Math "Workshop"

I will be honest with you.  I have spent most of my teaching career teaching whole group.  I figured that is the way math should be done.  And for me, it pretty much worked....until I had a very, very low group.  

That particular year, whole group instruction just wasn't working.  The kids weren't getting anything out of my instruction as, about 10 minutes in, 1/2 of them weren't listening, and 1/4 of them were carefully trying to conceal themselves with the other 1/4 that were raising their hand and participating.  With 36 kids, they all knew that I physically couldn't be next to every single one during the lesson and they took advantage. Something had to change.  For me, that was the year that Math Workshop was born in my room.

The system I use in my class is a compilation of many different things that I have seen all over the place.  It isn't one prescribed method but rather a mixture of all the great things I have read combined into a big ball that works for me.  What I describe below also is very fluid.  If I find it isn't working as well for a particular group of students, I change it.  (which is what I love about it....it is so changeable!) 

Math instruction takes place daily from 10:40am - 12:00pm (and I know how incredibly lucky I am to have this long block to teach math....so I take advantage of it)

The block is broken up as follows:

10:40 - 11:00am  Rotation 1

11:00 - 11:20am  Rotation 2
11:20 - 11:40am  Rotation 3

11:40 - 12:00pm  Calendar Review and Homework Review

This is when the "Rotations" begin.  Half of my students are working independently on either Problem Solving or Skill Work (which I will describe below) and the other half are working with me on the direct lesson on the rug.  OH...how I love my rug!!  :)  I have chosen to break my groups up homogeneously.  I work with the group that has scored lower on the District Periodic Assessment first, while my higher group works on their menu.  This works very well for me for two reasons.  1) The higher students are working on the previous day's independent practice, not immediately after the instruction is given, but 24 hours later and 2) they are sort of listening in on what I am saying with the first group....so when they come to me they have *some* idea of what I am talking about, making it easier for me to go a bit deeper with them.

During the direct instruction lesson, I basically teach the same thing twice.  Since the kids are right there with me, what took me 30 - 40 minutes to teach to all of my students literally takes half the time.  I can see them all, they actually do work faster, get their questions asked more readily, and are all focused.

During the first round, while I am working with my first direct lesson group, Group A is "rotating" through a menu of math independent tasks.  They are as follows:

1.  Finish calendar 

2.  Do Skill Work (which is usually a practice sheet or problem solving activity related to the lessons that week)

3.  Math Choice  (this is a choice between a project, game, practice skill, or math fluency practice.  They may do any of the choices available, but must stick with it the entire time)

Once the lesson is over, the two groups switch and the process starts again.

You will notice on the picture  that there are four different paper holders labeled with a Group letter.  That is where the students' skill work is held.  The kids know that during their "Skill Work" portion of the Rotation they do what is there.  Sometimes there are worksheets, other times they need to finish a hands-on portion of a lesson (like creating nets or something) and other times they need to complete a sheet from their math books (I write those on yellow sticky notes and just stick them on the paper holder).

Now, I further break up my groups into two smaller groups.  I explain that a bit here.

When the two large groups have met with me, I begin meeting with my small groups for remediation.  These students know who they are before we go to recess, so they immediately come to the small group table to work with me once I call for that portion of the rotation. .  I do a quick review on something that they need to work on.  I know what groups to pull based on my quiz breakdown from the previous week's quiz.   The other students are working on their Skill Work or Problem Solving Stations. 

We then gather back on the rug, and go over Calendar.  If you haven't had a chance to read about how I do Calendar in the upper grades, PLEASE do.  It is THE most valuable thing I do in math all year and worth your time to read about it.

After this brief time, the students take out their math homework from the previous night and we go over it.  This is a 10 problem cumulative review that I have created myself for them.  I am a firm believer in reviewing it.  Otherwise, in my opinion, it becomes busywork and loses all of its (tremendous) value.

So there you have it, my Math "Workshop" (It isn't a true workshop, hence the quotes) in a nutshell.  Conducting the math lesson in this manner allows me to have more of a hands-on approach to math as well as be more in tune with the individual needs of my students.   In a perfect world, I would do this 4 times a week.   However, we know that the world of teaching is rarely perfect....so I usually do it 3 times per week.  Fridays for me are always testing, and during Science Lab days, my math block is shorter, so I usually do Concept Lessons or Two Problems during that time.

How do you structure your math block?