and these strategies above have aided our curricular and instructional support steps every year.
Curricular Consistency with School’s Mission: The math curriculumdefinitely incorporates Critical Thinking throughout the program at Levine. The EM4 curriculumcontains HOT (Higher Order Thinking) problems alongside every lesson, our Mentoring Minds supplement math enrichment resources frequently address critical thinking, and our instructional strategies alongside our Learning Support Team strategies are designed for differentiated instruction, which responds to our Mission Statement ideal of Inclusivity. We also feel that, because we are addressing individual needs and applying challenge at t he student’s appropriate level, we are building the ideal of Self-Confidence. Vertical and Horizontal Alignment of the Curriculum Our main curricular resources for Math - the University of Chicago EM4 plus the Glencoe Series - all present and arrange the main aspects of math to align with the Common Core benchmarks, which are designed to strengthen horizontal alignment at each grade level. Vertical alignment is mostly achieved through teacher team meetings, including teacher “send - up” meeting prior to the beginning of each new school year. In addition, we assess each year, through analysis of our standardized testing scores, such as the MAP and ERB scores, whether we are progressing in a consistent manner from one year to the next. Our analysis has definitely shown steady progress in mathematics for all of our students. Student Participation, Engagement, and Homework Student engagement and participation is a facet of all classroom experiences, in all subjects, at Levine. One of the common strategies employed in both Language Arts and Math classes is the “workshop method” of arranging for a rotation of small groups of students to working closely with the teacher during a portion of the class period. These small groups are designed to focus teacher instruction in ways that meet students’ needs at their level of development. Nearly all teachers will use their Smartboard or flat screen, interactive TV’s to present material but also to allow st udents to exhibit their problem-solving skills in front of the classroom as part of the instruction. Keeping our students engaged in math is chiefly a facet of the curriculummeeting the student’s individual needs and level. The analysis we do following e ach administration of the MAP or ERB testing offers excellent data for teachers to seize upon those areas of math that need to be strengthened for each student, and this individualized approach keeps our students engaged and motivated. Homework in math is essentially a means to reinforce skills already introduced in the classroom. Teachers will occasionally assign independent work within particular online
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