It was very
exciting to be in my office and have a teacher run to my door and say,
“You have to come now! You have to see this!” What I saw were teachers
getting excited about what they were learning, applying it in their
classrooms and watching our children learn how to use those higher order
skills and critical thinking skills.
I think what
was most exciting for me was to see the growth in the teachers. They
certainly changed the way in which they taught problem solving in the
classroom.
Georgia, Elementary School Principal
Sayreville School District
New Jersey
After nine
lessons, my class does a much better job of looking at the question
asked and the information needed to solve the problem. They do much
better when it comes to explaining how they got their answers. They
write their explanations with more details. I think my FCAT math scores
will be much improved.
Julie, 4th Grade Teacher
Seminole County School District
Florida
These [Making Sense of Problem Solving] lessons proved to be valuable. The students were engaged in the activities and the teachers were the facilitators. It was amazing watching the students solve the problems, listening to their conversations, and collaboratively working to develop a solution. The teachers often became excited during these sessions and would call me down to their classrooms to watch the positive interactions and see the higher level thinking that was going on in their classrooms.
Irene E. Kelleher
Principal, Sterling Park Elementary School
Seminole County Public Schools, Florida
Having
implemented the Teacher to Teacher curriculum, the experience has
been quite positive. I observed my students engaged in meaningful
problem-solving tasks that aligned with the state standards. I
appreciated how the problem-solving tasks included warm-up and extension
activities. Additionally, I found value in the consistent language and
expectations outlined in the curriculum and its connection to state
expectations. The student samples and rubrics provided in the Teacher
to Teacher curriculum are a powerful instructional tool as they
provide the opportunity for students to critically analyze and process
mathematical content. Both my students and I enjoyed the opportunity to
solve the problems in the curriculum.
Cami, Principal
Kent School District
Washington
I have
struggled with the teaching of word problems for the last nine years in
grades four through eight. Even though I used learning theories and best
practices along with word problems from textbooks, the result always
left me with a feeling that something was missing, and that student
results could have been better.
Earlier in
this school year I tried to keep students on-task with word problems
while they worked in small groups. Socializing with one another quickly
became more important than solving a problem. So, as the pilot study
began I asked students to respond to this question: "Out of the total
minutes allowed for preparing, processing, and solving the problem, how
much of the time did you spend on the exercise, compared with activities
such as visiting?"
The replies
were incredibly honest and SHOCKING to me. The students believed they
were on task 35% of the time. After we had used the Teacher to
Teacher curriculum for six weeks, I asked students the same question
again. The students perceived that they were on task 90% of the time.
Your curriculum was enormously helpful, and it helped me to create a
better problem solving environment.
By the 4th
week of the study, my students were utilizing the 'whole package' of
problem solving skills, i.e., reading the question first, underlining
important words/phrases in the problem, deliberating, visualizing,
diagramming and discussing appropriate strategies in small groups.
Bob, 8th Grade Mathematics
Teacher
Seminole County School District
Florida
There were a
lot of hands-on activities to benefit the needs of all students. The inservice was very important. We all benefit from modeling. I
appreciated the video of students working on the assigned problems.
Jodi, 4th Grade Teacher
Sayreville School District
New Jersey
My students
feel much more confident when approaching an open-ended problem. The
students have also improved in their explanations of how the problem was
solved.
[The program]
provided me with step-by-step suggestions on how to involve students in
problem solving. I don’t feel as overwhelmed as I used to when teaching
problem solving.
It was
helpful to see other teachers interact with students during problem
solving [on the inservice video clips]. From listening to their comments
while their students were engaged, I was able to model similar
instructional strategies in my classroom.
Carrie, 3rd Grade Teacher
Sayreville School District
New Jersey
With the
Georgia Performance Standards’ emphasis on problem solving, both routine
and non-routine, these Making Sense of Problem Solving books have
certainly come in handy. The lessons present students with problems that
require "out of the box" thinking. One of my favorite parts of the book
is the student work examples. I use these as teaching tools. I highly
recommend these books as part of your toolbox!
Brian Butera, Mathematics Teacher
Whitewater Middle School
Fayetteville County Public Schools, Georgia
I try and use
[the Performance Task booklets] regularly and find them extremely
helpful. I refer to them for all levels (6th, 7th, and 8th grade]. I
will usually start my class with the recommended Warm-Ups and then lead
into the Performance Task of a particular dimension.
I have been
using these books for approximately 3-4 years. I think they are the best
single source of Performance Tasks gathered within one book, for all the
grade levels in middle school.
Tim
Math Teacher
Oregon
My students
felt very confident when they knew we were doing the [Teacher to
Teacher] ‘problem solving’. They are able to solve problems a lot
better than at the beginning.
[After using
the program for nine weeks], I feel confident and feel like I can teach
skills to help students solve problems. I like teaching problem solving.
[The
inservice] has helped a lot. I am a first year teacher and it gave me a
lot of support and taught me strategies. Great program.
Paige, 3rd Grade Teacher
Seminole County School District
Florida
After
students were involved in the problem solving program for a period of
time, they were more comfortable with attacking word problems than
before. They no longer voiced, either verbally or with body language,
disapproval with the task at hand. They were better equipped with
approaching word problems and did not worry that their method of solving
the problem was the ‘right way’.
Janice, 4th/5th Grade
Teacher
Volusia County School District
Florida
[The
inservice] has given us a variety of tools to use. It’s gotten us to
think out of the box.
I feel more
confident teaching and my students feel more confident working on
problems. They know the problem is not going to get the best of them.
They don’t want the lessons to stop. Math is fun now.
Mary, 5th Grade Teacher
Elementary School
Seminole County SD, Florida
This program
has encouraged my students to become better problem solvers. Now, they
analyze the problem. They consider all the important information.
Jose Luis, 1st/2nd Grade
Teacher
Migrant Education Summer Program
Oregon
I’ve noticed
how much the student enjoy working in pairs or groups. For ESL kids this
is a big boost to their comfort level. As they work together they are
also having to practice their language skills to explain to their
partner so this is helping their communication skills, which is a tough
strand for them.
I love
watching kids think. The way this program guides kids without telling
them they’re right or wrong is great! I want to continue to teach this
way and let kids discover their answers and mistakes because that
ownership builds confidence and the willingness to try.
Julie, 3rd/4th Grade Teacher
Migrant Education Summer Program
Oregon
I will go so
far as to say, that in our state, I predict that the ‘No Child Left
Behind’ legislation will be supported greatly by what Teacher to
Teacher has to offer to teachers.
It [The
Teacher to Teacher Resource Binder] is a user friendly resource,
with a tight alignment with our EALR’s [state standards] in Washington.
In our after school program for all third and fourth graders at
Roosevelt, we use ‘the Art of Problem Solving’ to open the six week
[session]. The teachers were thrilled…and my idea for a subtle
professional development activity worked.
After going
though a scoring process with the teachers, grade 3-5, using Washington
State released test items, it was a relief to turn to our Teacher to
Teacher problems and have it all in one place. Seeing samples of student
work, and then scoring our students’ work together is KEY in the attempt
to improve mathematics teaching and learning.”
Bonnie
Math Specialist
Washington
Your Oregon
Math Performance Task book is an essential part of my math instruction.
It is teacher and student friendly and I know that my students’ scores
on the Oregon Math Problem Solving Assessment have improved from using
the materials in your book consistently during the school year. The
practice lessons, leading up to the tasks that students take for a
score, familiarize them with strategies and processes that ensure their
success. All of the strands are addressed with tasks that are relevant
to fifth graders.
Mark
5th Grade Teacher
Oregon
Your
materials really help students feel confident and successful right up
front—the way it is set up having them solve lower than grade level
problems first. This really helps boost their attitudes and confidence
from the beginning which I believe is a real hurdle for students and
problem solving. I think it also helps that students are first working
with the whole group and seeing different problem solving strategies
that way, then moving to pairs and then working on their own. By the
time they are off on their own they are feeling pretty good about
problem solving and have a number of strategies in their bank.
The colored
chart stating the problem and the strand at the beginning is the best!
It makes it easy and fast for me to find a problem appropriate to what I
am teaching. I also love the fact that each problem is correlated to the
standards so I know exactly how it fits with what I need to be teaching.
The problems are well written and there is a good variety.
Stephanie
5th Grade Teacher
Oregon
I appreciate
that the book hit all the strands so it allows a variety of problems [on
which] students can be successful. I’ve noticed that the problems that
allow for more pictures … are most beneficial to our Hispanic culture
and our hearing impaired.
Last year
about 90% of my students passed a work sample.
Karen
3rd Grade Teacher
Oregon |
