ECAM-Manual-and-Resources

Confident students
W
hen trial school teachers assessed their students, between 10 and 20% of the class
were consistently performing above the grade level. (See “Some findings from
the New York City classroom trials.”) If these teachers had taught the grade-level
curriculum without differentiation, these children would be going over mathematics they
already understood at the start of the school year. This would have meant they would not
be exposed to any new learning in counting, numeration or addition and subtraction.
Classroom teachers were able to build upon these children’s learning by using the teaching
strategies of modifying lessons, open-ended lessons, problem posing, and small group
instruction. In some cases, more advanced homework was also given.
TRAN
Tran was a very capable Grade 1 student. His teacher was surprised to find
that at the start of the school year, he could already read and model three
digit numbers. When taking the mathematics lesson, she consistently
modified lessons for Tran, letting him use larger numbers. She also
encouraged him to pose and solve his own arithmetic problems, and
arranged for Tran to have a more difficult homework book.
Struggling students
W
hen trial school teachers assessed their students, between 5 and 10% of the class
were consistently performing below the grade level (see “Some findings from
the New York City classroom trials’). If these children’s classroom teachers had
taught the grade-level curriculum without differentiation, these children would be
expected to learn mathematics that was too advanced for them. This would have meant
they would either become quite confused, or have significant “gaps” in their learning.
Classroom teachers were able to successfully support these children’s learning by using the
teaching strategies of modifying lessons, open-ended lessons, problem posing, and small
group instruction. In some cases, children were given small daily mathematics tasks to build
confidence and “catch up” certain mathematical understandings.
OMAR
Omar was a Grade 2 student. Early in the school year, his teacher found that
he had trouble counting between 10 and 20, and recognizing these
numerals. She organized for another (more confident) student to work with
Omar each day. Together they counted twenty objects, made sets of objects
using the numerals 11 to 20, and ordered the numerals from 11 to 20. They
did these tasks for five minutes while children had their snack each day.
After three weeks of daily practice, Omar could proudly count to 20 and
knew the numerals from 11 to 20.
Early Childhood Assessment in Mathematics Manual ■ 20