Using Differentiated Choice Boards in Math Workshop to show mastery and keep students engaged. Using choice boards isn’t something new but they are something that takes a little bit of extra prep work to implement into your classroom for math workshop. **There may be affiliate links within this post that I do earn a small commission off of each purchase. How to Use Choice Boards for Differentiation When I started to use choice boards, I simply gave every group the same board and had them complete 3 in a row or the entire board depending on how long we were working on each unit. I quickly learn ..read more

Back in the Spring of 2009, I was going on interviews as I was moving to the Austin, TX area. During those interviews, I was open to anything K-8th grade as I had the certifications at that time and wanted to change it up from only having taught 2nd and 5th grade for the previous 6 years. As I was on an interview with a middle school south of Austin (shout out to Hays County), I was sitting with the principal and assistant principal answering their questions. All was going great until… “How would you see yourself teaching a lesson on Pythagorean Theorem to a group of 8th graders?“ I hadn’t don ..read more

If this school year is anything like the last two, you are probably thinking… What can I do this year that will keep my students engaged while also meeting their current academic needs as well as filling the learning gaps they have from previous years? Over the past two years, I went further into my use of Math Workshop and Small Group instruction and changed things up a bit to make it work better for me, and more importantly my students. Why Did I Change Things? The main reason… my students. They have changed since I first started teaching back in 2003 and the practices that I was trained in ..read more

Looking toward the last half of the school year that we are approaching, I really want to continue to help you, and myself, make things easier as we are no doubt coming close to testing season (YUCK!). Math Test Prep, and intervention, doesn’t have to be a bore for you and your students. How I Hope To Help You As you know, back in 2019-2020, I worked to develop a full year of Math Workshop activities for Sixth and Seventh grades. Each activity is focused on being interactive and engaging as well as covering the much-needed concepts. This school year I have relied on all of these activities SO ..read more

At the beginning of every school year, it is important to find time to review with your students. This time is not only crucial to see where they are on their math skills but also to observe how each of them works together in a small group setting. Using games, such as Tumbling Towers, in the classroom is a beneficial way to have students interact with one another with a slight competition aspect as well. Knowing that I wanted to have an activity that would have my students engaged but also working through multiple problems together as a group was part of my desire which is how I came to usin ..read more

Every year when the unit for volume comes around it seems to be one of the hardest, and most abstract, units for students. While being asked to determine the volume of a prism or pyramid students are faced with a three-dimensional shape that becomes hard for them to visualize after working for so many years with two-dimensional shapes. This week I started back to teaching Summer School and our focus this week was to review volume… specifically solving problems involving the volume of rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, rectangular pyramids, and triangular pyramids. Day 1 – Introduction to V ..read more

Picture it, Dallas, 1986… going into Toys ‘R Us for a reward with my parents and being the child who was always wanting to learn more, I picked up workbooks and many a puzzle book over being able to get toys. No matter where we went if I was able to choose something for myself it was always going to be an activity book. Hidden pictures, logic puzzles, word searches, crosswords… I loved them all and couldn’t get enough of them! Flash forward 34 years and nothing has changed. When I was given the opportunity to work with a publishing company and write my own puzzle book I jumped on it and FAST ..read more

When I began teaching Middle School math, I became apparently aware that my students detested working with word problems. It didn’t matter if I worked them with them, I asked them to show their strategies, or even let them work with partners or in groups… they HATED them. But I didn’t know why. I had to think about… my students who had been sitting in similar math classes for the last five to six years, being presented with word problems (aligned to the state testing guidelines for sure) and they were being asked to read them and solve them time and time again. It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t excitin ..read more

Last month I had the absolute privilege of speaking to over 400 3-8th grade teachers at CAMT 2019 about Setting up Math Workshop for Success in two sessions. Not only was this year the absolute best I’ve ever presented, but the 3-5th grade session was so packed that we had to relocate… seriously! We went from a room for 120 to an auditorium where they scanned in over 270 teachers! I can’t even begin to explain to you the energy that I felt while standing up on this stage, talking about something I’m SO passionate about, knowing that I was standing in the same place as the greats… like Jo Boal ..read more

I remember my first Spring as a Middle School teacher when I came in with literally SIX WEEKS left before testing and had more to cover than I could dream of. I had to make a plan and stick to it. While for the most part, I was getting support from my partner teacher I was still working day by day to stay ahead of my students. Why Test Prep Boot Camp? Because of the lack of structure, the class had all year they were seriously struggling and acting out in every way they knew how. The students had given up and therefore the class gave up. What was I supposed to do as a new teacher to them who t ..read more