Reply To: Keeping the fast kids busy

[Maggie Moor]

Hi Garret,

Thanks for the advice! You’re right that their struggles with multiplication/division are making current content pretty tough for them. Some students zip along without a problem, while others have trouble understanding that dividing and multiplying are effectively opposites, and can be used to cancel a number out in algebra.

My math class (until quarantine) has been a hybrid of three-act structure and traditional math lessons. This is my first year of teaching math, so I’m working on finding my footing. We start a typical lesson with a notice/wonder and prediction task, a short (5 minute) open ended task, consolidation looking at student examples, and then I assign homework questions from the textbook. This is typically the time I spend with struggling students, but I would rather avoid the repetitive textbook work if I can.

Next year, I would like to start off the semester building up fundamental math skills. I haven’t made it to the spiraling portion of the workshop yet… I’m interested in it as a means of reviewing important ideas, but nervous about the planning.

​Thanks for sticking around for the long read!