Linda's response regarding homework, and how it is often too difficult for the students (making them feel like failures) reminded me of a conversation I had with my father, who lives in Wyoming and who is a part-time substitute teacher (as is my mom).
He said that my nieces school had taken up some kind of "inquiry" approach. Immediately, when he said it, I thought of CMP; he could not verify that this was the exact name of the program, but said it sounded as though they at least are similar. The problem with it, in his mind, is that this is being implemented at the elementary level. Rather than teaching times tables and making sure that students can do simple arithmetic, the questions ask that students come up with multiple answers to questions; for example, "show 3 ways to add 2+2" (not an exact question from the book, but what I took from my father's speech). Now, anyone who has taken educational psychology has some idea about cognitive stages. I believe that small children (elementary age) are at what Piaget would identify as the concrete-operational stage. This is not the stage of abstract thinking. Some students will do very well with this approach; others will not. I assert that I would have probably fallen into the group that could not--indeed , it is only as an adult that I suddenly see all kinds of overlapping connections in math that I did not see when I was young. Anyhow, the school's new approach means that my niece, who is a very smart young lady and who works very hard to do well in school, finds herself crying over her math homework. Why on earth should a fourth grade student be crying over math homework? And I don't suggest that she is smart merely because she is related to me--you can just ask me about some of my other nieces and I will verify that they are not smart. My dad said it sounded like a load of "poo" to him that fourth grade students were still learning basic arithmetic as part of this new approach. He said that he learned long division in second grade when he was in England and that when he came back to the states the next year the teachers were worried that he might be behind. HAH!
I guess what I am saying is that it is hard for me to believe that the approach is going to cure our problem of scoring low in math as a nation. Perhaps I will see in a decade whether or not that approach is working with my niece . . . until then, I will remain skeptical.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
CMP Inquiry-Middle Grade Interview
Linda Beardsley at Adam Stevens Middle School was kind enough to answer the following interview questions for me. My thanks to her for completing these with such short notice.
Q: How does the CMP curriculum align with the national Common Core and NCTM standards?
Linda: For many years now, Salem-Keizer has modified the order and level of the CMP books from what the authors originally wrote. With that being said, it seems like it was not aligned very well to the state standards. With the upcoming national standards the district and the authors are working hard to find some alignment. Last summer the authors of CMP held a workshop to introduce supplementary units which will patch up the curriculum to fit the new national standards. However, I find the units a little disjointed. The authors have begun a third addition of CMP to match the national standards.
Q: Numerous students are a year or more behind in the basics. How does one address the needs of these students on a daily basis so they can get up to grade level and also experience success in the inquiry to investigation philosophy of the CMP?
Linda: The best way is to have a support class which helps the kids fill in during another period. However, that is not always possible. So the teachers spend a lot of time looking at the material the kids should have learned before and building those skills into warm-ups or 5 minute drills. In my class, I am lucky to have 15 computers which can be used to differentiate the classroom. I have used them to do Math workshop which is basically different stations. The lower kids are with me in a group and the higher kids are on the computer doing Math whizz or manga high as fun extensions. In a perfect world I would like to do this once a week but I tend to get behind in my implementation plan if I do that. After school tutoring also helps. Our special education department holds a mandatory special education help session twice a week. Students get individual support on class work.
Q: What is the role of homework (and accountability) in the CMP?
Linda: CMP has three levels of homework for each investigation. The first are application, the second, connection and the last, extensions. I believe that homework is practice of what the student has a beginning understand of. However, the constructivist approach that CMP uses often follows through on the homework assignments making them a huge challenge for the kids. I know we are trying to increase rigor with the work but we don't want to deflate the kids.
Because homework is practice, I count it very little in my grade book. I ask the students to try at home so that they connect to the problem and can find their mistake easier. Since I stopped grading homework, I have less accountability from the students so this is still a place I struggle. I have thought of doing all work in the room but there are not enough hours to do the teaching and practice of all of the standards.
Q: CMP Investigations compose of small-groups (pair-share, teamwork, cooperative learning). Describe several classroom management techniques that ensure all students are actively engaged. Eg, how are individual roles established? Accountability (Group, individual)? Ongoing assessment(s) and checking for understanding?
Linda: I like using partners and then I ask who wants to share and pick the partner instead of the volunteer. In groups of 4 I have assigned roles for the 4 students (recorder, time keeper, supply person, drill Sargent) and they have to do their roles. One student is responsible for asking group questions so I will not talk to the whole group. When groups are stuck or off task, I ask one member to huddle with me to get some questions answered and take the answers back to the group. To establish roles, I have used cards that they pick or have them number off and all 1's are recorders, all 2's are time keepers…).
Accountability is hard. I ask each student to turn in work rather than group work. I have done partner tests but I will also do individual tests. I want to know what each student understands.
I often do formative exit quizzes on skill based questions. Very simple 5 minute questions and I record these at 2 points or “not yet” in my grade book. We circle back to make sure the students have a chance to show me that they understand.
Q: How does the CMP curriculum align with the national Common Core and NCTM standards?
Linda: For many years now, Salem-Keizer has modified the order and level of the CMP books from what the authors originally wrote. With that being said, it seems like it was not aligned very well to the state standards. With the upcoming national standards the district and the authors are working hard to find some alignment. Last summer the authors of CMP held a workshop to introduce supplementary units which will patch up the curriculum to fit the new national standards. However, I find the units a little disjointed. The authors have begun a third addition of CMP to match the national standards.
Q: Numerous students are a year or more behind in the basics. How does one address the needs of these students on a daily basis so they can get up to grade level and also experience success in the inquiry to investigation philosophy of the CMP?
Linda: The best way is to have a support class which helps the kids fill in during another period. However, that is not always possible. So the teachers spend a lot of time looking at the material the kids should have learned before and building those skills into warm-ups or 5 minute drills. In my class, I am lucky to have 15 computers which can be used to differentiate the classroom. I have used them to do Math workshop which is basically different stations. The lower kids are with me in a group and the higher kids are on the computer doing Math whizz or manga high as fun extensions. In a perfect world I would like to do this once a week but I tend to get behind in my implementation plan if I do that. After school tutoring also helps. Our special education department holds a mandatory special education help session twice a week. Students get individual support on class work.
Q: What is the role of homework (and accountability) in the CMP?
Linda: CMP has three levels of homework for each investigation. The first are application, the second, connection and the last, extensions. I believe that homework is practice of what the student has a beginning understand of. However, the constructivist approach that CMP uses often follows through on the homework assignments making them a huge challenge for the kids. I know we are trying to increase rigor with the work but we don't want to deflate the kids.
Because homework is practice, I count it very little in my grade book. I ask the students to try at home so that they connect to the problem and can find their mistake easier. Since I stopped grading homework, I have less accountability from the students so this is still a place I struggle. I have thought of doing all work in the room but there are not enough hours to do the teaching and practice of all of the standards.
Q: CMP Investigations compose of small-groups (pair-share, teamwork, cooperative learning). Describe several classroom management techniques that ensure all students are actively engaged. Eg, how are individual roles established? Accountability (Group, individual)? Ongoing assessment(s) and checking for understanding?
Linda: I like using partners and then I ask who wants to share and pick the partner instead of the volunteer. In groups of 4 I have assigned roles for the 4 students (recorder, time keeper, supply person, drill Sargent) and they have to do their roles. One student is responsible for asking group questions so I will not talk to the whole group. When groups are stuck or off task, I ask one member to huddle with me to get some questions answered and take the answers back to the group. To establish roles, I have used cards that they pick or have them number off and all 1's are recorders, all 2's are time keepers…).
Accountability is hard. I ask each student to turn in work rather than group work. I have done partner tests but I will also do individual tests. I want to know what each student understands.
I often do formative exit quizzes on skill based questions. Very simple 5 minute questions and I record these at 2 points or “not yet” in my grade book. We circle back to make sure the students have a chance to show me that they understand.
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