TOP TEN WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR CMP CLASSROOM

1. TOP TEN WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR CMP CLASSROOM Jennifer Kruger & Jennifer Perillo Twelve Corners Middle School Brighton Central School District Rochester, New York February 19, 2016

2. Our Goal’s for Today’s Session • Discuss current challenges they face in organizing their classroom to implement the CMP curriculum. • Consider 10 ways that two veteran teachers have dealt with common organizational issues that come with implementing the CMP curriculum. • Set goals for ways they can improve their organization in their CMP classroom.

3. Got Organization? • What is one organizational strategy that you feel you’ve “perfected” over the years? • What is one organizational area that still challenges you?

4. Disclaimer What you are about to hear is, by no means, highly-researched, what is right and what is best, or will solve all of your problems in the next 40 minutes. However, these are the routines and systems that we have used year after year.

5. Important to Note Jen and I will be referring, throughout the presentation, to our classes based on color. We color-code our classes, instead of calling them by schedule (1/2 odd, for example), so they know anything pertaining to that color pertains to them.

6. And Now We Present… Our Top Ten List For Organizing Our CMP Classrooms

7. #10Physical Space in the Classroom • Numbered Tables • Tables vs. Rows VS.

8. #10Physical Space in the Classroom Positive Math Messages on the Walls • Jo Boaler’s Positive Norms (youcubed.org) • First Week of School Activities help support adoption of our norms

9. #10Physical Space in the Classroom Reminders About Group Work • Setting the tone for cooperative learning • Student-generated

10. #10Physical Space in the Classroom Teacher Desk • Not front and center in our student-centered classrooms

11. #9Encouraging Mathematical Connections • Connections Board • Encourages unprompted student-generated connections

12. #9Encouraging Mathematical Connections • Math in Everyday Life Board • Students are “detectives” in the world around them as they look for examples of what we are learning about in class.

13. #9Encouraging Mathematical Connections • Challenge Problems • Not related to the content we are currently learning in class • Accessible to all students at any level (accelerated to students with IEPs) • Problems that help to stretch students’ mathematical thinking.

14. #8Using Technology to Stay Organized • Smartboard Files for Agenda • Daily agenda is posted • Ability to be saved and printed out

15. #8Using Technology to Stay Organized • Smartboard Files • Investigations by Class • Each class has their own file for each Investigation • Ideas are recorded

16. #8Using Technology to Stay Organized The Power of the Website • Post daily homework assignments for students to access

17. #8Using Technology to Stay Organized The Power of the Website • Attach documents for students to print in case they lost or forgot theirs • Post answer keys to review packets for students to access to help guide their studying Link to Website

18. #7Absent Students • Print out daily agenda, staple any necessary handouts, and placed into group folder • Fill out absent form, attach any necessary handouts, and place it in a missed work box for student to pick up when they return • Students can, also, email us to find out missed work and we can send directly to them before they return

19. #6Missed Work & Extras Binders • What do I owe you? • Can I get an extra copy of that handout?

20. #5Keeping Kids in the Room Three strikes and you’re in! • 3 bathroom passes per quarter (we meet every other day) • They don’t “roll over” like cell phone minutes • They get free passes on days of assessments

21. #5Keeping Kids in the Room • Four passes for designated areas (school-wide system) • Office • Restrooms (2) • Nurse • Limits the number of students out of the room at one time

22. #4Chart Paper Management • When do you use chart paper vs. notes on the Smartboard or visualizer? • What to do with all that chart paper!? • What happens when you have multiple classes in the same room?

23. #3Supply Management Students: “I forgot my calculator!” “I ran out of paper!” “I lost all my tape and glue sticks!” “Do you have a ruler I can use?” Teacher: “Check in the supply bin!” “Check the side table”

24. #3Supply Management “What do I do if I don’t have a pencil??”

25. #3Supply Management “I forgot my journal in my locker…again!”

26. #2Journals and Spirals and Binders, Oh My! • Binders with: Graph Paper Spiral Textbook Handouts Extra paper for HW • Composition Notebook - for notes, vocabulary, journal entries, reflection questions

27. #2Journals and Spirals and Binders, Oh My! Graph Paper Spiral vs. Journals • Graph Paper Spiral is a place to explore mathematics! • Journal is a place to solidify mathematical concepts and ideas VS.

28. #1GROUP FOLDERS • How we hand out papers • How students turn in papers • Cuts transition time = more time for instruction • Continuity from year to year…this is a routine that kids learn in 6th grade and then continue to use throughout their middle school years

29. Dinner Table Conversation Dinner Table Conversation What is something you are excited to bring back to your colleagues and school community?