When the Hawthorne Elementary School third graders in Marie Morem’s class prepare to work on math each day, they head to their whole group space in the middle of the classroom to engage in the daily lesson, according to a press release. As they begin, Morem starts the lesson with the learning target, or “the why” of what the students will be working on that day, and as Morem teaches the lessons, the students have multiple opportunities to talk and engage with each other about the daily content and explain or defend their thinking.  This engagement is an important factor in a child’s learning, because if a student can talk about and/or defend their learning to another person, they hopefully can then transfer this learning to school assessments and obtain even higher overall achievement in school, according to the release.

The students are then able to demonstrate an understanding of the routines surrounding the structure and progression of the math lesson from the number talk, the solve and share, the visual learning, and finally MATH stations. Keeping this routine and progression predictable allows for the content to change and still have deep learning taking place. What the students really enjoy is the MATH stations, which stand for:

• Meet the teacher: Small group instruction based on student need.

• At your seat: Independent work at students’ level as related to learning target.

• Technology: Students are able to access and practice their math skills using in-classroom technology.

• Hands on: Hands-on application component as related to the learning target. 

These MATH stations allow students to not only work with Morem on skills at their level, but they also are able to work independently, which is a skill teachers are trying to help students achieve, as it is a skill they will need for the rest of their lives, the release stated.

All of the engaging and predictable learning opportunities within Morem’s classroom and all Hawthorne classrooms have deepened student learning, student achievement and provided an even greater interest/love for math that will hopefully allow students to use and apply as lifelong learners.