Building Collegiality Between Regular Education and Special Education Teachers to Meet the Needs of Struggling Students

National Council of Supervisors of MathematicsPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaApril 25, 2011

Melissa Hedges, MathematicsTeaching Specialist, MTSDBeth Schefelker, Mathematics Teaching Specialist, MPSConnie Laughlin, Mathematics Instructor, UW-Milwaukee

Milwaukee Public SchoolsUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

MathAllianceProject

Why Math Alliance?

AllianceA merging of efforts or interests bypersons, families, states, andorganizations…Webster Dictionary, 2012

Research question we were pondering…What collaboration needs to happen between Regular Education teachers and Special Education teachers in order to effectively meet the needs to Teach All Learners of Mathematics (TAL)?

• Largest Wisconsin School District (ranks 33rd in the US)

• 80,098 students

• 175 Schools: 118 elementary, 8 middle, 18 mid/high, 40 high

• Poverty 82.6% (State 39.3%)

• Disabilities 19.8% (State 13.7%)

• ELL 10.0% (State 5.7%)

• Non-white 85.0% (State 25.6%)

Milwaukee Public SchoolsMathAllianceProject

MPS Students’ Performance on State Test

Vision

• Improve mathematics performance for students in grades 4–8, particularly for students with special needs and for students who struggle in mathematics.

• Support a school culture for collaboration of general and special education teachers on improving math learning for all students.

MathAllianceProject

Project Goals

• Strengthen the math content knowledge of general and special education teachers;

• Enhance math instruction and assessment, focusing on appropriate accommodations and modifications for special education and struggling students;

• Increase collaboration on math instruction of general and special education teachers.

MathAllianceProject

Participants

Year 1 Participants

Year 2 Participants

Continuing from Year 1

CertificationGeneral Ed 13 19 68%

Special Ed 22 21 86%

Total 35 40

Grade LevelElementary 12 12 83%

Middle 13 21 76%Both 10 7 71%

MathAllianceProject

Project Staff

UWM Mathematics EducationDeAnn Huinker

UWM MathematicsKevin McLeod & Patrick Hopfensperger

UWM Special EducationJudy Winn & Mary Ann Fitzgerald

District Teachers and SpecialistsChris Guthrie, Special Education TeacherBeth Schefelker, Math Teaching SpecialistMelissa Hedges, Math Teaching SpecialistMary Spidell, Special Education Supervisor

MathAllianceProject

  Fall Spring Summer

Year 12009-2010 Recruitment

Math: Number, Operations, & Algebraic Reasoning Education: Development of Math Knowledge with Differentiation for Struggling Learners

Year 22010-2011

Math: Geometry & Measurement Education: Teaching Math to All Learners Part 1

Education:Collaboration &

Planning for Math Differentiation

Year 32011-2012

Math: Data Analysis, Statistics, & Probability Education: Teaching Math to All Learners Part 2

MathAllianceProject

Timeline

Structure• Tuesday evenings (dinner and 3-hour classes)• Year I (Number and Operations)

• Math content and Teaching all Learners content separate (Your turn, my turn)

• Developed a planning format that combined the two• Math team and special education instructional teams

• Year 2 (Geometry and Measurement)• Teaching all Learners content planned to link with specific

math content• Mixed teams

• Year 3 (Statistics and Probability)• Alternating weeks but working to link• Mixed teams

Strands MathAllianceProject

“I believe that development is more dependent on instruction than on age or biological maturation and that types of instructional experiences can foster, or impede, development.”

Pierre M. van Hiele

Van Hiele levels

• Level 0 – Visualization

• Level 1 – Analysis

• Level 2 – Informal Deduction

• Level 3 – Formal

• Level 4 - Rigor

Alliance teachers …

• The tricky triangle activity. I had some misconceptions about triangles and this assignment helped me clear them up. Learning about the Van Hiele levels helped me understand where I am as a learner of math and what level I want to be at. Understanding these levels also helped me figure what I need to work on in order to get to the next level.

• It is easier for me to assess students now because my expectations have more categories : vocab--van Hiele levels

Barriers and Strategies Studied for Supporting Teaching All Learners

Cognitive Demands• Reading/Language • Organization• Calculation

Information Processing• Visual• Auditory• Motor• Memory• Attention deficit• Expressive/Receptive

Instructional Suggestions Explored

• Vocabulary • Cue Cards

• Multiple representations

• Alternate Algorithms• Task Cards• Talk Formats• Large and small group

work• Variety of

Manipulatives

Tools Developed Support TAL

Planning for Differentiation

Three stages of an educational collaborativerelationship: Interpersonal, Logistical, Curricular

Communication Skills

Conflict Resolution Skills

Problem Solving

ListeningActive vs. PassiveBlocks

Verbal•tone

Non-verbal•Cues•Body movements

Causes of conflict

Resolving conflict

Negotiating through conflict

Identify the Problem

Gather Information

Clarify the Concern

Reach Agreement on Problem

Stay Away From Blame

Projects/Assignments

Textbook and Intervention ProjectsTextbook Analysis:• Part 1: Reflect on own learning of mathematics• Part 2: Plan, instruct and collect data around the big idea.

• Reflect on the mathematics and mathematics understanding as demonstrated in formative assessment.

• Plan differentiation of lesson to meet all student needs• Part 3 Make suggestions for focus and differentiation

Tier 1 Intervention Project• Use data to select a small group.• Use activities from class to work with students.• Progress Monitor with classroom assessments based on

standards.

Content Knowledge

I have learned how the distributive property moves through math from elementary to middle to high school. I now know the importance of using the area model and being able to use it and the distributive property method in multiplying. I’ve used this in my class and it offers me opportunities to present more strategies to my students.

---General Education Teacher

MathAllianceProject

Content Knowledge

The biggest impact has been exploring 'how you get there.' I remember doing a lot of memorizing as a student. Going through the process from addition to grouping to multiplication gave me the words to explain more fully those connections. The activities for multiplication, as well as the different methods of getting an answer have really enhanced my teaching.

---Special Education Teachers

MathAllianceProject

Content Knowledge

I can say that when we discussed area as covering I became clearer in my understanding. Before this class when asked what is area, I would rattle off the formula.

---General Education TeacherI hold a deeper level of understanding of how the moving and combining principles can be applied for various shapes when determining areas.

---Special Education Teacher

Another “ah ha” moment was when I found out that you can measure to find the circumference and that it would be approximately a little bit more than 3 times the diameter; always wondered why we use pi to figure area of circles.

---General Education Teacher

MathAllianceProject

• Curriculum development• Literacy dominates special education, Limited guidance in math• Understand philosophical differences

“Inquiry vs Explicitness” “Explore vs Systematic”

• Collaborative planning and teaching• Challenges consistent with K-12 teacher collaboration literature –

(e.g., time, teacher content & pedagogical content knowledge (PCK))• Understanding each other’s roles, potential, and shifts in practice

• Range of participants’ content knowledge• Substantial “holes” in math knowledge, lack of PCK (e.g., tools, models)• Being able to put change into practice, harder for General Education

• Meeting needs of both Special and General Education Teachers in one project (attrition)

Challenges MathAllianceProject

Addressing challenges• Instructional teams with communication• Using some of the RtI guidance (e.g., IES Practice

Guide)• Wrestling with “explicit instruction” with

participants • Focusing on identifying students’ developmental

conceptual understanding while acknowledging more assessments are needed• Van Hiele levels

MathAllianceProject

What are we learning?MathAllianceProject

Lessons Learning from Math Alliance What has this made us think?

Learned Think aboutAbsolute importance of math content knowledge both for teaching math and collaborating to teach math

How do we ensure that special education teachers develop this knowledge in our preparation programs? Can we?

We have to say more than “he can’t do it because is working on a third grade level in math.”

How to challenge that kind of thinking along with acknowledging it

Lots to understand about explicit instruction

How to provide it without guilt but in a way that supports students who struggle without it.

Role of language (bigger than we thought)

What can be taken from reading instruction

MathAllianceProject

I really believe that I have high expectations for all of my students now. I think when I encountered a barrier previously it was easy to think that a particular student would just never get it. Now I know that I can find at least one strategy that will reach all students. My students are now more confident themselves. We have grown together.

----Special Education Teacher

MathAllianceProject

Melissa Hedges, MSTSMequon-Thiensville School District

Beth Schefelker, MTSMilwaukee Public SchoolsMilwaukee, WI