MATH WORKSHOP
Reflection
Impact on Learning
Before the action plan, most students received below 80% on their pre-tests. Students were not confident in their basic math skills. They would make easy mistakes over and over; these mistakes impacted their scores tremendously. Students would get stuck in addition and subtraction problems. They did not have more than one strategy, so they would give up and guess. Students did not show engagement, excitement, or love for math block. It was as if students were dreading math. They unassumingly thought math instructions were going to be boring and long. I was unsure of what to do differently with my instruction in order to change students’ perspectives until after the implementation of math workshop. After the action plan, all but two students received above 85% on their post-tests. Students built up a toolbox of strategies over the course of the action research plan that helped them to stop making simple addition and subtraction mistakes. Students were engaged and willing to dive into instruction on a daily basis. There was little to no complaining about math block approach. Students were finally excited.
Research has impacted my students' learning in such a positive way. I conducted research on math workshop and through the implementation of math workshop, my students’ learning changed from whole group drill and practice instruction to differentiated small group instruction. My students were delivered instruction at their own levels through the method of differentiated instruction. Students were excelling in learning, which increased their desire to explore and enjoy learning math each and every day. By changing the structure of math instruction during action research, I saw a positive impact on math achievements for all students.
Impacts on Current Teaching
Through the implementation of my action plan, I was able to change the way my math instruction was delivered. For my action research, I explored the implementation of math workshop within my classroom. The math workshop model allowed me to engage and provide differentiated instruction to all my learners. I was able to meet all of their mathematical needs at their own levels. The workshop model allowed me to meet daily with each of my students to instruct the math lesson in a better teacher-to-student ratio. It allowed me to implement math games and technology apps to support students with additional math concepts or skills outside of daily small group instruction. Using games and apps, students were able to practice their daily skills and concepts individually and/or with peers.
Seeing student growth and achievement allowed for me to feel that growth and achievement, as well, with the implementation of math workshop. I grew excited to teach math each day. Instruction went from a tedious time because of the demand to meet all students through whole group instruction, to exciting and fun. I was able to meet my students at their own levels through differentiated instruction in small groups. Instruction and material were all taught in a timely manner compared to instruction prior to math workshop implementation. I had to push myself to plan instruction that would challenge, teach, and reteach skills and concepts to students. I had to find engaging material for all of my learners in order to enrich instruction and learning to promote further instructional growth. Through the examination of data, I have learned to better understand the importance of data-driven instruction. I will continue to allow data to impact my instructional path to success.
Future Teaching and Professional Growth Based on Implementation
Differentiated instruction is an evolving educational practice being implemented in classrooms throughout the world. My action research has shown me the benefits of the use of differentiation through small group instruction. I have also learned the importance of data-driven instruction to improve academic achievements for students, and instructional practices for teachers. As teachers, we must continue to grow with our students and for our students. I have enjoyed researching and implementing new strategies with a model that allowed my students to become more successful in their own learning.
This action research has provided a great start to my professional growth. Through this action research, I was able to research and implement techniques and strategies than I otherwise would have been tried. As a professional, I reached out to other peers, teachers, interventionists, specialists, and the list continues. I was able to network and connect with a group of professionals who are invested in professional development. I have seen my competence in educational practices grow throughout the implementation of this action research. I am invested in pursuing professional growth in order to ensure the absolute best instructional implementations for my students now, and for years to come.
Knowledge Gained
I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from my action research. The research allowed me to learn the best practices, strategies, and techniques for math instruction. I learned how to implement small group differentiated instruction to achieve mathematical success for learning students. I learned the effect that results from the implementation of math workshop. I have learned that differentiation is possible through the support of interventionist, paras, and the workshop model. As daunting as differentiated instruction can be, the workshop model allows for small group instruction to meet the needs of all learners. The components of math workshop helped engage, excite, and promote academic success in all students. I learned that I don’t have to do it all on my own. I connected with our grade level math specialist to gain information and support for my higher learners. I was able to connect them with her to receive a higher-level thinking instruction to our math unit in order to challenge those particular students. Because of my action research, I was able to better collaborate with others and understand how to incorporate research and data to better differentiate instruction daily to best benefit each student’s academic growth.
Future of Math Workshop Based on Challenges and Successes
Throughout the action research, the successes trumped the challenges. However, with a new implementation, challenges did appear. One challenge that occurred was the modification of lessons due to snow day occurrences within the action research. Making sure all skills and concepts were taught appropriately without an ample amount of time was a challenge to juggle but was accomplished. Through intentional planning, I was able to double up lessons or concepts in order to fulfill the entire unit within the shortened time frame. The review day was taken out to provide for an extra day of instruction instead. Scores showed that the modification of lessons throughout the unit did not harm students. However, I wonder what test scores would show if modification of lessons would have not been done.
Below is attached a calendar that describes each activity taught within unit four and which day the concepts were taught throughout the action research that was implemented.
Also, a challenge that occurred was through the use of an iPad app, moose math. Originally, moose math was going to be a data point used to see growth in each student. However, students were not successful at logging into their correct accounts each time. On various days, students were logged in to their peers’ accounts. This did not allow for accurate data to be tracked and evaluated. If I had the chance to do it again, I would go into more detail about how to log out and change the username from the rotation to rotation.
Another thing I would modify for technology is the use of Exact Path. This also was going to be a data point, however, turned into just a great way to instruct certain students. I would incorporate this as independent work on occasional days instead of a worksheet. I found that Exact Path was a great tool that challenged, retaught, and enhanced certain skills or concepts that students needed to be successful within the unit, and math as a whole. I would better define how many games were provided for students in the future. I had four to five different games for students to choose from that were based on the skills and concepts being taught each week. At times, when given a wide variety of choice it became a challenge to keep students engaged and on one game for the entirety of the math rotation.
Flexible grouping was another challenge that occurred during the action research implementation process. While adjusting student grouping was suggested from time to time, I did not find accurate data to show a need for adjustment in the grouping. In the future, I will research how to accurately track data in order to make appropriate group adjustments throughout instruction.
The last challenge was the differing time requirement among differentiated groups. Throughout my action research, I found that I needed more small group instruction time for my lows compared to my highs. Next year in math workshop I plan to implement longer instructional times for my lows and the flexibility for change in group time to increase appropriate instruction. Despite the growth, I saw in my students from the action research indicates major success. I could see the confidence in students grow from day to day, which translated into excitement, joy, and love for math instruction. From this research, I am inspired to provide valuable and purposeful learning experiences to my students in order to set them up for success. I plan on implementing the math workshop immediately at the start of next year. Overall, the change in the implementation of Exact Path and Mouse Math purposeful numbers of game choice and longer rotation time for groups will allow for instruction to be implemented and improved immediately next year for student success. This format will be used next year and tweaked to meet the needs of my incoming students!
