Read the summary that outlines what a typical lesson is like in Illustrative Math. Then select one of the lessons to watch. The lesson plans are also linked below in case you want to reference them as you are watching the lesson. (FYI - the lessons linked below are screencasted - if you want to navigate through the Imagine Learning Platform...you can find additional lessons. Click here to learn how.)
- Summary of a Typical Lesson
- Sample Lesson Videos:
- Corresponding Lesson Plans:
Consider
- What is rolling around in your head about this lesson design?
- What caused you to pause and think?
- What math experiences from your own classroom came to mind as you were watching and reading?
Respond and Interact
Please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
Please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
To start off I think IM has a lot of good pieces but there are pieces that I do struggle with when teaching daily. I love the warm ups and will say a lot of rich/deep thinking comes out of those discussions. I do struggle with the clunkiness sometimes of the lesson design of the slides or the minimalism. I also do wish students had more practice with some of the concepts. I feel like sometimes the concept is covered, we do 2 examples and then move on. I'm not asking for a worksheet of problems but just some more practice to help develop their skills. Also, this may be a 4th grade but the lessons are long! I some times feel like I am speed dating to cover everything in the lesson. I am still learning and adjusting. Trying to keep an open mind with all the new too :)
ReplyDeleteCaty, I do find myself saying "on task, deep thinking, moving quickly". There certainly is a sense of urgency. But the kids are pretty good sports about it. Also, they do need to learn to be efficient with their time, as well as on focusing on the task at hand.
DeleteThe timing continues to challenge me in the IM lessons. Knowing what to do with students that work quickly and accurately for a few minutes here and a few minutes there as their peers complete the activities is an issue our team has recently brought up and discussed.
DeleteI agree. I don't know if I am giving students enough practice. Each day it seems as if there are just tid bits of practice sometimes with really tough problems and a lot of reading. The final test also seems to remove all of the supports that are used for the lessons so it that also doesn't make sense to me. For students who are still working on reading these math tests are surely discouraging.
DeleteKathleen E. Unfortunately my lessons wouldn't fit into a 44 min video. I love that the math warm ups are a daily part of the curriculum. I am much better at using them in my lessons consistently. And I love doing them with the kids. I spoke to our early implementator and she sets a timer for the warm up. Maybe that's something I should do. I am getting more timely with my lessons. I also like the cool downs for formative assessments. I show my students their progress daily. And I reteach as necessary. These are important elements of the lesson design for me and my students.
ReplyDeleteI read the lesson for grade 3 and watched the coordinating video. What is rolling around in my head is the focus on shape attributes and the warm up which build fluency in this lesson. I might do the warm up at a different time of the day or add it to the cool down. Why? The two card sort activities in this lesson require a fair amount of material management and the conversations around attributes will require more time. Also, I might have two students come to the front of the class that resemble each other as my warm up. A discussion as to how the students are similar would provide my MLL students would a concrete experience where attributes can be clarified. Selecting a math center for students to do at the end of the lesson capturing the multiples of ten content of the warm up is another ption.
DeleteI agree w/Kathleen up there. My lesson would definitely fit into a 44 minute video. The routines are much clearer to me and my students. I kind of--sometimes :/ no when to change my pacing. For instance, I do sometimes move the independent time along quicker so we can spend time collaborating and sharing. I struggle with the materials and the transitions from activitiy to activity. So another way I adjust the lesson is to skip the optional activity and do the cool downs in the morning after my lesson. This gives me time to leave about 15-20 minutes for centers. I am really struggling to find ways to support my students who need the most help. Should I pull groups during centers? Another thing I notice about the lesson design is sometimes the more challenging problem seems to be up front/or first. I don't really get that.
ReplyDeleteI'm also having such a hard time finding way to support my struggling students - if anyone has any suggestions for this, I'd love to hear it!
DeleteI'm with a few of the comments above. I can confidently say that so far, I wouldn't have been able to fit a single lesson into a 44 minute video. I am still struggling a little with the timing of lessons, but I do feel like I am making progress. I also agree with the comments about wishing there was a little more time for the students to practice the skills they are learning. I feel like that is one of the reasons that I tend to continually go over time in these lessons because I want to give all of the kids the time they need to finish the few problems that they do have to work on. I always make sure to go through the lesson plan ahead of time, highlight the time suggestions for each section, and then set timers for the activities - but I do find it hard to move on from activities if the kids are still working hard to finish the activities. I also know that the Lesson Synthesis is an important part of the layout, but I find myself often having to skip this portion of the lesson because we are out of time. I do love M.Bradley's idea of saving the Cool Down for the morning after the lesson though, this might be something I'll try to implement in the new year!
ReplyDeleteAgain, I am in and out of classrooms supporting students K-5 during math. I don't think anyone could fit a single lesson into a 44 minute video without being rush and students not being able to grasp the concepts. It would leave no time for student interaction. Making sure all the students understand the math lessons is so important.
ReplyDeleteThank you ALL for your thoughtful reflections and the enthusiasm that you have shared with each other. I know how much you have on your plates so I am especially grateful that you made some space to take this course. 🧡 I promise you it's going to get easier. From the pacing, to the visual representations, to the transitions to all of it...give yourself grace with this BRAND NEW, BIG CHANGE. You are knocking it out of the park! ✨
ReplyDeleteSome of the lessons I do struggle with because they are either 15 problems or 3. THere are some pacing issues there and it can be hard on the students. Or the conversations we have are natural and then on the next page it asks the same questions. The pacing is nice and I always build time to do centers in our math days. I often find myself scaffolding to help my younger students as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat math experiences from your own classroom came to mind as you were watching and reading?
This just provided me more ideas and how to use the language.
This showed nice pacing and that she does just keep going even when you can see not everyone is with her. I struggle with this because I want to make sure everyone gets it while continuing to challenge my upper level. I do like how IM asks in the warm up "How did the first expression help..." because this is a time that I can get those that seem to be drifting or not understanding to chime in and they have an entry point after their classmates have shared thinking. I do feel like many have said above that the curriculum so far does not lead to mastery but just introduction and maybe that is ok? But my scores are scary to me :-)
ReplyDelete