EdCircuit Staff 
Table of Contents
The 2021-2022 school year was extremely remarkable and unique. As students fought to set new goals and acquire new skills, teachers pushed through learning gaps, collaborated with peers on professional development, and returned to in-person classrooms. This was a year to be proud of across education, and as the school year comes to a close, the edCircuit staff wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate the successes of teachers in the classroom. In part one of this two-part series, various teachers shared ways to connect with the pulse of the classroom. In part two, we asked three Math teachers recently named Extraordinary Educators by Curriculum Associates to share their notable success this year.
There was a time when the only technology you’d see in a math classroom was a calculator. Obviously, we’ve come a long way since then. Can you describe what using tech in a 2020’s math classroom looks like? How do you make learning fun? How do you help your students love mathematics?
Daniella Parra, 3rd Math & Science Teacher, Miami-Dade, Florida: When I was a student, way back in ancient times, the only technology in the classroom was a projector at the head of the class on which ONLY the teacher was allowed to write out problems and showcase the correct way to solve those problems. Students were expected to sit quietly, copy, and memorize. Luckily for students of today, math has changed! If you were to walk into my classroom today, your first surprise would be the noise. Math is noisy when we are learning! Sometimes students are shouting out answers, and often they are explaining a different way to solve a problem… other times, we applaud and cheer when someone gets something right or finally gets that “AHA” moment of clarity on a skill or concept. Every day we sing a song – whether it’s a NUMBEROCK song about angles or a catchy song about the Properties of Multiplication.
The second thing you may notice is the movement. Students shouldn’t have to sit still – it’s against their nature. We have flexible seating and a rotation of students taking turns to answer problems on the board. We dance and make hand movements to help us remember important facts, like length (make an L with your index finger and thumb) and width (touch both thumbs together while extending the fingers up to make a W).
Jennifer Pastor, 4th Grade Math Teacher, Rapides Parish, Louisiana: Students love when I pull out manipulatives to help them to better understand math concepts. After using various in-person manipulatives, I then show my students online manipulatives that are available to help them. They always enjoy moving from physical manipulatives to virtual manipulatives. They also love learning games. Anytime students think they are “playing,” but I know they are “learning,” it is a win-win for all!
Jessica Medley, 8th Grade Math Teacher, Phenix City Schools, Alabama: In our district, we are 1:1 with Chromebooks. That means every student has access to technology at home and in the classroom. The use of technology has really expanded what I can do in the classroom. The Chromebooks are an amazing tool to enhance learning objectives as well as engage the current “Tech Generation” of students. I start each day with an interactive bell ringer using edcite.com. Just the other day, the students were able to create their own digital scatterplot using a table that was provided. Technology opens up so many possibilities for students to create and extend their learning while engaging with the content. I believe a combination of technology, hands-on experiences, and motivating students to have a positive mindset combined with the use of differentiating instruction and small groups makes learning fun in my classroom. I try to make the goals challenging yet attainable for my students, so they can become confident and independent mathematicians.
There is a common misconception that elementary math is primarily about simply memorizing basic math facts. Bust this myth for us with examples from your very own classroom!
Jennifer Pastor: On any given day, you will see my fourth graders working on Math from several, if not all, of the Math domains. My daily bell work incorporates skills from all domains. I find it beneficial for many reasons: it allows me to frontload on some skills that are not taught until the end of the school year. This gives students more time to master difficult skills since those skills are repeated and spiraled throughout the year and addresses the fact that all students learn concepts at different rates.
Jessica Medley: I have taught math all the way from Kindergarten to 8th grade. If students have not had the opportunity to experience the elementary standards conceptually, I promise by 8th grade, they will not remember them or forget the procedure or algorithm. One example I can think of is in third grade, where the standard expects students to know the multiplication facts fluently and have them all memorized by the end of the year. If students have not developed the conceptual understanding of multiplication first, the building blocks are meaningless, which makes it hard for them to make the connections to division and other more complex concepts that require multiplication. Another example I have seen firsthand is rounding. Teaching the “rounding rule: five or more add one more, four or less let it rest” is meaningless without a conceptual understanding of place value, use of number lines, and number sense.
I would like to shamelessly call myself the “queen” of differentiation. Especially in the elementary grades and pre-covid, I literally would do formative assessments every single day and split the class based on levels. Whether that be leveled partners, leveled groups, small groups, or even down to remediated assignments and tasks. I cannot stress the importance of ungraded formative assessment enough! As a teacher, it is so important to know who has mastered what standard so you can provide individualized instruction, feedback, remediation, and extension activities. The saying “practice makes perfect” is not always the case if a student is practicing wrong. I like to say “perfect practice makes perfect” because if you do not identify student misconceptions immediately, it could potentially be on test or quiz day before you realize it, and at that point, the time is lost, and the student has lost confidence because now a grade is attached.
Daniella Parra: As someone with a terrible memory, the worst part of math for me growing up was the expectation that I would have to memorize so many facts without any clear understanding of their importance or the “Why” of it all. I think this is what ultimately led me to be a math teacher. Students gain more by understanding the reasoning behind the steps we take in solving a problem than by just memorizing. By understanding the why in a step, it opens the door to multiple possibilities to answer a question. My favorite description of this (and yes, I have had this discussion many times with strangers and family members alike!) is when I begin to teach multiplication to my third graders. I explain that just reading a problem out loud helps us identify what we need to do… 3 x 4 is telling us “three times four”…. which means three times “4”… like 4 + 4 + 4. This is where they start to connect that multiplication is simply repeated addition. Once I start to draw out 3 groups of 4 they start to connect the visuals that go with the problem. Research has shown us that all students learn in different ways. So by showing students the reason that we can use different strategies and explaining that all those different strategies lead to the same answer, we are giving ALL students an opportunity to excel, whether they have a good memory or not. In my classroom, we celebrate every time a student uses a different method to get an answer (one student shouts: “Ms. Parra, I used a number line to jump by 4 three times”. Another student says: “I remembered that 4 x 3 was 12, so I knew that 3 x 4 is 12 too”).
Let’s take it back to the basics. What makes for an outstanding math lesson?
Daniella Parra: An outstanding math lesson is one in which students get to use as many of their senses as possible. I love to apply a universal design for learning in my lessons, in which we first introduce the lesson with some visuals and songs. This prepares them for what we are going to be learning in a fun and interactive way. By stimulating their auditory and visual senses, we increase their motivation and excitement to learn. When students get a chance to talk about their prior knowledge, they are encouraged to share their thoughts and experience on the lesson at hand because it allows the student to truly feel as though they are active members of the team as opposed to just a captive audience. In the ideal math lesson, students are then given simplified instruction and an opportunity to practice. This is where students get up and work on the board or at their desks as teams with mini boards and dry-erase markers. I have found that some of the best learning takes place as the students themselves work together and help each other. Then we review the work that was completed, and students are encouraged to share alternative solutions, strategies, or ideas. I love to end the class with exit tickets for students to show an independent understanding of what was done throughout the lesson. It is an excellent way to confirm at what stage a student may be at so that I can decide to provide a reteach or to continue with a new lesson.
Jennifer Pastor: I know that a math lesson was outstanding when students think that 75 minutes have passed so quickly (they were engaged) and when they can share something they learned (goals were challenging yet achievable).
Jessica Medley: Exploration, manipulatives, hands-on activities, and making connections to previous content learned. Technology is a plus, as well as formative assessments, remediation, immediate feedback, and extension activities or tasks. If students are engaged, collaborating, and having “aha” moments, I would say you have done your job!
