Professional Learning Summary 2

Introduction
For the second professional learning activity I completed an IRIS module on High
Quality Mathematics Instruction because my ILP goal was to have differentiated work at my
math stations, so doing work on high quality mathematics instruction will benefit me in
completing that goal. The module started out by explaining why high-quality mathematics
instruction is important and giving statistics about how students in the United States score lower
than other countries on standardized tests. It also gave examples of why some students struggle
with math, especially students with learning disabilities. For the next point in the module it
discussed what are some standards-based mathematics curriculums and why they are important.
It is important to use standards-based curriculum because the standards build upon each other,
and if you do not have a solid base then the higher-level concepts are going to be very difficult.
Using evidenced based mathematics practices is important because they have been proven to
help students better understand the material and is more likely to have positive outcomes.
Mathematics needs to be taught in a highly structured manner that clearly identifies the concepts
and skills that need to be learned and how they connect with skills that have already been
learned. There were three evidenced based practices that we reviewed for teaching mathematics
and they were visual representations, schema instruction, and metacognitive strategies with
examples of each. The last instruction method that was reviewed was effective classroom
practices which are encouraging student discussion, presenting and comparing multiple solution
strategies, and assessing student understanding. There were opportunities for reflection on
practices that you are currently doing or practices that you have seen be effective in others
teaching.

Important Learning Points

1. The importance of high-quality Mathematics Instruction
a. Students with learning disabilities and EL students tend to struggle with math, this
is because math is more that just numbers and contains content specific
vocabulary.
2. Standards Based Curriculum
a. Build upon the strengths of current state standards
b. Are informed by instructional practices used in other top performing countries, so
that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society.
c. Are evidenced based
d. Are aligned with college and work expectations
e. Are clear comprehensible, and consistent
f. Embrace rigorous content and require the application of knowledge through
higher-order skills
g. Encourage the use of real-world problems
3. Evidenced Based Mathematics Practices
a. Explicit, systematic instruction
b. Visual representations
c. Schema instruction
d. Metacognitive strategies
4. Explicit Instruction
 a. Clearly identifies the skills or concepts to be learned, which might include
highlighting important details
b. Connects the new content to previous learning
c. Gives precise instructions
d. Models concepts or procedures in a step-by-step manner and includes “think
alouds”— the teacher verbalizing his or her thought process while demonstrating
the concept or procedure
5. Systemic Instruction
a. Presents lessons that build on one another, moving from simple skills and
concepts to more complex ones or from high-frequency skills to low-frequency
skills
b. Breaks complex skills into smaller, more manageable chunks, a method also
known as task analysis.
6. Visual Representations
a. Having the students draw out their answers, use a number line, or a tens frame.
b. Let the students use manipulative to work it out
7. Schema Instruction
a. Teaching students how to solve word problems and how to identify the word
problem types based on the given problems structure.
b. Becomes more and more important when there are multiple steps to the word
problems
8. Metacognitive Strategies
a. Teachers need to teach multiple ways of solving a problem so students will
implement different ways for different problems. Students tend to only implement
one or just a few strategies to solve all types of problems.
9. Effective Classroom Strategies
a. Encouraging student discussion
b. Presenting and comparing multiple solution strategies
c. Assessing student understanding

Table of Activities

IRIS Module Time to Complete: 1.5 hours

Reflection Time to Complete 1 hour

Reflection

I decided to complete a mathematics IRIS module because my ILP goal is about having
differentiated activities for my students at the math stations. I wanted to learn more about
evidence-based practices in teaching mathematics. I will be able to use what I got from this
module to use with my students and use it to train my aides. I will be able to give my aides some
tools that they can use in small groups with the students to help them understand the math
concepts. Ensuring that the students have the foundational skills that they need to progress
further in the math concepts will help me to teach them and also teach my staff those
foundational skills. I will look for evidence-based practices and curriculum when searching for
activities for my students to complete in small group and station rotations. I have started doing
math days and ELA days, so I have 4 math stations, this is helping to work on different math
goals and concepts. Teaching the different concepts such as money is bringing real world
concepts into the curriculum for the students. One of the things that the mathematics module
showed was that students need math connected to real world concepts and I have brought word
problems and money math into the stations for the students to work on. I will continue to use
UDL and EBP’s to ensure my students are getting differentiated curriculum to fit their goals and
learning styles.