When I first started using guided math in my classroom, I was a bit overwhelmed thinking of all the lesson plans I would have to create to tailor lessons to each group. Now that I’ve used this teaching tactic in my classroom for almost a year, I’m here to tell you it’s not as intimidating as you may think! This post will help when writing your differentiated lesson plans to use when students meet with you.
Planning Process
At the beginning of the year, I sat down with my teacher guide (we use Math Expressions) and my computer. I opened a spreadsheet and basically wrote out a pacing guide of where we should be during which week of the school year so I would hit every topic. I cover between 2 – 4 lessons in a week and often combine different parts of different lessons. Remember a teaching guide is just a guide. You need to hit the standards, not every part of every lesson.
Once I broke down the year and planned where we should be and when, I made it easier for myself to plan each week of the year. Now when I plan, I plan specific lessons for each week and refer to my yearly plan for what content I need to cover.
When I plan our weekly math lessons, I first look at the goal of what I want students to be able to do and then I tweak the lesson based on the group of students I’ll be working with.
Meet With Teacher
I use the M.A.T.H. acronym for my guided math schedule. Read about the acronym and how to launch guided math through this post.
The way I differentiate is through this meeting time with my small groups. I have three groups (low, on level, high) and meet with each group twice a week.
How to Plan with Differentiation
The best part about using guided math in the classroom is being able to meet all your students needs by tailoring your lessons to their level. I do this by planning exactly what I’ll be doing in each group. When I look at a lesson, I write down the standard being covered and what I want them to be able to do.
Then, I look at what the lesson suggests on how to teach whatever concept is being taught. For my lowest group, I do a lot of hand holding. We go over each step together and practice again and again until I feel like the group can try one on their own. For my on level group, I do one or two problems with them and then give them a chance to try multiple on their own. My high group usually only needs me to explain what we’re doing and then I can give them the freedom to complete problems on their own while I observe and step in when I need to.
I also differentiate for each group by adding a little complexity to whatever concept we’re learning. See the example below for a better idea of how I add complexity to each group. A key idea about differentiation is that you tweak the learning to add rigor, not add more work.
An Example
Have you tried guided math in your classroom? Leave a question you have about guided math below!
