As we approach the end of the first six weeks of the school year – educators are starting to see community form, relationships build, and role modeling taking place in the classroom.  Many students begin to self-regulate, utilize sentence stems, and probe one another’s thinking. 

Routines, a sequence of action followed regularly, are forming in and out of the classroom. These include daily routines, nightly routines, weekly routines, and sometimes no routine.  A routine might include brushing your teeth, packing your lunch, taking the dog for a walk, going for a run, or watching your favorite television show. 

Meeting the Needs of Our Learners

Six weeks into the school year also serves as a reflective time for educators.   In what ways will our goals for the school year be surface to life? What evidence can we gather as it pertains to our goals and foci for the school year?  How can we calibrate our thinking to meet the needs of the learners? Without support, thinking about changing our instruction to meet the needs of our learners can be an overwhelming and daunting task.

“Changing teaching means changing the understanding that underlies the teaching” (Dack & Katz, 2013, p. 5). As educators, we can begin to feel a pressure to make major changes or overhaul our instruction, schedule, or routines. Despite this temptation, we are also conscious of the one constant factor in education that continues to work against us: time.  Rather than making sweeping changes to your current practice, why not try a subtle shift in routine to help students gain proficiency. 

Opening Routines in Mathematics

Opening routines are generally 5-15 minutes long and can be leveraged as an opportunity to build community and to gain access to grade level content. Some widely utilized opening routines in the classroom include: Number Talks, Problem Strings, Which One Doesn’t Belong, Estimation 180, Splat!, Same/Different, Choral Counting, Number of the Day, and Open Middle.  Adding this subtle shift to your instruction may yield extreme benefits that transcend the content of mathematics.

“These mathematical routines are structured activities that, when used consistently, can help students gain proficiency with a range of concepts and practices…implementing mathematical routines can prove beneficial to students across all grade levels” (Barnett et al., 2013, p.2-3).

When teachers have an instructional goal (social, content, language, or practice) in mind, they are able to choose an opening routine that best meets the needs of their learners. In addition to choosing the routine, the educator is able to align his or her actions and behaviors while facilitating to also support the instructional goal through pausing, paraphrasing, probing with questions, and scribing student thinking.

Student Choice and Voice

Student choice and voice are essential components of all opening routines.  As educators, we recognize the importance of those in our classrooms and also yearn for those same things in our professional learning opportunities. If you are interested in learning, join us on January 28, 2020 as we explore opening routines and the implications those routines have on community, formative assessment, and the identity of students.  

Click HERE to register for Opening Up the Math Essentials via Opening Routines. 

#MichME #Mathematics #MathEssentials #WeLeadLearning #KentISDpd

This blog was written by Andrew Smith, Math Consultant for Kent ISD and edited by Amanda Walma, Professional Development Coordinator for Kent ISD.

References:
* Barnett, Joann, et al. High-Yield Routines. Reston, NCTM, 2013, pp. 2-3. 
* Dack, Lisa, and Steven Katz. Intentional Interruption. Thousand Oaks, Corwin, 2013, p. 5.