and frameworks
by ensuring a pre-K component to math and
science standards, and intentionally integrat-
Back to Table of Contents
Education WeeK Spotlight on Elementary Math
ing STEM into daily activities with students
through curricula and quality measurements
through the state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System.
Massachusetts has engaged in productive
partnerships with the private sector as well,
including tens of thousands of dollars in donated hardware and software from IBM to
support the state’s implementation of its Race
to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant
from the federal government. Other companies, like National Grid, John Hancock, and JP
Morgan Chase are also supporting efforts in
the state to explore innovative ways to bolster
the early childhood workforce.
And why wouldn’t they? International competition for talent is getting stiffer. As the Center for American Progress and the Center for
the Next Generation study points out, “half of
U.S. children get no early-childhood education,
and we have no national strategy to increase
enrollment,” while China, for example, has
plans to enroll 40 million children in preschool,
an increase of 50 percent, by 2020. Just for
some context, there are a total of about 24 million children from birth to age 5 in the United
States. By 2030, China will have 200 million
college graduates, more than the entire U.S.
workforce.
Which gets back to the original point:
Where are employers going to find workers?
To remain competitive in the global economy,
investment is needed to ensure a workforce
pipeline that would rather engage in science,
technology, engineering, and math than cleaning bathrooms and eating broccoli. And the
best way to shore up that pipeline is to start
investing in it early.
JD Chesloff has served as the executive director
of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable since
2011. He is the chair of the Massachusetts Board
of Early Education and Care and also chairs the
executive committee of the state governor’s stem
advisory council.
n
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9
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Education WeeK Spotlight on Elementary Math
WEB
Links
n
edweek.org
Resources on
Early-Elementary Math
Now featuring interactive hyperlinks.
Just click and go.
After Two Years, Three Elementary Math Curricula Outperform a Fourth
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20134019/
Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
Fractions: the new frontier for theories of numerical development
Robert S. Siegler, Lisa K. Fazio, Drew H. Bailey, Xinlin Zhou
resources
10
http://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences//retrieve/pii/S1364661312002653?cc=y
Trends in Cognitive Sciences, December 2012, Vol. 17, Issue 17
Minds in Motion
http://curry.virginia.edu/research/centers/castl/project/minds-in-motion
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
http://www.nctm.org/
National Museum of Mathematics
http://momath.org/
Preschool Teachers Can Use a PBS KIDS Transmedia Curriculum
Supplement to Support Young Children’s Mathematics Learning:
Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial
http://www.sri.com/work/publications/preschool-teachers-can-use-pbs-kids-transmediacurriculum-supplement-support-young
Carlin Llorente, Shelley Pasnik
SRI International and the Education Development Center, November 2013
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August
JuLY2010
2010
SPOTLIGHT
k
On Homewor
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Reveals Accept
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By Debra Viader
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RESOURCES:
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15 On Homew
On Teacher Tips for the New Year
Editor’s Note: Heading back to
school offers new challenges for
teachers, as well as students.
This Spotlight offers tips for
educators on easing into the new
academic year as smoothly and
productively as possible.
INteRActIve cONteNtS:
1 What Are Your New
School-Year Resolutions?
2 Teaching Secrets:
Hang on to the Magic
4 How Colleagues Can Help
New Teachers
5 Teaching Secrets:
10 To-Dos for New Teachers
6 Teaching Secrets:
When the Kids Don’t Share
Your Culture
8 Getting Ready for the
School Year
10 Summer Project: Tweaking
Those Flawed Lessons
11 Teaching Secrets: Phoning Home
D
Published August 4, 2010, in Education Week Teacher
What Are Your
New School-Year
Resolutions?
Some articles feature
d in this
Spotlight were
written by
members of the
Teacher
Leaders Netwo
rk, and
appeared as colum first
ns in Teacher
Magazine. The
views expressed
By Larry Ferlazzo
in articles by the
Teacher
Leaders Netwo
rk are the
author
s school was ending in June, I thought that it was as
good
s’ own and do
not
necessarily
a time as any to begin thinking about what I wanted
to represent those
of
Editorial Projec
ts in Education.
do differently in the upcoming school year—and why.
A
During my 20-year first career as a community orCONTENTS:
ganizer, we would continually emphasize the importance of this
practice by saying that without it, many people were “a pile
of un1 How to Use
digested actions.” To take that metaphor a bit further, I guess
you Leftover
Class
Time Wisely
could say that reflection is like Pepto Bismol!
3
to Organize for
In fact, one study suggests that when we are experiencing How
someLearning
thing, we are recording what is happening in our memory,
but
the
4 Ed. School
s Beef Up
“actual learning” occurs afterward when we’re thinking about
it.
Classroom-Managem
ent
As I was applying this idea to my classroom practice a month
or so
Trainin
g
ago, I invited readers of my blog to do the same.
6 Behavior Proble
ms
6 Hallway Hints
2009
Choices
14 Taming the
Dragon
of Classroom Chaos
Published July
22, 2009, in Educat
ion Week’s Teache
r Magazine
How to Use
Leftover Class
Time Wisely
By Larry Ferlazzo
One of the first
lessons I learn
ed when I began
to “overplan.”
Assume that
teaching was
your lesson is
and have a relate
going to be done
d activity ready
early
to go.
However, like
many important
lessons—exerci
eat sweets in
abundance, pract
se daily, don’t
ice patience—
I always mana
it’s not something
ge to make a
prior
ity.
But I do have
the next best
thing—a list of
ing activities that
constructive learn
I can use anyti
me I finish my
have a few minu
lesson early and
tes in need of
wise investmen
list, I also asked
t. To beef up my
readers of my
blog to share
My thoughts
ideas of their
(and theirs) fall
own.
into seven categ
Summarize, Relat
ories: Review,
e, Reflect, Intell
ectually Chall
cally Engage,
enge, Technologiand (a student
favorite) Chill
.
who left comm
ents
w
like to play quick on my blog
games on the
Research has
shown that you whiteboard that require little
have to see a
or no extra
new word five
to 16 language planning. Second
times (and in
teachers (myse
different contex
lf
ts) included)
to really learn
talked about havin
it. Studies differ
on the number
g
students sing
of times we
vocab
ulary songs.
need to review
Sometimes I’ll
a new
just have stude
information before piece of
nts
break into pairs
and quiz each
but it’s more than it’s ours—
other. To add
a little intrigue,
a few. Review
is one good use
you might have
of those extra
Stude
nt
A give
minutes. Teach
the answer and
ers
ask Student B
variety of ways. review in a
to supply the
Math teachers
question, Jeopa
rdystyle.
Revie
10 To Jon, on His
First Year
of Teaching
12 The Miracle
of
SEPTEMBER
On Classroom
Management
Editor’s Note: Classr
oom
management is
often one of the
most challenging
parts of the
job for new teache
rs.
“Spotlight” explor This
es how
educators can
create successful
learning enviro
nments in
sometimes difficu
lt situations.
8 Blackboard
vs. Moodle
auras
CONTENTS:
ary
Published Febru
EDUCATION WE
EK
Istockphoto.com/
many,
Editor’s Note: For l tradition,
schoo
homework is a
’t mean
but that doesn
it should stay
everyone agrees
ht
Spotlig
This
that way.
time
explores how much
on homework,
students spend
usefulness,
research on its
nding
surrou
ges
and challen
es and
homework practic
policies.
spotlight SPOTLIG
HT
istock/Pamela Burley
DECEMBER 2009
View the complete collection of Education Week Spotlights
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