Enhancing Teaching Practice and Developing Students’ Communication and Problem-Solving Skills Through Co-Teaching Three-Part Math Lessons

Area(s) of Focus: technology, math
Division(s): Primary, Intermediate, Junior
Level(s): Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8
Abstract:

We will develop skills as co-teaching partners to support each other's learning and professional growth. Establish partnerships with Numeracy Instructional Leader for continual support.

Port Royal has been working diligently as a staff to implement three-part lessons as a school-wide focus, and coming together to debrief success, challenges and next steps. We wanted to take a step farther by “digging deep” with grade partners, working collaboratively through a co-teaching model to consolidate our own individual expertise to eventually building our staff capacity through lesson demonstrations. This proposal provided us with the opportunity to observe and learn from one another, achieving consistency school-wide focus by reflecting our learning during PD sessions. In order to achieve our goals, a full set of various math manipulatives and other resources were necessary.

Team Members

  • Sam Uppal

    TDSB

  • Dana Cooke

    TDSB

  • John Keiper

    TDSB

Professional Learning Goals

  • develop skills as co-teaching partners to support each other’s learning and professional feedback
  • deepen our understanding of the effective implementation of all the components of the three-part lesson
  • set SMART GOALS – include what-if statement with success criteria
  • spark interest in further pursuit of c0-teaching opportunities
  • provide school-wide PD session to share learning and reflection with staff, as well as plan for next steps

 

Activities and Resources

Activities

School-based PD at Port Royal. Co-planning/Co-teaching and Debriefing. Planning with Numeracy Instructional Leader.

 

Resources

Smart Board, Ladybug, Document Camera, Nelson Text, Manipulatives, Curriculum Documents, and teacher resource books.

Unexpected Challenges

Everything went as planned and no difficulties were encountered.

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

Setting an example of teamwork amongst staff and students. Working collaboratively with students to deepen their understanding of the “Big Idea” being taught. Allow students to feel independent and confident in communicating their thoughts within each classroom environment, especially in a community where oral communication is an area of need.

Sharing

Through school-wide PD sessions along with daily informal conversations/meeting with colleagues, we are providing opportunities for colleagues to observe three-part math lessons in different classrooms followed by an immediate debriefing session.

Project Evaluation

The project was very successful as we achieved most of our pre-set goals.