Action Research Plan
Math Fact Fluency
Math Fact Fluency
Goal: Determine
if our district’s fact fluency program is effectively teaching our economically disadvantaged students addition and
subtraction math facts.
Action Steps(s):
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Person(s) Responsible:
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Timeline: Start/End
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Needed Resources
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Evaluation
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Formal
Approval
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Tamara Wyble,
Sarah Otto,
Robin Waller
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September 2012
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*Formal
written request
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Face-to-face
meeting to discuss and determine the steps to begin the project.
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Analysis of
previous year’s data for both first and second grade’s
economically disadvantaged students
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Tamara Wyble
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October – November 2012
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*Fact
fluency data reports from 2011-2012
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Hard copies
of first and second grade results
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Analysis and
comparison of current year’s data at semester break to last year’s data at
the same point
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Tamara Wyble
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January 2013
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*Reports
from Eduphoria and/or reporting
spreadsheets
from each 2nd grade math teacher
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Hard copies
of second grade students’ results
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Conduct a
meeting with math team (both first and second grade) to share results/trends
of first semester’s results
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Tamara Wyble,
First Grade Math,
Second Grade Math, Sarah Otto, and Robin Waller
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January 2013
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*Spreadsheet
reporting current data in relation to previous year’s data
*Sign-in
sheet for attendance
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Reflection
analysis of math team and administrators
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Survey teacher opinions of the fact fluency program and
share suggestions to supplement the
district’s fact fluency program
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Tamara Wyble and primary school math team
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January – February 2013
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*Google
document survey
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Survey
results
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Survey math
teachers to determine if implementation of
supplemental ideas have altered their results for
their economically disadvantaged students
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Tamara Wyble and primary school math team
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March 2013
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*Google
document survey
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Survey
results
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Analysis and
comparison of current year’s data at the end of the year along with last
year’s data at the same point
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Tamara Wyble
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May 2013
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*Reports
from Eduphoria and/or reporting
spreadsheets
from each 2nd grade math teacher
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Hard copies
of second grade students’ results
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End-of-year
meeting with administrators to share results
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Tamara Wyble, Sarah Otto, Robin Waller, Sandra
Duree, and Mary Cummings
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May 2013
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*Analysis
reports showing comparative results from last year to this year.
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Face-to-face
meeting to discuss and share findings
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End-of-year
meeting with primary campus math teachers to share results
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Tamara Wyble, Sarah Otto, Robin Waller, and the
primary campus math team
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May 2013
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*Analysis
reports showing comparative results from last year to this year.
*Sign-in
sheet for attendance
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Face-to-face
meeting to discuss and share findings
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Tamara,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the invite! I see that you have a well thought out plan. It seems very doable and beneficial to your campus. I will follow you to see how it comes along. I finally have mine posted as well. See you soon!
Thanks! And I will come visit soon! =)
DeleteTamara-
ReplyDeleteWeel thought out plan. IT is so important for students to know their facts before they begin the two and three step problems. Great idea! Best of luck!
Thanks, Heather! And yes it is! I know we start trying to expose our second graders to two-step problems by the end of spring.
DeleteHi Tamara,
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks for posting on my blog. Your comments were helpful and enlightening.
I believe this will be a good ARP for a teacher with your specialty. In another life, I taught elementary math and, if I'm understanding your premise correctly, 'fact fluency' refers to the quick retrieval of math concepts in the simple matters of addition, subtraction, etc. These elements are fundamental to all future math learning, so achieving the skills at an early age is vital.
Since I don't know exactly how your 'fact fluency' program works, I can't comment, but I can say that with the kids I taught, speed and accuracy came to them through practice in the way of games, competition, and fun. Rote learning has to happen sometimes, so the method of delivery has to be something with kid-appeal.
Now, as to how all this connects with your low-income kids, I don't get, so I will follow you and see where you end up.
Good luck with your masters program; you and I have gone back to school at the same time. ;)
Thanks!
DeleteOur program consists of songs and games but also includes the use of flash cards. We practice daily, including a timed piece - 25 problems/ 1 min. 15 sec. We do one side in class and send one home for homework. In second grade, we use the triangle flash cards and make a set on card stock for each child to take home for practice. Once a week we do one for a grade - which is 10% of our total math grade.
Our economically disadvantaged students are typically the ones who have limited or no support at home. I believe the reasoning behind my principal wanting me to focus on them is because of the STAAR test next year in third grade. She wants to make sure the ways we teach and practice the facts help all students, but especially those with additional challenges such as the economically disadvantaged. I will still examine the overall second grade to see if there are any other "groups" of students that we may not be reaching as well.
Thanks for your comment.
I also taught 2nd grade a few years ago, those were my students who did not have fact fluency, they did not have reading fluency either. I think that at least some economically disadvantaged students did not have someone at home to practice these types of memorized skills with them. It takes time and practice and those types of students had less parent involvement in my experience. We often did have to have lots of parent meetings and get the kids excited and wanting to learn them because it was often that they had to do it on their own, with an older sibling, or I even had some that went to a neighbors house to get help. Those are the kids that it is hard to get homework from, so something had to happen at school to give them a chance to get some of that practice. You might also have different classroom use different techniques and compare the results. One class could do regular way of mostly flashcards and homework learning of this memorized facts, while another could use games and hands on and see which had better results. Good luck
ReplyDeleteThanks for your suggestions, Melissa. Yes, I agree with you that fact fluency and reading fluency correlate because of the lack of support at home.
DeleteI would love to try to different approach. While my district requires us to have "timed" quizzes and grades (only make up 10% of their overall grade), it would be interesting to see in my tutorial groups to try different approaches.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Tamara,
ReplyDeleteI like that you are getting teacher input about the importance of fact fluency. It should be interesting to see how important it is to teachers.
I'm also comparing data from last year to this year in my plan. I hope I see some definite results!
Best of luck!
Thanks, Shelly! I am really hoping that my research will make a difference and actually influence our fact fluency program, since it is a district written one based on research and the success of other programs. I hope I can make a difference - that all the work will be worth it.
DeleteI taught second grade math a few years ago and we used Saxon Math. It really focused on the math facts and fluency and also built on skills bit by bit. We no longer use it and the upper grade teachers can really tell a difference in the students fluency with their facts. Those basic addition and subtraction facts are so important to multiplication and division! Good luck with your project and I look forward to your postings!
ReplyDeleteLV
Several of my co-workers used Saxon Math previously. However, when I started teaching math in second grade (I was the LA teacher the last time we were departmentalized) we had just gotten a new adoption. It does lack the fact piece. My district recognized the gap and wrote it's own fact fluency program. We have also purchased and been trained by Kim Sutton and are using her fact fluency program for grades 1 and 2.
DeleteNow with the STAAR test being times, it is so vital that the kids don't get stuck on the basic facts. Thanks for your support!
Tamara- in reading your comments I noticed that you are using a program through Kim Sutton. We are implementing a program through her as well so I am very excited to see the results of your research.
DeleteBonnie,
DeleteThis is our second year to use her program. The kids really LOVE it. We are finding (which is a good thing) that the students who went through all her blocks as it was designed to be used in first grade are ready to move faster this year.
I love the fact that all she does is research based and it is really making a difference. Good luck with it!
I love this!!!! I teach sixth grade ELAR but my math teacher on my team always has students that struggle with the basics of math. It's such an important concept that if students don't get it, it will be very hard to solve word problems. I look forward to seeing your results. Thanks so much for posting on my blog.
ReplyDelete-Fanny
Thanks! I think we are so focused on pushing our students along that the basics are being left by the wayside. The lack of parent involvement in helping their own children practice is a struggle in its own right. That might be my next project! =)
DeleteI am really hoping that my district's focus on the facts will carry over and I am looking forward to watching my current students grow over the next few months.
Please join my blog so you can keep track of my results! =)
DeleteTamara,
ReplyDeleteGreat plan! With math being one of the areas that we struggle with as a whole, it's great that you're looking at it with the lower levels. This way we can make strides from the beginning. We use Math Facts In A Flash with Renaissance Learning and it helps to drill them beginning with addition and subtraction, then moving on to multiplication and above. The nice thing is that since it's on the computer every student moves at their own pace. I'll be looking for updates on your project to see if you have any information that I can also use at my school.
http://feliciarun.blogspot.com/
Felicia Runnels
Thanks! I did not realize Renaissance Learning has a math fact program. I am currently looking for something that is proven to be useful and worth the money to take to my curriculum director to assist our low-performing students! I will have to check it out! =)
DeleteThanks!
Tamara,
ReplyDeleteYour plan is very well thought out! Fact fluency is so important and it is so nice that you have a program to use in your district. I taught second grade for years and this was a big struggle for my kiddos even with all the games and activities that I did to help them. I was wondering if this is part of your curriculum and every teacher does it?
Sorry I couldn't come up with any suggestions!
I look forward to following your progress on this!
Angela
This is actually part of our curriculum and all teachers grades K - 6 are supposed to be using it. =)
DeleteThanks for posting!
Tamara