CPM Educational Program is proud to announce the official accreditation of CPM Professional Learning by the Middle States Association Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools (MSA-CESS). This means that CPM teachers can earn continuing education credits when attending select professional learning and completing all course requirements. MSA-CESS is recognized as a leading accrediting agency by the U.S. Department of Education.
As CPM writes the new Inspiring Connections series, many conversations have focused on supporting students’ language development. Supporting students’ language development is an important equity issue, with many nuances to navigate in order to avoid perpetuating problematic ideas about students’ ability to learn mathematics.
As an educator, I teach students life skills such as perseverance and self-compassion through mathematics, but how often do we push our own growth in those same ways? Once we find what “works” for us, we get comfortable and often become complacent.
At the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, we began working with our CPM coach, John Hayes, to improve both our individual teaching methods and our collaborative co-teaching methods. Throughout the year, we transitioned to both of us supporting all students. Our planning became slightly more consistent as the year progressed, but we still had a long way to go in our communication and collaboration.
Is your district or school looking for ways to support teachers with CPM curriculum beyond the first year or two of implementation? Are the teachers at your site committed to continuous improvement of their instructional practices and ready to critically examine and then move their teaching expertise forward in order to enhance student understanding and learning?
As the school year comes to a conclusion, Nancy and I have reflected on our growth in the classroom. In our previous article, “The Success of the Warm Demander,” we explained our goal to build mathematical identity and shared authority of learning in our classroom. We believe we reached that goal because of the relationships and connections we created with each individual student.
It’s early March in the Delmarva classroom. A few students are ready for what is next; some of their friends need a little more time. Some students have not seemed to crack the mathematical code yet. But it will be summer soon, and like the trees around them, all these students will reach their full potential.
Metacognition is the conscious awareness of one’s thinking. English and reading teachers across all grade levels explicitly teach metacognition strategies to students to help them read complex texts. They teach students to think about their reading first purposefully and then automatically. These metacognitive strategies give readers control over their learning process. There are two metacognitive strategies that language arts teachers use that can be implemented in a mathematics classroom: visualizing and inferencing.
This professional learning is designed for teachers as they begin their implementation of CPM. This series contains multiple components and is grounded in multiple active experiences delivered over the first year. This learning experience will encourage teachers to adjust their instructional practices, expand their content knowledge, and challenge their beliefs about teaching and learning. Teachers and leaders will gain first-hand experience with CPM with emphasis on what they will be teaching. Throughout this series educators will experience the mathematics, consider instructional practices, and learn about the classroom environment necessary for a successful implementation of CPM curriculum resources.
Page 2 of the Professional Learning Progression (PDF) describes all of the components of this learning event and the additional support available. Teachers new to a course, but have previously attended Foundations for Implementation, can choose to engage in the course Content Modules in the Professional Learning Portal rather than attending the entire series of learning events again.
The Building on Instructional Practice Series consists of three different events – Building on Discourse, Building on Assessment, Building on Equity – that are designed for teachers with a minimum of one year of experience teaching with CPM instructional materials and who have completed the Foundations for Implementation Series.
In Building on Equity, participants will learn how to include equitable practices in their classroom and support traditionally underserved students in becoming leaders of their own learning. Essential questions include: How do I shift dependent learners into independent learners? How does my own math identity and cultural background impact my classroom? The focus of day one is equitable classroom culture. Participants will reflect on how their math identity and mindsets impact student learning. They will begin working on a plan for Chapter 1 that creates an equitable classroom culture. The focus of day two and three is implementing equitable tasks. Participants will develop their use of the 5 Practices for Orchestrating Meaningful Mathematical Discussions and curate strategies for supporting all students in becoming leaders of their own learning. Participants will use an equity lens to reflect on and revise their Chapter 1 lesson plans.
In Building on Assessment, participants will apply assessment research and develop methods to provide feedback to students and inform equitable assessment decisions. On day one, participants will align assessment practices with learning progressions and the principle of mastery over time as well as write assessment items. During day two, participants will develop rubrics, explore alternate types of assessment, and plan for implementation that supports student ownership. On the third day, participants will develop strategies to monitor progress and provide evidence of proficiency with identified mathematics content and practices. Participants will develop assessment action plans that will encourage continued collaboration within their learning community.
In Building on Discourse, participants will improve their ability to facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse. This learning experience will encourage participants to adjust their instructional practices in the areas of sharing math authority, developing independent learners, and the creation of equitable classroom environments. Participants will plan for student learning by using teaching practices such as posing purposeful questioning, supporting productive struggle, and facilitating meaningful mathematical discourse. In doing so, participants learn to support students collaboratively engaged with rich tasks with all elements of the Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices incorporated through intentional and reflective planning.