Today, my students took a test in math. As I posted earlier, this is the first unit they have been tested on since I implemented our math workshop. When they finished the test, they were asked to write to me about workshop--whether they liked it, if they thought they learned better...
The results were OVERWHELMINGLY for math workshop. They loved working in small groups, getting more individual time from me, the games and the variation of math activities. I was glad that they liked it so far. I am going to work on putting together my next unit using a similar format.
I like the way it is working out, too. It takes a lot of front-end preparation, but it has gone pretty smoothly. This is a great group of kids to try anything with.
Typically, I have a small group working with me while other groups play games, practice skills independently, or work collaboratively to figure out a new concept. At most times of the class, there are about 3-4 different things going on. Students complete about 3 different activities during the time. I don't have the activity times or the time with me set up equally. Some groups get 20 minutes to do an activity while another group may only get 10. It depends on the activity and the abilities in the group.
Tomorrow morning I am going to score their math tests to see if the assessment results are as positive as the kids' attitudes about workshop. I will let you know.
So glad to hear it's going well! Isn't it a wonderful feeling when you try something daunting and it actually works?!? So exciting!
ReplyDeleteHow did they do? I really want to do math workshop. I came mid-year and am still trying to get my middle schoolers to follow directions, so they aren't ready. They do ok in groups, only if I am hovering over them.
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