Strategies+for+the+Math+Classroom

 **Math Instruction: Consolidate Student Learning During Lecture Through the Peer-Guided Pause** //(Hawkins, & Brady, 1994) //. During large-group math lectures, teachers can help students to retain more instructional content by incorporating brief Peer Guided Pause sessions into lectures. Students are trained to work in pairs. At one or more appropriate review points in a lecture period, the instructor directs students to pair up to work together for 4 minutes. Students are given a worksheet that contains one or more correctly completed word or number problems illustrating the math concept(s) covered in the lecture. The sheet also contains several additional, similar problems that pairs of students work cooperatively to complete, along with an answer key. Student pairs are reminded to

(a) monitor their understanding of the lesson concepts;

(b) review the correctly math model problem; (c) work cooperatively on the additional problems

(d) check their answers.

The teacher can direct student pairs to write their names on the practice sheets and collect them as a convenient way to monitor student understanding.

**Math Instruction: Support Students Through a Wrap-Around Instruction Plan** //(Montague, 1997; Montague, Warger & Morgan, 2000) //. When teachers instruct students in more complex math cognitive strategies, they must support struggling learners with a ‘wrap-around’ instructional plan.

That plan incorporates several elements:

(a) Assessment of the student’s problem-solving skills. The instructor first verifies that the student has the necessary academic competencies to learn higher-level math content, knowledge of basic math operations, and grasp of required math vocabulary.

(b) Explicit instruction. The teacher presents new math content in structured, highly organized lessons using: Guided Practice (moving students from known material to new concepts through a thoughtful series of teacher questions) Over learning (teaching and practicing a skill with the class to the point at which students develop automatic recall and control of it).

(c) Process modeling. Think aloud – the teacher verbally reveal his or her cognitive process to the class while using a cognitive strategy to solve a math problem. In turn, students are encouraged to think aloud when applying the same strategy—first as part of a whole-class or cooperative learning group, then independently.

(d) Performance feedback. Students get regular performance feedback, summative and formative, about their level of mastery in learning the cognitive strategy.

(e) Review of mastered skills or material. Once the student has mastered a cognitive strategy, the teacher structures future class lessons or independent work to give the student periodic opportunities to use and maintain the strategy. The teacher also provides occasional brief ‘booster sessions’, reteaching steps of the cognitive strategy to improve student retention.

**Math Problem-Solving: Help Students Avoid Errors With the ‘Individualized Self-Correction Checklist’** //(Zrebiec Uberti, Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2004) //.
 * Thoughts for lower learners:**

Students can improve their accuracy on particular types of word and number problems by using an ‘individualized self-instruction checklist’ that reminds them to pay attention to their own specific error patterns. To create such a checklist, the teacher meets with the student. Together they analyze common error patterns that the student tends to commit on a particular problem type (e.g., ‘On addition problems that require carrying, I don’t always remember to carry the number from the previously added column.’). For each type of error identified, the student and teacher together describe the appropriate step to take to prevent the error from occurring (e.g., ‘When adding each column, make sure to carry numbers when needed.’). These self-check items are compiled into a single checklist. Students are then encouraged to use their individualized self-instruction checklist whenever they work independently on their number or word problems. As older students become proficient in creating and using these individualized error checklists, they can begin to analyze their own math errors and to make their checklists independently whenever they encounter new problem types.

**Math Review: Teach Effective Test-Preparation Strategies** //(Hong, Sas, & Sas, 2006) //. A comparison of the methods that high and low-achieving math students typically use to prepare for tests suggests that struggling math students need to be taught:

(1) specific test-review strategies - looking over their notes each night, rereading relevant portions of the math text, reviewing handouts from the teacher, by attempting all homework items, tackling additional problems from the text book, and solving problems included in teacher handouts

(2) time-management and self-advocacy skills - explicit instruction how to take adequate in-class notes, manage their study time wisely to adopt a systematic method to review material for tests and to give themselves additional practice in solving problems, seeking additional help from teachers


 * for more strategies and to see the ones above in full context go to:** []

// Introducing Academic Strategies to Students: A Direct-Instruction Approach  // 1) you explicitly show students how to use the skill or strategy (2) students practice the skill under your supervision--and you give frequent corrective feedback and praise (3) students use the skill independently in real academic situations (4) students use the skill in a variety of other settings or situations ("generalization"). ** for more strategies and to see the ones above in full context go to: [] **