Creating, Collaborating, and Computing in Mathematics (2013-2017)

1. Creating, Collaborating
and Computing in Math
(CCC-M)
2013-2017

2. Research Questions
a) What knowledge do “we” (teachers, school board pedagogical
consultants, and educational researchers) need in order to improve
students’ understanding, and integrate digital tools meaningfully
into this practice shift?
b) How can we engage in the most promising professional
development experiences to achieve the above practice shift in a
sustainable way?
c) How can we use student-learning data to monitor progress and
adapt practice toward the goal of developing digital literacy and
disciplinary understanding?

3. Goal of CCC-M
The CCC-M is a PLC project based on a research-practice partnership
(RPP) between a university and a school board. This project aims at
enhancing the capacity of teachers and students for integrating
technology into teaching and learning and to improve student success in
mathematics, with a focus on the transition from elementary to
secondary schools

4. Themes of CCC-M
 Research-Practice Partnership (RPP)
 Design-Based Research (DBR) / Design-Based Implementation
Research (DBIR)
 Communities of Practice (CoP) / Professional Learning Network
(PLN)
 Teacher Professional Development
 Student success in math
 Digital literacy
 Transition from elementary to secondary

5. The data collected by the school board also showed
drastic declines in student success in mathematics
between Grades 6 and 8.

6. CCC-M Lead Team
 The CCC-M lead team had meetings to plan and reflect on F2F meetings.
 To design and implement activities for teacher professional development
according to the objectives of the project and the teachers' needs and
feedback through the iterative process of design-based research (i.e.,
Design – Implementation - Evaluation – Redesign).
Riverside School Board
 Senior administrator (Assistant director of educational services)
 Techno-pedagogy consultant (RECIT)
 Elementary math consultant
 Secondary math consultant
 Lead teachers (from Year 2) – Lesson study, Reflection, and Inquiry
McGill University
 Principal investigator
 Research associate and Research assistants (Graduate students)

7. Lead Teachers
In Year 2, to expand the Lead Team, six lead teachers were appointed to take
responsibility for one of these activities (i.e., two lead teachers for each activity).
a) Lesson Study: To initiate a process of sharing lessons through classroom visits
and also video capture. For the production of video-based lesson study, their
classroom activities were video-recorded and they engaged actively in the
iterative process of lesson study - (a) identifying a lesson topic; (b)
implementing the lesson; (c) sharing and discussing the video clip of the
lesson with other teachers; and (d) re-designing the lesson.
b) Reflection: To model and stimulate reflection - (a) to keep writing their own
reflective journal; (b) to share parts of the reflections with other teachers on
EdModo; and (c) to play an active role in online reflective activities on
EdModo (e.g., posting questions and replying to other teachers' messages).
c) Inquiry: To model and stimulate inquiry. They develop their competence in
action research that is a strategy to identify a problem in teaching and
learning, implement change, and reflect and document their professional
practice throughout the self-inquiry process.

8. CCC-M Activities
 F2F meetings (full day): 4 to 5 meetings per year (at RSB building)
 Small group F2F meetings by elementary and secondary groups (half
day) – In Year 3 and Year 4
 Online spaces
 Online community: Edmodo (https://www.edmodo.com)
 Video-based discussion: Vialogues – from Year 3
(https://vialogues.com)
 PPTs for CCC-M F2F meetings: Slideshare
(https://www.slideshare.net)
 CCC-M photos: Google photo (https://photos.google.com)

9. Summary

10. Year 1 (2013-2014)
Objectives for Year 1
1. Foster a community of practice in mathematics teaching and digital
tools
2. Develop collective understandings of the situation
3. Develop practice in terms of using digital tools for ourselves and for
students
4. Sharing, reflection, inquiry
5. Consolidate a long-term partnership between RSB and McGill

11. Year 1 (2013-2014)
 13 Teachers (7 Elementary and 6 Elementary)
 Five F2F meetings and class visits (cross levels)
o F2F (1) - Sep. 13, 2013: “Successful strategies in my classroom
o F2F (2) - Dec. 3, 2013: “Sharing practice” with SHARE protocol
o F2F (3) - Jan. 30, 2014: “Challenging math concepts” and Creating
Mini lessons (Smart math tools)
o F2F (4) - March 26, 2014: “Small Focus Group Discussions” – (a)
Transfer of knowledge; (b) Decoding application questions &
situational problems, and (c) Student engagement and &
motivation (instaGrok)
o Class visits (A pair of an elementary and a secondary)
o F2F (5) - May 5, 2014: Reflection on class visits (with open
questions) and Creating team videos (iMovie Trailer)

12. Year 1 (2013-2014)
 Collective understanding of the situations: At the F2F meetings, the
teachers discuss issues related to their practice in teaching and
learning mathematics and hence develop mutual understandings and
collective knowledge about the situation and solutions.
 Hands-on sessions with various ICT tools (e.g., Edmodo; Educreation;
Flipped classroom; Smart math tools; InstaGrok; iMovie trailer): To
develop teachers’ practice in integrating technology into their
mathematics classrooms.
 Between the F2F meetings, the teachers interact and collaborate
with each other on EdModo (https://www.edmodo.com), an online
space for K-12 social learning communities.
 Key concepts: Collaboration; ICT tools; Flipped classroom; Formative
assessment

13. Year 2 (2014-2015)
Objectives for Year 2
1. Develop and test solutions based on collective understandings of the
situation
a) Design and implement video-based lesson studies
b) Develop practice of using digital tools for teaching and learning
math
c) Facilitate reflection and inquiry as well as sharing
2. Continue the professional learning network in mathematics teaching
and digital tools
3. Consolidate a long-term partnership between RSB and McGill

14. Year 2 (2014-2015)
 10 teachers (5 Elementary & 5 Secondary including 1 new teacher)
 Lead teachers: 2 teachers for Video-based lesson study, 2 teachers for
Reflection, and 2 teachers for Inquiry
 Four F2F meetings and class visits (same levels)
o F2F (1) - Oct. 7, 2014: Introduction to Three main activities (i.e.,
Video-based lesson study, Reflection, and Inquiry); Strategies for
problem solving (e.g., Getting the math questions, Using a Bar
model, and Error analysis)
o Class Videos – November 2014 (from 2 lead teachers’ classes)
Kristie
o F2F (2) - Dec. 10, 2014: Group norms and ground rules for
participation; Video-based discussion (e.g., Adding &Subtracting
Integers; Math magic); Introduction to Vialogues; Math talk
o Class videos – January 2015 (from 2 high school classes)

15. Year 2 (2014-2015)
o F2F (3) – Feb. 23, 2015: Video-based lesson study; Designing a
complex task (UPS strategy) and planning class visits between
same levels
o Class visits – March 2015 (same school levels) – A sheet for
“Reflection on Class Observation”
o F2F (4) - April 21, 2015: Reflection on class visits (Reflection
sheet); Video-based discussion (Whole group and small groups –
elementary and secondary)
 ICT tools: Edmodo; Vialogues; Padlet; Google form
 Key concepts: Formative assessment; Math talk; Reflection; Video-
based lesson study

16. Year 3 (2015-2016)
Objectives for Year 3
1. Cultivate a community of practice in mathematics teaching and
digital tools
2. Develop solutions and measure and evaluate the results (More focus
on Student learning data)
3. Develop practice of using digital tools for teaching and learning math
4. Promote reflective practice and inquiry
5. Consolidate a long-term partnership between RSB and McGill

17. Year 3 (2015-2016)
 7 teachers (4 elementary and 3 secondary)
 Five F2F meetings and small group meetings (one meeting per group)
o F2F (1) – Sep 28, 2015: Data analysis (Student learning problem);
Practices of High Quality Teaching; Review on strategies (e.g.,
Learning from mistakes, math talk, formative assessment) explored
in previous years; Curriculum mapping
o Class videos – November 2015 (Lindsay & Kristie)
o F2F (2) – Nov 24, 2015: [Reading] Learning Targets (Moss &
Brookhart, 2012); Designing learning targets; Video-based
discussion with transcripts (e.g., Error analysis; Favorite NO)
o Drafted a Video Lesson Study Protocol
o Class videos – Dec 2015
o F2F (3) – Jan 22, 2016: Video-based discussion (e.g., Student group
work); Plickers; Co-planning an activity

18. Year 3 (2015-2016)
o Class video – Feb 9, 2016 (e.g., Mad Captain’s Aquarium)
o Elementary group meeting – Feb 15, 2016; Updates on the co-
planning activities; Video-based discussion (e.g., student group
work)
o Class videos - Feb & March 2016 (4 teachers’ classes)
o F2F (4) – March 23, 2016: Four 4’s; Video-based discussion (e.g.,
Student group work)
o Secondary group meeting – April 22, 2016; Sharing practice and
discussing on Student group work
o F2F (5) – April 26, 2016: Hands-on activity (Nine colors); Video-
based discussion (e.g., Student group work on Error analysis)
o Class videos – April & May 2016 (3 teachers’ classes)
 Six teachers agreed to videorecord their class activities.
 Key concepts: Learning targets; Video-based reflective practice;
student group work

19. Year 4 (2016-2017)
Objectives for Year 4
1. Cultivate a community of practice in mathematics teaching and
digital tools
2. Develop solutions and measure and evaluate the results
3. Develop practice of using digital tools for teaching and learning
math
4. Promote reflective practice and inquiry
5. Consolidate a long-term partnership between RSB and McGill

20. Year 4 (2016-2017)
 11 teachers (6 elementary and 5 secondary) – 4 new teachers who are
working at same schools with existing CCC-M teachers
 A high turnover of RSB lead team members
o The senior administrator retired – A new administrator (Jessica) was
appointed.
o Elementary math consultant took sick leave – A consultant (who was
one of the CCC-M participating teachers) replaced the position.
o Secondary math consultant moved to another position.
 Four F2F meetings and small group meetings (two meetings per group –
Co-planning and Co-reflection)
o F2F (1) – Sep 20, 2016: Three main challenges – (a) Decoding
Application Questions and Situational Problems/Transfer of knowledge,
(b) Number Sense, and (c) Student Engagement and Motivation
(compare with the challenges identified in Year 1); Exploration of
strategies (e.g., Math talk, Math journal, and Open-ended task)

21. Year 4 (2016-2017)
o F2F (2) – Nov 1, 2016: Sharing practice; Reading articles on the three
strategies; Co-planning a rich task with learning targets (A planning
sheet)
o Class videos – November 2016 (Five teachers’ classes)
o F2F (3) – Jan 20, 2017: Discussion on three YouTube videos; Four
types of learning targets; Video-based discussion (e.g., Math talk)
o Elementary group meeting – Feb 10, 2017: Co-planning (Krispy Kreme
& Let’s paint)
o Class videos – February 2017 (Elementary classes)
o Secondary group meeting – Feb 24, 2017: Co-planning
o Secondary group meeting – March 20, 2017: Co-reflection (viewing
the elementary group’s planning session

22. Year 4 (2016-2017)
o Elementary group meeting – March 22, 2017: Co-reflection
o F2F (4) – April 7, 2017: Video-based discussion (i.e., Elementary
group’s process of co-planning and co-reflection); Small group
discussion on 10 strategies (i.e., Mindset; Numberless math; Math
centers; Group work; Flipped classroom; Math talk; Open-ended
questions; Working backwards; Error analysis; Formative
assessment)
 Key concepts: Three key activities (refer to the figure) for Video-
based collective practice

24. Key features of CCC-M (1/2)
Design principles of PLC identified at the PRACTIS meeting on May 4th, 2018
1. Professional learning is a collective process of reflection and knowledge
creation during which teachers develop a deeper and more complex sense
of their professional activity, namely teaching.
2. Fostering a climate of collegial trust is a fundamental first step in engaging
participants, so that risk taking and authentic sharing of practice and
knowledge can take place.
3. On the basis of collegiality, it is also important to strategically (e.g.,
language, method) bring the notion of criticality in teachers’ conversations
to make the learning process productive (improve & expand).
4. There must be a real perceived need to change, to innovate, to question
aspects of the accepted practice. Or at least the focus of PLC should match
up to teachers’ interest/desire/need/expectation. We also should have a
flexible agenda to address multiple layers of objectives from different
stakeholders.

25. Key features of CCC-M (2/2)
5. Based on teachers’ needs, PLC needs to have a flexible agenda regarding
introducing new stuff or spending time addressing and consolidating one
particular problem in practice proposed by teachers. Teachers like to be
left with something at the end of each PLC session.
6. It is important to have lead teachers emerged from PLC process. Who get
to choose lead teachers? what expertise should lead teachers have?
Teachers need to have a sense of ownership of the PLC.
7. Reflection is an important culturally mediated activity in professional
learning, and especially joint reflection on collaborative activity.
8. Rich artefacts can be helpful in promoting productive teacher
conversations. Such as rich data from classroom practice, especially
artefacts documenting students’ work, are useful as starting points for
collective reflection. Other artefacts (lesson plan or protocols) that
encourage the notion of shared and continuity can also contribute to the
sustainability of the PLC.
9. Logistic support, such as food.