Understanding the Results: SEC Scenarios
Mountville High School
Aligning Algebra Curriculum Across Multiple Courses
It took a few minutes, but some trends were identified. Pre-Algebra teachers more consistently had their students use hands-on materials or manipulatives. The Algebra I course seemed to be hands-on and engaging, and the students worked in small groups more often. One of the teachers who teaches both Pre-Algebra and Algebra II mentioned that she had been wanting to do more hands-on activities but has trouble getting started, so now she sees that one of the Algebra I teachers would be a good resource. And the Algebra II teacher also decided that since her students were showing low performance when using calculators and other technology, she would use her fellow teachers to learn about sources for activities. Plus, since the Algebra II teachers worked hard at having their students maintain and/or reflect with a mathematics portfolio, it was discussed that they could share the practice with each other. Mr. Togin knew that he could now continue the conversation with other instructional practice results, but time was running out. He felt that this was a great start to a very open and trusting dialogue between teachers.
He left them to gather and finish up their thoughts on the content and practice conversations. He handed them each a list of guiding questions that he wanted them to use when they met again to further explore the data. He asked them to report back on their findings and what next steps they would recommend to improve the performance of students in math.
