What is Explicit Systematic Instruction?
How can you support your students in interventions so that they are building conceptual understanding and connecting mathematical concepts and strategies to strengthen their understanding? One recommendation in the IES practice guide from What Works Clearinghouse (2009) is to provide systematic explicit instruction. But what exactly does this mean for our students?
Discourse in the Mathematics Classroom
What is discourse and why does it matter? Discourse is the communication of ideas where there is interaction between students' own thoughts and ideas and the consideration and examination of the ideas of others’ to make meaning and grow collective knowledge. With a significant shift in the role of the math educator from the holder and giver of knowledge to one who facilitates and presents meaningful and engaging tasks, math educators must develop skills and strategies that promote student discourse to position them as meaning makers. The educator role in discourse can be considered in three pa …
What is Specialized Math Instruction?
Specialized Math Instruction (SMI) focuses on improving instructional techniques–or pedagogy– of all educators for teaching mathematics for all students.
A Case for High Quality Math Instruction for Students with Complex Needs
I would like to discuss a topic dear to me - the importance of high quality instruction for math students with complex cognitive needs. In the state of Vermont, these students tend to fall under the disability category of Intellectual Disability. My background in education is as a special educator. In my role as an ALN facilitator I continue to work with students with more complex needs or low incidence disabilities and the teachers and school districts who support them. (Low incidence disabilities are severe disabling conditions with an expected incidence rate of less than 1% of the total sta …
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