Students enter a rich, multiply dimensioned support environment at Gildo Rey. Although the problem-solving curriculum remains the same, the instruction for each group is very different. Even within tier 3 groups, teaching modifies based on the needs of the students.
Math groups by level
All students, all grades
Days 1 and 2 Modifications
Peer modeling for students who have mastered a math concept and would benefit from a greater challenge.
- Students work with a partner to solve the problems and talk through each problem together. .
- Teacher circulates and monitors partner work, asks guiding questions and provides instructional support as needed..
- Teacher assigns each student a problem to teach to the group..
- Students present their problem to the group and students discuss questions and misconceptions.
One Day Modeling
Designed for students who are secure in the mathematical concept and acquire new learning at a faster pace than the average student.
- Teacher models the problem-solving set in one day instead of two, working through each problem with the students at a faster pace and without the additional skills practice and support of the two-day model.
Solve and Review
Designed for students who are secure with the mathematical concept and problem-solving process.
- Individual students solve the problems independently one-at-a-time. Teacher circulates and monitors, asks guiding questions and provides support as needed.
- Once students solve a problem, the teacher calls on students to share their work with the whole class.
- Teacher highlights different ways to solve the problem.
- Teacher and students discuss the different approaches, address misconceptions, and clarify the skills necessary to solve the problem and the process.
- Following the discussion, students make adjustments to their work as necessary.
Designed for students who are performing above grade level and secure in the mathematical concept.
- Students work with a partner to solve the math problems and talk through each problem together.
- Teacher circulates and monitors partner work, asks guiding questions and providing instructional support as needed.
- Once finished with the set of problems, students get an individual debrief from the teacher.
- Teacher talks through any errors or areas to improve.
- Students return to their desks and fix their work.
Day 3 Modifications
Designed for students who have difficulty communicating mathematical ideas and are not confident with their math skills.
- Students work with a partner to solve a set of problems.
- Teacher monitors the learning activity to make sure students are communicating math concepts accurately and working together, but h/she does not provide any instructional support.
- Students finish solving the problems and use any additional time to check their work.
Designed for students performing below grade level and not secure in the particular math skill.
- Students work independently to solve a set of problems.
- Teacher tells students she will provide “two helps” when students get stuck. Students raise their hand when they are stuck on a problem and teacher talks them through the next step.
- Teacher notes the help on the paper and student moves on.
- After “two helps,” the student must work through the remaining problems independently.
Facilitate Entering the Task
Designed for students who are struggling with solving math problems.
- Teacher reads each problem aloud and then provides guiding questions to help students get started on the problem.
- After reading and discussing each problem together, students complete the problems independently.
- Teachers use this modification frequently at the beginning of the year, lessening the intervention as the year progresses.
Designed for ELL students and students who have a limited math vocabulary.
- Teacher reads each problem aloud and works with students to identify and define key math vocabulary words.
- After reading and discussing each problem, students complete the problems independently.
Day 4 Modifications
Designed for students who benefit from a one-to-one conversation with their teacher, instead of a group debrief.
- As students finish their problem set, each student meets with the teacher for scoring and a debrief. (Students start finishing on day 3. Teacher begins the debrief process on day 3 as they finish.)
- Teacher scores the paper immediately, and discusses errors and areas to improve in a one-to-one with the student.
- Student receives the feedback, asks questions and returns to their desk to make corrections.
- Once he or she makes the corrections, the student returns to the teacher and teacher checks the corrected work.
- As students complete the corrections, the teacher provides another task to complete; for example, if the weekly skill is multiplication, the teacher might add more multiplication problems to the back of the student’s paper.
Designed for students who benefit from a deeper analysis of their own work.
- Teacher scores student work, writing a total score at the top but does not mark next to each problem to show whether it is right or wrong.
- Teacher returns the paper to the student and student works to find and correct errors.
- This process forces the student to re-read and analyze their own work in order to identify where they lost points.
- After the student has corrected the errors, he or she receives a one-to-one debrief on the corrections. The teacher re-scores the paper, providing feedback and re-teaching as needed.
- Gildo Rey teachers also work this process with student pairs so that the child has additional support as they find and correct errors.