The Need: Over the last two years, my school district has placed a heavy emphasis on

enhancing our literacy instruction. We have received new reading, writing, and phonics
curriculum to address the needs that our students had, as well as focused on giving teachers
extensive training in order to increase student’s literacy achievement. Within all of this literacy
focus, mathematics instruction has taken a back-burner. The math curriculum used within our
district can sometimes be wordy, complicated, and confusing for both teachers and students
alike. Additionally, our district has many resources in order to address student’s needs who are
struggling within literacy, but there are very few resources for helping students who are
struggling within math content areas. To help address this need, I had joined a Math Recovery
training group this past school year. As of last week, I have been certified in Math Recovery
training, alongside another teacher in my building. Now that I’ve completed this training, the
question of how I can use this knowledge comes into play. For my leadership project, I would
like to apply the knowledge that I’ve gained in Math Recovery in order to help fellow teachers
(in grades K-2) in my building assess student’s knowledge surrounding math, and differentiate
instruction in order to better meet student needs.

The General Plan: To address this plan, I would like to meet with my principal, alongside my
fellow colleague who was also trained in Math Recovery, in order to discuss the purpose of
delivering this professional development to K-2 staff. Then, I would like to send out a survey to
the K-2 teachers within my building to find what are the main areas of concern that they see in
their students this year. What math content areas do students generally struggle with the most,
and what ways are they already utilizing to address these needs? Additionally, what content
areas would they like more support in addressing with their students? Once feedback has been
received from my building colleagues, we could then decide on major content area needs in
each grade level. In order to narrow the scope, we could pick 1 math content need per grade
level, K-2. We could then suggest small group adaptations, differentiation, and strategies that
teachers could use in conjunction with our curriculum in order to support their students in
those math content areas in which they struggle. Teachers would then be able to implement
these strategies in their classroom as they see fit, and assess how these new
adaptations/strategies enhance their student’s abilities to be successful within mathematics.
We would be able to review teacher/student successes, and what still needs to be addressed in
order to boost student achievement.

Personal Qualities/Leadership Moves: Focusing on ways to adapt/enhance our mathematics

curriculum in order to support struggling students is a meaningful and applicable venture for
teachers in my building. Since I, alongside another colleague, have already received the training
in this and use these adaptations in our own classrooms with the same curriculum, we would
be the best people to deliver this information to fellow teachers. As stated in the article,
Professional Community and Professional Development in the Learning-Centered School,
“Professional development with a sustained focused on subject teaching- strongly tied to the
curriculum, instruction, and assessment that students would encounter- produces the most
consistent effect on subject teaching and student learning” (Warren Little, 2006). Within my
plan, teacher learning would occur in order for student learning to be enhanced. Being a
second-grade teacher, I have a close working relationship with fellow K-2 teachers in my
building, so we already have the built a foundation for learning with each other.