English Learners and Distance Learning: Math Language Routines

by Vanessa Cerrahoglu, Jennifer Wilson, and Liz Ramirez

We envision creating a world where learners know, use, and enjoy mathematics. Knowing and using math goes beyond calculating and evaluating. We create purposeful opportunities for students to engage in sense-making and use language to negotiate meaning with their peers. This calls for a language-rich environment where there’s space for all students to participate in argumentation and explanation.

What do these conversations look like now that we are no longer sharing physical space together? And how do we support our multilingual students who are gaining proficiency with English during distance learning? 

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New IM 6–12 Resources for Addressing Unfinished Learning and Engaging Students in Distance Learning

by David Petersen and Kate Nowak

In our previous post, we described how we are thinking about planning for next fall. We are also creating some new resources to support users of IM K–12 Math in the fall. Some of this is to address unfinished learning from spring 2020, and other supports are intended to address the potential for distance learning in the upcoming school year. Part of this work is the K–5 unit adaptation packs described in an earlier post. Here is more of what you can look forward to rolling out over the summer.

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Coming Together Around Distance Learning

By William McCallum

I can’t imagine what it must feel like right now to be a teacher facing the uncharted territory that is the coming school year. Will I be teaching 100% online, or have some face-to-face interaction with my students? Will I be teaching synchronously or asynchronously for most of the school year? How will I get to know my students and how will they engage in one another’s ideas? How will I get to know my students’ families? How can I give them manageable guidance to support students this year? Most of all, where can I get help with all these questions?

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English Learners and Distance Learning: Compare and Connect

By Vanessa Cerrahoglu, Jennifer Wilson, and Liz Ramirez

We envision creating a world where learners know, use, and enjoy mathematics. Knowing and using math goes beyond calculating and evaluating. We create purposeful opportunities for students to engage in sense-making and use language to negotiate meaning with their peers. This calls for a language-rich environment where there’s space for all students to participate in argumentation and explanation.

What do these conversations look like now that we are no longer sharing physical space together? And how do we support our multilingual students who are gaining proficiency with English?

Continue reading “English Learners and Distance Learning: Compare and Connect” →

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English Learners and Distance Learning: Co-Craft Questions

By Jennifer Wilson and Liz Ramirez

We envision creating a world where learners know, use, and enjoy mathematics. Knowing and using math goes beyond calculating and evaluating. We create purposeful opportunities for students to engage in sense-making and use language to negotiate meaning with their peers. This calls for a language-rich environment where there’s space for all students to participate in argumentation and explanation.

What do these conversations look like now that we are no longer sharing physical space together? And how do we support our multilingual students who are gaining proficiency with English?

Continue reading “English Learners and Distance Learning: Co-Craft Questions” →

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English Learners and Distance Learning: Clarify, Critique, Correct

By Jennifer Wilson and Liz Ramirez

We want to acknowledge that we are all in different situations that shape how we respond to the call to adapt our teaching to fit a model for distance learning. This impacts the access we have to our students for the remainder of the school year.

Our hope is that we find the grace to give each other space to make sense of how we will cultivate agency, mathematical understanding, and language in these times.

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Looking to the Fall, Part 2: Creating a Supportive Resource for K–5 Teachers

By Kristin Gray, Director K–5 Curriculum and Professional Learning
and Kevin Liner, IM K–5 Professional Learning Lead

In our previous post, we highlighted important considerations in planning to support students in the fall. While we need to first explore these ideas conceptually, we must also consider what this looks like in practice. In this post, we explore the unit adaptation materials we are creating under these considerations. We explore this structure through the IM K–5 Math beta curriculum materials being piloted this fall, but we believe this is a generalizable process and structure that could be applied to other materials.   

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Looking Ahead to 2020–21 in IM 6–8 Math and IM Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2

By David Petersen, Lead Curriculum Writer and
Kate Nowak, Director of K–12 Curriculum Strategy

This school year has been strange and stressful, and there is uncertainty about what next year will look like. Due to school closures in 2019–20, students will have missed important learning opportunities, and existing inequities may have become more pronounced. On top of that, it’s likely that many schools will not be back to normal in the fall. We may face shortened or fewer school days, more distance learning or hybrid face-to-face and distance learning, and ongoing school disruptions.

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Looking to the Fall, Part 1: Welcoming and Supporting K–5 Students

By Kristin Gray, Director K–5 Curriculum and Professional Learning
and Kevin Liner, IM K–5 Professional Learning Lead

It is overwhelming to think about how teaching and learning will look in the fall. The uncertainty of the impact of students missing so many days of school, and the educational inequities that have been magnified as a result of the COVID-19 virus, leave us all with so many unknowns. 

With so much uncertainty, we imagine there may be some knee-jerk reactions to unfinished learning this fall. There may be a temptation to frontload the school year with the prior grade-level content students may have missed or assess each student immediately on arrival back to school and then “fill in” the unfinished learning. As well-intentioned as these ideas may be, we can’t help but think about the impact they could have on students mentally, emotionally, and mathematically as they reenter school. 

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English Learners and Distance Learning: Enhancing Access

By Liz Ramirez

Which students are experiencing success in today’s “distance learning”? What barriers do other students face?

While virtual learning platforms have made it possible for some live instruction to continue during school closures, this type of learning environment presents additional challenges for students who are learning English. Many of the language supports and resources that students rely on in the classroom are no longer accessible, including subtle ones like teacher gestures, word walls, and turning to a partner for clarification. Now…?

How do we support English learners in a virtual learning environment?

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