Mathematics Instructional Practices

Instructional Strategies
Instructional strategies employed by teachers are either defined as being "Gradual Release" or "Guided Mathematics Groups". These include:

Gradual Release

• In this model the teacher instructs directly, which might include Q&A and multimedia
• Students then work together in pairs or groups to investigate the new concept collaboratively
• The last phase before initial assessment is to have students work independently
• AKA: I do - We do - You do

Guided Mathematics

• Guided Math may follow a whole group mini lesson or begin at the start of a lesson.
• In this model students work in small groups, rotating through stations to approach a concept from multiple perspectives.
• Students are pre-assigned to groups by tiered data.
• This gives teachers closer access to individual students for more personalized instruction.

Instructional Modalities
In all classrooms teachers are encouraged to implement the Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) means of introducing new concepts. The steps in this process include:

• Concrete: The students can physically touch and manipulate objects to anchor their understanding.
• Representation / Pictorial: The students are drawing representations to model their thinking.
• Abstract: The students are doing "pencil-paper" math with an underlying conceptual understanding.