Basic fact fluency has always been of interest to elementary school teachers and is particularly relevant because a wide variety of supplementary materials of varying quality exist for this topic. This article unpacks eight common unproductive practices with basic facts instruction and assessment.
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Eight Unproductive Practices in Developing Fact Fluency
Gina Kling and Jennifer M. Bay-Williams
Promoting Mathematics Education
S. Leigh Nataro
Ear to the Ground features voices from several corners of the mathematics education world.
Puddle Play!
Deanna Pecaski McLennan
Student Engagement with the “Into Math Graph" Tool
Amanda K. Riske, Catherine E. Cullicott, Amanda Mohammad Mirzaei, Amanda Jansen, and James Middleton
We introduce the Into Math Graph tool, which students use to graph how “into" mathematics they are over time. Using this tool can help teachers foster conversations with students and design experiences that focus on engagement from the student’s perspective.
Support and Enrichment Experiences in Mathematics (SEE Math): Using Case Studies to Improve Mathematics Teacher Education
Crystal Kalinec-Craig, Emily P. Bonner, and Traci Kelley
This article describes an innovation in an elementary mathematics education course called SEE Math (Support and Enrichment Experiences in Mathematics), which aims to support teacher candidates (TCs) as they learn to teach mathematics through problem solving while promoting equity during multiple experiences with a child. During this 8-week program, TCs craft and implement tasks that promote problem solving in the context of a case study of a child’s thinking while collecting and analyzing student data to support future instructional decisions. The program culminates in a mock parent–teacher conference. Data samples show how SEE Math offers TCs an opportunity to focus on the nuances of children’s strengths rather than traditional measures of achievement and skill.
Formative Assessment through Think Alouds
Tiara Hicks and Jonathan D. Bostic
We describe a formative assessment approach called whole-class think alouds, which foster evidence-based instructional practices and promote the goal of assessment to promote learning. They allow students to collaborate and orally communicate their problem solving.
Partial Pies
Jennifer Marshall
A series of tasks encourage students to reflect on the reasonableness of their number sense and use benchmarks to refine their estimations.
Productive Struggle in Action
Katherine Baker, Naomi A. Jessup, Victoria R. Jacobs, Susan B. Empson, and Joan Case
Productive struggle is an essential part of mathematics instruction that promotes learning with deep understanding. A video scenario is used to provide a glimpse of productive struggle in action and to showcase its characteristics for both students and teachers. Suggestions for supporting productive struggle are provided.
Noticing before Responding
Julie M. Amador, David Glassmeyer, and Aaron Brakoniecki
This article provides a framework for integrating professional noticing into teachers' practice as a means to support instructional decisions. An illustrative example is included based on actual use with secondary students.
Using Scratch Programming to Explore Coordinates
Erell Germia and Nicole Panorkou
We present a Scratch task we designed and implemented for teaching and learning coordinates in a dynamic and engaging way. We use the 5Es framework to describe the students' interactions with the task and offer suggestions of how other teachers may adopt it to successfully implement Scratch tasks.
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