Beware...the Common Core Takes Time

Last summer I knew that the common core would take a chunk of my time.  Redesigning curriculum is never a fast task.  I started designing lessons during those hot summer months, but when you're not in the thick of things, I find it hard to produce something that will actually work in the classroom.  So, I got enough to get me started and planned to just put in the hours during and after school to organize the rest of the new curriculum.

While I knew it would take my time, I guess I was oblivious to the time it would take to switch my classroom over.  With not only teaching the new standards, we have to change the "how" it will be taught as well.  Enter the Math Practices into the scene.   I was lucky, with being trained in the curriculum Math in Context, I could already see how the math practices were utilized in the classroom.  However, even though I was trained in these all important math habits, my students were not.  Assuming we could just "add" these to our daily routine was an error on my part.

These practices are habits that mathematicians use when solving problems and habits can only be developed over time.  It takes time to fully understand the habit.  More time to practice the habit.  But my hope is that once these practices do become habits, it will actually save us time in the end.

So how do we integrate these habits into the classroom?
1)  Students need to first be aware of the practices that will help them with their mathematical journey.  Introducing the habits and discussing key components is essential but not enough to make it a habit.  Deciphering what it looks like in practice can give students a mental image to tune into to.  But even just seeing it isn't the same as making it a practice.

2)  Teachers need to model the habits and refer to them often.  When students see it day in and day out it becomes a part of the learning environment...an unspoken expectation.  As teachers refer to them, using the same terminology, these terms will hopefully pop into students as they put them into practice.

3)  Which brings me to the next step.  Students need plenty of practice.  Not only the new curriculum but how the math practices will help them get through each problem.  It seems at times like students want to take the easy way out, but the math practices force them to persevere.  They must find an entry point to the problem by making sense of what the question is asking them.  They cannot take a back seat in hopes someone else will do the thinking for them.  They must communicate their thoughts precisely in order to help someone else understand completely.

With the DOK guiding the learning to new levels, teachers must align their practice opportunities with their assessments.  No longer will multiple choice questions be enough to fully assess student understanding.  Open-ended questions where students must tackle a problem using the knowledge they have gained is essential to developing the math practices as well.

I'm glad we have two years to put all these pieces together.  It's going to take time for everyone involved.  We're going to take risks and make mistakes.  And in the process, our learning will be far greater and we will be more prepared.