1. When Johnny Can’t Multiply Workshop SPDU Saskatoon Sept 25
Regina Nov 7
https://www.spdu.ca/workshops/mathematics.html#understanding_supporting_math_learning
Understanding and Supporting Mathematics Learning
How leaders can help with understanding of curriculum changes
SPDU Saskatoon Nov 24
When Johnny Can’t Work with Fractions
Nov 13,14 Saskatoon
Dec 11,12 Regina
https://www.spdu.ca/workshops/mathematics.html#understanding_supporting_math_learning
“Students can hit any target that they can see and that holds still for them” -Rick Stiggins
Further Reading
Learning Targets_BFK[1]
learning-targets-sample- chapters-1
HOE_Schuhl- WritingLearningTargets- CFF305
"Every assessment should give hope and efficacy" -C Erkens
Have you checked out Mathletics? This is web based learning that has incorporated Saskatchewan Math Curriculum, Sask Common Assessments, CAT IV, and other made in Saskatchewan diagnostics. It is teacher driven and provides rich practice and tutorials. Read more here
http://www.mathletics.ca/
Starting Out On Target
Welcome back! This time of year our minds are full of goals for the upcoming school year, things we want to ensure we do differently or more regularly than last year, issues we want to deal with more consistently, and time frames we want to meet despite having over- packed agendas! Having clear goals at the beginning of the year is important to our instruction, our students, and our professional growth. Having clear goals at the beginning of each lesson is integral to instruction, assessment, and learning.
Hattie’s Visible Learning (2012) describes an “expert teacher” as passionate, professional, and well-planned. Part of effective planning is Targeted Learning: being clear about what is to be learned (skills, knowledge and/or understanding) and having a way to identify whether the desired learning has been achieved.
Our outcomes-based curriculum lends itself nicely to creating learning targets, and clear learning targets in every lesson are an important component of UbD planning. ”Teachers share the target with their students by telling, showing, and—most important—engaging students in a performance of understanding, an activity that simultaneously shows students what the target is, develops their understanding of the concepts and skills that make up the target, and produces evidence of their progress toward the target. Together, teachers and students use that evidence to make decisions about further learning.” (ASCD, 2012)

2. Designing learning targets becomes a framework for choosing meaningful activities to support learning outcomes. There is an overwhelming number of resources, lessons, games, activities, projects etc to incorporate into instruction as a means of teaching through constructivism and application, and enhancing student engagement–but when we view these activities through the lens of the learning target–what students need to know, understand and be able to do as a result of this lesson activity — we find we can be selective and choose only meaningful activities that convey learning and understanding of the outcome. If a game or project does not specifically help teach the outcome, then it is a waste of instructional time. If the project is meaningful, the learning target helps both the teacher and student become mindful of what the intended learning is. We focus on what we will learn today, not what we will do today. by continually referring to the learning target, the teacher models active and accountable learning, and helps students develop self-awareness, mindfulness, and a growth mindset.
Formative assessment is a crucial part of effective instruction. Using assessment as learning, continually checking our learning progression against the goal (target) focuses instruction because the teacher can identify and address learning gaps, and focuses learning because students understand where they are in the attainment of the target. Understanding what each students has learned and what they still need to learn is the basis for differentiating instruction. The learning target becomes the framework for developing our formative assessments. In this way, instruction is streamlined and we capitalize on instructional time, while further building self- monitoring skills in our students.
Determining and communicating learning targets before instruction means we are starting with the end in mind (backward design). Brain-based research indicates that when students understand what they are going to be doing and learning, they begin the lesson more mentally prepared, and activate more of their brain. By knowing what they are supposed to learn, they can self-monitor, adjust their thinking and improve learning. (Davies, Herbst, and Reynolds, 2012).
From ASCD Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today’s Lesson, 2012).
Where can I find “I can” statements so I can communicate math outcomes in student- friendly language? Of course you can create your own “I can” statements to communicate curricular outcomes, but if you want some examples, try these:
1. GSSD teachers have created parent friendly “I can” statements for outcome based reporting. These can be found on the GSSD portal at https://portal.gssd.ca/department/Curriculum/AssessmentRubrics/Pages/default.aspx ..and these are downloadable!!
2. The Saskatchewan Common Math Assessments have “I can” statements for every outcome (as well as rubrics). Scroll to the bottom of the teacher version.
3. Prairie South School Division established this handy formative assessment spreadsheet for keeping track of formative assessments for every outcome and indicator. They have an “I can” statement for each indicator.
4. Sun West School Division has developed “I can” statements for every outcome http://supportingmath.wikispaces.com/Mathematics+Support+K-12

3. The Ministry of Education is fo cussing on literacy for the coming year, so many of our division resources are
designated for literacy support. Teachers of ELA will be receiving inservices and coaching support, so in an effort
to take something off the plate, there is no division wide benchmarking this year.
Our hope is now that teachers are familiar with the process, we continue to use exemplars on a class and
school-wide basis. Coming together to collaborate around assessment is still one of the most powerful
professional development opportunities that teachers can undertake.
Even though division-wide benchmarking is on “hold”, there are still many good reasons to use exemplar
problems!
 We should be teaching through problem solving, and these tasks often provide an opportunity to
introduce or apply and make connections to curriculum topics.
 Exemplars are an opportunity to have students make their reasoning public by writing about their
reasoning process.
 You may choose to have students work through exemplars collaboratively. Collaborative learning is a 21st
century skill that has applications far beyond math class.
 Rich problem solving tasks lend themselves well to involving students in assessment by having them
establish critieria. What does a thorough answer in math look like?
 Working through performance tasks allows students to compare strategies, and explore each other’s’
ideas. As students may have a variety of approaches and many of the tasks are open ended, they are
compelled to provide proof.
Our curriculum states that we must teach math through mathematical processes: Problem solving,
communication, connections, reasoning and proof, and representing mathematically. Using exemplars allows
students to engage in rich mathematics and apply all these processes.
Consider engaging in collaborative assessment with other teachers in your school. Also, some schools have
expressed an interest in partnering with another school to trade and assess exemplars.
For more information, view the support document on the math blog, http://blogs.gssd.ca/csmith/gssd-benchmarking/
(scroll down to Benchmarking Support Document).
To assist you, we saved anchors for every grade last year, including assessment criteria. It can also be found at
the above link. If you’d like some support with benchmarking, some ideas around assessment and criteria,
contact your math coach! cindy.smith@gssd.ca or 306-621-2248
Score student work collaboratively
against agreed-upon criteria. The
power of collaborative scoring should
not be underestimated. It helps
teachers internalize what quality
looks like and to arrive at more
consistent professional judgments.
-Davies, Herbst, Reynolds, 2011
: Concept Card Matching: Students are given a set of cards with main
topics of study and concepts from a unit. This is like a concept map but less open as students are given the
concepts on cards. They work in groups to move the cards around and arrange them as a connected web of
knowledge, and must be prepared to justify to the teacher or other groups why they arranged the cards like they
did. This could be used as an activity at the beginning of the unit (to recall prior learning) or as a summary at the
end of a unit. Within groups, this activity will sponsor peer-teaching as students explain their understanding of
concepts to each other. Keeley, P., &Tobey, C. (2011). Mathematics Formative Assessment. Thousand Oaks, CA. NCTM and Corwin.

4. Did you know you have this great resource installed on your GSSD laptop? It’s called “Kidspiration”. Look in your start menu, all programs, software.
High school math and calculus teachers will love Interactive Math http://www.intmath.com/ . It has interactive lessons and demos, and has a mobile app where kids can receive lessons and tutorials on their smartphones.
Have some fun with this—The Bad Maths Flickr Group. These photos of badly done math in public could make great error analysis class starters https://www.flickr.com/groups/badmaths/
Math File Folder Games: http://www.learn-with-math-games.com/math-file-folder-games.html
http://www.getmathchat.com
Getmathchat is an ipad/iphone app where kids can collaborate, view and correct each other’s work.
Visit my blog at http://blogs.gssd.ca/csmith/
I have uploaded several resources including assessments, lessons, and links.
Contact me at cindy.smith@gssd.ca
A handy feature is that you can split the base 10 blocks apart. You can split the 100’s into 10’s or 1’s. I haven’t seen other virtual manips that do this.