Math PD At Your Fingertips
Unlock the potential of elementary math education with the GROWTH Framework, a six-step process designed to enhance students' understanding and teachers' instructional strategies.
What should professional development for math teachers look like?
Professional development for math teachers should be an inspiring journey that empowers educators to enhance their mathematics instruction. By participating in engaging workshops and ongoing training, teachers can develop a deeper understanding of mathematics education and learn innovative strategies to engage students in the classroom. A well-rounded professional development guide should focus on building number sense and fostering conceptual understanding, enabling elementary educators and middle school math teachers alike to effectively teach math content that resonates with learners.
Through collaborative professional learning opportunities, such as those provided by MathTrack, math educators can share best practices and learn how to enhance their students' problem-solving skills. Virtual math training and online learning platforms can also offer flexibility and accessibility, making it easier for math professionals to hone their craft. Ultimately, the goal of teacher professional development should be to motivate and equip teachers to build math minds, ensuring that all students have the tools they need to succeed in tackling math problems with confidence.
Now, let's go through GROWTH, a framework that can be used for many mathematical topics. It is focused on building problem-solving skills and can be applied in topics like subtraction, fractions, and algebra.
Grasp the Meaning: Building a Strong Foundation
One of the first steps in ensuring students grasp new math concepts is acknowledging their starting point. Remember, students seldom start from nothing. Encourage them to write down everything they already know about the topic, using definitions, synonyms, and images. This exercise helps solidify their understanding and builds a strong foundation for new knowledge. By visualizing and verbalizing their current knowledge, students can connect new information to what they already understand, making the learning process smoother and more effective.
Reveal the Horizon: Connecting Past and Future Topics
In the journey of learning math, it's crucial to connect past and future topics. States have carefully sequenced math curricula based on psychological and developmental factors to ensure a logical progression. Review with your students what was covered before the current topic and preview what will come next. This helps students see the bigger picture and understand how each topic builds upon the previous one. By doing this, you help students appreciate the continuity and relevance of their math education, fostering a deeper understanding and greater retention of math concepts.
Observe the Implications: Adapting Methods for Complexity
As math concepts become more complex, earlier methods might need to be adapted. Encourage students to imagine a world where the current topic didn't exist. This thought experiment can help them appreciate the importance and applications of the new concept. Many students struggle when old methods no longer work due to increased complexity, like how addition needs to be redefined when fractions are introduced. By recognizing and addressing these challenges, you can help students transition smoothly and reduce frustration, making it easier for them to grasp more advanced topics.
Weave Together Concepts: Integrating Topics Seamlessly
Math topics are interconnected, and understanding these relationships is key to mastering the subject. Discuss with your students how different math concepts relate to each other. For example, explore whether multiplication and division are opposites or how addition and multiplication share similarities. Providing a historical perspective can also be enlightening; explain how negative numbers and multiplication came about. By weaving together concepts, you help students see the coherence in math, making it more accessible and less intimidating.
Teach with Peers: Collaborative Teaching
Teaching is most effective when it's collaborative and responsive. If a lesson went well, reflect on whether it was due to your teaching, the students, or the activity itself. Compare your approach with that of other teachers at the same grade level to identify effective strategies. Communicate with teachers of other grade levels to understand what they would like you to emphasize or de-emphasize to prevent student misunderstandings. Collecting quality feedback from your students is also crucial. Adapt your lessons based on this feedback, whether it highlights areas of confusion or indicates that students were bored. This continuous loop of feedback and adaptation ensures that your teaching methods remain effective and responsive to student needs.
Hear your Students: Responsive Teaching
Collecting quality feedback from your students is also crucial. Adapt your lessons based on this feedback, whether it highlights areas of confusion or indicates that students were bored. This continuous loop of feedback and adaptation ensures that your teaching methods remain effective and responsive to student needs.
