A bit about our self-regulated math program...
Welcome to our Math Workshop!
I am very excited to introduce you to our math program this year. It may be a little bit different from how you have done math in the past, but I know it will be a great way for everyone to learn and meet their individual needs.
This year we will be using a self-regulated model of learning during math. What does this mean? Well, according to Wikipedia:
“Broadly speaking, it refers to learning that is guided by metacognition (thinking about one's thinking), strategic action (planning, monitoring, and evaluating personal progress against a standard), and motivation to learn.”
What does this mean?
1) You will need to think about your thinking and learn to self-assess, rather than relying only on the teacher to tell you how you are doing in math. No one is “good at math” or “bad at math”; we all have concepts that we excel at and concepts that we struggle with. With help and guidance, you will be learning to identify which concepts you struggle with, so we can focus your learning and you can improve. For the concepts you already know well, you will be able to move through those faster and even push yourself to the next level.
2) You will be planning on how to spend your time and choosing what activities you need to do to improve. Some days, we will do things all together, but a lot of days, you will be in charge in deciding how you will be doing math for that day. Because we excel at and struggle with different things, it doesn’t make sense for math class to look exactly the same for everyone all the time.
3) You will start to rely less on the teacher to “tell me how I am doing”. You will know how you are doing and together, we will plan how to help you learn and grow. You will be involved in your own assessment and you will always know where you stand. Grades and report cards should never be a surprise or a mystery!
What will Math Workshop look like?
We will begin every unit with a PREVIEW where we discuss the concepts we will be learning.
Then we will have a PRE-ASSESSMENT where we see what we already know and what we don’t know. You will be marking your pre-assessment and using it to help you decide which concepts you need more work on. You will code each concept with our handy traffic light colours to help you get organized for the start of the unit.
Sometimes we will have MINI-LESSONS which will be 10 or so minutes long which will go over the concept. We will then do some PRACTICE to see how well we understand the concept. You will be SELF-ASSESSING your practice to decide how well you understand it and help you PLAN your next step of learning.
You will CHOOSE how your time is best spent. That might mean visiting the LEARNING LOUNGE to get some more instruction with a small group or one on one. It might mean doing some EXTRA PRACTICE to keep working on the concept. It might mean challenging yourself with NEXT LEVEL PROBLEMS or ENRICHMENT activities such as Problem of the Week, Real World Math Challenges, Brain Busters, and games.
We will have FREQUENT, SHORT, ASSESSMENTS so you always are getting information about your learning and you will always know how you are doing. We will also have some end of unit assessments so you can see how well you have retained the knowledge you have previously mastered.
You will be responsible for DOCUMENTING your learning as you go and REFLECTING on what is going well, where you are struggling, and what you need to do to improve.
If this way of learning math is new to you and seems a bit scary, it’s okay! It is new to me too, but I believe 100% that it is important for students to be in charge of their own learning. It will be HARD WORK, but it will also be TOTALLY WORTH IT!
Class Handouts
math_workshop_unit_1_learning_intentions.pdf | |
File Size: | 58 kb |
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traffic_light_coding.pdf | |
File Size: | 47 kb |
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Online Math Resources
IXL for extra practice: https://ca.ixl.com/math/
IXL practice for the Grade 7 BC curriculum: https://ca.ixl.com/standards/british-columbia/math/grade-7
Khan Academy for videos explaining math concepts: https://www.khanacademy.org
Decimals of the Caribbean: A Place Value Game! http://mrnussbaum.com/docrb/
IXL practice for the Grade 7 BC curriculum: https://ca.ixl.com/standards/british-columbia/math/grade-7
Khan Academy for videos explaining math concepts: https://www.khanacademy.org
Decimals of the Caribbean: A Place Value Game! http://mrnussbaum.com/docrb/
Some Helpful Videos for Dividing Decimals:
Here are our show me videos for our Unit #1 Learning Intentions!
LI #1: http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=gTvaueW
LI #1: http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=gTvaueW