TOLLESON UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FACILITATION GUIDE

Mathematics Engagement Strategies

Date
Overview
PD Title:

Math Engagement Strategies

Time Frame:

55 minutes

Description:

This session is designed to introduce and promote the use of

collaborative and discussion strategies which increase engagement
and accountability in the mathematics classroom.

Audience:

New Teachers to TUHSD

# of
Participants:

Facilitator(s):
Author(s):

Lindsey Robertson/Jeff Carter

Lindsey Robertson/Jeff Carter

Location:

25-30
LaJoya

STAGE 1: Desired Results

InTASC Standards

Transfer

Standard #1
Learner
Development: The
teacher understands
how learners grow
and develop,
recognizing that
patterns of learning
and development
vary individually
within and across
the cognitive,
linguistic, social,
emotional, and
physical areas, and
designs and
implements
developmentally
appropriate and
challenging learning
experiences. The
specific focus will be
on a, d, i, and j.

Participants will be able to independently use their learning to

Plan and implement engagement strategies in the
classroom.
Evaluate the effectiveness of a variety of student
engagement strategies.
Meaning
Enduring Understandings
Essential Questions
Participants will understand
Participants will keep
that
considering
Teachers will understand
How do engagement
basic engagement
strategies increase teacher
strategies.
effectiveness?
Teachers will use
Which engagement
engagement strategies to
strategy am I willing to try
increase student learning
first?
outcomes.
How will I plan to use an
Teachers will evaluate the
engagement strategy to its
effectiveness of engagement
fullest?
strategies and make
What monitoring skills do I
appropriate modifications.
need to make the
engagement strategy
effective?
If the engagement strategy
Standard #2
is not successful, how will I
Learning
diagnose the reason why?
Differences: The
Acquisition of Knowledge & Skill / Development of
teacher uses
Mindset
understanding of
individual
Knowledge
Skill
Mindset
differences and
Participants will
Participants will be
Participants will be
diverse cultures and
know
able to
willing to plan for
communities to

the
importance
of

plan
for
the
use
of
ensure inclusive
the use of
learning
keeping students
engagement
engagement
environments that
engaged.
strategies.
strategies.
enable each learn to and recognize a

ready to
implement a variety
meet high
variety of
implement
of engagement
standards. The
engagement
engagement
strategies.
specific focus will be
strategies.
strategies.
on a, c, and g.
evaluate the
the importance of
effectiveness of
Standard #3
increasing
each engagement
Learning
teacher
strategy used and
Environments:
effectiveness.
make appropriate
The teacher works
with others to create
environments that
support individual

adjustments.

Page | 2

and collaborative
learning, and that
encourage positive
social interaction,
active engagement
in learning, and selfmotivation. The
specific focus will be
on b-e, h-l, and o-q.
Standard #4
Content
Knowledge: The
teacher understands
the central
concepts, tools of
inquiry, and
structures of the
discipline(s) he or
she teaches and
creates learning
experiences that
make these aspects
f the discipline
accessible and
meaningful for
learners to assure
mastery of the
content. The
specific focus will be
on (b) and (c).
Standard #5
Application of
Content: The
teacher understands
how to connect
concepts and use
differing
perspectives to
engage learners in
critical thinking,
creativity, and
collaborative
problem solving
related to authentic
local and global
issues. The specific
focus will on be on
a-f, and m-o.
Standard #6
Assessment: The
teacher understands
and uses multiple
methods of
Page | 3

assessment to
engage learners in
their own growth, to
monitor learner
progress, and to
guide the teachers
and learners
decision making.
The specific focus
will be on a, e, and f.
Standard #7
Planning for
Instruction: The
teacher plans
instruction that
supports every
student in meeting
rigorous learning
goals by drawing
upon knowledge of
content areas,
curriculum, crossdisciplinary skills,
and pedagogy, as
well as knowledge of
learners and the
community context.
The specific focus
will be on a and b.
Standard #8
Instructional
Strategies: The
teacher understands
and uses a variety
of instructional
strategies to
encourage learners
to develop deep
understanding of
content areas and
their connections,
and to build skills to
apply knowledge in
meaningful ways.
The specific focus
will be on b, d, f, h,
and j.

Page | 4

STAGE 2: Acceptable Evidence

Questions
Checking Work
CFU
Session Survey

Materials/To Prepare/Things to Open

Type
Handouts
Index cards
Chart Paper
Blank Paper
Post-it Notes
Blank Venn
Diagram

Title
Engagement Strategies

Notes

Created

STAGE 3: Learning Plan

Time

Prior to
Start of
session

Description

Presenters write the following on the board:

Name
Position
School
Email Address
Phone Number

Math
Materials
/ Slides
Power
Point

All other
content
Materials,
slides and
handouts
Power
Point
Handouts
Index card

Put an index card on each desk for the participants prior to the start
of the session.
Begin the session promptly at the beginning of each hour,
leaving time in the last session for the survey, in an effort to
show the District Standard that values ones time.
4 Minutes Projected:
Please introduce yourself to someone and sit in pairs - close
to the front of the room.
Familiarize yourself with the handout regarding the
descriptions of the structures and talk about what they look
like in a lesson.

Slide 1
Projected
as participants enter
the room

Handout

Page | 5

4 Minutes Session Starter:

Begin promptly, introduce yourself by providing your
name(s), position, school, and contact information.
Provide an interesting professional tidbit for participants to
connect to.
Now have them introduce themselves to the group, modeling
your introduction.
2 Minutes Session Introduction:

No Slide

Slide 2

THE NEED
Trends in mathematics classrooms.
Evaluation myths/misconceptions.
Brainstorming (next steps).
THE GOAL
Higher student achievement.
Increasing our teaching effectiveness.
HOW?
Through engagement and its relation to a high culture for
learning and planning to support it.
3 Minutes Timed Pair Share:
Pose a question or scenario to the class.
Give think time to the whole class
Give directions for person A to answer for 30 seconds.
Give directions for person B to answer for 30 seconds.
Teacher selects a couple of students to share what their
partner said.
3 Minutes What is Intellectual Engagement?

1 Minute

Student engagement is the centerpiece of the framework for

teaching. When students are engaged in learning, they are not
merely busy, nor are they only on task. Rather, they are
intellectually active in learning important and challenging content.
The critical distinction between a classroom in which students are
compliant and busy, and one in which they are engaged, is that in the
latter students are developing their understanding through what they
do. That is, they are engaged in discussion, debate, answering what
if? questions, discovering patterns, and the like. They may be
making important contributions to the intellectual life of the class.
-Charlotte Danielson
Preface

Slide 3

Slide 4

Visible
Timer
Hi-Liter
Underline

Slide 5

Underlying Supports to Ensure Higher Intellectual Engagement.

Culture of Learning

How do effective teachers set the tone for their classroom at the
beginning of the year?

Page | 6

How do effective teachers CONTINUE to set the tone

THROUGHOUT the year?

Slide 6

Blank
Paper

Slide 7

Chart
Paper

5 Minutes Lets brainstorm

What do you do?
What do teachers you admire do?
What shouldnt teachers do?
Do non-verbal attributes help or hurt?
Rally Robin
Teacher poses a problem to which there are multiple possible
responses.
2) Teacher gives think time.
3) Then, in pairs, students takes turns stating and writing a list of
responses or solutions (each should have the same list when
done).
4) Decide on the top 2 to share from your team.
Culture of Learning
Pair Stand-n-Share
All pairs of students stand as a team.

5 Minutes

The teacher calls on a standing student from the team.

Selected student states one item from the teams top 2 list.

The other students in teams, either adds the item to the list, or if it
is already listed, checks it off.

In that same team, the next student says the next item from the
top 2.

Repeat steps 2-5.

Teams sit when all their items are shared. While seated, they add
each new item using step #4.

When all teams are seated, all items have been shared and the list
is complete.
Culture of Learning

HIGH structure is needed

While the teacher is working on building the culture for
learning.
1 Minutes At-risk student populations
Classrooms with a very high culture for learning can get by on
less structure
But, if students see a way to opt out they will try

Slide 8

Page | 7

Why fight that battle?

Just build it into the lesson plan.
The Foreword
Slide 9
Planning to Ensure Engagement with More Supports
Planning with Engagement in Mind

4 Minutes

Plan what formative assessment you will use and what you are
specifically looking for
Effective teachers know that everything needs to be monitored
Monitoring creates opportunities to give students feedback
Feedback is a motivator and creates a feeling of investment in
the activity.
Invested students are engaged students.

Slide 10

You cant give feedback unless you are monitoring

(also known as in-class formative assessment)
Planning Tips

2 Minutes

Keep a lesson plan binder to go with your calendar (sheet

protectors, PPT printouts, etc.)
Keep notes to self for using it next year
Look at the big picture of the curriculum guide:
Look at the depth of the standards and make notes on the
curriculum guide (state tests are based on Florida and national
standards/benchmarks not the Hillsborough County
curriculum guides be informed)
Use assessment criteria that is easy for your teaching style
Ask department head or principal for $$
Investigate your math departments inventory

Slide 11

Post it
Notes
Venn
Diagram

The Focus
Slide 12
What does engagement look like?
Experience it for yourself
We will analyze three different approaches to a math worksheet

1 Minutes

Lets work with a traditional resource that is available to

everyone the worksheet.
The trainer will model the teacher
You will be the students

Slide 13

(While you are the student, out of the corner of your eye, watch
they dynamic of the other students and the room in general)

Page | 8

We will de-brief afterwards from the perspective of the fly on

the wall

Whole Class Q&A

Solve for x.

4
Minutes

Slide 14

**Assume the students are already familiar with the

concept
(this is not an introduction)

Formula
for
Surface of
a Cylinder
Calculator
s
White
Board
Markers
Erasures

Whole Class Q&A (De-Brief)

4
Minutes

What did you see?

Who was doing most of the work?
Who was not?
Was there formative assessment?
What kind of information did the teacher get from the formative
assessment?
What kind of feedback did students receive? How many students?

Slide 15

Work with your group

Solve for x.

4
Minutes

Slide 16

14. The bill for the repair of your car was $326. The cost of parts was $242. The
cost of labor was $28 per hour. How many hours did it take to fix your car?

Formula
for
Surface of
a Cylinder
Calculator
s
White
Board
Markers
Erasures

Page | 9

Work with your group (De-Brief)

4
Minutes

What did you see?

Who was doing most of the work?

Who was not?

Was there formative assessment?

What kind of information did the teacher get from the formative
assessment?

What kind of feedback did students receive? How many students?

Slide 17

Compare & Repair

Solve for x.

4
Minutes

Slide 18

15. A local computer center charges nonmembers $4 per session to use

the media center. If you pay a membership fee of $30, you pay only $2
per session. After how many sessions is it worth paying for the
membership?

Formula
for
Surface of
a Cylinder
Calculator
s
White
Board
Markers
Erasures

Compare & Repair

Use with
prior
slide, no
time

Each student individually writes the solution to the first problem and stops.

Pairs will share, compare, and repair answers.

Repeat for each question, alternating who speaks first.

Each student turns in own completed copy

Slide 19

Compare & Repair (De-Brief)

4
Minutes

What did you see?

Who was doing most of the work?

Who was not?

Was there formative assessment?

What kind of information did the teacher get from the formative
assessment?

What kind of feedback did students receive? How many students?

Slide 20

Page | 10

Lets Compare the 3 Approaches

Positive
Interdep
endence
(do they
need
each
other?)

1
Minutes

Whole Class
Q&A

Unstructu
red Group
Discussion

Compare & Repair Structure

Positive but
only one
student
independent
of everyone
else

Positive
but
unstructur
ed

Positive and cant do the activity

by yourself
(need partner for next step/check)

Slide 21
Individua
l
Accounta
bility

No

No

Yes

Equal
Participa
tion

No

No (can
have
freeloader
s)

Yes

Simultan
eous
Interacti
on

No
1/30 = 3.3%

At least 1
out of 4 in
a group =
25%

At least in a pair = 50%

Back to: Planning with Engagement in Mind

How to successfully use structures

1 minute
If time
permits

Look at content FIRST, then select the structure or activity to fit

Now back up plan to introduce the structure with something short and easy
(as part of beginning of the year, a review of background knowledge, a team
or class building activity) so students gain familiarity with the procedure
In the current lesson, include a visual of the procedural steps for students to
reference throughout the activity. Include sentence starters if needed.
When verbalizing to students, have the visual projected and use it
interactively (i.e. point to it, etc.). Then model it with student volunteers.
Include counterexamples and how to deal with them.
Plan how the teacher will monitor and formatively assess the activity

Slide 22

Effective teachers never let things run by themselves

they have carefully crafted it to only look that way.

Page | 11

Determining which structure to use

1 minute
If time
permits

Compare and contrast solving/graphing inequalities and

solving/graphing equations.
(RallyRobin, Timed-Pair-Share)

Calculate the mean, median, and mode of the data.

(RallyCoach, RallyTable, QQT?, Compare-Repair)

Explain the steps for factoring polynomials.

(Timed-Pair-Share, or RallyTable for a>1)

Put the steps of the problem in the correct order.

(RallyTable, Compare-Repair)

Slide 23

Determining which structure to use

Determining which structure to use

3
minutes
If time
permits

Match the points of concurrency with the appropriate image.

Generate examples of angle classification.

Classify the following numbers as real, rational, irrational, integers, whole, or

natural.

Predict what would happen to the area of a rectangle if the base increased
by 5.

Determine the appropriate trigonometry function.

Solve the following matrix operation.

Slide 24

Books:

Resourc
es

Teach Like A Champion by Doug Lemov

Implementing the Framework by Charlotte Danielson

Styles and Strategies for Teaching High School Mathematics: 21 Techniques

for Differentiating Instruction and Assessment by Thomas, Brunsting and
Warrick.

Through Ebony Eyes by Gail Thompson

Driven by Data: A Practical Guide to Improving Instruction by Paul BambrickSantoyo

Contact Information

Slide 25

Slide 29

Lindsey Robertson
Email: lindsey.Robertson@tuhsd.org
Jeff Carter
Email: jeff.carter@tuhsd.org

Page | 12

Feedback to ussuggestions please

What can you use for
for
<the short-term>

What can you use

<the long-term>
Slide 29

Things you didnt like

improve on

Blank
Piece of
Paper

Things we can

Notes
When Modeling Engagement Strategies
1. Identify Strategy
2. Purpose and Description
3. CFU
4. Directions
5. CFU
6. Model
7. Debrief

Page | 13

References
Handouts:
#1
Pair Share
Teacher announces a topic or question and provides think time.
Teacher states which student shares first.
In pairs, Partner A shares; Partner B listens.
Teacher stops sharing and directs students to switch roles.
Rally Robin
Teacher poses a problem to which there are multiple possible solutions or responses.
In pairs, students take turns stating responses or solutions.
Round Robin
Teacher assigns a topic or question with multiple answers and provides think time.
Students respond orally to each other, each in turn taking the same amount of time.
Numbered Heads Together
Students each get a number.
Teacher poses a problem and students privately write their answers.
Students lift up from their chairs to put their heads together, show answers, discuss, and teach.
Students sit down when everyone understands the answer.
Teacher calls a number. Students with that number answer the question.
Rally Coach
Partner A solves the first problem.
Partner B watches, listens, coaches, praises.
Partner B solves the next problem.
Partner A watches, listens, coaches, praises.
Rally Table
Teacher gives topic with multiple answers.
In pairs, students go back and forth writing a response on paper.
RoundTable
Teacher provides a task to which there are multiple possible responses.
In teams, students take turns saying and writing a response on one paper.
Compare-Repair
Each student individually writes solution to first problem and stops.
Pairs will share, compare, and repair answers.
Repeat for each question alternating who speaks first.
Page | 14

Each student turns in own completed copy.

Quiz-Quiz-Trade
Students stand up, hand up, pair up.
Partner A quizzes; Partner B answers; Partner A coaches or praises.
Partners reverse roles.
Partners trade cards.
Students repeat the process with a new partner.

#2

Page | 15