Planning For Mathematics (NEW)

Elementary Mathematics Daily high-quality first instruction

student writingDaily mathematics instruction is to be no less than 75 minutes. This time includes necessary transitions. 75 minutes provides for an opening routine (~10 min), core instruction, and closure. High-quality mathematics instruction has many components. The tabs below outline expectations and related resources for the components.

Why?

The goal of high-quality math instruction is to make it student centered. This means that students are the ones who are doing the thinking, talking, and sense making. Creating one's own understanding is essential for positive identities, student agency, and self-efficacy in mathematics. Explicit instruction is necessary. However, we want student to first engage, explore, and potentially develop their own understanding of concepts, skills, and procedures. Positioning students to try the math first, provides insight into strategies and misconceptions to address during explicit instruction. A process for a student-first approach is the Launch-Engage-Debrief-Explain (LEDE). LEDE builds on the 3-stage math lesson (Van de Walle, 2019), the LED model (SanGiovanni, et al, 2023), and traditional 5E lesson model. This LEDE process may play out once or possibly more than once during either a whole group or small group lesson structure.

LEDE instructional model 

Launch

Description:

  • Capture students’ interest
  • Encourage questions and critical thinking
  • Taps prior knowledge

Possible Actions:

  • Game or puzzle
  • Picture book
  • Video clip
  • Notice / Wonder (etc)
  • Real-world situation/connection

Where It Goes Wrong:

  • Takes too long
  • Math focus is distracted by activity
  • Implementation style doesn’t carry over to lesson

Engage

Description:

  • Hands-on/minds-on activity
  • Students work together

Possible Actions:

  • Cooperative learning task
  • Hands-on manipulative task
  • Investigation or problem solving task

Where It Goes Wrong:

  •  Groups become idle when finished or stuck
  • Teacher gets hung-up with a group.

Debrief

Description:

  • Student explanations
  • Connections between representations and explanations
  • Focus on what makes sense and why

Possible Actions:

  • Poster sharing
  • Teacher recording student thoughts
  • Display and discuss

Where It Goes Wrong:

  •  Discussion is random or focused only on correct
  • Sharing lingers (too many share, disengagement)
  • Student sharing cannot be heard/understood
  • Ideas are accepted without question

Explain

Description:

  • Teacher explains concept or process
  • Teacher may model a concept
  • Teacher connects logical approaches and/or points out flawed logic

Possible Actions:

  • Modeling
  • Recording
  • Demonstration

Where It Goes Wrong:

  •  Student ideas are not connected or ignored
  • Stark shift to a specific way the teacher tells them they should do it

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