Wednesday 26 September 2012

Inside Mathematics - Resources for the Common Core


Inside Mathematics provides a way for educators to share strong practices via:
  • tested demonstration lessons
  • guided tours of reflective mathematics practice
  • tools & resources to support daily practice
  • a professional learning community
The great (and amazing) thing about this project is that it doesn't just talk about the CCSS, it actually provides performance tasks and assessment resources that are aligned to the standards. AND they can be searched by either grade level or mathematical progression.


Here's an example for 2nd Grade - Incredible Equations:

"The task challenges a student to demonstrate understanding of concepts involved in addition and subtraction. A student must be able to understand addition and subtraction as inverse operations and apply this understanding to problems where the unknown is in different positions...must make sense of the equals sign as a balance point between the two sides of an equation in order to find a missing addend on one side of an equation...must be able to justify a solution."

Common Core State Standards Math - Content:
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
2.OA.1 Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction.
2.OA.2 Add and subtract within 20.

Common Core State Standards Math – Standards of Mathematical Practice:
MP.1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
MP.3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

Included are the task itself, which consists of eight addition and subtraction equations with one number missing, and a task rubric.

The MOST valuable part of this piece? An extremely detailed evaluation and reflection guide, including examples of student work. Identified are 
  • what students knew and were able to do
  • areas of difficulty for the students
  • strategies used by successful students
  • a frequency distribution for the example students
  • a table of understandings and misunderstandings for each equation arrangement
  • the Implications for Instruction and Action Research in narrative form
What a fabulous tool for reflective practice! Click over to the site and look at all of the excellent performance tasks available there for FREE.