Week 2 Update: I Love Math

     Those of you that know me well know my passion for differentiated groupings that I call "I Love Math" groups.  I Love Math is a structure  that divides the class into a high, average, and low group and cycles those groups through three different stations.  Once the students get the rotations (which are always in the same order no matter what group the child starts with), things run like clockwork.  In the past I have always had an aide, Title One teacher, or special education teacher in my room to help ensure things go smoothly.  That way two of the groups have adult supervision.
     This year, for the first time, our grade has been required to level for Math.  Since I was in the fifth grade at the time, I could not attend the meetings where they assigned teachers to the different levels.  I have one of the average groups.  Two of our classes (mine and the high group) do not have a support person in the classroom for Math.  The other six specialist are divided among the bottom three classes.  This is my first year trying I Love Math groups by myself.  I knew it would be a real test of the structure that I love so much.  If I can do it alone, then there is hope for other teachers who are solo practitioners.  And yes, even a leveled Math group has enough differences in it to warrant differentiated instruction.
     First of I decided that I needed to have I Love Math groups a lot more often.  In the past I have done them regularly (once or twice a week), but only as needed. I know that the more I do them, the better the students get at it.  I decided that this year I would have a whole class lesson on Monday which would end with an ungraded pre-test.  This would be used to create differentiated groups Tuesday through Thursday.  Friday will be another whole class lesson and post-test.
     I also knew that I needed to use technology to help me keep track of the progress of my students in the same way that another person used to  do.  Luckily I found Ten Marks, a free site where I can assign specific skill lessons for my students. 
     After one week of following this plan the results have been fairly good.  Technology has been the biggest challenge.  Our wireless internet is not always reliable and the students are not used to logging in to the computers and finding websites in a timely manner.  I hope that time and experience will help the students complete this part of the task more quickly and easily.  If not, I may have to alter the activities or the order.  I wish I had enough computers for all of the students to start on them and then move to other activities, but the most I can get are 8.
     Great ideas are worth the time it takes to make them successful.  I'm up for the challenge!