Michele McKinney, Jessica McCurdyMonarch School.
Santa Cruz City Schools
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES IN MATH
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL WIDE PROBLEM OF THE MONTH
8 step process:1. PLC – 1 POM per trimester2. Staff chooses based on strand focus and student need3. Staff does the POM together in Staff Dev Mtg4. Review Teacher Notes together after struggling with
the problem 5. Plan how to differentiate for different grade levels 6. Staff implements POM in classroom (ind., sm. gr. or
whole class)7. Cross Classroom Gallery Walk8. Staff reviews student work and critiques the process
LINKS TO COMMON CORE – GEORGE POLYA“A PROBLEM IS NOT A PROBLEM IF IT CAN BE SOLVED IN A SINGLE DAY.”
POM provides opportunity to apply CCSS Mathematical Practices
1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
Critical thinking, group work, have several days to work on the problems
Progressive cognitive load is modeled in the CCSS assessments example
IMPACT FOR STUDENTS
Students struggle with complex, rich problems. Increased perseverance.
POM problems are differentiated. Opportunities to explain their thinking,
share strategies, and critique each other’s thinking.
Poster/gallery walk provides opportunities for anonymous feedback, different solving strategies, and multi-format expression of solutions.
LESSONS LEARNED
Try, try again. Allow for individual and small group
time to work on problem. Scaffolded process – teach a new step
each time you do a POM. Student choice – poster levels and
partners.
RESOURCES AND TOOLS
svmimac.org – MARS and POM Illuminations.nctm.org Insidemathematics.org for videos of POMs Mathsolutions.org Kise, J. A. G. (2010). Creating a coaching
culture. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press
Jessica Branch – [email protected] Michelle McKinney – [email protected]