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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?
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 …
What do special educators need?
What do new Special Education teachers need most? More support for teaching math!
30 Minute Intervention Block Using Math Menu
At Malletts Bay School, we had a set 30 minute intervention block beyond what we call “First Instruction.” My everyday math block consisted of about 55 minutes for the math lesson that day and then an additional 30 minutes set aside for intervention. That first 55 minutes of math includes a Number Talk, the Math Message, the Focus Lesson, Independent Practice and a Summary. Typically, this takes more like 45 minutes because we have 10 minutes of snack in between first instruction and Intervention. The 30 minutes of Math Intervention is the time when our math interventionist pulls a small group …
Pick the Mini-Marshmallows
On a cold afternoon after my boys had been out sledding we were making hot chocolate with marshmallow of course! My youngest commented on how tiny the marshmallows were in comparison to the jumbo ones we use for roasting over the fire. The mini-marshmallow and jumbo marshmallow made me think of a conversion I had with a colleague about planning successful interventions. I remember years ago I would create a list of the gaps, skills and understandings that a student needed to develop and set forth to provide intervention to accomplish the entire list. I felt like I would ever so slowly chip awa …
