Routines, Anchor charts & Stations, oh my!

As an Elementary Math Program Coordinator, I get the privilege of visiting campuses twice a week in hopes to keep in touch with teachers (gather constructive feedback for curriculum decisions) and engage with students (to better understand how they’re learning). Upon one particular visit, I ran into a teacher who asked if she could pull me aside and into her classroom to ask about the different visuals used to teach dividing unit fractions by a whole number and dividing whole number by unit fractions.

I got goosebumps by the sheer question and personal desire this teacher had to move students from a conceptual understanding to an abstract knowledge of the algorithm associated with this concept. She urged me to watch her draw each model, encouraging me to correct her whenever I saw her deviate from the appropriate strategic approach. After she flawlessly modeled each strategy, we discussed how the process connects to contextual situations and how important it was for students to interpret the difference between each model. *for clarity, watch this video!


It was through this discussion that she began to explain to me the daily learning routine she takes her students through, that allows them to excel despite their daily hurdles of (shortened instructional time, highly disruptive behavior problems and students with tremendous gaps). 

• First, she does a quick mini-lesson by which she introduces the concept, and engages the students in the skill through manipulative exploration and/or drawings. 

• Next, she involves the students in building an anchor chart together based on their new learning.

• From there, she gives students time to complete a short, open ended formative assessment with the support of their notes and class-created anchor chart. 

• While reviewing the formative assessment data, she has her students in stations and pull students to her small group table to work with them based on their formative feedback. 

My second case of goosebumps came over my arms as I sat in awe of this teachers’ fabulous Tier 1 routines. I also couldn’t help but get distracted by the images of her class-created anchor charts hanging on the wall like a museum of art (see above), the evidence of learning from historically low performing students who felt confident enough to complete their formative without the offered support of their teacher.

I can’t explain the way a math heart leaps with excitement when it witnesses non-numeric evidence of student learning. When historically low performing students, who CAN (although their data often says otherwise), show off their true abilities.

These elements, when evident in a class can tell a story about the teacher's classroom culture, the efficacy built into his/her students and exemplifies their instructional practices.

Needless to say, my day was made! Kudos to this teacher, for her students are truly blessed!