West Virginia School
Leadership Teams
Using Structure to Support Learning in
Mathematics
Lynn Baker
lhbaker@access.k12.wv.us
Coordinator, Math/Science Partnership
Office of Early Learning
Session Goals
• Extend Teacher Content Knowledge of
mathematics
• Focus on SMP 1 & 7
• In-depth study of Additive or Multiplicative
Structures
• Develop a plan for sharing
A Time of Reflection
How has your questioning
changed during mathematics
instruction?
Standards for
Mathematical Practice
1. Make sense of problems and persevere in
solving them.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the
reasoning of others.
4. Model with mathematics.
5. Use appropriate tools strategically.
6. Attend to precision.
7. Look for and make use of structure.
8. Look for and express regularity in repeated
reasoning.
Standards for Mathematical
Practice
Mathematically
Proficient Students Use
Mathematically
Mathematically
Proficient Students Think Proficient Students Do
About
Standards for
Mathematical Practice
1. Make sense of problems and
persevere in solving them.
7. Look for and make use of structure.
Write a short typical addition
“word” problem.
Structure vs Key Words
• Encourages students to ignore the meaning
and structure of the problem
• Key words may be misleading
• Problems may not have key words
• Key words don’t work with two-step problems
Elementary and Middle School Mathematics
Teaching Developmentally
Problem Sort
• Choose Additive or Multiplicative
Structures.
• Read each problem.
• As a group decide which structure it
represents.
Classroom Focus
Susan has 15 pennies. She gave some to
Bill. Now she has 9 pennies left. How
many pennies did she give Bill?
Computational and
Semantic Forms of
Equations
• Computational form of the equation isolates
the unknown in a way that the unknown is
alone on one side of the equation.
• Semantic form of the equation lists the
numbers in the order that follows the
meaning of the word problem.
Classroom Focus
• Select an additive or a multiplicative
structure. (Based on Grade Level Next
Generation CSOs)
• Write two grade level appropriate
problems.
• Working in groups of three, practice your
“problem talk”.
Index Card
Grade Level
Additive/Multiplicative
Type of structure
Text of word
problem
1 of ?
Suggested Implementation
5-10 minutes
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday
Friday
Number
Talk
Problem
Talk
Number
Talk
Number
Talk
Problem
Talk
It is more than a diet!
It is a lifestyle change!
Change 10%
•
•
•
•
10% of 300 minutes
30 minutes/day
Which 30 minutes will you change?
What will you differently?
How will you share?
• Develop a plan for sharing the information
from today’s session.
• Share with another school?
Session Debrief
• Ah-Ha!
• Oh No!
• One step we are going to
take.