Problem: There’s more to math than the tested skills. It’s not just about the final answer, it’s about the process.įAIL BIG Strategy #4: Just focus on skills (not problem-solving or mental math or math fluency…) This practice has helped students focus on what they are doing RIGHT, as well as helped to reinforce the use of all those strategies I teach. “Give yourself a star if you underlined the word estimate.” “Give yourself a star if you labeled the value of each coin.” When we go over our work now, students give themselves stars for their good strategies. Whatever strategies you teach, reinforce them during math review. We all teach strategies, such as underlining important words, labeling coins, or making “flower clocks” to tell time. When going over the math review work, have students notice their STRATEGIES, not just their answers. Math review is about noticing what is going well and making small changes to improve what isn’t. This allows students to see how they’re doing, but doesn’t help them IMPROVE. When you check work, you typically have students look for the correct answer. It’s great to spend time “checking” work, but “checking” work is very different than “discussing” work. Problem: The purpose of daily math review is to keep skills fresh AND to reinforce effective strategies. If you’re only focusing on correct answers, you miss the most powerful part! Be creative with your time!įAIL BIG Strategy #3: Focus only on correct answers. Then on Friday, you could spend the full 15 minutes once more. On Thursday, you might only have 5 minutes so you simply show some student work samples. On Wednesday, you could spend 10 minutes spot-checking a few problems but then discuss others in detail. On Tuesday, you might give students 5 minutes to check their work with a partner. For example, on Monday you might spend 15 minutes really going over the skills and work. This gives me a little more flexibility in finding a chunk of time for the discussion.Īnother possibility is changing it up throughout the week. I know it’s hard, but it’s so worth it! I like having students do the math review as morning work but then go over it later in the day. Solution: Include time for going over the work! If I’d made a point to teach him the correct way sooner, he could have been practicing the RIGHT process all that time! Oops. Each week, he did the review problems the same way, practicing the WRONG process, never realizing it. For example, one student was confused about borrowing in the subtraction algorithm. Unfortunately, many of them were practicing bad habits and reinforcing misconceptions. I felt good because the kids were practicing all their math skills. At the end of the week, I’d double-check that the work was complete and maybe spot-check a few problems. The students did the work and put it away and that was it. We’re all pressed for time and I know that for many years I included a daily math review as morning work. Problem: When you don’t go over the math review work, you’re reinforcing bad habits and misconceptions. If you’re spiraling weekly, you should be able to bring up the same concepts again each month, giving students the ongoing refreshers they need.įAIL BIG Strategy #2: Don’t go over the work (ever). Now you can review, reteach as needed, and allow students time to PRACTICE their newly refined learning. You might choose 3 – 5 focus skills each week. This one is so easy to fix! Just make sure you stick with a set of skills for at least a week at a time. Solution: Spiral through skills weekly rather than daily. But the next day you’re on to other skills so there’s no chance for those kids to try again and practice the right way! If you spiral too quickly (daily), all you do is reinforce what kids already know and do, be it right or wrong. And maybe they hear how to do it properly. The ones that don’t know how to do it find out the opposite. The ones who already know how to do it are reminded that they know how to do it. Let’s say on Monday, students do a perimeter problem. Think about it… A lot of those daily math review resources spiral through skills quickly, reviewing new concepts each day. Problem: Practicing different skills every single day denies students the chance to build on previous learning. Luckily, I’ve included some ideas that will allow YOU to learn from MY mistakes! □įAIL BIG Strategy #1: Practice different skills every single day. So you want to FAIL BIG at Daily Math Review? I can help! I know from personal experience some tried and true ways to make daily math review tedious, ineffective, and time-consuming.
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