2021 Education magazine

2021 Education Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS February 18, 2021 Page 7 we challenge teachers to engage with their students, find out what the students need to further their learning, and then choose tasks that will support their student’s needs. “This curriculum is also highly collaborative. Historically, American classrooms are relatively isolated places where teachers work and plan their lessons alone. The teachers who have been contributing to and using these resources have developed a professional development community where they regularly brainstorm, ask questions, troubleshoot challenges, and plan lessons together.” With this approach teachers weed out what is not useful and embrace what they believe will be the best to teach students in their individual classrooms and grade levels. Moore referred to the curriculum as a ‘buffet’ of choices each teacher can use to personalize the classroom experience. “The ROE Math Curriculum is not a textbook,” said Moore. “Rather, it is a collection of high-quality lessons, tasks, and resources that are organized into units at each grade level. “In each unit, the class engages in an “Opening Exploratory” activity that serves as a kickoff for the major concepts in that unit. As students work on the Opening Exploratory task and engage with the mathematical concepts the teacher can pull other resources from the ‘buffet’ in order to support and challenge each student appropriately.” As part of the process, Moore has been making regular visits to Chester-East Lincoln spending time in workshops as well as in the classrooms with the teachers. CEL Superintendent and Principal Laura Irwin said, “Our teachers work with her (Moore) monthly on the curriculum and she comes to CEL as well to observe, model, provide feedback, etc. She is a math champion!” Moore noted that the time spent at CEL is a great opportunity to see the work in process, using the time as research for what is working and what isn’t, and utilizing the opinions of the teachers to fine tune the curriculum. “Figuring out how to teach math in a more meaningful way is a learning process for the teachers just as much as it is for the students. During my classroom visits, I try to support the teachers as they continue in their own learning progression,” said Moore. Continued p