The most important question to consider when choosing a structure for your math block, is:
While I personally use rotations sometimes, I find that a math playlist (a posted or shared agenda with some choices) is much more forgiving! It is flexible if I need more time with a small group or two, because I am not “a rotation” for everyone. Small groups is where the MOST IMPORTANT differentiation occurs! Roughly half of our planning time should be spent on the small group activities. But playlists or choice boards can help us to do that better! Math Playlists are absolutely the way to support differentiation and personalization in you virtual classroom!
They offer flexibility when we have such a big classes, giving us a smaller group for my mini-lesson. They helps support a “Launch/ Explore/ Discuss” model of inquiry because you can take those same kids who ALWAYS want to share… and put them in a different group… giving the quieter and more deliberate thinkers a chance!
Now a playlist does not have to be digital! I used to write mine on the blackboard. In chalk. (Yes. I am THAT old.) You can also give students “personal playlists” which was an index card in the old days, just reminding students which facts they were focusing on, who their game partner was that week, or anything else specific I wanted them to keep track of. They don’t have to be used consistently.
But OH MY is Digital … AMAZING!
Not only are Math Playlists the way to support differentiation and personalization in a distance learning situation… Come on! The idea of saving every great idea (and making a note about every not-so-great idea) that you had this year?? Imagine the possibilities! Delete anything you hated… and make notes for your future self below each Slide!?
If you are not familiar with Google Slides, it is super easy, especially when these are already done. Just make a copy of a slide you like and tweak it for your lesson tomorrow. Need to make a change? You don’t need those messy chalk erasers… delete and the student versions change with you!
Tweak as you go, but save them all!
Be sure to DUPLICATE each sheet before you make changes for the next day (or week)! Don’t waste that work! Keep a copy of the current slide at the top and edit that one. That way, whether you make 20 slides this year, or 180… you will have every one at your fingertips for next year. (They will be in reverse order though, so next year you can start with the last slide and move it to the top.)
Even with a new grade level or new program, you will find LOTS of reasons to start with your last year’s version!
A Playlist should be simple enough to get kids started immediately… but detailed enough to save you from interruptions while you work with your small groups. Set up some simple rules and get kids exploring or practicing or creating RIGHT AWAY!
Where do I begin?
An easy place to begin, is to pre-select the best problems from your text book, choose a great interactive follow up from the game grid, and fabulous hands on activity for your choices.
- First, consider the intent of the lesson. Is it more conceptual or more procedural? If it is conceptual, find the best ways to provide EXPLORATION with the concept. Then consider the best QUESTIONS you are going to ask to help students make the connections they need to make. What are the BIG IDEAS in mathematics? What is the foundation they must have to build on?
- Pre-select the best accompanying activities, games, tasks. Consider some choices for students who will not have the prior skills necessary for success… but take care not to stray too far. (If struggling firsties are not ready for subtraction… addition is not the most appropriate modification. Consider counting backwards, and one more/one less towers, and perhaps labeling dice with only 1’s and 2’s for them to roll and take away.)
- Be sure to have some pencil and paper choices, some digital choices where appropriate, tasks with manipulatives and partner or group games.
- Please don’t feel like you must check off these imaginary boxes each day! Let the BEST MATH TASKS guide your choices… not “I need a game for “T is for technology”.
- Consider which tasks are definite “Must Do” options… and which can be “Choose to” options.
- DON’T WORRY about determining whether you want to use a daily playlist or a weekly one or a unit one. Try it and see how it goes!
- A simple playlist can really help us to shift focus to getting the absolute MOST out of small groups… since that is where the magic really happens! [Sometimes just jumping in a great game and engaging students in conversation- develops ideas that will last a lifetime!]
(If you haven’t already subscribed and received my lesson plan templates and editable math playlists, you will find tons of samples and support in different ways of structuring your math block, including easier ways to have TWO or more launches.)
A note about instructional resources
Of course, we are in an age of abundant resources! Please take the time to vet out your choices. Personally, I create ALL of my math resources to support reasoning and exploration with the biggest ideas in math. I created the NOTD templates for consistent, daily reasoning about ideas and vocabulary long past… which students still need to develop!
While I am love with all of my resources, I have to say that the daily numeracy templates and the Word Problem Generator are both extremely helpful in getting math centers off the ground. They are both self-differentiated and make it almost effortless for you to be intentional. Is that an oxymoron??
Heck No! Because the effort you exert each day focusing on the daily lesson AND small group activities??? Is insanely intentional. Teachers need to have SOMETHING easy. But it still needs to be sophisticated. Differentiated. Reasoning based. Worth doing. (And I have high standards for that.)
Speaking of differentiation…
Please remember that using these awesome Digital Math Playlists (or any method for student choice .. or “centers”, “stations” or “rotations”) DOES NOT ENSURE DIFFERENTIATION. We must be on the same page here, that differentiation is not simply about students doing different things at different times. Having groups rotate through the same exact activities, is not differentiation. Per se.
What does differentiation in math class look like?
Well THAT is a whole separate blog post! At the least. But we are aiming for AS MANY TASKS AS POSSIBLE that offer a lower entry point for less confident learners and a really high ceiling for confident learners. We want to plan ways to “lower the floor” as it is needed. Give everyone a chance!
“Of course you have to plan ways of differentiating! Just leave the differentiation on the desk until you’re absolutely certain you need it!”
-Graham Fletcher
A note about “Accountability”
Perhaps my number one question about offering even the slightest choice time in class, is, “How do you keep track of what they are doing?” This really comes down to your style and preferences. Are you a control freak? Are you laid back or somewhere in between? (I am equal parts of both. Playlists work beautifully for my overthinking, hyper-organized, painfully intentional math professor days… and they can be a crutch for my overwhelmed, can’t formulate a thought, how can I ever manage this? days.
If ALL of the tasks you want students accountable for are on the MUST DO side, then YOUR record keeping is the same as it has always been. Do what works for you. Then, when too many kids aren’t getting to a really worthwhile CHOICE, simply move it to the MUST DO side one day.
As always, when we create an atmosphere of high expectations, where we learn by doing, and the emphasis is on reasoning more than right and wrong answers… more students will take charge of their own learning. As teachers, we know each grade levels and each class (even in the same school) can be very different. Therefore, ALL of my task cards and games come with a recording sheet that shows student thinking and allows for some level of extension. I also created this simple response sheet (freebie) for the times when I wanted students to be held accountable for watching a video or playing an interactive game.
But I also bribe students. “If all options are completed by X, you earn X.”
Well. That’s it for the math playlists. There is more to see in the resource itself. After you go though it, please look at it again after you try it. You will see lots of helpful tips in the lesson planning section. If you haven’t received your copy yet, click here.
Do you think we should do FAQ’s on the Math Viking Facebook Page? I’m up for that. I would LOVE to hear your ideas! I have already received dozens of awesome samples, suggestions and screenshots via email. Why not take it to Facebook? You already figured out I’m too old for insta.
