Middle School Math: Inspiring Connections
Three-year sequence of courses for 6th, 7th, & 8th Grades
- Multimodal program that builds from all the things CPM does well
- Offers updated and new resources
- Utilizes different venues to maximize students’ engagement
Key Features of Inspiring Connections
Full Blend of Print & Digital
Mathematician's Notebook
(Student Consumable)
Intentional Differentiation of Learning Venues
Curriculum Resources
Blend of Print & Digital
What does a full blend of print and digital look like? In this multimodal series, digital and print materials work in tandem to maximize student engagement. The choice of medium for each aspect of a lesson is based on how and where students learn best.
- Since digital components, like pacing, eTools, and eWorkspace, and print components, like the Mathematician’s Notebook, are used strategically for engaging students in their mathematical thinking, both media are essential.
- Students will split time between different venues, such as vertical non-permanent surfaces (VNPSs) and devices with an internet connection that provide access to technology-enhanced lessons.
A Student Companion: The Mathematician’s Notebook
A personal notebook where students record the messy work of learning as they highlight key concepts, questions, rough draft thinking, mistakes, corrections, and their inspirations. Diagrams and graphs are included for students to work with, and plenty of space is provided to give students room for error and experimentation.
Learning Targets
Concise goals for each lesson are presented to the teacher and to students in the chapter introductions, referenced in the Reflection & Practice problems, and revisited in Chapter Closures. The Mathematician’s Notebook contains a printed copy of the Learning Targets where students can keep track of their progress throughout the course.
A Variety of Venues
Problems are designed to facilitate student learning per the learning intent. To maximize student sensemaking and engagement, lessons have been intentionally constructed using a variety of Venues for student work, such as vertical non-permanent surfaces, external links, embedded technology-enhanced activities, and the Mathematician’s Notebook.
Here are examples of different venues:
- Paper-based Mathematician’s Notebook
- Vertical non-permanent surfaces (VNPSs)
- Technology-enhanced lessons
- Work with manipulatives at a table/desk
Teacher Guides
Inspiring Connections guides teachers through lessons.
Authors’ Vision
The authors describe how they envision the lesson progressing. These notes are summarized into brief descriptions, which can serve as a reminder after reading the full Authors’ Vision.
Lesson at a Glance
The Lesson at a Glance provides a quick orientation to the lesson. It lists things to consider as you begin to prepare to teach the lesson: the overview, learning intent, materials needed for the lesson, aligning standards, and additional resources.
Lessons Designed from Beginning to End
Lessons are designed for students to work in teams during a 45-minute period.
- Door Questionsinvite students to share a little about themselves. This daily practice builds community and helps the teacher get to know the students.
- Launch begins each lesson to engage students and awaken their curiosity. The Launch may introduce the mathematical content for the day or it may be a part of one of the larger threads that run throughout the course, including number sense, data science, and community building.
- Explore provides a variety of engaging activities. Students work together to solve problems in teams using various venues.
- Closure summarizes critical concepts explored during the lesson. Students reflect on either the key learning for the day or a social-emotional learning thread.
- Reflection & Practice provides mixed, spaced problems designed for independent practice.
Team Roles & Strategies
Team Roles
Students collaborate in teams for the large majority of class time. As a means to help all students have a voice and be an integral part of their team, four roles are presented in the Prelude and referred to throughout the curriculum. The roles are Representative, Coordinator, Organizer, and Investigator.
Strategies
A variety of Study Team and Teaching Strategies (STTS) are suggested in the Authors’ Vision throughout Inspiring Connections. These strategies may be used to help structure team interactions and facilitate engagement. As you gain experience with the curriculum and your students, you will likely develop your own favorite strategies to use regularly.
Table of Contents
Inspiring Connections Course 1-3
Testimonials
Students are always super engaged in the launches, and it gets them started talking about the math.
I appreciate the intentionality of the closures and how they are embedded within the curriculum. Students have been remembering [Mathematician's Notebook], and it is great to have all of their thinking in one location.
[Lesson closures are going] Better than they ever had in my career
It really helps that [the Reflection & Practice] are in the mathematician's workbook! I really like the way the lessons are laid out and that it is actually possible to get through a whole session. I also like how we are switching between venues all of the time.