Different Strategies for Different Learning Styles

V-A-K. Visual. Auditory. Kinesthetic learning styles. In any classroom, students gravitate to one of these three learning styles over the others. When presenting information, it is helpful to present information and engage learners using all three styles. In the image below, see how vocabulary and standard instruction can be differentiated by learning style.

Math Framework for Differentiation

Differentiation in the math classroom requires some intentional planning to address the various readiness levels of students in the classroom. Here is a template to help create a canvas for differentiation for an upcoming unit or topic. By creating a framework, it allows students to enter learning at their level while ultimately having the goal to move students to a higher level of challenge. Click on the image below to download a copy.

Here is an example of a completed math framework. This example has many varied activities to address the different readiness levels of students. The goal is to pick and choose resources and ideas that keep the level of challenge appropriate. Recycling these skills throughout the school year by revisiting the framework can benefit students. After a unit, it is important to go back and reflect on what worked and what did not work. With each school year, the framework may need to be tweaked based on the readiness levels of students. Click on the image to grab a copy.

To begin, start with the standards. It is important to integrate content standards and Standards for Mathematical Practice. By flipping the standards to "I Can..." statements, it makes them more accessible to students.

Keeping a pulse on student readiness helps drive differentiation throughout a unit or topic. It is important to identify that zone of proximal development for students where there is the right amount of challenge where learning takes place ~ not too easy, not too hard. To address student readiness levels consider varying the challenge for students and having students choose the "right fit" when completing problems.

Varying the challenge for students can be accomplished through "What's Your Path?" This structure is designed prior to a unit of instruction. To design a "What's Your Path?" for a unit consider your curricular resources and other supplemental materials that will provide the right amount of challenge for students. It is helpful to use preassessment data when crafting the paths. Based on student readiness, students can enter either Path A or Path B. Path A being the on level skill/standard; Path B allowing for the extension of a particular skill. The goal to keep in mind is that entering the paths is fluid for students based on readiness at any given time during a unit. Click on the image below to grab a copy.

Choosing the Right Fit is another way to address the various readiness levels of students in the classroom. When students are asked to problem solve simply remove the numbers and wa-la, you have created a differentiated task. The integrity of the math problem does not change. Only the numbers do. Differentiated sets of numbers can be added for students to then "choose the right fit." In this way, students have some control over the level of difficulty. Or, all numbers can be removed.  Students drive for understanding by choosing "right fit" numbers that they feel are an appropriate challenge for them. Sometimes when students select their own numbers, they may find that their chosen numbers will not necessarily work with the problem. What a great learning experience for them to discover!

Get to Know Students as Mathematicians

Getting to know your students as mathematicians and understanding their math identities can help you plan effective differentiation and create a classroom community that supports students in productive struggle. As teachers, we can gather data about our students through observations, class performance, and by asking students to reflect upon themselves as mathematicians and share their unique math identities. 

Surveys for Student Reflection

Here are three surveys students can complete to reflect on who they are as learners. Students shade the heights of the bars to represent how each criterion relates to them. Incorporating color and display elements can spotlight learners as mathematicians. This metacognitive reflection encourages students to create a voice and leave an imprint as learners. As teachers, we gain insight into their math identities and how we can best support them in the classroom.

1. My Math-o-Meter

Students can use My Math-o-Meter to rank their comfort level with each concept. It can highlight areas where students feel strong and areas where they may need more support.

2. The Math Survey: Show What I Know in Math

This survey helps students reflect on how they best learn math. It can reveal whether students learn best through visual aids, hands-on activities, or verbal instructions. As teachers, we can tap into our aspiring mathematicians' learning styles and support them through math challenges with intentional teacher moves.

3. MI Math Chart: To Show What I Know

The MI Math chart encourages students to reflect on and rate their learning preferences to demonstrate their understanding. This survey helps students identify their strengths across different intelligences, such as logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, and bodily-kinesthetic. Students become more aware of how they learn best, and teachers can offer multiple ways for students to access content to enhance learning.

Having students fill out these surveys at the beginning, middle, and end of the year can help them reflect on their growth and how they have evolved as learners. These surveys can also be shared with parents to help them understand their children's perception of themselves as learners. This can foster collaboration and home support. Click here if you want to try these surveys with your students.

Math Autobiographies

Have students reflect on their math experiences, the highlights and the challenges. Keeping the task open-ended allows students to express their thoughts in a manner that is natural to them. Have you ever written your own math autobiography to share with your students? Math autobiographies can be used to gain insights into students' perceptions about their journeys through math as you work to build a strong classroom community.

Journaling in Math

Have students reflect on the day's lesson or the content they are learning about. Try a 3-2-1 strategy where students jot down three things they learned, two connections they made to prior knowledge, and one challenge or question they encountered during the lesson. Changing up the prompts can help gain deeper insight. Keep journaling short and flexible to ensure it remains a manageable and meaningful task. 

Classroom Observations

Observe and document how students engage in discussions and group activities. Note whether they sit back and listen to others or if they dominate the discussions. Pay attention to their willingness to persevere when faced with challenges. Assess if they can support their classmates without simply giving away the answers. Monitor their willingness to take risks and make mistakes in math.

Students as Mathematicians Posters

These 12 colorful and inspiring mathematicians' posters are the perfect way to remind your students that they, too, ARE mathematicians. Plus, you will find four Math and Me interest and attitude inventories! Click the image to take a peek.

Understanding students as mathematicians is a dynamic process that involves student reflection, data gathering, and thoughtful application of collected insight. As teachers, we can meet students where they are at in ways that complement their unique mathematical backgrounds and experiences.

Quick Teacher Tips

Tricks of the Trade #1: Have you ever walked into your classroom after hanging posters and anchor charts on the wall to find them spewed across the floor the next day?!?! I have tried Blue Sticky Tack, duct tape, and hot glue. I.have.tried.EVERYTHING! Then Mavalus Tape came into my life. It is SIMPLY amazing! I purchased my roll of tape from a teacher supply store. It has made hanging items on my brick walls a breeze!

Tricks of the Trade #2: Using screenshots is an effective way for students to have accountability while using technology. Check out this web-based whiteboard. This is a creative way to use technology to have students show their footprints of thinking. Use this tool to have students show conceptual understanding in math or make quick sketches to represent thinking. There are other whiteboard tools that students can use online similarly. Have students use interactive math games online to review math skills and screenshot scores/performance. In this way, an accountability piece is embedded to help provide feedback regarding performance. High scores are a signal that students have grasped the concept. Low scores are a signal for possible remediation of skills.

A Few Ideas to Add to Your Writer's Toolbox

Do your students see themselves as writers? Do they think like writers? What do your students think a classroom of writers should look like? Set the stage for writing by creating an anchor chart with your students. Revisit throughout the year! Click on the image to download a FREE copy.

Some students are natural-born writers, and others are not. Some students LOVE to write, and others do not. In the end, all students should come to understand they ARE indeed writers!

Here are a few ideas that might work for your writer's toolbox:

Observe and Write:

The more information and ideas students have to write about, the more they will write. Activate student observation skills. Webcams are a great way for students to observe animals and places beyond the walls of their classrooms. Students can observe animals such as pandas, penguins, and apes or the Statue of Liberty and then write an informational piece or an opinion piece using the information they observed.

Check out these webcams:
San Diego Zoo-Animal Cams
Statue of Liberty-EarthCam

Check out the site, AirPano.com. Students can see 360-degree aerial panoramic views of over 200 locations on the planet. Let students "travel" to a location and then write about it. Students can convince others to visit a certain location or inform others about an interesting location.

Why are lemons sour? Why are school buses yellow? Wonderopolis is a site where students can find interesting questions and then watch a video and/or read some text to discover the answer. Students then can write an informative piece responding to the question.

Create Lists:

Lists can be a great motivator for reluctant writers. They are short and sweet, yet can be quite helpful to grow young writers. Creating lists can help writers maintain a focus. Given a topic for their lists, students should make sure that all ideas relate to the topic. Writing lists also can help create fluency in student writing. When students are asked to write lists, they can grow their own vocabulary and strengthen word associations. Lists are NOT the end. They are just the beginning. Students can use ideas generated from the lists for future writing tasks.

For example:
Make a list of items needed to make a scarecrow. (future how-to writing piece)
Make a list of fun fall activities. (future narrative piece)
Make a list of ideas you associate with the month of October.
Make a list of things you see mostly in the fall. (future informative piece)

Getting students excited about writing is important. We want our students to play with language and see that writing is connected and relevant to their lives.

Elaboration: 

One thing for students to keep in mind is that writing is never REALLY done. Revising is one step in the writing process where students can work to take their writing to the next level. Here is a quick idea to help students add to their writing. You can construct a chart similar to the one below. For each number, you can create different elaboration tasks. When students are "finished" with their writing piece or experience moments of writer's block, students can roll a number cube. Students then can match the roll with the elaboration task from the chart. This particular Roll-a-Cube chart is designed for narrative writing. How might the elaboration tasks change for informational writing? One idea is to have students add a statistic to their writing as evidence. Differentiate based on students' readiness levels.

 

Variety is the spice of life. By using a variety of ideas to hook and engage writers, we can help to grow young writers. Write on. . .

Land of Gallon - Customary Units of Measurement for Capacity

Introducing capacity measurement to learners can be challenging. To make this topic more accessible and memorable, we can integrate creative and interactive activities into our teaching approach. Using storytelling, we can transform the sometimes daunting task of learning measurement conversions into a whimsical tale.

In the Land of Gallon, there were four giant Queens.

Each Queen had a Prince and a Princess.

Each Prince and Princess had two children.

The two children were twins, and they were eight years old.

You can download the story and the pieces to use when telling it by clicking the image below.

Once students are familiar with the story be sure they see the connection between the story characters and the customary units of capacity measurement. If necessary, label the story pieces with their corresponding units of measure: queen = quart, prince/princess = pint, children = cups, 8 years old = 8 fluid ounces. You can reduce the number of customary units in the story based on student readiness. 

Be sure to explicitly show students how this story can help them to remember the following conversions:

4 quarts = 1 gallon

2 pints = 1 quart

2 cups = 1 pint

8 fluid ounces = 1 cup

8 pints = 1 gallon

16 cups = 1 gallon

128 fluid ounces = 1 gallon

You may have seen different versions of this story. Have students change it up to make it their own. Instead of the children being twins who were 8 years old, maybe they each had 8 toys or 8 frogs. Allow students to own the story by adding their own creativity.

Storytelling is one way to engage the brain during math class. "After a period of intense learning, storytelling enables the brain to relax and facilitates the retention of newly acquired material (Jensen 2000)." Give it a try!

Looking for additional reinforcement for capacity conversions? Click the image to check out these user-friendly task cards.

Student Self Reflection When Problem Solving

Today I am sharing an idea I call Eye on the Target sticks. I always look for ways to help students self-reflect and monitor their learning. These sticks can do that. I have seen many versions of sticks used with wiggle eyes and icons to help students remember key ideas, so I wanted to try this. All you need is jumbo-colored craft sticks, wiggly eyes, and some labels.

Math problem solving is an area where I like to help students persevere and feel successful. Students learn different strategies or steps through modeling and guided practice. When it comes to applying these strategies and steps during independent work time, sometimes the transfer is not as smooth as we would like. This version of an Eye on the Target stick is a visual reminder of steps to take when problem solving in math. So when a student needs some additional support, these sticks might help. If students ask for help, I can ask, "Have you kept your eye on the target? Show me what steps you have taken. At what step did you get stuck? What did you try?" The wiggle eyes get them every time :)!

These sticks are effective after initial instruction has been given, and students are familiar with the icons. Using a poster after initial instruction can help as a visual reminder for students. Click the image below to grab the poster.

It is important to help students be as independent as possible in the journey of learning while providing them with appropriate scaffolds and tools to help them. Different sticks can be made for different learners and different learning goals. Add icons or reduce icons based on student readiness. Keep sticks handy so students can grab them when they need to keep their "Eye on the Target."

Create Differentiated Objectives Using this Interactive Tool

Every student can learn just not on the same day or in the same way. ~George Evans

Here is a helpful way to generate differentiated objectives for students. The Differentiator by Byrdseed.com is an interactive tool with a bank of suggestions to create differentiated learning objectives using: Thinking Skills, Content, Resources, Products, and Groups.

by Byrdseed.com

This tool allows you to create objectives by differentiating...

• Thinking Skills: Use different verbs from Bloom's Taxonomy.

• Content: Focus on depth, complexity, imperatives (to increase student engagement), or key words. To bring in curricular content, you can click in the [click to edit] and type in curricular content.

• Resources: Identify whether you want students to use print copies of resources or online resources.

• Products: Choose products based on students learning styles: visual, construction (hands on), oral, multimedia, or written.

• Groups: Decide if students will work independently, in partners, in triads, or groups of 4.

This tool can help when trying to ensure there are multiple entry points of learning for students of different readiness levels and different learning styles. The depth of the objective drives for deeper learning. It also is a springboard for a variety of ideas. How might this work with having students take a part in creating the way the learning of the objective will be demonstrated? Once the objective is created, it can be copied into other documents. 

When creating a differentiated lesson for students in any content area this tool might be helpful.

Engagement 3D Style

Looking for a way to engage students?! How about adding anaglyph 3D images into your lessons? Doing a study on planets? Embed some 3D images into the lesson. When you look at the image below, it looks like an ordinary image with some different coloration in spots.

www.flickr.com

So where is the 3D, you ask? How do you make it a 3D experience? Students will need paper 3D glasses. These glasses can be purchased online. You can shop around for reasonable prices. When students view the image above with 3D glasses, Earth "pops" out of the page. So cool!

Where do you find 3D images? You can search the Internet by typing: anaglyph images and videos. Anaglyph images can only be seen as 3D images if these glasses are worn.

If you create review games for students using PowerPoint, correct answers can be rewarded with 3D images. Pick a theme of images and hook students into reviewing. Students will work really hard to get correct answers in anticipation of the next 3D image that will pop up.
 
It is exciting! It is engaging! What are some strategies you use to engage students?

Lucky 13 and Language Skills Too

Happy Friday the 13th! Are you someone that thinks the number 13 is lucky or unlucky? Did you know that paraskevidekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th? Well, today let's view 13 as lucky!

13 Good Luck Symbols

-a four-leaf clover (Did you ever find one?)
-a lucky horseshoe
-a rabbit's foot
-a penny (See a penny, pick it up, and all day long, you will have good luck!)
-a wishbone
-a rainbow
-a ladybug
-a "shooting" star
-sapphires
-lucky bamboo
-the number 7
-three keys (Unlock the door to health, wealth, and love.)
-fuzzy dice 

Which of these symbols do you consider to be lucky?

Looking for a fun way to review language skills like similes, multiple-meaning words, dialogue with quotes, exaggeration, comparisons, and imagery with short writing tasks. A little prep work in creating the cubes is required, but then let the creative juices flow!! Students can complete the tasks in small groups, as independent work at a writing center, or as a whole class activity where students share their ideas!

Thanks for stopping by Pam's Place.

Written Communication in the Math Classroom

How do you encourage student writing in the math classroom? When students are asked to write, it stretches their thinking. It encourages students to reason about a math concept/skill while stepping away from simply performing a procedure to get an answer.

Think about it. Writing gives a voice to every student. How powerful is that?! Consider writing open-ended questions with multiple entry points when creating prompts and/or questions for students to respond to. In this way, all students have access to the task. Keep them short. Consider the following: Recap today's lesson. Can you say it in 6 words? Think about how selective students will need to be in choosing their words. With a quick glance, you can see which students got the gist of the lesson. Purposeful questions foster students' reasoning of mathematical concepts.

Check out the math prompts and questions you can use with your students. The math prompts and questions are designed for any math topic. You can use them for journal writing or as exit tickets. For journal writing, students can attach the prompt or stem in their math journal and respond at the end of class. In this way, students are given time to reflect upon the day's lesson and think about their thinking.

Or, use the math prompts/questions as exit tickets. Exit tickets set an expectation that students need to be actively involved during the lesson to be able to demonstrate their understanding in a thoughtful way. Students can be given time at the end of the class period to synthesize the day's lesson by completing an exit ticket. Once the exit tickets are turned in, information can be gathered to guide instruction the next day.