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Using the PLC Structure to Better Understand how
to Investigate the Iowa Core in Math: Part III
Christine Quisley, Sandy Ubben
AEA 267 Math/PLC Consultants
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Today’s Focus

How implementing the Standards of Mathematical Practice
build students mathematical understanding.
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Standards for Mathematical Practice
(SMP)

8 practices, IC pages 8-10.

Not new, but based in best practice in mathematics education
over past 20-25 years - Based on NCTM process standards
(1989 and 2000) and National Research Council’s Report
Adding It Up (2001).

Practices describe how students engage in learning
mathematics.

SMP are the key to improving mathematics teaching and
learning.
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What does mathematical
understanding look like?
• To show mathematical
understanding what
should see and hear
from teachers and
students.
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Standards for Mathematical Practice
(SMP)
SMP
are the key to improving
mathematics teaching and learning.
What
 The
are the look fors in a classroom
teacher will…
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
Innovation Configuration Map
Shirley Hord: "What it does is to explicitly spell out what the
new practice will look like when it is in operation in the
classroom."
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Poll: Where am I? Where is my PLC
Team?
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Sample Problems
28 + 44 =
Fosnot, C. T. & Dolk, M. (2001), Young Mathematicians at Work: Constructing Number Sense,
Addition, and Subtraction, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, pp. 136-137.
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What do we know about the
student’s mathematical
understanding?
1
28
+44
72
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28 + 44
Samples of Student Work
Fosnot, C. T. & Dolk, M. (2001), Young Mathematicians at Work: Constructing Number Sense,
Addition, and Subtraction, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, pp. 136-137.
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
Innovation Configuration Map
Shirley Hord: "What it does is to explicitly spell out what the
new practice will look like when it is in operation in the
classroom."
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Team Planning Questions SMP 6
(Kanold & Larson)

What is the essential student vocabulary for this unit, and
how will our team assess it?

What are the expectations for precision in student solution
pathways, explanations, and labels during this unit?

How will students be expected to accurately describe the
procedures they used to solve tasks and problems in class?

Will student work as it relates to in-and out-of-class problems
and tasks require students to perform calculations carefully
and appropriately?

Will students’ team and whole-class discussions reveal an
accurate use of mathematics?
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Team Planning Questions SMP 2
(Kanold & Larson)

What are the expectations for student reasoning and
mathematical explanations for this problem or math task?

How will students be expected to connect the problem’s
solutions and the limits on those solutions based on the context
of the problem?

What are questions teachers can ask if students get stuck in the
problem? How can teachers scaffold the problem if necessary?

What are the nuances to the problem that can be extended to
student teams that demonstrate adequate solutions to the
original task?

What are the prompts (scaffolding questions) teachers can use
to help students teach, learn, and reason with one another
during their work together on this problem or task?
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Team Planning Questions SMP 3
(Kanold & Larson)

How will students provide explanations and justifications as
part of their solution processes during class activities?

How will students attempt to make sense of their classmates’
solutions by asking questions for clarification of their peers?

How will students communicate disagreements when they
don’t understand or don’t agree with solutions presented by
others, spurring discussion between and among students?

How will the lesson design allow and encourage students to
make conjectures about new information and test the validity
of those conjectures?
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Thank you!
Christine Quisley
AEA 267 School Improvement Consultant
Math and PLCs
cquisley@aea267.k12.ia.us
641-390-0865