Running an effective math class.
Promptly each morning as my students are making their way their seats and never missing a morning we begin the day with "What are we doing today?" Despite that fact for the last 145 days the agenda is posted. I take comfort in this predictability and with the fact they are interested. What contributes to my students success in math is the routines and procedures in which we use each day with math instruction. With a clear agenda and objective for the day students know exactly what to expect for their math class for the day. We open with some questioning from a previous lesson and then are onto the content for the day. Students practice both computation and application and close with a summary. You can find the 6 Ways to Help Students Understand Math , from Dr. Matthew Beyranevand in better detail here.
In both 5th and 6th grade math we've established this routine and we've seen growth. Although this routine on paper can seem boring, In 5th grade math we add choice to our practice with guided math. Students navigate through the week completing required work we call "must do's" and choice work referred to as "can do's". In 6th grade math we stations that are created to probe students in computation and application type questions. Class ends with the anticipation of the nights homework and a summary of the skills we worked on. Throughout the week we close with an informal assessment usually and "exit tweet" (exit ticket) for my trendy students.
