Accelerating K-8 Math Instruction: A Comprehensive Guide to Helping All Learners

by Nicki Newton, Melanie Harding (Foreword by)

Overview

Schools have been using various approaches to address the pandemic-related struggles that students are experiencing with mathematics. There is an overwhelming consensus among both educators and researchers that we need to adopt acceleration rather than remediation as a tool to counteract the challenges that students currently face. Acceleration is about equity, which allows all our students to access an engaging, standards-based, academically rigorous, grade-level curriculum. In this book, educational consultant Dr. Nicki Newton shows K–8 teachers how to accelerate mathematics instruction so that all students learn and work on grade level, receive the right scaffolding when they need it, and feel a sense of achievement and success. Educators will in turn experience less frustration and the joy of helping students thrive. Including numerous strategies, tools, and downloadable templates, this book addresses research, planning, assessment, pedagogy, teaching math vocabulary, lesson planning, goal setting and motivation, and action planning. Readers will learn how to use acceleration to get everybody motivated to learn and to create pathways of achievement.

Book Features:

• Unpacks accelerating instruction as a way of saying “everybody is invited to this party.”
• Looks at how acceleration provides a pathway to helping academically challenged students achieve and move in step with their grade-level standards.
• Offers detailed ways to plan, implement, and evaluate accelerated math lessons in grades K–8.
• Provides strategies, tools, and downloadable templates so readers can use ideas right away.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807768167
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	05/26/2023
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	101,012
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Nicki Newton is an education consultant (drnickinewton.com) who works with schools and districts around the United States and Canada on K–8 math curriculum (including best practices, guided math, and math centers) as well as curriculum mapping. She has taught elementary school, middle school, and graduate school.

Table of Contents

Contents (Tentative)

Foreword

Acknowledgment

Introduction
Acceleration Is Not Remediation
Phrases We Need to Know

1. Research on Acceleration
What Is Acceleration? What Is the Shift?
Why Do We Accelerate?
What Are the Benefits of Accelerating?
How Do We Accelerate?
Summary

2. Unpacking Prior Knowledge: Assessment as the Key to Acceleration
The Importance of Prior Knowledge
What Prior Knowledge Should Be Prioritized?
Trickiness of Prior Knowledge
The Role of Prior Knowledge in Accelerating Math
Explicitly Tapping into Prior Knowledge
Activating Prior Knowledge Posters
Metacognition
Graphic Organizers to Tap into Prior Knowledge
Schema/Prior Knowledge Maps
Summary

3. Acceleration and the Teaching of Math Vocabulary
Directly Teaching the Vocabulary
Practicing the Vocabulary
Weaving the Vocabulary Throughout the Lesson
Summary

4. Acceleration Lesson Plan Format
Instruction Plan
Assessment Plan
Progress Monitoring
Keeping Track Throughout the Lesson
Planning Checklists
Reflecting on the Acceleration Process
Summary

5. Acceleration and Pedagogy
Eight Recommendations for Mathematical Intervention
Explicit and Systematic Instruction
Math Intervention Lesson
Distributed and Deliberate Practice
Visualization
Manipulatives
Diagrams and Graphic Organizers
Visuals for Word Problems
Number Paths and Number Lines
Graphic Organizers
Visual Displays
Choosing the Best Graphic Organizers
Word Problems
Fluency
Math Think Alouds
Emergent Bilinguals
Building Mathematical Proficiency
Math Practices and Processes
Professional Development
Summary

6. Acceleration: A Primary Classroom Example
Jamal
A Week of Scaffolding the Bridging 10 Strategy
Tracking a 1-Week Acceleration Cycle
A Week of Acceleration
Evaluating the Acceleration Cycle
Supporting the Acceleration Cycle
Summary

7. Acceleration: An Upper Elementary Example
Lucy
Two Weeks of Scaffolding Division: Big Division Ideas
Tracking a Two-Week Acceleration Cycle

8. Acceleration: A Middle School Example
Mario
Learning Trajectory of Division
Two Weeks of Scaffolding Fraction Division: Big Fraction Ideas
Tracking a Two-Week Acceleration Cycle
Prior Knowledge: Trace of Dividing Fractions by Fractions
Lesson 1: Dividing a Whole Number by a Fraction
Lesson 2: Dividing a Whole Number by Any Fraction
Dividing a Unit Fraction by a Whole Number
Dividing a Fraction by a Fraction
Progress Monitoring
Daily Exit Slips
Example of Mapping an Acceleration Cycle
Reflecting on the Acceleration Cycle
Supporting the Acceleration Cycle
Summary

9. Connecting Progress Monitoring, Goal Setting, and Motivation
Progress Monitoring for Acceleration
Goal Setting
Student Goal Setting
High Quality Feedback and Motivation
Motivation and Growth Mindset
Summary

Epilogue. Acceleration in Action: A Classroom Example
Christine King

References

About the Author

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Dr. Nicki Newton’s book, Accelerating K–8 Math Instruction, is the ‘just-in-time’ tool that educators need at this unprecedented moment…Her ideas about how to address learning loss and unfinished learning are grounded in research and best practices, and should be a part of the work informed teachers do every day.”
— From the Foreword by Melanie Harding, mathematics supervisor, Long Branch Public Schools, New Jersey

“Dr. Newton utilizes research- and evidence-based practices to clearly define the attributes of purposeful and intentional acceleration in mathematics, and provides applicable and accessible strategies for implementing these best practices into classrooms. What a powerful resource for any mathematics educator working to ensure that all of our young mathematicians develop proficiency and confidence in mathematics!”
—Janet D. Nuzzie, district intervention specialist, K–12 mathematics, Pasadena Independent School District, Texas

“Dr. Newton brings a wealth of knowledge and experience into classrooms. Her guidance and expertise will transform classroom instruction, and when implemented will build students’ confidence and math skills. Dr. Newton will have all of your students screaming, ‘I love math!’”
—Wanda Lee Espada, chief student and program officer, Hope Community Charter School, Camden, New Jersey

“This book comes at a perfect time! Accelerating the learning of students with lagging skills is a challenge all teachers face. This book provides concrete, doable practices along with the theory that explains why these strategies are useful. I am excited to share the ideas in this book with my staff. They will see validation for strategies they are using and will build their toolkits to better serve students in their classrooms.”
—Terri Ruyter, principal, Battery Park City School, New York City

Editorial Reviews

This book would be an asset to classroom teachers, math specialists, and math intervention teachers in elementary and middle schools.”

—Teachers College Record

From the Publisher