Using the Accelerated Math Live Online Student Program A SUPPLEMENT TO GETTING RESULTS WITH ACCELERATED MATH LIVE

Transcription

1 Using the Accelerated Math Live Online Student Program A SUPPLEMENT TO GETTING RESULTS WITH ACCELERATED MATH LIVE

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3 Using the Accelerated Math Live Online Student Program A Supplement to Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live

4 The Accelerated products design, Accelerated Math, Accelerated Math Live, AccelScan, Core Progress, MathFacts in a Flash, NEO 2, Renaissance, Renaissance Home Connect, Renaissance Learning, the Renaissance Learning logo, Renaissance Place, Renaissance Receiver, Renaissance Responder, Renaissance Training Center, and STAR Math Enterprise are trademarks of Renaissance Learning, Inc., and its subsidiaries, registered, common law, or pending registration in the United States and other countries. All other product and company names should be considered trademarks of their respective companies and organizations by Renaissance Learning, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. It is unlawful to duplicate or reproduce any copyrighted material without authorization from the copyright holder. If this publication contains pages marked Reproducible Form, only these pages may be photocopied and used by teachers within their own schools. They are not to be reproduced for private consulting or commercial use. For more information, contact: 06/13 Renaissance Learning, Inc. P.O. Box 8036 Wisconsin Rapids, WI (800)

5 Contents Introduction... 1 Accelerated Math Overview q The Purpose of Accelerated Math Live: Powerful Practice... 5 How Accelerated Math Live Works....5 Accelerated Math Live and Best Practices for the Math Classroom...6 How the New Online Student Program Looks...7 Using the Online Student Program w Preparing to Use the Software System Requirements Scoring Assignments and Getting Feedback e Student Workflow and Social Collaboration Using Data from the Software to Plan Instruction...18 Differentiating Instruction...18 Personalizing Practice...18 Incorporating One-on-One Conferences...19 Fostering Collaboration Among Peers...19 Making Use of Accelerated Math Live Resources...19 r Accelerated Math Live and the Common Core State Standards. 21 Content Designed for the Common Core...21 The Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice...22 Appendix Instructions for Common Software Tasks... A2 Working with Online Assignments...A2 Working with Paper (Printed) Assignments...A3 Conferencing Approaches and Scenarios... A5 Teaching Self-Correction Strategies...A6 Reteaching A7 Remediating A8 Index... A10 iii

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7 Introduction Congratulations! You have purchased one of the most effective tools for fostering growth in mathematics Accelerated Math Live. As with all learning tools, the results that you and your students achieve with the software will depend on what you do with it. When used casually, Accelerated Math Live reinforces the learning of mathematics. When it is used thoughtfully and consistently, students get excited about math, math anxiety fades, and achievement accelerates. This supplement is designed to complement the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live teacher's guide included with your Accelerated Math materials. Recent enhancements to the Accelerated Math program offer more options for teaching in an interactive, engaging classroom environment that is flexible with your current technology. Students can now see and work math assignments online using computers, laptops, tablets, or paper and pencil. The choice is yours! Accelerated Math Live also brings you access to new content built specifically for the Common Core State Standards to help all students become college and career ready. These new content libraries will be available in time for the school year. In this guide, we describe some of the techniques that maximize the power of the new online student program functionality. First, we explain the basic steps and best practices for a successful implementation. Then, we describe how you can use the online student program to personalize practice, foster student collaboration, and energize learning in your math classrooms. The appendix includes step-by-step instructions for the most common software tasks, along with some sample conferencing scenarios that will help you make the most of your time with each student. We hope that what you find here will inform and inspire you. Bear in mind, however, that this is only an introduction. To learn more about other professional development opportunities, visit our website at 1

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9 Accelerated Math Overview

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11 q The Purpose of Accelerated Math Live: Powerful Practice Math proficiency is critical for students college and career readiness. Accelerated Math has always provided the essential math practice students need to achieve that proficiency. Now, with the development of the Accelerated Math Live online student program, teachers and students have a brand-new option for facilitating this math practice. If students have computers, laptops, or tablets in their classrooms, each student with device in hand can view assignments, score them, get immediate feedback, and access instructional resources online. While you can read more about implementing Accelerated Math Live in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide, this supplement will focus on the benefits provided specifically by using the online student program, which is available to all Accelerated Math Live users: The software automatically generates personalized assignments that students can access via classroom computers, laptops, or tablets. As students work on each problem in the assignment, they select their answers online and submit them. Alternatively, you can have the software generate paper assignments that you print, distribute, and score using one of several scoring devices. The online program scores assignments automatically and provides each student a summary of work completed. An item map indicates the answer choices the student selected and whether they were correct or incorrect. Feedback is provided immediately to both teachers and students. Students can look back through past assignments to review their errors and advance learning. A variety of resources, including worked examples, instructional videos, and more, are available to students using the online program as they practice. How Accelerated Math Live Works Accelerated Math Live involves the same basic steps as earlier versions of the program, though the online student program helps streamline the student's experience: 1. You schedule time for math practice, either as part of your established math period or in addition to it, and implement classroom routines to support this practice. 2. Using whatever materials you wish, you teach a concept to the entire class, a small group, or an individual. (We ll talk more about these choices later.) You assign related objectives to students through Accelerated Math Live software, and the software uses this information to generate personalized assignments. 5

12 Using the Accelerated Math Live Online Student Program 3. Students access their assignments online. They work out the problems on paper as necessary and enter their answer choices into the software. When finished, the student clicks Submit, and the assignment is automatically scored. The student receives immediate feedback online via the assignment summary page. 4. During practice, students access resources and collaborate as needed, following routines you establish. They take time to understand and correct their errors before conferencing with you. 5. You meet with students regularly to analyze their results and go over any problems they missed. You can use the information from these conferences to plan next steps for instruction. We provide some recommendations for effective conferences in a later chapter. You can also check out the appendix for sample conferencing scenarios. Accelerated Math Live and Best Practices for the Math Classroom If you're familiar with Accelerated Math, you know the program was developed on a foundation of best practices for building an engaged, interactive classroom. The online student program makes best practices a little more seamless and easier to carry out. The table below describes some of the most fundamental best practices for learning math, as well as how you might integrate them into your Accelerated Math Live classroom with the online student program. To learn more about Accelerated Math best practices, see the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide. Best practice Practice is personalized. Learning is social. Teachers facilitate learning. What it looks like in the Accelerated Math Live classroom Students work at computers, laptops, or tablets to practice their Accelerated Math objectives, showing their work in a math journal or notebook and entering their answers online. Teachers assign objectives to each student based on their performance, and assignments are then generated automatically. If students master objectives quickly, they can move on. If they need more practice, the software provides it. Because assignments are geared toward students individual challenge levels, students are motivated and engaged in their work. Students are encouraged to collaborate and assist one another during math practice time. With Accelerated Math Live, students can see which of their peers to work with on each objective. Even if they are working on different problem sets for similar objectives, students still have the opportunity to communicate their problem-solving approaches and reasoning with their peers. This kind of collaboration allows students to learn from and interact with each other as they develop their mathematical abilities. Teachers instruct, monitor practice, and then coach students where they need it most, based on Accelerated Math practice data and each student s written work. They use whole-class instruction time to target grade-level or subjectlevel material, reserving focus time for small-group instruction and one-on-one conferences when students need remediation or a challenge. 6

13 The Purpose of Accelerated Math Live: Powerful Practice Best practice Students receive immediate feedback and act on it. As students practice, their thinking is visible and audible. What it looks like in the Accelerated Math Live classroom Assignments are scored automatically by the software when students work online, so students receive immediate feedback, and they re given time to reflect, consult textbooks or reference materials, or even work with peers before meeting with their teacher. This feedback lets students take ownership of their work, learn from their errors, and persevere in solving math problems. While students may be working on their assignments at the computer, they still show their work with paper and pencil and are prepared to discuss it with their teacher during conferences, as well as with their peers. This is one way for students to make their thinking visible and for teachers to check for understanding. One-to-one ratio of students and devices. If you have a one-to-one student-to-device ratio in your classrooms, use the online student program as described above to carry out best practices. Even if your classroom doesn t have a laptop or tablet for each student, many students have their own devices, which they may be willing to bring. Remind them that devices with a screen of at least seven inches will provide the best experience. Many-to-one ratio of students and devices. If not every student will have online access, consider generating printed assignments for all students instead, as described in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide. Using the online program with printed assignments allows students to score assignments and access online resources. If using the program this way, we recommend having at least one computer-scoring device available for every five students. Other scoring devices (AccelScan scanner, NEO 2s, and Renaissance Responders) may also be used for scoring. How the New Online Student Program Looks The Accelerated Math Live online student program has a new look for students, both from the bird's-eye view of the classroom as well as the student's close-up experience with the software. Keep in mind that while best practices remain largely the same, the online student program fosters a more seamless implementation of Accelerated Math Live, with ready access to assignments, feedback, and instructional resources. The classroom view. Accelerated Math Live supports existing curricula and instructional practices, so it can look quite different from district to district, school to school, or even classroom to classroom within a school. But some aspects of Accelerated Math remain the same in any setting: the activities that take place during daily practice time are supported by classroom setup and routines, and practice is managed through the Assignment Book in the software. (Learn more about managing the Assignment Book in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide.) Below and on the next few pages, we describe some activities you might consider when setting up your math routines. As mentioned, the Accelerated Math Live classroom is designed to help facilitate an interactive classroom environment. Teachers gather information from a variety of sources student performance in class, interim assessments like STAR Math Enterprise, and various Accelerated Math reports to plan targeted small-group instruction or reteaching. They use this data to tune in to and address the skills in which students need instruction, and they create groups based on these skill gaps, rather than student ability. 7

14 Using the Accelerated Math Live Online Student Program Many teachers make use of whole-class instruction and collaborative groups during math practice time. Students work on outstanding Accelerated Math practice or exercise assignments, showing their work in math journals so they can reference it later. Students are encouraged to collaborate and assist one another, developing their ability to communicate problem-solving approaches and reasoning to other students. It might be especially useful to have students consult with peers if they are struggling with particular objectives that their classmates have already worked on successfully. The software streamlines this process by offering suggestions for which classmates they might collaborate with. MathFacts in a Flash As a practice and assessment software tool, MathFacts in a Flash guides students toward automaticity with basic math facts related to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It also helps students strengthen other mental math skills such as finding squares, working with commonly used fractions and decimals, and converting among fractions, decimals, and percents to further develop computational fluency and prepare for algebra. For more information on this program, visit our website at It is important to make a variety of resources available to students during their Accelerated Math practice time. When students learn how to use relevant math videos, textbooks, and other electronic or hands-on resources, they begin to develop as independent learners. Students must also have access to resources for practicing basic math facts for fluency. These could include MathFacts in a Flash software, flashcards, or short learning games. Setting up a designated classroom area where students can access these resources readily will help them be more productive during math practice. Students test in Accelerated Math Live after demonstrating success on objectives through independent or collaborative practice. The software identifies these objectives as ready to test. Skills that students master on the test are spiraled into practice assignments for review; skills not mastered will appear immediately on a student s next practice. (If the student continues to struggle with particular objectives, those objectives will be flagged with an "intervene" symbol. You can learn more about this symbol in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide.) It is essential that teachers establish and follow solid testing procedures whenever students are testing. For example, students should truly be working independently, and even if only a few students are testing, the testing environment should be quiet and free from distraction. See the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide for more testing recommendations. The following diagram shows just one example of how an Accelerated Math Live classroom might look. During practice time, the teacher (in red) moves among the students, at times working with small groups and then moving to a focus table for oneon-one conferences. The goal is to make sure each student, no matter what assignment type she is working on, is getting meaningful practice. Keep in mind you don t have to incorporate all of these elements into every class period. Try just two or three of them in your classroom at first to firmly establish routines. Gradually add other elements until you find a workflow that works for you. Remember, the most important thing is that students practice at their personalized level and take advantage of opportunities to collaborate with peers and with you to share what they ve learned. 8

15 4 x n bc+ ab 4 x n bc+ ab 4 x n bc+ ab 4 x n bc+ ab 4 x n bc+ ab 4 x n bc+ ab 4 x n bc+ ab 4 x n bc+ ab 4 x n bc+ ab The Purpose of Accelerated Math Live: Powerful Practice This teacher is working with a small group to reteach a specific skill from earlier in the week. Student folders Bulletin board Make sure students have the resources they need to practice basic math facts. Here, one student is using MathFacts in a Flash software, while Bookshelves/storage bins the other works through facts using blocks and flash cards. Smart board Set up a conference area where you can meet with students when they need help. This can be at your desk, if you re working with students one-on-one, or at a small table, if you re working with a group of students. Some students work together on Accelerated Math assignments; others work alone. Collaborating helps them make sense of their work and talk through problemsolving approaches with peers. Working independently teaches them to take ownership of their progress. Bookshelves/storage bins Teaching students to use online math resources helps them develop their ability as independent learners. This student is watching a video related to today s math objectives. Students test in Accelerated Math as the objectives they have successfully practiced become ready to test. This means not all students will be testing at once. Be sure to set up a quiet area where the student can test confidently and independently. 9

16 Using the Accelerated Math Live Online Student Program You can learn more about how the software looks for the teacher in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide. The student's experience with the software. Now that you've seen the bird'seye view of the Accelerated Math Live classroom, here's a closer look at what your students will see when they use the program to practice math online. Remember, regardless of the framework you choose for Accelerated Math, the cycle of practice, test, and review will be at its core. (This cycle is described in detail in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide.) When students are ready to work in Accelerated Math, they simply log in to Renaissance Place and click the Start Working link under the Accelerated Math tab. Students are then taken to the Home page of the new student program, shown at right, where they can begin working on any of the four assignment types practice, exercise, test, and diagnostic test assigned to them. (Read more about these assignment types in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide.) The software will generate assignments after you assign an objective list for the class, group, or for individual students. Detailed instructions for setting up objective lists are provided in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide. From the Home page, students can also access past assignments. This feature is particularly useful for having students go back over their work, correct their answers, and prepare for tests. It can also be a good starting point for your discussions with students during one-on-one conferences. Accelerated Math lists the relevant objectives at the beginning of each assignment so students know what they re working on. This, in turn, helps them develop the proper mathematical terminology such as the word "trapezoid" for discussing the assignment with peers and with you. Students see one problem at a time, and they move through each assignment by clicking the Next or Back buttons at the bottom of the screen. To select an answer choice, a student clicks the answer he wants to choose. He can also choose to set a flag indicating that he wants to come back and review a particular problem before submitting the assignment. Students can flag problems to revisit before submitting their assignments. 10

17 The Purpose of Accelerated Math Live: Powerful Practice Also, if the student needs help with a problem, he can expand the Problem Help functionality at the top of the screen. This screen, shown at right, lets students choose from several instructional tools including worked examples, a math glossary, and more to help them understand and solve the problem. We explain these resources in more detail later. Typically, students work out each problem in a notebook and then enter their answers online. This way, when they receive feedback, and later when they meet with their teacher, they have their work for reference. Once students have answered all the problems assigned to them, they submit their assignments. They receive immediate feedback from the software with an assignment summary, as shown below. The item map near the top of the page indicates the answer choices that this student, Michael, selected and whether they are correct or incorrect. Michael can click any button in the item map to review that item and its instructional resources. With this information, Michael reflects on his performance and corrects his errors to the best of his ability. When Michael meets with his teacher, she can see how he did on the assignment and determine whether he understands his mistakes. This is a great opportunity for the teacher to do a minilesson with Michael to show him self-correction strategies or to identify peers Michael could work with to develop a better understanding of the material. She uses the information from this conference to determine Michael s next steps. Another page, called the Progress page, shows how the student is progressing toward his or her goals for the current marking period. Shown at right, this page is like a dashboard bar graphs indicate whether the student is on pace to meet his goals for average percent correct on tests and number of objectives mastered. (The Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide provides more information on setting goals.) Access this page by clicking Progress in the green toolbar on the Home page of the Accelerated Math Live student program. Coming Soon 11

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19 Using the Online Student Program

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21 w Preparing to Use the Software Before students can work with Accelerated Math Live assignments online, you ll need to do some preliminary planning and perform a few tasks in the software. You will find important information about setting up your Assignment Book, assigning objectives, and identifying classroom routines in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide. Those instructions are consistent whether you choose to implement the online student program or use printed Accelerated Math assignments. This chapter explains the system requirements for the online student program as well as recommendations for scoring assignments online and accessing student data and reports. System Requirements Students must have access to computers and the Internet if they are using the online student program. We recommend a one-to-one student-to-device ratio in your classroom. Students can use desktop computers, laptops, or any tablet that has a screen of at least seven inches. You will need access to a computer, too, so you can manage the teacher side of things, like assigning objectives, creating groups, and accessing reports. For details on technical requirements, visit Scoring Assignments and Getting Feedback When you generate assignments in the software, you select whether students will access them online or on paper. When students access assignments online, work the problems, and submit their answers, their assignments are scored automatically by the software. If you generate paper assignments instead, students can use the online program to score them. In both cases, Accelerated Math gives you information to help students who are struggling with particular objectives. Following are details on each of these methods. Scoring assignments generated for online access. Once the student has worked out all of his math problems, he records his answers online and clicks Review and Submit. At this point, the student can review his work one more time. The item map will show any items that have been flagged or unanswered by the student, and the Problem Help feature is still available if the student needs any clarification on practice or exercise problems. (This feature is disabled during testing.) When the student has finished reviewing his work, he clicks Submit. The assignment is immediately scored and an assignment summary appears on-screen. The student can use the item map to look back at each problem from the assignment, which could be useful if the student is making corrections on any missed items prior to meeting with his teacher or during conferences. 15

22 Using the Accelerated Math Live Online Student Program Once the assignment is scored, the student's next practice is instantly generated based on his performance and objectives you've assigned. The Assignment Book is also updated with each scoring so you can see which objectives are ready to test and which students need work assigned. Scoring assignments generated as paper assignments. Students using printed assignments can opt to score them online, if computers and an Internet connection are available. In this case, students work their printed assignments with pencil and paper as they currently do, keeping track of their answers by circling them and writing their answer choice in the left-hand margin of their assignment sheet as they go. This process helps facilitate ease of scoring. When ready to score, the student logs in to Renaissance Place and clicks Start Working under the Accelerated Math tab. The student then selects the assignment type she is working on (Practice, Exercise, Test, Students using virtual scan Diagnostic Test), and the cards can access resources software presents her by clicking the Resources tab with a virtual scan card, on the home page or searching for resources with Renaissance like the one shown at Home Connect. right, that corresponds to the assignment form she is working on. (Paper assignments always have a form number as an identifier; this makes it possible to score paper assignments and track them with a variety of scoring devices.) The student enters her answer choices here. When finished, she clicks Submit and is taken to a slightly different assignment summary screen (at right) that identifies the student's incorrect responses and the corresponding objectives, as well as objectives the student is ready to test on. In addition to using the online program to score assignments, students using printed assignments have other options for scoring: the AccelScan scanner, Renaissance Responders, or NEO 2s. Each of these hardware components comes with scoring software that requires some setup on your part. The Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide gives an overview of how to use these devices for scoring. See the Accelerated Math software manual or the Renaissance Training Center ( to learn more on this topic. 16

23 Preparing to Use the Software Immediate feedback via the Progress page. The Progress page shows students their progress on tests, practices, and exercises in a dashboardlike way. The goals you set for each student for average percent correct and number of objectives mastered are tracked by the software throughout the marking period. The first orange bar near the top of the screen shows that Michael averaged 92 percent correct on his tests, compared to a goal of 85 percent. He has earned a gold star for To learn more about setting goals with Accelerated Math, see the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide. reaching his goal. The second bar shows he has mastered 16 objectives, toward a marking-period goal of 20. The last bar shows how Michael is doing on practice and exercise assignments. He is averaging 72 percent correct, which might indicate that he struggles a bit when he first encounters new objectives. Also notice that Michael has three objectives that are ready to test, and that he has averaged 87 percent correct on the review items he s received on his practice assignments. This tells you he is retaining skills that he previously mastered. Coming Soon Access the Progress page by clicking the Progress tab on the green toolbar. Monitoring Student Progress As students practice, you will want to check their performance daily and gauge whether they need more help. Pay attention to their pacing, making note of which objectives they move through quickly and which appear to be causing difficulty. Also note students' progress toward goals. You could monitor this information through the Student Detail page, which is coming to the software soon. This page will show a printable version of the student's online assignment. And, as always, teachers can use the student's TOPS Report to see how a student did on a particular assignment, as well as any missed problems. Through Renaissance Place, you also have access to a variety of more detailed reports that you will find useful in planning instruction and helping students achieve their goals. Two reports that you should become familiar with are the Status of the Class Report and the Diagnostic Report. You can learn more about these and other reports in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide. Status of the Class Report. This report helps you monitor practice, check the status of students' assignments, and identify students who may need extra help working through particular objectives. We recommend that you generate and view this report daily when planning for your classes. Diagnostic Report. This report helps you carefully monitor students progress toward mastery of math objectives and identify students who are struggling. It shows data for all students in a class, including the number of objectives mastered, the average percent correct for each assignment type, and the average percent correct for review objectives. We recommend that you generate and view the Diagnostic Report on a weekly basis to monitor students overall progress in Accelerated Math. 17

24 e Student Workflow and Social Collaboration Accelerated Math Live gives you more options than ever for creating an engaging environment, allowing you to incorporate whole-class instruction, peer-assisted learning, think-alouds, small-group discussions, and one-on-one reteaching and conferencing. Let s revisit the classroom graphic on page 9. In that classroom, each student is practicing at his or her own pace, the teacher is facilitating learning, and students are using a variety of resources to develop their math skills. While this graphic represents only one of many effective workflows for Accelerated Math Live, we encourage you to incorporate these central aspects into your routines: Use data from the software to plan instruction and achieve instructional goals. Differentiate instruction. Personalize practice. Incorporate one-on-one conferences with students. Foster effective collaboration among peers. Make use of the software s online resources. Using Data from the Software to Plan Instruction Students Accelerated Math assignments are scored automatically, so you get immediate data about student performance to help you plan instruction. As with earlier versions of the program, Accelerated Math Live lets you view the status of student assignments in real time so you can take action to keep students working and engaged. This information will help you determine next steps for your classroom. How will you tailor instruction? Should you set up small groups, or work one-on-one with a handful of students who are struggling with different objectives? Are any students ready to test or waiting for work? Managing student practice using the Assignment Book, as well as the Status of the Class and Diagnostic reports, can help you make the best use of student data while there s still time to help students gain traction with current concepts before moving ahead. Differentiating Instruction Delivering whole-class instruction and practice with differentiation lets you focus on grade- or subject-level objectives with the entire class, while also providing individualized instruction as needed. Gradually, you can choose to fully differentiate instruction and practice in your classroom. This will allow you to meet the needs of each student at an individualized level. This framework might be particularly useful in an intervention class, or any time you are teaching a class that is supplemental to students regular math classes, has fewer students than a regular math class, and targets individual skill gaps so students can move ahead quickly. You ll find more details about differentiation in the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide. Personalizing Practice With Accelerated Math, each student receives assignments tailored to her individual challenge level, so she can practice the next appropriate objective. Once an objective is 18

25 Student Workflow and Social Collaboration mastered, students are challenged with practice problems on more advanced concepts. When they are completing their assignments online, students don t have to complete the problems in order. They use the Back and Next buttons to navigate around, and they can pause and resume assignments and set flags for items they d like to revisit. Students can also click the Assignments tab to view past assignments and link to the corresponding item maps. Viewing past assignments is a great way for students to study for tests and prepare for future assignments. (It is also an effective tool for you to use during oneon-one conferences because it helps you see where the student may have started struggling with particular objectives.) These controls let students practice at their own pace and monitor their progress as they go. Incorporating One-on-One Conferences One of the most effective ways to find out what each student still needs and target instruction is through conferencing. However, teachers often struggle with the conferencing process. We know you want all of your students actively engaged throughout the class period, not idly waiting to conference. To achieve this kind of environment, establish routines for conferencing so students know they will be accountable for the work they do while you are conferencing with others. Also, focus conferences precisely on what the student needs at that moment, and nothing else. This will help you avoid taking too much time discussing items or topics that should be tabled for a future session, and to conference with more students right when they need it. Conferences are most effective when teachers use a dialogue with students to analyze their work and to help identify the nature of the mistakes students are making, rather than simply having them correct errors. This interaction provides the information the teacher needs to determine the plan for the rest of the conference. Consider the following three scenarios. First, does the student simply need to learn a quick self-correction strategy, such as carefully aligning digits before subtracting? Second, has the student gotten only about half of the problems on the objective correct? In this case, you might want to reteach this concept to the student so she can identify her errors and make corrections with verbal cues and other support from you. Lastly, if the student only got a few (if any) problems correct, your job in the conference is to try to identify her missing skills, and create a plan to remediate and close the learning gap as soon as possible. See the appendix for conferencing scenarios that demonstrate teaching self-correction strategies, reteaching, and remediating, in relation to students Accelerated Math work. Fostering Collaboration Among Peers When students collaborate on their math assignments, they learn ways to make sense of their work, share strategies for approaching problems, and make their own thinking visible. Teachers can help students collaborate effectively by modeling protocols for questioning, listening, and responding to others during math discourse. Making Use of Accelerated Math Live Resources Students should have access to a variety of resources when completing their assignments, and they must be taught how to use these resources to develop as 19

26 Using the Accelerated Math Live Online Student Program The Problem Help menu and Resources tab are disabled during testing. independent learners. Accelerated Math has always provided resources, but the online student program gives students quicker, more direct access to them. As students move through practice and exercise assignments online, they can expand the Problem Help menu at the top of the screen to access tools that will help them understand and solve each problem. They could also click the Resources tab, shown at right, to access the tools any time. Math Glossary. The math glossary presents math terminology related to the problem being worked. For example, Michael is working on a problem about prime and composite numbers. If he is not sure of the meaning of these concepts, he can use the math glossary to look them up. Each explanation includes an audio component and illustrations to engage both auditory and visual learners, and some illustrations are also animated to help with conceptual understanding. Worked Examples. Worked examples for each problem show students one way to solve a problem of this type. The examples are similar to the problems students are working on, except they are completely worked through to the solution, providing step-by-step scaffolding to help students who may be struggling with the problem. Peer Help. This feature indicates which other students to work with on this objective. With your permission, the student might work with these peers to develop his skills with a particular concept. External Resources. The online program will soon provide direct links to external resources related to the objectives students are practicing. For example, many objectives will be linked to instructional videos available on the Internet. Students will simply click to access these resources while they practice in Accelerated Math. Accessing resources in classrooms using paper assignments. Even if you don't have a one-to-one student-to-device ratio in your classroom, students can still access these resources on classroom computers. You will need to determine an appropriate routine for using them. For example, if you have only three computers in your classroom, perhaps you can create a schedule for students to take turns using them to access resources or score assignments during practice time. Or, if you know from the Status of the Class Report or from conferencing who would most benefit from these resources, have them log in at a designated time during class. See the Instructions for Common Software Tasks in the appendix for specific instructions on accessing resources. 20

27 r Accelerated Math Live and the Common Core State Standards In June 2010, the National Governor s Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), along with education and business groups, were successful in releasing the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics. The Common Core State Standards were developed to establish high standards for all students, regardless of the state in which they happen to live, in order to prepare them for the demands of college and careers in our global economy. Critical to the success of all students, as evidenced by these standards, is the ability to comprehend mathematical concepts and solve problems at increasing levels of difficulty. Accelerated Math Live offers concrete ways to help students meet the standards. By incorporating practice into the school day, setting individualized practice goals, monitoring progress toward those goals, and using best practices, students are sure to experience success and growth. Below, we describe how Accelerated Math is designed to support your efforts to implement the Common Core and help you ensure that your students are prepared for college and careers. Content Designed for the Common Core Renaissance Learning has closely followed and participated in recent major movements within the math community. We studied the Common Core State Standards and then developed an empirically validated math learning progression that ranges from kindergarten to high school. This approach parallels the steps taken by the Common Core authors during the development of their standards. As recommended by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008) and required by the Common Coming Soon New Common Core content will be available in time for the school year. Core, our Core Progress for Math learning progression provides a focused, coherent progression of mathematics learning, with an emphasis on proficiency with key topics. Our new Accelerated Math Live libraries are perfectly suited to the Common Core State Standards they were custom-built from the ground up specifically for this purpose. Our new Common Core content libraries are divided into two general categories: K 8 Libraries and High School Libraries. We also provide additional content libraries to help you further advance students' learning. Within each library, closely related problems are grouped by objective, and objectives are ordered within topics to form a logical progression. You choose the content that is most appropriate for your students. 21

28 Using the Accelerated Math Live Online Student Program K 8 Libraries. The K 8 Common Core content standards define what students should understand and be able to do at each grade level, although they do not dictate curriculum or teaching method. Accelerated Math Live s content libraries for grades K 8 provide a coherent learning progression toward college and career readiness. Each library provides content aligned to the Common Core for that grade level. High School Libraries. The Common Core standards for high school specify the mathematics that all students should study in order to be college and career ready. They are listed in conceptual categories rather than by grade or course. Accelerated Math Live content libraries support both the Traditional and Integrated pathways presented in Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards. Traditional Pathway Integrated Pathway Algebra I Mathematics 1 Geometry Mathematics 2 Algebra II Mathematics 3 Additional Content Libraries. In addition to the Common Core libraries, Accelerated Math provides additional content to support other math courses, including pre-calculus, calculus, probability and statistics, and financial literacy. Separate libraries are available for each of these areas, with two dedicated to financial literacy (one for grades 5 8, and one for grades 9 12). The Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice In addition to content standards, the Common Core State Standards hold teachers accountable to eight Standards for Mathematical Practice. These standards describe varieties of expertise that math teachers at all levels should help their students develop. As described by the Common Core, these essential practices rest on important processes and proficiencies with longstanding importance in the study of mathematics. Below, we outline each of the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice and provide a description of how Accelerated Math Live helps support them. 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. As students work in Accelerated Math, they are encouraged to try multiple approaches for making sense of and solving math problems. Consulting worked examples as needed, they uncover pathways for solving similar items in their practice assignments. With immediate feedback on their assignments, students can monitor and evaluate their own progress, recognizing successful approaches or changing course on successive attempts. As they collaborate with their peers on similar problems, they analyze and evaluate their solutions, often discovering new problem-solving approaches in the process. 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. Accelerated Math s scenario-rich word problems give students broad experience in decontextualizing and symbolically representing mathematics situations. Students acquire skills through a logical progression of math objectives, which helps them remain aware of the purpose and meaning of the symbols they used during their calculations. It also helps them connect these calculations to previously learned concepts and procedures. 22

29 Accelerated Math Live and the Common Core State Standards 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. With time regularly dedicated to practice, Accelerated Math invites mathematical discourse and student collaboration, two activities shown to lead to deeper conceptual understanding. Personalized assignments for each objective with unique problems presented to each student enable students to communicate and defend their thinking while exploring the reasoning of their peers. Using the algorithmic content, math glossary, and worked examples during daily one-onone conferences, teachers can model effective reasoning for students, teaching them to base their arguments on assumptions, definitions, logic, and results. 4. Model with mathematics. By solving problems based in everyday, workplace, and social settings, students routinely develop, utilize, and analyze models that describe situations and quantities mathematically. Students may represent these situations using diagrams, tables, graphs, or formulas, and later evaluate the usefulness of these models to help them understand and solve the problems. 5. Use appropriate tools strategically. Accelerated Math assignments drive students to select the best tools to help them solve problems. In addition to manipulatives, calculators, and other measuring instruments, students have access to software-based tools worked examples, an interactive math glossary, math vocabulary lists, number charts, external math websites, and more. By using these tools to help them solve math problems, students develop as independent learners and refine their abilities to select relevant resources, using feedback from their teacher, peers, and the software. 6. Attend to precision. Students learn to make calculations and specify a degree of precision when answering Accelerated Math problems. Items are crafted to target students attention toward correct terms, symbols, units, and labels. Immediate feedback on each assignment reinforces this precision. Worked examples for each objective also model accurate and efficient calculations, and the interactive math glossary helps students attach clear terminology to developing concepts. Finally, during one-on-one conferences, teachers listen for and foster precision in their students reasoning. 7. Look for and make use of structure. Algorithmic word problems set the stage for students to think about and discuss the underlying structure of similar problems and base their solutions on conceptual understanding instead of shortcuts. The mixed order in which problems may appear on Accelerated Math assignments encourages students to recognize patterns as they work. When students need help, worked examples can help them get a deeper perspective of solution models that they can immediately apply to the problem at hand. 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. In daily practice, students handwritten problem set-up and calculations show the record of their reasoning. This record allows them oversight of their thinking and its expression. During conferences, both the teacher and the student can use the student s work as a baseline for conversation. Together, they make it a habit to see and express the regularity in repeated reasoning within a problem, among problems of a certain type, and across all math problems they encounter. 23

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31 Appendix

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33 Appendix Instructions for Common Software Tasks... A2 Conferencing Approaches and Scenarios... A5 Index.... A10 A1

34 Using the Accelerated Math Live Online Student Program Instructions for Common Software Tasks On the following pages, we provide instructions for common software tasks specifically related to the Accelerated Math Live online student program. Refer to the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide or to the Accelerated Math software manual for information about additional software tasks. Working with Online Assignments Generating Online Practice Assignments (Generating other assignment types involves similar steps. See the software manual for information on generating exercises, tests, and diagnostic tests.) 1. View the Accelerated Math Assignment Book to see which students need work assigned. (See the Getting Results with Accelerated Math Live guide for instructions.) 2. Do one of the following: Click Generate Assignments (above the list of students) to generate assignments for all students who have no work assigned. On the page that opens next, click the Practice option and click Next >. If you want to generate assignments for specific students, check the box next to each of those students. To select all students in the class or group, check the box next to Student at the top of the column. Then, click Generate Practice on the left side of the page. To generate an assignment for one student who needs work, click Generate Assignment in the row for that student. On the page that opens next, click the Practice option and click Next >. 3. On the next page, under Assignment Format, click Online. 4. Click Generate. The online assignments will be generated immediately, and you will return to the Assignment Book. Logging In as a Student 1. Open the web browser and go to your Renaissance Place web address. 2. Select I m a Student on the Welcome page. 3. Enter your student user name and password. 4. Select Log In to go to the student Home page. Completing an Online Assignment 1. On the student Home page under Accelerated Math, select Start Working. 2. If a Choose Your Class window opens, select the appropriate class. Then, select Next. 3. Select Start for the type of assignment you want to work on (practice, test, exercise, or diagnostic test). 4. Select the green Start button. You could also select Help with Objectives for information about the objectives on the assignment. 5. To answer each problem, select an answer choice, and then select Next. You can also select Flag if you want to come back to a problem. A2