Is task selection important?

“The level and kind of thinking in which students 

engage determines what they will learn.”          

Hiebert et al., 1997

With full implementation of the AZ College and Career Readiness standards, the PUHSD mathematics collaborative teams are engaged in high leverage team action (HLTA) #2 when planning upcoming units.  One of the four critical questions of a professionals Learning community culture is, “What do we want all students to know and be able to do?” To support answering this question, the collaborative teams are paying close attention to the daily mathematical tasks that they choose. 

 Teacher teams are engaged in HLTA #2: Identify and discuss student use of high-cognitive-demand tasks as part of the instruction during the unit.

They are analyzing the chosen mathematical tasks to ensure that each task will support students specified level of understanding of the essential learning standards. As we prepare for the new state assessment (AZ Merit), collaborative teams are making sure that the mathematical tasks students engage in are varied and provide opportunities to develop complex thinking.  As teachers are reviewing their resources, they are discussing these four questions: 

• What nature of tasks should we use for each essential learning standard of the unit? Will the tasks focus on building student conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, or a combination? Will the tasks involve application of concepts and skills?
• What are the depth, rigor, order of presentation, and ways of investigating that we should use to ensure students learn the essential learning standards?
•  How does our collaborative team choose the mathematical tasks that best represent each essential learning standard?
•  How does our team ensure the implementation of the tasks as a team in order to avoid wide variances in student learning across the grade level? (Beyond the Common Core: A handbook for Mathematics in a PLC at Work ™, Kanold &Toncheff, 2014)

Their mantra: Mathematical Tasks Matter!  Not only do teams have to choose meaningful tasks, they also have to discuss how the tasks will play out in the classroom (will share this HLTA in another blog). 

This is the final week of school in 2014!  Even as I write this, it seems that time does really fly.  The PUHSD collaborative teams are currently entrenched in concept recovery, final exams, end of semester crunch-time, and some serious planning for Spring 2015. As we finish up the first semester, I just wanted to formally thank the PUHSD Math teachers.  I have the pleasure of working with a dedicated group of teachers, who give of themselves every day, are risk-takers, and willing to think outside of the box to ensure that all students are learning and preparing for college and career readiness. 

Next up, how do the collaborative teams assess this level of complexity, HLTA #3!

What is the "grain size" of change?

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. 

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” 

- Margaret Mead 

Wow- where has the time gone?  The first nine weeks have literally flown by!  This school year, the collaborative teams are revisiting last year's curriculum, assessments, and instructional plans and making revisions based on evidence of student learning.  The past nine weeks have been filled with opportunities for collaborative teams to reflect upon strengths and challenges and create action steps to support their SMART goals (short-term and long term). We have met as district-wide teams, content specific teams, math gatherings and much more.  These same teams are truly impacting student achievement and are the "grain size" of change needed for mathematics in Phoenix Union High School District.  

The mathematics teachers have been focusing on the unit-by-unit actions of collaborative teams to ensure success for all students with the AZ College and Career Readiness standards.  These specific unit-by-unit actions are the High Leverage Team Actions (HLTA) described in the Beyond the Common Core: A Handbook for Mathematics in a PLC at Work Series.   The HLTAs articulate the before, during, and after unit actions by teachers and students. These actions are aligned to the 4 critical questions that professional learning community cultures strives to answer on a unit-by-unit basis.  For the next few months, I am going to highlight these actions and share success stories, artifacts and evidence of student and adult learning.   

BEFORE the unit:  There are 5 High Leverage Team Actions that occur before a unit of instruction and this week I am going to discuss the first one.  

HLTA #1: Agree on the expectation and the intent of the 

common essential learning standards and 

process standards (mathematical practices) for the unit.  

As we are implementing new curriculum, the collaborative teams are working on understanding the essential learning standards and specifically identifying the mathematical practices aligned to the intent of the domains and standards.  For example, read through the standard A-REI.1.

Explain each step in solving a simple equation as following from the equality of numbers 

asserted at the previous step, starting from the assumption that the original equation 

has a solution. Construct a viable argument to justify a solution method.

Notice, the last sentence in the standard.  Does it sound familiar?  Like a particular mathematical practice?  Collaborative teams are looking at these "practice-forward" standards to truly understand the expectation of the standards. Collaborative teams are identifying specific Mathematical Practices that will be highlighted during the unit in order to better engage students in the process of understanding each learning standard. Here is an example from an Algebra team and what I love about this is the collaborative team is clearly communicating the essential learning standard and the targeted mathematical practices to the students.  

As the teams are developing their common understanding of the learning and process standards, they start to work on HLTA#2....  

Stay tuned! Watch for upcoming blogs to learn about the next HLTAs.