Read the summary that outlines what a typical lesson is like in Illustrative Math. Then select one of the lessons to watch. The lesson plans are also linked below in case you want to reference them as you are watching the lesson. (FYI - the lessons linked below are screencasted - if you want to navigate through the Imagine Learning Platform...you can find additional lessons. Click here to learn how.)
- Summary of a Typical Lesson
- Sample Lesson Videos:
- Corresponding Lesson Plans:
Consider
- What is rolling around in your head about this lesson design?
- What caused you to pause and think?
- What math experiences from your own classroom came to mind as you were watching and reading?
Respond and Interact
Please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
Please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
I'm wondering what the kids who "get it" quickly do while the teacher is processing with other groups. I can imagine the potential chaos that could ensue. :) Perhaps that won't be a problem if students are taught norms for those situations from the beginning, though. Also not seeing the direct connection b/w the halves/fourths and geoblock activity. All that being said, I loved all the conversation and interaction of all students afforded by this lesson.
ReplyDeleteStudents seem to be super engaged in the lesson. They are working in groups and moving smoothly throughout the lesson. I like how the teacher had the opportunity to talk to so many different groups while they were working independently. I'm slightly worried about time management with the curriculum since there are so many parts of the lesson to complete in one day. I am sure that there will be an adjustment period when I start teaching the curriculum, and hopefully I find a groove within the first few weeks. Seeing students working in different groups throughout the lesson has me thinking about how I will split students into groups during the different group and center times. It will be important to balance student autonomy and ensuring that they are in the best group for their learning. I'm also doing the book study "Building Thinking Classrooms" and the author suggests using random grouping to divide students as this increases the likelihood that students will all be equally contributing to their group work.
ReplyDeleteThe class seemed engaged, and followed directions extremely well. From what we could see, there weren’t any off task behaviors. Maybe it is because I teach younger students, but I have never had a lesson go so smoothly.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the opportunities for students to move during the lesson and join with various kids. There were plenty of opportunities for kids to share with partners, and also with the group as a whole. It was a language rich experience, very different than how I recall my own math instruction being when I was a child!
I was especially impressed by her warm up activity. There was a lot of learning embedded in the choral counting activity.
I love watching other people teach! It's so cool! This teacher did a beautiful job with setting routines, classroom management and pacing. It makes me nervous, actually, since I have never done ANY IM lessons. However, this is not new for me - once I do it, it will be totally fine. It's just the first time. I'm excited to have my students do the heavy lifting, thinking, explaining, etc. with each other. This is a great shift and exciting to think about for next year and beyond. For me, I believe modeling that this is new, while also working on helping the pacing move along will be great for my students to see - growth mindset, and how we are all learning and trying to get better in all we do.
ReplyDeleteWe watched this video as a first grade team at the end of the year. We reflected on the importance of classroom management and the amount of transitions included in a lesson. We agreed that quick transitions helped create impactful instruction. We decided we would try to teach, and reinforce timely transitions. I think this teacher had great classroom management. I think the visuals and the chance to talk with classmates helped students to have a better understanding of the learning target. I really enjoyed the choral counting warm up activity. I think these are going to be a valuable part of our math instruction. I can see how this curriculum is going to take organization and preparation to teach, but can see the value in the hands on explorations and the intentional discussions students have in partners and as a class as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI watched the 3rd Grade lesson video after reading the lesson plan for that video. I could easily see each section of the lesson (warm-up, activites, synthesis, cool down) and how they worked together. The teacher was able to get the lesson completed using timers to make sure the activities didn't go longer than necessary while taking her time to go to different groups to see what was going on, I will definitely be using that strategy as well. I had heard from the group of teachers that piloted the program this year that it was difficult to get everything done in the time allotted. In our tentative schedule this year our grade has a shorter math block and that concerns me.
ReplyDeleteStudents did the sorting activity, then a museum walk to see if they could determine how other groups did their sorting then back to their own seats to hear the thinking on how student pairs actually sorted their cards. I like this learning different thinking from each other but I did notice there appeared to be less students in the video class than what we have in our normal sizes classes. I also wondered if there was a 'go to' for students if they were done quickly but there was still time on the timer? I think this is where some behavior could occur. I think the behavior management aspect of this will be very important in making this type of activity to go as smoothly as it did in the video.
I noted the students using math vocabulary, the teacher praising them for that and also referring to the vocabulary on the wall (my connection to what I had already been doing) - all important! As mentioned in other posts, this will take some organizing to make sure the teacher has all needed materials on hand at the ready as there are many parts and the pace is quick!
Jennifer, that makes so much sense to get through a lesson over 2 days! I found it VERY challenging to get through lessons where there were 2 or 3 activities. It is a lot for little ones who are working on stamina.
ReplyDeleteThis more in-depth exploration of our iM curriculum has been really helpful for me at this time in my implementation. I taught the curriculum last year and was very easy on myself, the goal was just to teach as much as I could of each lesson. Now I am seeing that there were things I didn't know (big picture) of why the lesson design is what it is. I am looking forward to teaching the same content for a second time. The experience, deeper knowledge of the design AND support of teammates teaching the curriculum alongside me is sure to increase my effectiveness as a teacher. Also, this course has given me ideas for content to address with my grade level team on 8/23 when we have time to prepare to begin iM in September! Thanks to everyone for sharing their insights along the way.
ReplyDeleteI checked out the curriculum guide to see if there was a kindergarten sample lesson yet and there is not. I have 2 of my lessons recorded to show my team the different parts and maybe there are others who taught it last year who have recordings we could share?
I was thinking about our math leader work for this year and just wanted to throw out some ideas...
Assessment and PLC work with math focus come to mind first. Last year we worked a lot with creating and managing the centers. This year I would like to develop some ideas around some sort of math wall. A place in the classroom where important math concepts, vocabulary, and representations can be accumulated for students to see and interact with throughout the year.
I really like that the activities rolled straight from one to another with a quick opportunity for synthesis in between. I am a little nervous about fitting this all in during one math block but I know that it will become less clunky with practice. The lesson was very engaging for all students, had many opportunities for math discussions in partners and whole group and had a lot of moving parts. This will take a lot of teaching routines and front loading to help IM run successfully but just as other routines, I'm sure that the constant movement will become like second nature to the students. I'm looking forward to having students be at the center of math instruction!
ReplyDeleteThis was helpful for me to better understand the parts of the IM units and lessons, and the importance of each part. I like that the lessons provide a number of minutes for each section or activity so that I can pace my instruction, as I know there is a lot to fit into each day’s lesson! I am still wondering about the amount of paper/pencil problems that students will be doing, and if it will feel like enough for students to practice concepts and to demonstrate their understanding. However, I have been reassured by the teacher that piloted IM last year that it works. I am interested in using the Exploration Problems when I can for students (and parents) who want more challenge.
ReplyDeleteIn the middle of July I can easily forget how active teaching is, and I am immediately reminded by this video why I come home exhausted after a busy day of teaching! I was impressed by the ways this teacher managed the lesson slides, questions, activities and materials while expertly managing the classroom. She made use of multiple effective strategies for transitions and for students choosing partners, and had hand signals for the math terms equal, halves and fourths. I know that all of my classroom management “tricks” will come back to me when I start teaching IM in the fall, but I also know it will be very busy and demanding getting to know my new group of students while managing the lessons and the materials and also learning a new curriculum and approach to teaching math. It takes me back to Part 1 of this class where we talked about how struggle can be productive! I am thankful that I will have the support of my grade level team, Renae, and the IM team throughout the year as I learn the new curriculum!
I watched the 1st grade lesson video and was comparing it to this same lesson that I taught this past year in IM math. I always love to watch other teachers in action and this teacher was amazing. She had structures in place that helped keep the lesson moving flawlessly while keeping the students engaged. The pacing of the lesson flowed smoothly with her transitions, and it was interesting to see how she fit in each section of the lesson including the warmup, three activities and a synthesis into 34 minutes. I always struggle with fitting all lesson components into a 60-minute block. I wonder if this could be because the lesson is shorter than an average lesson. I noticed the lesson provided engaging activities for kids to participate in thus keeping their interest the entire time. This teacher provided a perfect amount of wait time, think time, and then partner talk time, which all seemed to help students solidify the concept of halves and fourths. The idea of using a microphone to encourage kids to share their thinking is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity to watch my teammate teach IM in the spring. After reading, the typical lesson layout, I had a better understanding of the importance of each part in IM lessons. As I mentioned in previous posts, I had a hard time doing a warm-up each day and conversing with small groups each day during centers. After watching the 1st grade video, I am excited to try new structures and management within my classroom. I enjoyed watching the pacing of the lesson and how she used the full math time to engage with her students. I hope that when teaching to kindergarten I can pace well enough to not make the lesson longer than expected. I hope the flow of the lessons keep my kindergartners engaged and don't take multiple days to get through one lesson.
ReplyDeleteI like the lesson structure and think it is helpful for students to know the routines and expectations during math each day. This will take time to “teach” the organizational side of using the materials, finding partners and space, etc. Once that is in place, I think the lessons will flow nicely, giving students plenty of time for conversions and exploration. I love the idea of math centers in kindergarten, but as discussed earlier, the management of materials and the organization of that is a little overwhelming. I watched the first-grade video and felt like the lesson had a good pace and kept the students engaged. They were participating in small groups and sharing out. It was obvious the students knew the routines of how to take materials, find a place with a partner, etc. and the teacher did a great job of facilitating but letting the students do their own thinking. I am hoping the lessons at the start can be done within a day, because like others said, the younger kids and their stamina to sit through lessons might make it hard at the start and will be something we’ll need to work towards. Breaking down IM into these 6 parts has helped me to start to think about implementation and what teaching this new curriculum might look like in my own classroom!
ReplyDeleteThank you ALL for your thoughtful reflections and the enthusiasm that you have shared with each other. I know that giving up part of your summer is a huge sacrifice so I am especially grateful that you made some space to take this course. 🧡 I hope you feel more prepared and optimistic about our implementation in the fall.
ReplyDeleteHaving taught this exact lesson, this video caused me to pause and reflect on her classroom management, specifically the transitions between the warm-up, activities, and synthesis. I usually started our math lesson with my warm-up on the front carpet and during the activity’s students were often scattered around the room. I liked how close the groups were on the carpet, enabling her to go between groups quickly and efficiently. I also noticed that she did not do randomized grouping, which I did using ClassDojo, a quick way to randomly partner students. As mentioned above, I really like the idea of using a microphone for important sharing during the warm-up and synthesis, I shied away from this in the past, but think I am ready to give it a try! I had a lot of takeaways and confirmations after watching this video! It does feel clunky at times (and much longer than this video) but hopefully year two will allow me to focus more on my pacing, the MLRs, instructional routines, and the 5 Practices, as well as help support my team navigate year one!
ReplyDeleteI watched the 1st grade lesson and loved the way she was able to transition from one activity to the next very quickly and efficiently. She had great classroom management. I understand that most lessons take about 60 minutes – and I am pleased that I will have the time available in my daily schedule. However, I am a bit nervous about student stamina, especially at the beginning of the school year.
ReplyDeleteI know that there is a lot to organize with this new curriculum. But I’m excited to get started. I feel that I am the kind of teacher who needs to jump in and do it – and maybe flail around some – but then the next time I teach it, I’ve gotten it!
Our team watched this video at the end of the school year and reflected on some of the pieces I am noticing again, watching a second time. In the video, I loved seeing her quick transitions, and students knowing the routines and expectations. I think this will be key in being successful in our classrooms with these lessons. We also talked about being flexible, especially at the beginning of the year, when we have not built stamina yet. Let’s hope our math block isn’t right after lunch! 😉
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great online PD, Renae!
I also watched the first grade lesson because it is closest to my grade level. I noticed there are many transitions in the lesson and how important classroom management strategies are in helping keep a good pace. I also like the idea someone else said in a previous posting of using a timer to keep warm ups 10 minutes or less. I think a timer might help me stay aware of the time for each part of a lesson with the hopes that once I am more familiar with the lessons and pacing that I won't need the timer.
ReplyDeleteThe class was very engaged and on task in the lesson. The teacher had her routines and norms for the class set up and she moved through the tasks at a pace that kept the class thinking and working together. I am worried about my time management to get though the lessons, but I think after a little bit of practice it will be alright. The teacher also had the students up and moving quite a bit. Her transitions were quick, and it gave the class an opportunity to work together, participate in whole group activities and work with table partners.
ReplyDeleteSeeing a full lesson at my grade level in real time with real students and no editing was nice! The slide deck is going to be super helpful for me to stay on track and be able to read the directions while having everything right in front of me. I printed out the pages of a typical lesson plan just so I can refer to it when necessary. So grateful for this course and being able to read all the comments throughout each part. I am nervous but excited to implement IM. Thanks Renae!
ReplyDeleteI love the structure of the lessons and how routine they are. I can see that it will require some patience as setting up routines at the start of the year in kindergarten takes time! The interactive component of IM with the use of math centers is very exciting...I will admit that I'm a bit nervous about the management of it all, though! I love how much student talk is a part of the lessons...this really seemed to keep the students in the first grade video engaged. I'm excited to get started!
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