CCTM- A Framework for a Balanced Math Program

presented by Carla Haas, and Julie Schmatz, Mesa County Valley Schools District #51
Mostly based on Five Easy Steps to a Balanced Math Program by Larry Ainsworth and Jan Christinson
The concept was intended to not be a new Math Program, but a framework to teach the existing curriculum and bring in components to help students be more successful at Math. I have a big packet if anyone wants copies of a presentation and some excepts from the book.
The five steps are

• Computational Skills (math review and mental math)
• Problem Solving
• Conceptual Understanding
• Mastery of Math Facts
• Common Formative Assessments

The main takeaways

• A portion of each class should be set aside for reviewing math concepts and skills that they had already learned and refine their number sense. Their structure seemed very similar to our Math'sMates, only Math'sMates has done all of the work of writing the problems and structuring it for us.
• The mental math is asking them a series of questions with integer or rounded numbers which sharpens their arithmetic skills
• Problem-solving as defined by NCTM Principles and Standards involves "Engaging in a task for which the solution method is not know in advance...and should be encouraged to reflect on their thinking" This seems to be more about strategizing and reflecting rather than the computations to get there. I think we all hope that the computations are the easy part of the problem solving for our students. Judging whether something is a reasonable response is also an essential part. I think this fits with our Take 5 program
• Conceptual Understanding is different than the procedural understanding. The focus should be on the conceptual understanding, which I'm sure most teachers strive for, however, I'm not sure we (me included) put the emphasis in the amount of time we spend on the conceptual vs. procedural. What do we spend our time teaching? How do we teach conceptual instead of procedural or more than procedural? How do we know if they get the concept rather than the procedure? What do we do if they don't get the concept?
• Memorization should follow instruction of conceptual knowledge--this produces mastery of math facts
• The use of patterns is most useful in helping students discover and emphasize the patters in our number systems. Building on previous math facts that they know, provide daily practice, and hold students accountable--including asking for parents support
• Commom Formative Assessments--As described by Ainsworth "They provide participating teachers with the timely feedback needed to differentiage instruction and thus better meet the diverse learning needs of their students." How can we restructure our curriculum to include so much cummulative review? How do formative assessments fit into standards based grading? Our current common assessments are not formative, they are summative. If we want to change our curriculum so that these assessments are formative, what changes need to happen in the pacing and structure of the units and what changes have to happen to the tests? Is MAPS used as a formative assessment? What about upperclass?
• These assessments should be designed collaboratively, classroom (individual--non-common?) end of unit assessment and scoring guide should be designed to match the common formative assessments
• The assessments should be scored and analyzed in data teams.

I would bet that these books have been a heavy influence in our current curriculum and assessment development since I have heard alot of the same language in our curriculum and assessment meetings. Anyone interested in a book goup?

Anyone interested in a book