Guided Math Ch. 2

I am currently reading the book Guided Math by Laney Sammons. I am hoping that working through the book will help me get more organized for the upcoming school year. 

Oh my, these are long chapters! Chapter 2 discusses building a classroom learning community. In a learning community, the teacher is a part of the community and is a facilitator of information. Risk taking and mistakes are a part of the learning that takes place in the classroom. Students learn, through teacher modeling, that they are encouraged to offer different perspectives and through these different perspectives, more complete understanding is achieved by all students. 

These are the main points I took from this chapter:

1. The Guided Math framework offers teachers various approaches to provide scaffolding and support

2. Communication is stressed...teachers model and instruct how to communicate ideas, how to hold conversations, how to justify

3. Teachers establish appropriate spaces for each Guided Math component...teachers who teach Guided Reading probably have a classroom conducive to Guided Math

4. Teachers typically do well with establishing a literacy-rich environment, but need to establish a numeracy-rich environment to include an interactive calendar, student-made charts, and a math wall

5. In a Guided Math classroomm, the flexibility allows for the teacher to demonstrate using manipulatives in a whole-group setting then continue to use them in small groups.

6. Math walls and math journals are used to help students understand the vocabulary taught in class and can be used for assessment and to identify misconceptions students may have. 

7. Teachers should read lots of math-related literature...use comprehension strategies to understand the literature, then focus on the mathematical relevance

A few things I am going to be thinking about this week:

1. How can I develop classroom norms to help us in classroom discussions?

2. What Kagan strategies would be conducive to use during Guided Math time? 

3. This chapter said that class charts should be made with student participation rather than pre-made  to truely reflect the learning happening in the classroom- what about math journals? I have bought a couple pre-made interactive math journal pdf's from Teachers Pay Teachers. I am wondering if the math journals should be more student-made also, created by me?

Well, I already have a lot to consider for next year. If anyone has any comments or thoughts, especially about Math Journals, please comment! 

Until next time!

Tanya