Connected Math Interview

On December 12th I interviewed my mentor teacher from my student teaching about Connected Math and I found it interesting the information she gave me. In general she really likes the curriculum but pointed out, in my opinion, a huge hole in the design. No instruction for the teacher on how to set up the lessons. No notes on how teacher should introduce topics or how to give them a basic understanding of the concepts. Maybe this is because it is trying to be more inquiry based but some resourced would be nice. She did say that the lessons do follow a good logical progression, but that if instructions is not deliberate students get confused. This makes it very important for the teacher to set up the lesson with the understanding about how his/her student learn and thorough knowledge of the subject. Another drawback involves homework. Because this math is so different from what many parents know, it is difficult for them to help with homework. I was thinking that when I teach these lessons it might be a good idea to flip my classroom, assigning videos online for students to watch the night before. There are videos on the connected math webpage that I might be able to use. Using the site as a resource I can help students who fall behind or are more advanced work at their own pace. The class that I will be doing my student teaching in would be perfect for this because they have one laptop of every two students available with internet in the classroom. I intend to take full advantage of this resource when I start teaching in January. This is perfect for the way her classroom is set up, in pairs of tables, so student can naturally work together. This also makes it easy to larger groups of four students by just turning around. 

I look forward to working with connected math but I know it will be challenging to make the connections and introduction of the material in a way that these students will understand. I will also have to be able to summarize and present clear objectives that connect to the unit.