Area of Focus:

Wanting to change and enhance the math curriculum in my classroom further

drove me to question the influence of math centers guided towards individual student
needs. I noted in my inquiry notebook that students seemed less engaged in math and
really needed that enrichment time for them to hands on manipulate their learning.
Another idea I noted was that students were at varying levels when it came to math.
Some of my students understood the concept rapidly, whereas others needed more work
and experience with their thinking. These varying factors led me to question if altering
students math centers would aid in engagement and achievement. Along with these
factors, I wanted to ensure that these individualized centers aligned with the current
material the students were learning as a whole group. Because of this, the centers are
catered to allow them more work and experience with the current topic they are learning.
Depending on the skill level, each group has a center revolving around the current class
topic that is individualized for their needs.
In my research, I have students manipulate their learning and show achievement
by constructing their own knowledge. One goal I have for my students is to attain the
ability to reason abstractly and ask questions about the work they are doing. The best way
for students to arrive at this point is by drawing on previous knowledge to help support
their current thinking. I strongly believe that students construct new ideas based upon
their current or past experiences and knowledge. This thinking clearly aligns with the
constructivist theory explored by Jerome Bruner (Bruner, 1996). In my classroom, I want
students to be able to access their current and prior knowledge to help them construct and
make understanding of new concepts.

Students Involved:
When thinking about what particular group of students to look at, it seemed
impossible to not include each student. Since each student is placed within a group that is
on a similar skill level, they all have differentiated tasks catered to best fit their needs. As
a whole class, I looked at all students current test scores and student work to flexibly
group my students. Even though I am constantly collecting data on all of my students, I
wanted to specifically focus on one group of students. This particular group is my lowest
group who need that constant practice and manipulative experience. In this group,
students who struggle with the material and particular topics get that extra opportunity to
form foundational knowledge.

Student
:
Selena

Notes:

Sophia

Ivy

David

ELL
Very quiet student who will not ask for help or assistance if she does not
understand a question
Understands information when she has manipulatives available and plenty of
practice
ELL
Gets off task easily if she is not engaged in the material or if she does not
understand it
When she has visual cues, she is able to successfully use them to help
advance her learning
IEP
Is extremely determined to push her thinking and understanding about topics
if she does not understand them
She is very strong at explaining her thinking and understanding
ELL
He struggles to understand certain terms because of the language barrier
Works well in a group setting when he can see other students manipulating
their thinking

Strategy Implementation:
I taught my students how to use these centers through a variety of ways. The first
way I taught them how to use the centers was through modeling. I would model the
center, allow them to practice with me, and then allow them to work on it individually.
For each new center I implemented the I do, we do, you do strategy. After this, we
created a class anchor chart of what centers should look and sound like. This chart was
always displayed in the classroom so that students could easily reference and refer back
to it. Throughout my research, I discovered the need to implement math talk strategies.
The way this was implemented was through the I do, we do, you do strategy. Along with
this, there was also a anchor chart that constantly displayed prompts students could use to
share their thinking with the classmates.