Vision for Instruction in Mathematics Workshop

12/6 - The best part of my job is the fact that I get to attend some of the best trainings and classes.  I spent another great day at the AEA at a class called “Vision for Instruction in Math”. This class was perfect for me because it was developed for Instructional Coaches and Administrators that may not be as comfortable with the content.  We focused on 5 belief statements. For each statement, we were asked to think about our historical beliefs, how we were taught and how math instruction is currently taught in our buildings. The presenters modeled the same lesson several ways so we could really see what it was like to be a student in each scenario. We had some great discussions and it confirmed and challenged  many of my current beliefs on instruction. Here are several of my favorite takeaway statements:
  • Kids need to be in charge of their learning - the person doing the talking is doing the learning
  • Direct instruction comes at the end, during the justification.
  • Students need productive struggle, that’s where you see their mindset and brain growth.
  • We need to teach students to be thinkers not memorizers .
  • Not memorizing facts doesn’t mean that don’t have them committed to memory
  • All students need to be exposed to rich text and the strategies are the differentiation.

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