Guided Math

I am throwing in the towel with whole group math and giving guided math a go! I decided to take a risk this summer and switch over and work on implementing guided math for the upcoming school year! Whole group teaching is great, for some things, but math is such an intense and vital aspect in our curriculum that I feel it really needs to be tailored to every students learning.  

I attempted guided math with my class last year, however I started in the middle of the year and it was just something that they could not handle.  To be honest, it was something that I couldn't handle either.  Being a first year teacher with the class that I had was overwhelming enough and I just did not implement it the right way.  So, essentially I gave up, but alas, I am not a quitter and I am most definitely trying it again!  This year I plan to start right from the beginning and layout expectations and routines early.

In our district we had 90 minutes for our Math block. I don't have a schedule yet, but that is a whole other rant that I could go on! I assume that this year it is going to be the same.  For the first five minutes of that block we will be doing quick warm up. It might be review from the day before, last week, last month, etc.  Essentially something super quick that the can do and I can go over with them within five minutes.  Our curriculum then goes on to have a "message."  That math message will be the next five minutes of the block. Again, long enough for them to read, discuss, and we can go over within that five minute allotment. When complete with that ten minutes, students will then transition into their math groups. 

Everything that I will be using for my guided math groups this next year comes from Miss West Best on Teachers Pay Teachers! You can find this guided math resource here. What I love about this resource is that it is editable and I can change what I need to in order to meet my classrooms needs.  

Resource purchased from TPT, here. Fonts I used to edit the pages are from Miss 5th and they can be purchased here. Photo Credit: 5th with Miss Gazda

On Monday's, my students will receive the agenda. They will use it all week long and it will tell them which rotation they will be in first and move to next and so on that day. I edited the original resource to my needs for my classroom. The lesson section will be the lesson that we are working on on this day.  I can go in and edit it every week, then save it for years to come.  This is something that will take a lot of prep time at first but then I can grab it and go next time. So I don't mind putting forth the effort now when I can. In the tasks column, I will have their rotations they are getting to that day, what centers they will be working on, and what technology they can access each day.

A big part of guided math is that the students are going to need to hold themselves accountable to finish their work and ask the questions when they need to. This is something that I will definitely be going over and teaching within the first few days of school.  Then it will eventually just become routine for them! Each week, students will fill out the guided math reflection.  Obviously I am going to personally know how each student did each week.  Will I miss things? Absolutely! However, in using the reflection, I know which students are being truthful and which of those I need to have a conversation with or go over expectations with again. 

The rest of the pages that I am going to be using will go in my teacher binder for guided math.  The groups pages are large enough that I can simply put a post-it note in the square and easily change groups if I need to! The lesson plan page is something that I will edit with each lesson that I am going to teach.  I will only be doing one lesson plan per lesson in our given curriculum. You'll notice that at the bottom of the lesson plan page I have a section for differentiation of groups.  Here is where I will put what differences I need to make for each of the groups so that they learn on their level. The assessment section is there so that I know I need to give each student a quick informal assessment to know that they understood what I taught them for that lesson.  If they didn't get it right then I know that I need to reteach to that student.

Photo Credit: 5th with Miss Gazda

This is definitely a work in progress! Right now this is how I am planning to implement it into my classroom.  As I actually start the school year with my kids I may need to change how I am running it and what they are doing.  There is research that I have read this summer that shows small group instruction is everything! Students learn at their level, retain information better, can ask questions without embarrassment, and the best yet, it helps you to form connections and relationships with your students that you wouldn't have if you taught whole group.

I am in no way an expert on this topic, but if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask! Until next time!

-Miss Gazda