1. Personalize Practice with Accelerated Math
Outcomes for this session:
Understanding AM and the basic cycle of AM
Introducing AM to students

2. Principles of Effective Practice
Dedicate time to practice
Practice what you need to practice
Practice until you know it
Let instruction inform practice and let practice inform instruction
Practice boosts confidence
Review cements learning
ACTIVITY 1, PART 2, reporting out
Tell attendees this is a list of 6 principles of effective practice. They’re listed on pages 6-7 of Getting Results with AM as well. Tell attendees there’s a good chance that the examples of effective practice they recall are examples of these principles in action.
Ask one pair to report out one of their examples of when practice was effective. Listen, relate their example to the principle behind it (or most closely related), and add to the explanation as needed.
Ask another pair if they have a different example. Listen, relate, and add to the explanation as needed.
Continue, asking some of the pairs to give examples of when their practice was not effective. Knowing what does not work often gives insights into what does.
Or open the discussion by pointing a particular principle and asking for an example that shows this principle at work.
Try to avoid redundancies and try to cover all 6 principles.
A critical point that should come out in the discussion is that all these principles assume a good, timely feedback system. That’s the way we know what we need to practice, what kind of instruction is called for, and when we’ve done a good job.
To sum up, point out that we all know how important practice is and we know what it takes to make sure practice is effective. Really, it’s a tall order to provide effective practice for every student in your math classroom.
But what if you could have some help? [This is the transition to the next activity and next slide.]
ACTIVITY 1, PART 2, reporting out (ALTERNATE)
Attendees would’ve already shared what they noticed about practice from the activity (see notes for previous slide).
Try to make connections between what they shared and the 6 principles of effective practice on this slide. (The principles are also listed on pages 6-7 of Getting Results with AM.) For example . . .
Time spent doing the activity likely made them better at it.
Instead of practicing the actions themselves, they probably spend time training themselves to do as they were told (and not to do as they saw).
They might benefit from more practice to truly “know” how to do the activity . .
Once you saw everyone being successful at the first part of the activity (hopefully), you asked them to practice something a little more challenging (only do “s” actions).
Were they more confident the more they practiced?
Review doesn’t apply here, but attendees should recognize the importance of review when practicing over time.

3. What if you had an assistant to help in the classroom?
What would you have the assistant do?
What tasks are best performed by you?
ACTIVITY 1, PART 3 (turn to page 3 of the Activities Packet)
Ask attendees to suppose they had an assistant in the classroom who could help with certain tasks. Tell them it might help to think about last year’s classes and what you would love to have had help with. Have attendees turn to Activity 1, Part 3 in their Activities packets.
First, give attendees 1 minute to list tasks that must be done in the math classroom, with or without an assistant. Give 1-2 examples if necessary. If post its are available, have them write the tasks on post its. If not, jot the list next to the table (T-chart) in their packets.
Second, ask attendees to work with a partner to sort tasks into the two columns. Which tasks would you have an assistant do? Which are best performed by the teacher?
Facilitate a brief discussion by having each pair name one thing they put in each column. Ask groups not to repeat items. Do this orally, or make a T-chart on a flipchart and record responses (or ask a volunteer).
Possible responses: Teacher: Teach lessons – Plan according to student needs – Work one-on-one with students Assistant: Print assignments – Grade assignments – Enter results in grade book – Report on student progress
Sum up and segue to next slide by stating that, in many ways, AM is that assistant teachers are looking for.

4. Meet your assistant: Accelerated Math
Generates effective practice
Automates scoring and tracking
Provides feedback to the student and to you
Frees you to instruct
Emphasize that Accelerated Math software is a powerful assistant, far more than a worksheet program. You can see from this list that AM is your assistant in formative assessment – feedback (data) that lets you and the student know when instruction and practice are on track. The practice assignments, the tracking, and your instruction are linked.

5. This is Accelerated Math !
You will be the students now….
This is Accelerated Math !

6. When all attendees have finished doing the problems, ask them to look at the assignment on the slide with you so you can point out a few things.
Hide this sequence of slides if you do not want to use them while giving the instructions.

7. First, the type of assignment is at the top.

8. Notice that your name is on your sheet.

9. Point out the class and school information.

10. Have them circle the form number – that’s important.

11. Point out where the sheet indicates the objective(s) included in their assignment.

12. Finally, tell them to look at their work and circle their answers on the assignment sheet.
They should also write the letter that indicates the right answer next to the number, as shown.
Give them a minute to complete the task.

13. Here’s the next step Complete all items on your practice
Try to get some wrong (I know it is tough!)
STOP!
Tell attendees the next step is to fill out the scan card. This first time, you want to walk them through it (next several slides).

14. Filling out a NEW scan card
Ask attendees to find the scan card on page 37 of their Getting Results Guides if the scan card on the screen is too difficult to see.
The next group of slides will explain how students fill out scan cards.
Although your students might be familiar with scan cards already, there are a few steps that are unique to Accelerated Math assignments. If you’d like to review these steps with your students, you can jot them down by number 3 in your handouts.

15. 1. Write your name
First, students will write their name along the right side as shown.

16. 2. Check the assignment type
To the left of their name, they’ll check the assignment type.
Ask: What will your students check?
Correct answer: Practice (Detroit should only be using Practice assignments to start)

17. 3. Write the form number
Next, write the form number. Students will find the form number on their assignments – right in the middle, near the top.

18. 4. Bubble the form number
They’ll also need to bubble that form number right below.

19. 5. Bubble the answers
Finally, they’ll bubble the answers. This student wrote her answers next to the item numbers so she could find them easily.
Possible question: It looks like there’s a lot of room left on this scan card. Will students use a new one each time?
Renaissance Response: Students will reuse a scan card until it’s filled up. This student’s next Practice will start with number 7 and she’ll begin filling in her answers on the scan card right where she left off. That’s why it’s important for students to hold on to their scan cards. One way of doing that is to have them keep scan cards in their Accelerated Math folders as we discussed earlier.

20. Students also work through a cycle
Within this larger classroom cycle, students work through their own practice, test, and review cycle. They’ll practice content until they know it, test to show mastery, and review to cement learning. In future sessions we’ll learn more about this student cycle.
For now, let’s return to the big ideas and share some of your thoughts and questions.