7th grade math

Good self management and classroom management strategy:
She always uses a timer that beeps loudly, timing herself and her students, so she makes sure to get through her entire lesson, because in her first year of teaching, the bell would ring and she would only be halfway through her lesson.

Cool assessment idea:
At the beginning of the year, as is common, she does a diagnostic math assessment to see where students are at, and in her room she has a whole wall dedicated to math concepts that kids should know.

These math concept chart thingies are grouped into 5 categories:
Data Analysis and Probability, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Math Operations/Integers. These 5 categories are further broken down into specific math concepts. For example, under algebra, one of the concepts is recognizing and reiterating number patterns.

Under each concept, there are a ton of sticky notes with students' names on them. If the student got the question that had to do with that math concept right on the diagnostic math assessment, they get to put their sticky note up on the wall under that concept, and then she can see what a lot of kids understand and what few kids know based on what they got right on the diagnostic test. Throughout the year, as she teaches and assesses these math concepts (and perhaps they change later in the year, I don't know), when students show that they understand those concepts by getting test questions or other assessments right, they get to put their name on a sticky note up on the wall. The sticky notes are color-coded by class period (green notes for one, pink for another, etc) so she can easily see what she will have to spend more or less time on during each period. Pretty handy, I thought, for both assessment and student pride in their work.

The Elementary-Secondary Math Disconnect

I observed in two middle school math classes, grade 7, today. Something that I found very interesting is that the focus of the lesson was on remembering/reciting math facts quickly in order to be able to use them to solve arithmetic problems, and it was part of the curriculum, not an add-on.

From my observations in elementary school and from talking to elementary teachers, many curricula used in the elementary grades are based on problem solving and getting excited and engaged about math; sort of like they are trying to convince the students that math really is important, practical, and really fun. Math facts are not part of the curriculum, and in some schools, drill and skill is discouraged.

A professor earlier in the program bluntly told us that most math curricula adopted by school districts for the elementary level do not sufficiently prepare students for middle and high school math or practical life math. He said though there is value in those curricula, it is a teacher's responsibility to make sure students are getting their math facts down as well, because they need to know them. He said there is a place for drill and skill and memorizing multiplication tables and other basic arithmetic, and that teachers are obligated to add that into their math lessons even if they are not part of the district curriculum.

I asked one of the teachers I observed today, "Do most of these kids come into middle school not knowing how to do basic arithmetic?" She said yes, few know their math facts by heart and thus when they arrive at middle school and are supposed to be able to retrieve them fast in order to take the tests, they are shocked and you have to teach the math facts and basic principles of adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing integers for a few weeks at the beginning.

So, for a few weeks every year at the beginning of the year in 7th grade math, even the challenge (Honors) classes, teachers do integer review. And though I did not observe a 6th grade math class, I am guessing they dedicate an awful lot of time to core arithmetic and math facts, because if they don't, the new middle schoolers can't handle the middle/high school curricula.

There is a place for both problem-solving and arithmetic in math, I think, just like most debates in education. There is a place for both phonics and whole language reading. There is a place for lecture as well as hands-on and cooperative group learning. There is a place for both drill and skill and cool exciting projects. There is a place for both mainstreaming of special ed students and seclusion of special ed students.