Smith Curriculum and Consulting

Where Interactive Teaching and Extreme Learning Collide

Differentiating Small Groups for Guided Math

For me, Guided Math wasn’t a specific station but rather I pulled from the stations to work with a separate group. This allowed me to constantly differentiate my Guided Math Groups without changing my Math Workshop Rotation Board. I’m all about working smarter and not harder and this truly helped. The tip for this is to pull 1-2 students from each Math Workshop group to allow for the activities to ... View Post

Planning for Small Groups (Guided Math) as Part of Math Workshop

Now that you know that Math Workshop is a crucial part of your math instruction, I’m here to tell you that Small Groups (also known as Guided Math) are just as important. There are so many components of Small Group instruction that are mirrored in your Math Workshop groups. Planning For Small Groups has Six Key Components: 1.Determine the focus of your lesson. 2.Determine how you will assess the ... View Post

Setting Up Your Small Groups for Math Workshop

Setting up your small groups for math workshop involves a little bit of work. While there is no right or wrong way to group your students for small groups (also known as Guided Math), below is what I have done based on research and personal use in my classroom over the course of several years of trial and error. Steps to Setting up Small Groups for Math Workshop First, using a screener of your ... View Post

Managing Students Work while Working with a Small Group

One of the biggest struggles I hear from teachers is managing students while they are working with small groups. How can I make sure that they are on task when I am working with others? For the most part this comes back to setting up those clear rules and expectations in the beginning when you are monitoring rather than running small groups. Reinforce those positive actions by students and ... View Post

7 Perfect Summer Reads for Teachers

Summer is here, school is out, and you are more than ready to rest and recharge from an always-hectic year in the classroom. You’ve spent months with every waking thought focused on your classes, lesson plans, and continuing education coursework. It’s time to give your brain a break with some fun reads that will hold your interest without making you think too terribly hard. Here are a few great pic ... View Post

Preparing Math Workshop

Preparing Math Workshop in your classroom is going to take some work from you but I know that you can do it. When I decided to implement Math Workshop in my classroom, I knew my schedule was going to be tricky but I was determined to make it work. First things first, you need to know your schedule. How are you going to use this in your classroom? In my school we had 42-45 minutes for each class ... View Post