Guided Math Update

It's time to do a little reflecting on how the guided math has been going in my classroom. According to my observation notes, my view of it as the teacher is that it seems to be going smoothly. The first few weeks were a little rough when we were trying to establish the fluidity in our rotations. Now that the kids are into the routine of it (and I got timers for the parent helpers!) things have been going quite nicely. 

What are specific relationships and patterns emerging in your data analysis and reflection telling you about how the change you made is impacting desired changes you are seeking?
     When it comes to 'official data' I don't have a ton of it yet. I did an initial survey from students about their views towards math and and concerns they had in the middle of September. Last week I had students retake that survey and compared the results. I compared the responses for each student and noted a good number of changes from feelings of frustration/angry to excited. A few students are still struggling with feeling frustrated. I will reach out to them and inquire what specifically is giving them a hard time. The last question was open-ended about what else I need to know about how math is going for them. Some responses are were that it is getting harder (yep! bigger numbers and more problem solving) but others said they loved it or that guided math is "really good". I get the feeling that the majority of students are enjoying the small group interactions. I think a big hurdle when it comes to doing well at math is being okay with not understanding it right away. The small groups allow me to see the confusion right away and be able to address it before it piles up and becomes a big issue.

What are your results telling you about the concepts you are studying, and the relationships among concepts, how the strategies address the problem you are trying to understand?  What strengths and limitations to these ideas did you discover through the implementation?  
  My results are telling me that, at the very least, guided math is shedding a different light on math that kids have not seen before. They are learning to work in groups, that it is okay not to "get it" right away, and that they can be teachers as well. We have gotten through our first unit and are now working on our second. After viewing the pre- and post- unit tests for Unit 1, I did't see the positive swing I was hoping for- the results were kind of scattered on student improvement. I felt a bit deflated because the day-to-day observations were so promising. I had used the assessments from our workbook but realized that those maybe aren't the best measurement. I am now going to create my own based on our learning goals for the unit. I also am looking forward to our Winter NWEA test to look for growth in the area of math. 

How will your learning change your practices of instruction, assessment, environment, and understanding of content knowledge in your discipline (I.D.E.A.)?
I am going to keep fine-tuning the ways I am doing guided math. It is certainly a learning experience! I need to embed more learning 'checkpoints' throughout the unit instead of waiting for the end. I am differentiating for the different groups but could probably use more extensions and challenges for the kids that are ready for above and beyond skills.

What implications for future practice are you drawing from the results of your inquiry, including how results are leading to new questions and future directions for research? (This may be the springboard to your next area of inquiry.)
I just don't know if I would ever go back to whole group math (on a regular basis) after this experience. I am able to connect with students so much better in our small groups. I feel like I have a better idea of their strengths and weaknesses than I ever did during whole class lessons. This change in my 'math thinking' also gets me interested in the idea of a flipped classroom for math. A few friends have tried it and are seeing good results but I am pretty intimidated with it for right now. I'd like to get really comfortable with guided math and see solid results before I take any other drastic steps with my math instruction.