Get R.E.A.L... Math in Libraries?

I wrote this blog post for the Metro Nashville Public Schools collaborative blog- School Libraries in Music City. Thought I'd also share it here...

Confession: I’m not a librarian. But I work with them every day and I’m a BIG fan.

So, now that we have that out of the way, I’d also like to tell you that I not only love math but love finding ways to incorporate literacy skills into math content and instruction. One thing I see over and over again is the lack of math in our school libraries. I don’t think it’s necessarily for lack of trying, I just think it’s more about “tradition” than anything. Often libraries are seen as the center of literacy and information, and rarely seen as a place to teach and apply mathematical practices.  With that being said, it seems librarians and math teachers aren’t always sure how to work together to meet math and literacy standards. 

Well, we are trying to break down those walls in MNPS and make our libraries the center of teaching and learning across all disciplines, math included!

So, what’s a librarian to do? Here are some thoughts… 

Curating  resources 

Use your role as an information specialist to curate resources for math teachers. Find the best print and digital resources that match state standards and make them easily accessible to teachers and students 

Incorporating Literature 

There are a ton of math and literature resources available. Make sure to add these books to your collection. Then, reach out to math teachers with some interesting ideas on how to incorporate literature into their classes. 

Displays 

You could also create “math” displays in the library featuring one or more of the books and even an activity to go along with them. Like this one…  

Writing 

Now that you’re reading in math, why not start writing? Work with a teacher to implement writing in their math classes. You could help them develop a writing process the students can use to reflect on their work and learning. 

Problem Solving 

If students are going to be able to solve problems, they need to read and comprehend the problem first. Share reading strategies with teachers that will help their students break down the problem so they are able to pull out the necessary information to solve it. 

Vocabulary Development 

Vocabulary development is so important on so many levels. This is just another “in” you can use to begin working with math teachers and luring them into the library.  Plan vocabulary lessons with the teachers and either teach or co-teach lessons that help students gain the necessary vocabulary they need to be successful. 

Lesson Planning 

Now that you have established yourself as an instructional partner through any (or all!) of the above strategies, why not start helping math teachers plan full lessons. Collaborate on where to best incorporate the above the strategies, manipulatives, co-teaching models, etc… 

Co-teaching 

Now that you’ve started lesson planning, why not start co-teaching! Co-teaching would create a situation where manipulatives and math centers could really be center stage and provide a hands-on and engaging learning experience for students. 

MakerSpaces 

MakerSpaces are definitely making their way into libraries all across the country. We have several schools in MNPS with varying levels of a MakerSpace in their library. If this is an option for you, this is just another way to get math incorporated into the library. You can have math manipulatives, measurement tools, and task cards with math activities ready to go for students to use. 

Professional Development 

And, last, but not least, seek out your own professional development in these areas so you are prepared but also ready to provide professional development and resources to your math teachers to keep best practices and best resources fresh in their mind.

As you can see there is A LOT that librarians can do to bring math into the library and into math classes. As with anything else, don’t try to do it all at once! Start small, with one or two suggestions on this list or with just one or two teachers you know would be willing participants.

Have you had any successful lessons or collaborations with a math teacher? We’d love to hear about them in the comments!

Get R.E.A.L Data

There are data and data interpretation standards at almost every grade level. To get R.E.A.L. with data, stop giving kids pre-made data sets to manipulate. Let them create their own data...the kids could survey their classmates, then interpret and present the information. This can be done using as much or as little technology as you like (or have access to!). This can also be done as a cross-curriculum project and a good way to incorporate Math standards into an interdisciplinary unit. Some great technology resources are Google Forms, Exel Survey or a website service like Survey Monkey. The students create the form and email the link to their classmates. Once the students have completed all the surveys, the small groups can go in and see the responses and prepare to present the information to their classmates. This is also a good time to incorporate Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheet to help students create tables or charts and graphs to create a visual representation for their data.

R.E.A.L. Teaching

This infographic really hit home for me. I have worked with some very difficult teachers and faculties in the past and this infographic doesn't apply to just individual teachers, but whole teams and faculties. These are not only highly effective habits for teachers, but these habits create more effective teaching teams and more effective faculties in schools. Faculties that work together, toward a shared mission and vision. All of which leads to the ultimate goal...student success!

Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics

R.E.A.L. Resource

What your friendly school librarian can do for you...

(data/numbers pulled from Metro Nashville Public Schools School Library Programs)

R.E.A.L Resource

I stumbled upon this on Twitter tonight and thought I'd post it...awesome Math resource! The blog posts a "Would You Rather" question, covering a variety of Math topics, that require students to justify their answers (sound familiar??). REAL content, REAL application of Math, what more could you ask for?

Would You Rather?

R.E.A.L. Idea

I saw this on Twitter and it's right on!

If they can do the worksheet, they don't need it. If they can't, it won't help them. Marilyn Adams @jcorippo
— Holly Clark (@HollyEdTechDiva) January 12, 2014

Get R.E.A.L. Learning Opportunities

So, I recently went through a 3 day Buck Institute for Education Project-Based Learning workshop and it was amazing...talk about getting rid of worksheets and getting students engaged in learning! Even if you can't go to one of their trainings they have a great website with a lot of excellent resources for teachers. Check it out...

Project Based Learning for the 21st Century

R.E.A.L Resource

If you haven't heard of or seen this site, it's seriously amazing. It's a collection of videos of teachers teaching awesome lessons and discussing them. So many good ideas and you get to see them in action! (and, yes, they are aligned with Common Core!)

Teaching Channel

Get R.E.A.L. Group Consensus

This is a strategy I learned from my assistant principal this year. It it a way for a group to work together and come up with a group consensus about a particular topic. So after the activity (reading, discussion, video, etc...) each group is given a poster board. On that poster board they need to draw a smaller circle in the middle and a larger circle around that (think of a circle inside of a circle). The outside gets divided into sections (one section per person). So if there are five people in the group, then you divide it into five sections. For a specific amount of time (a couple of minutes) each individual reflects and in their section each student writes down his/her answer to the question, their thoughts, and/or take-aways. Then (as a group) each person shares his/her ideas and in the middle the group writes down common responses. In the end- you have group consensus. After that, each group could share out to the whole class and you can create a class consensus about the topic/activity.

Get R.E.A.L. with QR Codes

So, I've never personally seen this done, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been done...I had the idea today that you could generate QR Codes to create a scavenger hunt for your students! It could be an activity at a family engagement event at school or just away to get your students to review for a test. Each code could contain a question and/or answer that would lead to a new location with a new code.

Get R.E.A.L. with Think-Pair-Share

Just about everyone has heard of Kagan’s Think-Pair-Share cooperative learning activity. Well, here’s the same activity with a twist. In order to be able to do this you will need access to some form of a classroom response system (i.e. clickers, or something similar). You would pass out a clicker to only a portion of your students (half or less) and after your question or directions each student would have to pair up with a classmate that has a clicker (forming partnerships or small groups). They would discuss the question or problem you have proposed and when you ask- they “share” their answer by submitting their response. You could post the responses, discuss them and then move on to the next question or problem and have the students form different groups, basically starting the cycle over again. It’s just another way to get students engaged in the learning process while giving the teacher some feedback to monitor class understanding. This could be done during any step in the learning process from initial teaching to reviewing and assessing.

Get R.E.A.L with Collaboration Kits

I was at a workshop recently and they had a pencil box at each table with supplies in them for the participants to use while working in groups. Well, I thought that was a really good idea, so I created my own. This is a picture of what I am calling a collaboration kit. It has pens, pencils, highlighters, post-its, index cards, a timer and role cards.

Get R.E.A.L with Worksheets

Despite the blog title, worksheets are a necessary evil in the classroom. I recently heard a quote from a collegue that really puts this into persepective- "A worksheet should be the recording of an activity, not the activity." If you think about it, this makes sense. So many times worksheets are used as the main "activity" in a lesson to pracitce or demonstrate a new skill or concept, but really, our students need to be more engaged in the process. They need R.E.A.L. activities to participate in and use the "worksheet" to record their participation. This holds the students accountable for their learning and behavior and still gives the teacher an opportunity to assess mastery of the objective.

Get R.E.A.L.!

This blog is by teachers for teachers. We want to help make learning R.E.A.L.! That is- make learning Relevant, Engaging, Accessible, and Long-Lasting. Throw out those boring worksheets and antiquated strategies and embrace a new practice that gets R.E.A.L. about student learning.