Math Workshop: Focus Your (Mini) Lesson

I was chosen to be part of a cohort this year in my district to pilot the use of instructional coaches. The goal of our district is to turn professional development into a daily occurrence, fueled by peers. I was super excited to be part of this opportunity, and it's turned out to be the biggest life/game changer. In the beginning, we took a self-evaluation to rank us on 21st Century Teaching Skills. We took it again mid-year, and we'll take it again at end of year. It's a great tool to use for goal setting. Based on my low scoring areas, I was able to set goals for myself this year on what I wanted to accomplish in the classroom. It really focused my growth, which is something I haven't had in the past.

My first goal was Math Workshop. My second goal has been Project Based Learning. I'm in the middle of my first PBL unit, but I've been doing Math Workshop for months, so I have a bit more reflection to share on that particular topic right now.

First rule of Math Workshop, there is no one right way to do it! That's one thing I love-the flexibility. There are three math teachers on my team, and we all do it a little differently. There are really two components to Math Workshop. The main driving force that really changes everything is a focused mini-lesson. This was/is also the hardest thing for me to get right. It takes practice, and honest reflection. I typically scour my state tests (STAAR) and textbook for a good entry point-a challenging problem the kids will struggle with, but can work together to come up with solutions. I try to find 2 of those, one to model with a think-aloud, and one to give the kids to try. The first day I introduce a concept with Math Workshop looks something like this:

1. Engage their prior knowledge with a quick "think, pair, share" question. 
• When have you used fractions in real life?
• Write down class thoughts on board or google doc for all to see
2. Show them the learning standard (TEKS) with student friendly "I can..." statement.
• 3.6C Today I can determine the area...
• Front load any important academic vocabulary
• area = the measurement of a surface
3. Model a problem with a think aloud. 
• Talk through your own solving of a problem, covering every step you would expect a student to do.
• Model with manipulatives, pictures, and number sentences
4. Set students up in ability based pairs to work through a problem.
• Allow access to resources such as whiteboards, manipulatives, each other
• Walk around and observe, asking guiding questions WITHOUT giving away information
• "What does the 5 in this number represent?"
• "What part of the problem did you use to know you needed to add?"
• "How can you check that to know you are right?"
• "Do you agree with your partner? If not, can you explain to them why?" 
5. Share out solutions, right AND wrong.
• Choose student pairs to explain their answer to the class.
• Ask if anyone got a different answer or if they solved it a different way.
• Allow many students to share out their thinking.
• Ask for students to "debate" about which answer is correct, and WHY.
6. Reflect
• Pose a reflection question for students to respond to orally or in writing.
• "How would you teach this to a second grader?"
• "What do you know for sure about division?"
• "What are you still confused about with data tables?"

Writing it out makes it look so straight forward. And it almost is. My challenges have been finding the right guiding questions, and wrapping up with enough time left to reflect. I get better at it every time though! Its allowed my students to be confident in sharing their thinking, put their thinking into words, see multiple ways of solving problems that I may not have otherwise taught, and learn from each other. Its also much more engaging than a traditional whole group lesson because they are ALL working for at least half of the time. 

Do I do this everyday? No. I do this for every topic (area, perimeter, fractions, division, etc). This may or may not mean I do it for every TEKS. It depends on how they relate to each other.

One of my goals is to start video taping myself teaching. It would be cool to share visuals of what all this writing on here means, and I would love having it as a reflection tool. Maybe I can use that as a goal for May.

I said there were two parts to Math Workshop. The other part is small group time. That half has many facets and deserves its own post, so I'll try to get that on here in the next week. 

I hope this helps, and if you have a great strategy you use in your mini-lesson format please share it with me! 

'Til next time. Try. Fail. Tweak. Try AGAIN!