Guided Math- Chapter 2

Once again, I have included my thoughts from my original post about this book from 2012 (crazy...2 years just flew by!) and you can find those in italics and pink.

Chapter 2

As I re-read through this chapter I was once again struck by the sheer amount of pedagogical information it contained to help readers become better math teachers. If you only have time for one chapter in this book, let it be this one!

Two years ago I wrote...

I really enjoyed reading through the Foundational Principles of a Guided Math Classroom. It was up-lifting and inspirational. I especially liked "we need to create an environment where students recognize the relationship between effort and learning" (p 35).

Love. It.

And, "ultimately, children are responsible for their learning" (p 36).

...oh my yes!

The section on page 39 that talks about the importance of communication in math just warmed my little language teacher's heart. 

Also, here in Ontario we have four achievement categories that we use to assess our students and communication is one of them. I have discovered that even students who are very proficient in their math knowledge struggle in this area. 

I hope that reading this book will help me instruct my students in this area. Communication has become such an important skill in our society. I think our students will need to be masters at communication because so much of our society is already based on the sharing of information through social media, texting, email, etc. If they can't communicate they will drown in the sea of words that is our society.

It's interesting to look back and see that I wrote this because it really did become a cornerstone of my mathematics teaching. So much so, that my Grade 3 team and I did an entire TLCP (Teaching and Learning Critical Pathway) using communication last year! 

Click here to see my post about what I did in my class. 

Two years ago my post on Chapter 2 included this list and I used a star system to show what I had used in my class and where my goals lay.

Sammons discusses each of these topics more in depth:

- student calendars or agendas

- manipulatives*

- problems of the day and problems of the week**

- word wall and vocabulary displays*

- math journals*

- graphic organizers

- class-made charts*

- tools for measuring

- math-related children's literature**

- math books by student authors**

- math connections to other curricular areas

I have put one * beside those ideas that I have already used or tried in my classroom, and two ** beside those that I want to try next year. I think I will have more success if I start slow and I don't want to overwhelm myself and then just drop it all. 

Here's what that same list would look like now, in 2014:

- student calendars or agendas**

- manipulatives*

- problems of the day and problems of the week*

- word wall and vocabulary displays*

- math journals*

- graphic organizers*

- class-made charts*

- tools for measuring**

- math-related children's literature**

- math books by student authors**

- math connections to other curricular areas**

As you can see, I was able to implement some new ideas into my math class but did not ultimately reach all my goals (hence, re-reading this book and participating in the book study!)

I do think my students feel that they are members of a mathematical learning community. We worked very hard last year to have open discussions about our math learning, we participated in many math huddles and banshos where all the voices in our classroom were respected and heard.

One of my main goals after reading Guided Math for the first time was to create a numeracy rich environment and I really think I was successful in this. One of the best ways I did this was through the use of a problem-solving board that was solely dedicated to displaying our math learning. With the help of a colleague, I was able to create a display that served as an ongoing reminder of our current math learning and it also helped me to cement my understanding of the three-part lesson plan. Using this math board for whole-class lessons and discussions quickly became on of my favourite parts of my math program and it served as an larger than life anchor chart that displayed our ever-deepening ability to problem solve!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for this chapter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And link up with your own thoughts!

An InLinkz Link-up

NOTE: Written on June 1st- 

We are slowly but surely making our way back from being sick with hand, foot and mouth disease

and my post for the 100 Minute Book Study

 Chapter 4 will be up soon!

This post was written pre-sickness and 

that's why it's ready today.