Best Practices for the Math Classroom

At Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School in New York, Nina Gribetz teaches math at the middle school level. Nina Gribetz comes to her work as a Math for America Master Teacher and a semifinalist for the Big Apple Teaching Award.

A math teacher’s goal is to cultivate not only subject knowledge, but also the ability to think mathematically. To do this, a teacher must integrate a number of proven effective practices, including the following:

- Engage students in active problem-solving and the use of reasoning. Problems should have multiple approaches and more than one pathway to a solution.

- Build conceptual understanding as a foundation for the use of mathematical procedures.

- Place and support students in situations that require them to face mathematical challenges.

- Encourage students to share their thinking. Let those thought processes direct instruction.

- Integrate regular checks for student understanding. Design mini-assessments that let students report on their comfort level without interrupting lesson flow.

- Keep overall instruction on grade level. Integrate any unmastered material from previous grades in the context of the current topic.

Mathematics is a complicated field at any level, as is teaching. There are many more practices that are essential to a math teacher’s success, but these offer a solid foundation that can keep the teacher on track.

Algebra for All Teacher Training Designed to Boost Math Performance

An accomplished middle school math teacher at Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School in New York, New York, Nina Gribetz has worked in the field of education for 14 years. The chair of her math department and a former math consultant for private schools, Nina Gribetz has also participated in the Algebra for All program.

Algebra for All is a New York State program established to better prepare students for algebra 1 and more advanced high school math instruction. Consisting of two years of research-based professional development for math teachers, Algebra for All seeks to better prepare educators to teach the pre-algebra and algebra curriculum to middle school and high school students. Through 30 days of professional development classes over the course of three years, teachers learn specific instructional strategies to support algebra readiness and achievement at different grade levels.

In the long term, the Algebra for All program also strives to increase the high school graduation rate. Studies have shown that students who successfully pass algebra by the end of ninth grade are more likely to finish high school and enroll in college.