The Value of Routines

Classrooms with strong routines reap many benefits.  This has become very evident this year as i have seen so many more classrooms begin math instruction each day with a routine.

In this year of continued chaos caused by the pandemic, teachers are finding that through routines, they can reinforce and review skills from previous grades.  They are also able to use routines to preview skills that might not be coming until later in the year.  So many free, well-designed routines are out there for teachers to use that it is easier than ever to find one that meets our students' needs.

Low-floor, high-ceiling routines are wonderful for engaging all students, and they usually involve a visual that helps students to all be able to "step-in" to the learning.  Favorite examples of these types of routines include Which One Doesn't Belong and Same/Different.  Teachers and students alike enjoy these routines because there are so many possibilities within one routine as they allow students to make sense of the problems in ways that make sense to them.

Many of the routines from Steve Wyborney are also loved by teachers and students.  These routines contain visuals, offer great exposure to vocabulary, and build number sense.  Teachers love them because they are professionally made and easy to use, and students love them because they are fun!  

Of course, Number Talks also are a routine that helps to build student discourse and fluency.  Using the book as a guide for these helps students to develop and use strategies when they are ready.  Doing Number Talks regularly has been shown to grow student fluency and flexibility in computation.

As students become more familiar with routines, there are many ways teachers can tweak the format.  For example, they might decide to have students create their own following a favorite routine.  (Creating your own Which One Doesn't Belong isn't as easy it might seem.)  Students can create these routines and share them with other classrooms besides their own giving them a larger audience for their work.  Teachers might also use routines as a daily warmup such as revealing one clue a day to an Estimystery and then discussing the students' thinking at the end of the week.  I've even seen teacher print out images from routines and have students discuss them as they wait outside of a special class like PE or music.  A routine image might be part of a weekly newsletter so that families can discuss it together.   There are many ways that these routines can be used throughout a day's learning in addition to a warmup for math block.

All of these math class routines help to build a strong classroom culture of open, flexible thinking.  They also strengthen students' number sense and confidence while expanding their math vocabulary.  Teachers gain better insight to student development and can use these routines to help determine what next steps to take instructionally. They see quickly how students grow through the use of routines that meet their student needs; the routines may change from year to year.  

Math routines help us to build mathematicians whose confidence help them to take on the math practice standards as part of who they are. 

So much good in one place!

Many of you are familiar with the beauty of Splat! and all that it can offer our students.  It also has the great quality of being a routine that can be used throughout school.  It is certainly a routine that students, teachers, and this math specialist love due to its visual qualities, critical thinking elements, and engaging ways!

But the master behind Splat! has many other great resources available to teachers.  They are opportunities to expose our students to many concepts and to encourage some rich discourse in our classrooms.  And, best of all, Steve Wyborney shares his wonderful creations with us in the form of free downloads.

These resources are good in a normal year, but this year, they are especially nice to use in a virtual learning format.

Here is a run-down of some of the things you can find from Mr. Wyborney:

Splat!:  Beginning with concept of missing addends, the Splat slides move from primary concepts to fractions and algebra as the slides become more complex.  Students benefit from the visual nature of the slides, and they love the game feel of it all.

Esti-Mysteries:  Another popular routine with students, esti-mysteries merge the skill of estimation with critical thinking.  One clue is revealed at a time so that students can narrow down their choices.  In the end, they still depend upon their estimating skills for a final decision.  One thing I like about this routine is that once it has been taught, I think it can be used in many ways including revealing a clue a day with the final discussion occurring at the end of the week.

Estimation Clipboard: This is one of my favorites!  This routine again builds off of the concept of estimating and makes it fun for students to take the risks when making an estimate.  An image is shown, students make an estimate, and then the answer is revealed. Another slide is shown with a change in the image, and the students adjust their estimate.  This simple routine has hidden sophistication in that it often has hidden benchmarks for students to use to be able to make a better estimate.  Many of the images are about number, but I especially recommend the slides that deal with length.

Cube Conversations:  These 3D images are a great way for students to get an introduction to volume and to build their visual and grouping skills.

Tiled Area Questions:  Beginning as general area problems, these develop into more complex relationships between whole and fractional numbers.  Again--an opportunity to stretch our students' thinking and their abilities to justify their thinking.

His animated multiplication chart is a nice tool for students to explore patterns and be exposed to their facts.

I know that for many of you Splat! is a common routine used in your classroom, but I wanted you to be aware of some of the many other treasures that you can find on this website.  If the past proves anything, I would bet we can look forward to other great ideas to be created by him in the future!  Have fun exploring this awesome sight, but more importantly, have fun watching your students think, engage, and discuss mathematics in such fun ways!

As another year comes to a close...

The excitement of a summer of fun is palpable at this time of the year--in both students AND teachers.  It is important that everyone have a little time away to "sharpen the saw" and give some much needed time to themselves.

However, it is also a good time to set some goals for next year.  Next year--a new beginning.  Here are some ideas for change that you might ponder this summer, and maybe you will think of some ways to make them work for you.  

Start small!  You don't need to change everything at once!  Choose one change that you want to try to start the year.  Here are my ideas and some resources to help you:

More Number talks/Math discourse:  Consider starting each day with a number talk or other math routine that encourages student discussion, reasoning, and critiquing.  Many teachers find that these help build fact fluency.  Be sure to build visuals into your routines.  Be intentional with your planning.  You shouldn't plan a year's worth of routines/number talks this summer.  The routines will vary with what your students need.  A necessary piece to this change is that you must really build a classroom culture that encourages and celebrates risk-taking, making mistakes, and curiosity.  You can find a number of resources to help you with building routines here, or you can use the word cloud on the right and click on Number Talks or Routines to read previous posts about the subject.

Heterogeneous grouping:  Many teachers group students by their perceived abilities for instruction.  Not only is this inequitable, it also leads students towards a negative perception of themselves as mathematicians.  Consider trying Visibly Random Grouping or other heterogeneous groups during your workshop.  There may still be times where you focus your reteaching with a small group on a particular skill, but in general, we want to offer the opportunity for all students to work together as much as we can.

More time for Exploration: Be less helpful.  Let students make sense of it all on their own before you begin telling them what to do.  Let them struggle with it a little, and let them use manipulatives to represent their thinking and look for patterns. When they are done with exploring, then you can work your magic by bringing it all together at the end of the class.  You'll be amazed of what they can do when they are not being told what to do.  (This may take a while unless you have already built a great culture in your classroom for risk-taking.)  These explorations could be small ones in a daily lesson, or they can be larger ones like some that are available in the word cloud by clicking on explorations.  Using Jo Boaler's WIM are also great ways to build exploration into your classroom and inspire your students.

Make tech time meaningful:  Sometimes teachers get caught up in offering tech time every day during math.  I am not a huge believer in this, as there are so many good rich problems out there for students to solve and too many rote drill and kill sites for students to work on.  Move away from these rote sites.  Instead, place students in small groups and have them work to solve meaningful problems or puzzles like those from Nrich or KenKen.  When students do go online to do work, consider trying some of the activities found on Desmos that align with your targets.  These activities require student thinking rather than just computing.

Reach out to me if you would like my support as you start to make some changes in your math instruction.  I am happy to help!

Finally, if you like to read professional books over the summer, here are some to consider:  

    

Building Number Sense through Choral Counting

Another routine that we can use in our classrooms to help our students better understand number is called Choral Counting. This routine, as modeled above, is done whole class, and can be differentiated by grade level.

It is a deceptively easy routine to put in place; however, the teacher's intentionality in planning can make it more powerful and effective than if it is just done at the spur of the moment.

Counts can range from Counting by 1s to counting by 3/8.  The beauty is that you can decide what is best for your students.

When planning a choral count, the teacher should decide what s/he wants to count by and then and then whether that count will go forwards or backwards.  After those decisions have been made, it is important for the teacher to determine how the numbers will be recorded. From left to right? From top to bottom?  How many numbers in each row or column?  The recording of the numbers is important in highlighting the patterns that can be found in the counting sequence.  Stenhouse Publishers has a free online tool that you can use to help with your planning of your choral count.  It is accessible here.

After the students and you complete the choral count and recording of the numbers, then the students begin the process of noticing and wondering.  What patterns do they see?  What will come next in the count sequence? How do the patterns they see help them to know what comes next?

As your students become more adept at this routine, you might decide to have them do the count while including a clap or a stomp on benchmark number.  "Stomp on every multiple of 10." "Clap when we reach a whole number." "Snap when the number is even." These little ideas may enable your students to find patterns more easily.

If you are interested in learning more about Counting Collections, consider purchasing this book from Stenhouse Publishers.  

Let me know if I can help with implementing choral counts in your classroom!

Same or Different?

Looking for a new routine to use in your daily workshop?  Same or Different could be your answer!

This blog has a great variety of images and videos for teachers to use to get this routine started in their classrooms.  There is also a link to a Teaching Channel kindergarten lesson using this routine.

It's just one more way for us to encourage student talk around math.

One step at a time....

Many of us are looking for baby steps to begin our changes in math instruction.

Robert Kaplinsky just wrote an awesome post called, "I Hope You're Embarrassed."  In this post, he discusses how we should be looking back on our math instruction, embarrassed by the methods we used to teach our students in the past.  If we are embarrassed, we know that we have improved!  We might be embarrassed by methods we used in our first years in the classroom, a few years ago, or just last week!  No matter, noting that we can do better is a huge step towards more improvement.

In my talks with teachers, I try to expose them to a number of routines, problems, and best practices that I find in my own professional development, hoping that something I share will spark an idea for teachers to integrate into their own classroom.

Today, my spark is pretty straight forward: My Favorite No.  Watch this video from Teaching Channel and consider ways that you can use it in your classroom.  Ms. Alcala uses this routine daily; maybe for you, it is enough to try it once a week to start?  How can you take this practice and use it to help you transform your learners (and yourself) into better mathematicians?  

Have you tried this routine in your class already?  What were the results?