And what message do far too many of our students get? ( even those in Namibia !)

1. Making Math Work for Special Education StudentsPhoenix, AZFebruary 7, 2014Steve LeinwandSLeinwand@air.orgwww.steveleinwand.com

2. And what message do far too many of our students get? (even those in Namibia!)

4. A Simple Agenda for the Day • The Math • “Special” • Instruction • Access • Culture of Collaboration

5. An introduction to the MATH

6. So…the problem is: If we continue to do what we’ve always done…. We’ll continue to get what we’ve always gotten.

9. 7. Add and subtract within 1000, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method. Understand that in adding or subtracting three-digit numbers, one adds or subtracts hundreds and hundreds, tens and tens, ones and ones; and sometimes it is necessary to compose or decompose tens or hundreds.

10. Ready, set….. 10.00 - 4.59

11. Find the difference: Who did it the right way?? 910.91010 - 4. 5 9 How did you get 5.41 if you didn’t do it this way?

12. So what have we gotten? • Mountains of math anxiety • Tons of mathematical illiteracy • Mediocre test scores • HS programs that barely work for more than half of the kids • Gobs of remediation and intervention • A slew of criticism Not a pretty picture!

13. If however….. What we’ve always done is no longer acceptable, then… We have no choice but to change some of what we do and some of how we do it.

14. But what does change mean? And what is relevant, rigorous math for all?

15. Some data. What do you see?

16. Predict some additional data

17. How close were you?

18. All the numbers – so?

19. A lot more information(where are you?)

20. Fill in the blanks

21. At this point, it’s almost anticlimactic!

22. The amusement park

23. The Amusement Park The 4th and 2nd graders in your school are going on a trip to the Amusement Park. Each 4th grader is going to be a buddy to a 2nd grader. Your buddy for the trip has never been to an amusement park before. Your buddy want to go on as many different rides as possible. However, there may not be enough time to go on every ride and you may not have enough tickets to go on every ride.

24. The bus will drop you off at 10:00 a.m. and pick you up at 1:00 p.m. Each student will get 20 tickets for rides. Use the information in the chart to write a letter to your buddy and create a plan for a fun day at the amusement park for you and your buddy.

25. Why do you think I started with this task? • Standards don’t teach, teachers teach • It’s the translation of the words into tasks and instruction and assessments that really matter • Processes are as important as content • We need to give kids (and ourselves) a reason to care • Difficult, unlikely, to do alone!!!

26. Let’s be clear: We’re being asked to do what has never been done before: Make math work for nearly ALL kids and get nearly ALL kids ready for college. There is no existence proof, no road map, and it’s not widely believed to be possible.

27. Let’s be even clearer: Ergo, because there is no other way to serve a much broader proportion of students: We’re therefore being asked to teach in distinctly different ways. Again, there is no existence proof, we don’t agree on what “different” mean, nor how we bring it to scale.

28. An introduction to SPECIAL

29. SPECIAL EDUCATION Students with disabilities are a heterogeneous group with one common characteristic: the presence of disabling conditions that significantly hinder their abilities to benefit from general education (IDEA 34 §300.39, 2004).

30. More practically: SPECIAL: • Different • Better • More individualized, but still collaborative and socially mediated • Differentiated

31. But How? Mindless, individual worksheet, one-size-fits-all, in-one-ear-out-the-other practice is NOT Special!

32. For SwD to meet standards and demonstrate learning… • High-quality, evidence-based instruction • Accessible instructional materials • Embedded supports • Universal Design for Learning • Appropriate accommodations • Assistive technology

33. SwD in general education curricula • Instructional strategies • Universally designed units/lessons • Individualized accommodations/modifications • Positive behavior supports • Service delivery options • Co-teaching approaches • Paraeducator supports

34. Learner variability is the norm! Learners vary: in the ways they take in information in their abilities and approaches across their development Learning changes by situation and context

35. Two resource slides: http://www.udlcenter.org/sites/udlcenter.org/files/updateguidelines2_0.pdf But compare Amusement Park (teaching by engaging) to Networks and UDL (teaching by showing and telling) and notice that these are summaries for nerds.

36. 3 Networks = 3 UDL Principles

38. So what is a more teacher-friendly way to say all of this?

39. Join me in Teachers’ Chat Room • They forget • They don’t see it my way • They approach it differently • They don’t follow directions • They give ridiculous answers • They don’t remember the vocabulary • They keep asking why are we learning this THEY THEY THEY BLAME BLAME BLAME An achievement gap or an INSTRUCTION gap?

40. Well…..if….. • They forget – so we need to more deliberately review; • They see it differently – so we need to accommodate multiple representations; • They approach it differently – so we need to elicit, value and celebrate alternative approaches; • They give ridiculous answers – so we need to focus on number sense and estimation; • They don’t understand the vocabulary – so we need to build language rich classrooms; • They ask why do we need to know this – so we need to embed the math in contexts.

41. Pause….. Questions??? • Most intriguing/Aha point? • Most confusing/Hmmm point?

42. So……an introduction to Instruction

43. K-1 Reading Gifted Active classes Questioning classes Thinking classes My message today is simple: We know what works.We know how to make math more accessible to our studentsIt’s instruction silly!

44. 9 Research-affirmed Practices • Effective teachers of mathematics respond to most student answers with “why?”, “how do you know that?”, or “can you explain your thinking?” • Effective teachers of mathematics conduct daily cumulative review of critical and prerequisite skills and concepts at the beginning of every lesson. • Effective teachers of mathematics elicit, value, and celebrate alternative approaches to solving mathematics problems so that students are taught that mathematics is a sense-making process for understanding why and not memorizing the right procedure to get the one right answer.

45. Effective teachers of mathematics provide multiple representations – for example, models, diagrams, number lines, tables and graphs, as well as symbols – of all mathematical work to support the visualization of skills and concepts. • Effective teachers of mathematics create language-rich classrooms that emphasize terminology, vocabulary, explanations and solutions. • Effective teachers of mathematics take every opportunity to develop number sense by asking for, and justifying, estimates, mental calculations and equivalent forms of numbers.

46. 7. Effective teachers of mathematics embed the mathematical content they are teaching in contexts to connect the mathematics to the real world. 8. Effective teachers of mathematics devote the last five minutes of every lesson to some form of formative assessments, for example, an exit slip, to assess the degree to which the lesson’s objective was accomplished. 9. Effective teachers of mathematics demonstrate through the coherence of their instruction that their lessons – the tasks, the activities, the questions and the assessments – were carefully planned.

48. Yes But how? OR: Making Math Work for ALL (including SwD)

49. Number from 1 to 6 • 1. What is 6 x 7? • 2. What number is 1000 less than 18,294? • 3. About how much is 32¢ and 29¢? • 4. What is 1/10 of 450? • 5. Draw a picture of 1 2/3 • 6. About how much do I weight in kg?

50. Strategy #1 Incorporate on-going cumulative review into instruction every day.