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.
In the fourth grade lesson, I noticed the two activities built on each other in such a way that at first, students were identifying symmetrical figures, and then they were creating them. Students were offered tools to create symmetrical figures but were not required to use them or directly shown how to draw the figures. Students were able to learn from each other which methods worked well and could revise their practice to become more accurate. The teacher asked students to show their work and explain their thinking, modeling some of the steps of production math discussions like monitoring, selecting, and sequencing.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I noticed the teacher revisited the learning target multiple times to help students self-monitor their understanding. I noticed that students were seated in a way that sharing with a partner was easily done.
I love how the lesson has kids interacting with one another. You are not able to tell from the video but when I read the lesson plans it shows that there is instruction for students with disabilities. Having the optional plans will help the student participate with their peers.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest takeaway I got from using the IM curriculum this year and understanding the lesson structure, was being conscious about letting my students try concepts/problems on their own and to let them have productive struggles.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the time I would jump ahead or show students different strategies, when I just needed to slow down and wait for another lesson to actually introduce the concept. I also had to teach myself to help students discover how to solve problems without giving them the steps or solution. Doing all of this resulted in having richer conversations and an expectation of perseverance in our classroom, which in turn helped foster independent thinking and learning. 🙂
I often have a tendency to help when I find someone struggling. I do this with my kids, students I work with and even people I interact with. I notice as my kids get older that sometimes the best thing for them is to let them struggle and figure something out. They have a better understanding of what happened and what the solution was and they are able to remember that for next time. I will have to teach myself to back away too!
DeleteI watched the 4th Grade lesson. I particularly noticed how often students would share their ideas and answers with the whole class. There was so much math talk going on throughout the whole lesson. I feel like this will for sure take me time to get used to teaching this curriculum, but I am excited about giving students more autonomy and opportunities to think rather than mimic.
ReplyDeleteThank you ALL for your thoughtful reflections and the enthusiasm that you have shared with each other. I know that giving up part of your summer is a huge sacrifice so I am especially grateful that you made some space to take this course. 🧡 I hope you feel more prepared and optimistic about our implementation in the fall.
ReplyDeleteI watched the 3rd grade lesson, it showed she gave time for them to try on their own but had time to check in with several of them to talk about their strategies. Then when working with the geometry She really focused on letting them struggle as a group and math talking. Rather than telling them what they need to do she asked some probing questions but let them find the answers on their own. It really showed true understanding when the kids explained in their own words how they sorted the shapes and why.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how the students were engaged from the start of the lesson. The amount of discourse students were able to have was very meaningful, and students were able to explain their thinking to each other and model with examples. Even when students had different answers their continued discourse helped the students to see things in different ways, or come to conclusions about the learning as they continued to struggle, and learn from examples or others discussions.
ReplyDeleteI watched the 4th-grade lesson, which demonstrated a number line warm-up activity. Something I noticed right away was the level of engagement of her students, as well as the mathematical language her students used to explain their thinking. Students had the ability to share their own unique strategies and thinking, or they could elaborate or add to a previous student's work. The learning target was referenced right away and several different times throughout the lesson to anchor the students learning and keep them connected to their goal for the lesson. The other thing I noticed was the classroom organization.
ReplyDeleteI also thought a powerful moment within the lesson was when a student was comparing their answers to a peer whose answers were being projected onto the board. The student said, "oh no I did it wrong". The teacher asked the student who thought they were wrong to come up to the board and explain why they thought this. You can tell that this teacher has a great relationship with her students because this student was not embarrassed and was able to come up and explain his thinking, and even though he was incorrect, it provided a great learning opportunity for the class, and still elevated his status as a risk taker. It also demonstrated the teacher's willingness and intentionality of evaluating what she valued (in this case perseverance), which is likely why that young student wasn't ashamed or worried about being wrong because he shared her value of these skills as well.
I am certain that the implementation of this lead to more students liking math as they are involved in constructing their own knowledge and understanding of the question. Like understanding the problem, not the solution.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I appreciate about the IM lesson design is the way the warm-up connected with the lessons and helped students access prior knowledge that would help them get ready for the problem-solving in the lesson. I also found that most lessons were organized so that the first problem was accessible to most students and the level of thinking advanced with each question in the activity. This gives groups the opportunity to work through problems at their own pace. Sometimes it was difficult to hold back with definitions and strategies and let the students discover the strategies on their own, but it was exciting how many different strategies students could come up with. The discussions were rich by the time we reached the activity synthesis. One struggle was time. I often had to rush through the lesson synthesis because we ran out of time. I am still working on how to shorten up activities to make time for the synthesis without interfering with the thinking processes needed to synthesize the lesson.
ReplyDeleteI like how much the students are engaging and interacting with each other with each step of the lesson. My biggest take from the video is to give them time to explore and come up with different approaches and even struggle with each other or on their own with the lesson. Showing them how to solve a math problem when struggling or mimic is not helping them explore their math skills or to reach for better understanding. I plan to continue to stretch and grow as much as I hope the students will do the same.
ReplyDeleteI watched the first grade lesson related to understanding how halves are larger than fourths on the same size shape. I liked that the lesson and activities allowed for exploration and discovery as they were learning. This type of lesson causes students to think more deeply and it gives students time for them to share their thinking with others. Since I only watched one lesson, I wondered if the previous lesson or the next lesson would be more connected to the warm-up and the last activity. The warm-up was a practice of chorally counting by 6's forward and back through 116. The 3rd activity was a guessing activity related to shape names and descriptions. I like how the activities were short and moved along for this age group. I noticed that the teacher really needed to be prepared and ready in order to transition the students to the next activity quickly. The students seemed to be very engaged and they were being asked to do tasks that were appropriate for their skill level. The concepts seemed to be clear and easy for all to understand. I am happy to see that the lesson has a hands-on approach where every student is actively working, sharing, and involved in their learning. I am wondering and excited to see how this program is going to be used in our small group MAP lessons.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I noticed about the lesson design was the time of teacher talking was greatly reduced and kids were actively working or communicating with their classmates.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed that kids were working without being taught a strategy which is a big change from current practices.
I do wonder if the need for repetition for sped students will change because of this type of learning.
I love how the routines built into this curriculum involve work time for students to collaborate and share their thinking with groups and with the class. There is a lot of student leading happening. I am also feeling less stressed about implementing this new curriculum because it is easy to follow and well-rounded.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I was reminded of about teaching IM while watching the lesson was pacing and not staying too long in one part of the lesson. Warm-up routines were sometimes challenging to wrap up because every student can find something to share and the conversations are very rich but you must move on. Equally important is being able to move on from an activity when you know not every student has grasped the concept yet, but the key word is "yet", because IM does provide bite-size chunks of information in each lesson that students build on to make their understanding stronger and deeper. The Cool Downs are helpful to provide a clue about students who need more support, and specifically what support they need. I am excited to begin year two!
ReplyDeleteI like that the lessons start out with previous grade level content. It not only gives a chance to review, but for some it might solidify that understanding that was previously foggy before, or even help the teacher to identify holes and gaps in each student's understanding. I watched the first grade lesson and enjoyed the pace of each activity and the use of manipulatives and group discussions. By the end of the math block it seemed as though all students had an understanding of what fraction was bigger and why.
ReplyDeleteTiming. I'm really focused on timing. These lessons provide so many rich opportunities through the routines that you don't want to stay in any one part of the lesson for too long. It is going to have to be okay to not completely finish every single aspect of what we are working on at first while I learn how to maneuver through the flow of the lessons. I taught a lesson towards the end of the year and definitely lingered in the warm up for too long. I am hoping that the routines will become just that - the class can recognize them and settle into them quickly. The routines built in for talk are so strong that it will be easy to pause and not move on, but you must! I am told that I will find a flow and that it will all work out!
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