Task-Based Mathematics Program

Samara Booker ADMS 625: Collaborative Program Paper

TASK-BASED COLLABORATIVE MATHEMATICS PROGRAM Goal: To build the mathematics skills of all students by engaging them in a task- based mathematics program that will bridge the gap between conceptual understanding and procedural understanding of mathematics.

Part 1: Teacher Content Knowledge

Reasoning: Teachers of all students will need to have mastery of the mathematics content knowledge and pedagogy to be able to successfully facilitate students' exploration and mastery of mathematics content. Components:  All teachers will receive professional development in the following: - Virginia Standards of Learning *Beginning of the Year: SOL Overview of Math Strands - Big Ideas *Quarterly: Grade Level Training According to Pacing Chart - Essential Skills and Knowledge *Weekly: Grade Level Math Meetings - Examining Student Work -Mathematics Resources and Manipulatives - will be included in each training *utilizing math manipulatives (pros and cons) *textbooks *online resources *TASKS and long-term projects -Integrating Technology and other Content Areas

Part 2: Pedagogy for Teaching Mathematics

Reasoning: All teachers will gain the pedagogy needed to assess and address students' individual mathematics needs. The school's mathematics specialist will provide job-embedded professional development, as well as lead work sessions with administration and staff.

Components:  Collaboration looks like, sounds like, results in…  Differentiating Instruction through Collaborative Teaching -Inclusive of general education, exceptional education and gifted education teachers -Discussions of characteristics of teaching styles within each group -Examining student IEPs for accomodations  "Teacher Moves" - What will each teacher do: -when students understand -when students do not understand -to prepare for instruction  Effective Questioning -Considering Bloom's Taxonomy -Posing Questions before, during and after lessons (Rigor-Infused Mathematics Process Skills Prompts  WORTHWHILE TASKS (creating and choosing) -Preparing for -students (groups and individuals) -teachers (facilitating and being engaged) -material needs - Engaging Students -"Dropping In" to evaluate student-task interactions/discussions - Assessing tasks

Part 3: Program Evaluation

Reasoning: To determine the effectiveness of professional developments, teachers' instruction, and tasks as they relate to student performance data.

Components:  Rubrics - each math task will be assessed through a rubric that students and teachers can utilize. Analysis of tasks and student performance will occur at the completion of each task and will be the focus of collaborative planning meetings.  Observations - Co-teachers - by analyzing student work and using analysis to plan for remediation opportunities and to revamp the tasks - Principal's Observations - will use a "Look Fors" checklist for mathematics task- based instruction - Student Assessment Data - School-based bi-weekly assessments, Quarterly district mandated assessments

PROGRAM SUMMARY

A Task-Based Collaborative Mathematics Program will be implemented at each grade level. The goal of the program is to increase student achievement by implementing a program of mathematics instruction that utilizes the strengths and skill sets of all teachers to meet the needs of all students. The program will engage students in concept-based mathematics tasks that will build students' conceptual and procedural understanding of mathematics. This three-part program will include all teachers of every program, general education, exceptional education and gifted education. School administration is vital to the success of the program, so they will attend sessions to learn how to observe mathematics instruction in a task-based classroom.

The first part of the program will focus on building teachers' mathematics content knowledge. This phase of the program will be implemented continuously throughout the school year, as teachers participate in job-embedded and work session style professional developments. General education, exceptional education and gifted education teachers will participate in professional development devoted to their understanding of the Virginia State Math Standards. During these trainings, teachers will delve deeply into the SOLs and the essential skills and knowledge necessary for mastery.

These trainings will create opportunities for teachers who work with students of diverse academic and language abilities to collaborate on strategies that work best for their students and strategies that have not been successful. Opening this dialogue is the first step in having teachers open up to the collaborative process and increase their knowledge of math content. The second part of the program will be devoted what this collaborative mathematics program will look like to an observer. Cook and Friend (1995) described collaboration between educators as voluntary interaction where all members' contributions are valued, the decision-making and accountability for results is shared, and the goal is clear. In this situation, the common goal is student achievement. This phase of the collaborative mathematics program focuses on implementing collaboration strategies that will engage teachers in planning together, co-facilitating instruction, analyzing student data and most importantly using research-based methods aimed at increasing student achievement.

The second part of the program also determines the way in which teachers will interact with each other and with students. Training, during this phase, will be job- embedded and through work sessions facilitated by the school's mathematics specialist.

Teachers will work on creating tasks and planning lessons that will engage and meet the needs of all students, and therefore examining students' IEPs will be a part of the process.

Teachers of exceptional education and ELL will lead this part of the collaboration and the mathematics specialist will lend expertise on how to work with specific math aids available according to IEP accommodations. Teachers will plan for the use of these manipulatives with all students to increase their understanding of math concepts.

Teachers of gifted students will enrich the planning sessions by giving knowledge of the project-based program they utilize. This is the true intent of collaborative teaching which according to Pliner, Iuzzini, and Banks (2011) is to train teachers to use their expertise to maximize the work they will do together. As every teacher is lending their educational expertise and personal experiences, the hope is that every teacher will take ownership and accountability for the success of the instruction. With increased accountability, teachers will be more likely to ensure that tasks have entry points for learners at each stage of understanding. This will increase the likelihood that students will stay engaged throughout tasks and come away with increased understanding of skills and concepts.

One of the most important aspects of this program is developing the tasks and developing the ways in which the program will be monitored and evaluated.

Utilizing rubrics to evaluate student progress and to determine if specific tasks are worthwhile will be vital to the success of this program. Collaborating teachers will not only create the rubrics for each task, but they will dedicate planning time to evaluate the effectiveness of the tasks, the rubrics and students' progress. Because each collaborating teacher will be actively involved in the planning and delivery of instruction, they will each have a perspective to share as tasks and rubrics are modified to meet the needs of students with disabilities and language barriers. It is important that administrators are involved in these planning sessions, so that they are aware of each teacher's role in the planning and delivery of instruction. A checklist of "Look Fors" will be developed with input from the building administrators. This checklist will encompass best practice strategies for every classroom, specific evaluating points identified on the district's teacher observation form as well as key teacher moves seen in the collaborative classroom. A few collaborative teacher moves that should be observed in every classroom are effective questioning and teacher interaction with all students. In a collaborative classroom, each teacher should be questioning and interacting with all students, not just specific groups. Questioning and teacher interactions with students are indicators on the district's observation form and should be included as indicators on the principal's "Look Fors" checklist. Planning with the administrators with the awareness that they are informed of the program and will be monitoring is vital to the success of the program. This supports the ideas suggested by Dynak, Whitten and Dynak (1997), that a collaborative setting needs an organizational structure that consists of personal and administrative commitment, management and coordination to be successful.

Once the collaborating teachers and the administrators understand their role and the accountability measures are in place, the program can be implemented. ADDENDUM: FOLLOWING CONVERSATION WITH PRINCIPAL

The collaborative mathematics program that was developed was presented as a class assignment, but has since become a plan of action for next school year. My principal sees the value in making changes in the mathematics program after observing our students struggle with math concepts on each grade level. When we sat down to discuss the program, she voiced concerns with teacher buy-in and time constraints. She felt as though a program of this nature would mean that some teachers would have to completely change their teaching habits. We both agreed that this is true, and she asked if I knew of any school in our district that is successfully using collaborative teaching practices. We agreed that we both would ask around the district because being able to send our teachers to observe teachers collaborating and seeing it resulting in increased student achievement would be the most impactful form of buy-in. Until then, we agreed that providing teachers with recertification points for devoting their school-based and off the clock time planning for the implementation of the now math program. She suggested that there might be a way to pay teachers who agree to work on the plan and engage in some of the training sessions during the summer. She said that funds for that money would depend on the government sequestration.

My principal felt as though the program could be accomplished as it has been written provided more details were provided. She felt there might be scheduling issues if our enrollment increases and our exceptional education teachers are asked to handle students in multiple grade levels. Currently, there is an exceptional education teacher assigned to each grade level. She felt that increasing teachers' content knowledge and increasing the amount of time that teachers collaborate would have a positive impact on student achievement. She felt as if it would have a positive impact on classroom management as well. The phrase she used was that this type of program would "put everybody on the same page" with teaching math and "level the playing ground" for our students. This is exactly what the program is intended to do. The program sets expectations for math instruction by pairing research-based math instructional practices with research-based collaboration strategies. We agreed that if the time is committed to its implementation, then the program would be a huge step towards increasing achievement for all students, especially those with disabilities.

Our school is one of the schools that will be closing at the end of this school year.

Therefore, it is not feasible for the full program to be implemented. However, my principal felt it would be great to plan for next school year. Currently, I serve as the mathematics specialist for the school. It is my first year at the school, and I have placed a lot of effort into building relationships with teachers and providing them with a watered- down version of job-embedded professional development of effective math instructional strategies for all learners. It was suggested by my principal that this school year served as the bridge to transition our teachers from isolated and traditional math instruction to collaborative practices. I agree. Going forth, she gave me the assignment of speaking with my central office Instructional Specialist to request a site for our summer training sessions. I hope that she will stay committed to the process and we help guide our teaching staff to using our strengths to build a collaborative program that will improve our all of our students' mathematics performance. References

Cook, L., & Friend, M. (1995). Co-teaching: Guidelines for creating effective practices.

Focus on Exceptional Children, 28(3), 1-16.

Dynak, J., Whitten E., and Dynak, D. (1997). Refining the general education student

teaching experience through the use of special education collaborative teaching

models. Action in Teacher Education, 19:1, 64-74.

doi:10.1080/01626620.1997.10462855

Pliner, S. M., Iuzzini, J. and Banks, C. A. (2011). Using an intersectional approach to

deepen collaborative teaching. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2011:

43-51.doi: 10.1002/tl.432