Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress. – Mahatma Gandhi Math Workshop R&D Group: Jenny Sawmiller, Danny Pruzinski, Jill Moss, Jim LaLick

 Great Math Classrooms use the 8 math practices and teachers know the students math knowledge in order to scaffold students’ growth  Best Practices in math include  Utilizing the Common Core – 8 Math Practices  Math Talk/ Discourse  Picking Good Tasks  Questioning  Community  Inquiry/ Problem Solving  Individual and Small Group Conferencing  The “old” way of teaching math is not congruent with what research shows is best practice for teaching math.

 The structure of math workshop lends itself to all of these best practices.  The math workshop we advocate for is simple;  a mini-lesson,  practice time,  and a wrap-up.  Discourse is promoted throughout the workshop  The teacher has time to meet with small groups for intervention and enrichment during the practice time  Students have an opportunity to solve problems and not simply do computation.

 ( minutes) - this is a the part of the math lesson that you give common understanding. A typical mini-lesson may have a connection to what students already know, a teaching point, active engagement and a link to the future.

 ( minutes) - this is any meaningful activity/activities that give you as the teacher an opportunity to conference with the students individually or in small groups.  What the students do may include centers, games, task boards, paper practice, fact practice, journal pages, compass learning, investigation activity, etc.  THIS DOES NOT NEED TO LOOK THE SAME EVERY DAY OR IN EVERY CLASSROOM AS LONG AS CONFERENCING IS TAKING PLACE.

 ( minutes) - this is the part of the lesson where you and the students have an opportunity to share "ah-ha" moments or share other learning and work from the day. It is also a time that you can bring the students together for final thoughts.

 Math Expressions is a resource that can be used to create your workshop lessons.  Pick and Choose activities that match your teaching point from the Teachers Manual, RTI, Math Games or any other resources you have.  For videos of us planning a sample lesson from Math Expressions into a workshop lesson as well as sample workshop lessons for each grade please visit the blog or see links below.blog  Center Based Workshop Video Center Based Workshop Video  Investigation Based Workshop VideoInvestigation Based Workshop Video