1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:05,390 Hey everybody and welcome to Tier One Interventions podcast, where we look 2 00:00:05,390 --> 00:00:12,920 at your core classroom and we try to maximize your gifts and help you reach 3 00:00:12,950 --> 00:00:18,530 every student with their math, with their writing, and with their reading skills. 4 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:23,900 But we concentrate mostly on math here at Tier One Interventions podcast. 5 00:00:25,340 --> 00:00:32,060 And our math leader, miss Jonily, is ready to share some gold nuggets today. 6 00:00:32,150 --> 00:00:40,550 Welcome to the podcast Jonily, and they are gold nuggets because these 7 00:00:40,550 --> 00:00:42,380 last few weeks have been a whirlwind. 8 00:00:42,500 --> 00:00:47,450 I'm gonna kinda take us back a little bit, and there's another community that 9 00:00:47,450 --> 00:00:54,970 I teach called a Math teacher Mastermind, and I'm going to launch our session today. 10 00:00:55,060 --> 00:00:59,110 It's not our age level right now, because I at 50 years old, cannot 11 00:00:59,110 --> 00:01:02,650 attend for 50 minutes probably without some kind of break. 12 00:01:03,050 --> 00:01:07,020 But our, my freshman, 14, 15 year olds, it's funny that they will do 13 00:01:07,020 --> 00:01:11,130 that every day about that time because what they're telling me is I'm zoning 14 00:01:11,130 --> 00:01:17,370 out now, which actually connects to this research that says that they can 15 00:01:17,370 --> 00:01:20,520 only focus for about their age now. 16 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:22,140 Sherry, do you wanna say anything on that? 17 00:01:22,140 --> 00:01:24,930 I know you're big into that and if you don't that's fine. 18 00:01:27,060 --> 00:01:29,430 No, you said it very plainly and very direct. 19 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:29,790 Okay, excellent. 20 00:01:29,790 --> 00:01:30,810 That's exactly the case. 21 00:01:31,140 --> 00:01:38,190 But there it gets to a point where our executive function skills around age 22 00:01:38,610 --> 00:01:40,950 35 start going the other direction. 23 00:01:41,610 --> 00:01:44,070 That's why you at 50. 24 00:01:44,070 --> 00:01:45,510 Me At 61, yes. 25 00:01:45,510 --> 00:01:47,520 I'm at telling everybody my age today. 26 00:01:48,975 --> 00:01:52,665 That's why our attention spans gets to be shorter. 27 00:01:52,965 --> 00:02:03,835 And then as our brains start to age, the time decreases, but that 28 00:02:03,835 --> 00:02:06,805 dopamine hit that everybody wants. 29 00:02:06,805 --> 00:02:12,235 And that's why scrolling on Facebook is addicting happens and 30 00:02:12,235 --> 00:02:14,485 is re-triggered every seven seconds. 31 00:02:18,355 --> 00:02:21,175 That's why you need it again every seven seconds. 32 00:02:21,535 --> 00:02:28,255 So it's perfectly makes sense why after about 15 minutes the kids are 33 00:02:28,255 --> 00:02:30,955 saying, hello, I'm zoning out now. 34 00:02:30,955 --> 00:02:32,455 Can you help refocus me? 35 00:02:32,635 --> 00:02:36,565 Create another novelty trigger, create that dopamine hit. 36 00:02:38,035 --> 00:02:43,855 And what I have done since the beginning of the year is after we transition, after 37 00:02:43,855 --> 00:02:48,205 warmup, and we start to get into the lesson, because sometimes we'll only be 38 00:02:48,205 --> 00:02:52,105 on warmup for about six or seven minutes, sometimes longer, and then we transition 39 00:02:52,105 --> 00:02:56,545 to the lesson, or I start going over the warmup depending on what that next six or 40 00:02:56,545 --> 00:02:58,425 seven minutes look like in my classroom. 41 00:02:59,085 --> 00:03:03,525 I purposefully, since the beginning of the year, after about 14 minutes, 42 00:03:03,555 --> 00:03:05,505 I will randomly break out in song. 43 00:03:06,255 --> 00:03:08,355 And I do that deliberately and intentionally. 44 00:03:08,385 --> 00:03:12,915 It's not about mathematics and there is a song of the day. 45 00:03:13,740 --> 00:03:19,495 One day it might just be, and girls just wanna have, they just wanna, 46 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:21,650 it has nothing to do with the math. 47 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:22,940 It's totally random. 48 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,490 And all of a sudden the kids are like, now, in the first couple 49 00:03:25,490 --> 00:03:28,400 weeks when they met me, they were like, get me out of here. 50 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:32,420 I don't know what's happening right now, but now they're asking for it because it's 51 00:03:32,420 --> 00:03:34,310 just funny to watch their teacher do that. 52 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:38,240 But subconsciously they're asking for it because after about 14 53 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,400 minutes they need triggered again. 54 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,500 They want to focus, they want to learn, they want to keep hearing me, 55 00:03:45,590 --> 00:03:47,330 but they're fighting with their brain. 56 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:51,950 They're fighting with their brain because they want to so bad, but 57 00:03:51,950 --> 00:03:53,210 their brain isn't letting them. 58 00:03:53,210 --> 00:03:55,910 So they need something that's going to trigger their brain again. 59 00:03:56,270 --> 00:04:01,010 And that is something that I have done all year long, deliberately and intentionally. 60 00:04:02,690 --> 00:04:06,680 Now it'll start really connecting to math. 61 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:13,789 And I actually have a couple little math jingles and a previous colleague of mine, 62 00:04:13,909 --> 00:04:16,969 I'm gonna say her name 'cause if she ever listens, she'll probably freak out. 63 00:04:17,329 --> 00:04:19,159 Her name is Julie Metheny. 64 00:04:20,059 --> 00:04:22,879 I taught with her my very first years of teaching. 65 00:04:22,879 --> 00:04:25,789 She started teaching before me, and then I was her eighth grade teaching partner. 66 00:04:25,999 --> 00:04:27,619 So her name is Julie Metheny. 67 00:04:28,039 --> 00:04:32,000 And she is an amazing person, first of all. 68 00:04:32,270 --> 00:04:34,159 And we haven't talked in years. 69 00:04:34,249 --> 00:04:37,979 I think I've liked a few things on Facebook with her and her with me. 70 00:04:37,979 --> 00:04:42,899 And, but we literally, in, in dozen, a dozen or more years, we haven't connected, 71 00:04:43,199 --> 00:04:48,059 but she actually made up multiple math. 72 00:04:48,059 --> 00:04:49,049 This was her bread and butter. 73 00:04:49,229 --> 00:04:54,299 She made up, she's a math teacher and she made up math songs to lots of different 74 00:04:54,299 --> 00:04:56,489 concepts and it was absolutely beautiful. 75 00:04:56,639 --> 00:04:59,819 Now, in my first years of teaching, I would not break out in song with 76 00:04:59,819 --> 00:05:03,959 my kids 'cause I just, I cared more about what people thought of me. 77 00:05:04,009 --> 00:05:07,069 When we're younger, we do now I don't care what anybody thinks of me. 78 00:05:07,609 --> 00:05:12,199 And so she would then, oh, back then it was on cassette tapes, so 79 00:05:12,199 --> 00:05:16,399 she would record on cas cassette tapes, her doing the songs, and then 80 00:05:16,399 --> 00:05:19,699 I would play them in my room for my kids, so I didn't have to sing them. 81 00:05:20,299 --> 00:05:24,194 But I think I, I wanted to hold onto this music thing a little longer. 82 00:05:24,194 --> 00:05:29,084 And now that Sheri said that, and Sherry, you said music triggers before 83 00:05:29,084 --> 00:05:33,014 auditor and something, you said something visual something and I didn't get it. 84 00:05:33,014 --> 00:05:36,794 We always talk about the fact that there's three different learning styles, 85 00:05:36,794 --> 00:05:39,974 vision, auditory, and movement, but. 86 00:05:40,679 --> 00:05:45,629 Music and rhythm are going to trigger even before those. 87 00:05:45,899 --> 00:05:47,249 Okay, 88 00:05:50,249 --> 00:05:52,709 so I just put a new post in school. 89 00:05:52,949 --> 00:05:56,279 It says, what math jingles do you use in your classroom? 90 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:00,989 So later on after we're done go ahead and let me know what 91 00:06:00,989 --> 00:06:02,579 jingles you use in your classroom. 92 00:06:04,649 --> 00:06:07,679 And there's actually one that I use and I can't take credit for it. 93 00:06:07,679 --> 00:06:11,489 And I, since I'm talking and fci I'll have to find the link. 94 00:06:11,489 --> 00:06:13,799 But it's the 12 song. 95 00:06:14,909 --> 00:06:19,499 I've sang it to all of you before and with my second graders in the last 96 00:06:19,499 --> 00:06:23,459 couple weeks with my second graders, we've been skip counting by twelves. 97 00:06:23,459 --> 00:06:27,899 I do this with kinder in first grade also, and I do it this early in the year. 98 00:06:28,139 --> 00:06:31,529 We skip count by twelves and teachers are like, I can't have you come in and 99 00:06:31,529 --> 00:06:32,759 skip count by twelves in my classroom. 100 00:06:32,759 --> 00:06:34,499 They don't even know how to like count by ones. 101 00:06:34,559 --> 00:06:38,129 And I'm like, yeah, but that's the point because math isn't sequential. 102 00:06:38,879 --> 00:06:40,739 See, we have to do a lot of outta context math. 103 00:06:40,739 --> 00:06:44,069 We have to do what cognitive science calls interleaving, some things that 104 00:06:44,069 --> 00:06:45,629 are outta context outta the ordinary. 105 00:06:45,659 --> 00:06:46,229 Ordinary. 106 00:06:46,469 --> 00:06:49,889 One of the reasons that we have so many deficits and math scores are so 107 00:06:50,009 --> 00:06:53,909 dismal in the US is because we try to stay linear and sequential and 108 00:06:53,909 --> 00:06:58,139 we don't do certain concepts until kids have mastered the previous ones. 109 00:06:58,229 --> 00:07:01,259 That is not how math should be taught because that is not how math is learned. 110 00:07:02,339 --> 00:07:05,134 So I wanna randomly go in and have kids skip count by 12. 111 00:07:06,074 --> 00:07:11,234 Now what I do in those earlier grades to do this is I have quick 112 00:07:11,234 --> 00:07:14,654 dots, a set of dots that there are 12 of 'em, and we whisper count. 113 00:07:14,864 --> 00:07:21,464 So to get to the first number, we whisper 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 114 00:07:21,584 --> 00:07:26,534 And so once we count that chunk of dots, there's 12 dots in a chunk. 115 00:07:26,614 --> 00:07:27,394 In a rectangle. 116 00:07:27,394 --> 00:07:32,225 I want you to hear this because in our level two math session, rectangles are the 117 00:07:32,225 --> 00:07:38,465 most essential for every kids to engage in every week of school, every week of 118 00:07:38,524 --> 00:07:40,114 school, no matter what the grade level. 119 00:07:40,204 --> 00:07:46,265 I need kids seeing rectangles every week of school, every grade level. 120 00:07:46,265 --> 00:07:49,354 In mathematics, I need kids seeing rectangles. 121 00:07:49,444 --> 00:07:54,064 There are so many variations of rectangles, and that is really 122 00:07:54,064 --> 00:07:56,675 what today's session is about. 123 00:07:56,734 --> 00:08:00,185 But I have quick dots, 12 dots in the form of a rectangle. 124 00:08:00,215 --> 00:08:01,625 The dimensions are three by four. 125 00:08:01,835 --> 00:08:03,784 My second graders know what dimensions mean. 126 00:08:03,814 --> 00:08:05,164 It means how tall, how long. 127 00:08:06,095 --> 00:08:09,185 It means that a rectangle is two dimensions because we name it 128 00:08:09,185 --> 00:08:11,284 with two numbers, three by four. 129 00:08:11,435 --> 00:08:13,744 And so my kids have all this lingo and terminology. 130 00:08:14,734 --> 00:08:17,045 Now they circle 12 on a hundred. 131 00:08:17,045 --> 00:08:20,104 Charter, 120 chart, because that's the first number we count 132 00:08:20,104 --> 00:08:21,335 when we skip count by twelves. 133 00:08:21,335 --> 00:08:25,085 It's the first number 12, the second number we count. 134 00:08:26,014 --> 00:08:29,704 We can whisper count to figure it out so we can touch dots again. 135 00:08:30,244 --> 00:08:37,114 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Now, yesterday when I 136 00:08:37,114 --> 00:08:42,335 was doing this with a group of second graders, when I got to 7, 8, 9, some 137 00:08:42,335 --> 00:08:46,175 of the kids said nine 'cause they saw the rectangle of 12, but in their 138 00:08:46,175 --> 00:08:48,154 head they wanted it so bad to be nine. 139 00:08:48,425 --> 00:08:55,864 So when we got to 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, like they yelled 21 and I knew 140 00:08:55,864 --> 00:08:59,224 they were going to, 'cause they yelled nine on the previous instead of 12. 141 00:08:59,854 --> 00:09:01,144 So only a couple kids. 142 00:09:01,144 --> 00:09:02,675 So we call that the loud number. 143 00:09:03,394 --> 00:09:08,344 So two kids were like 21 and then we, the rest of the class kept going 22, 23. 144 00:09:08,404 --> 00:09:12,994 And so they just experientially caught, oh shoot, it's not 21. 145 00:09:12,994 --> 00:09:14,704 I'm not sure really sure why it's not 21. 146 00:09:14,704 --> 00:09:17,885 But nobody, and then we continued, they saw, then there, 147 00:09:17,885 --> 00:09:18,994 there were three more dots. 148 00:09:19,324 --> 00:09:21,604 22, 23, 24. 149 00:09:23,885 --> 00:09:25,444 So I said, okay, how much is one? 150 00:09:25,444 --> 00:09:27,124 12? 12? How much are two twelves? 151 00:09:27,124 --> 00:09:31,864 24. And they're seeing this with dots with a visual touching them and the 152 00:09:31,864 --> 00:09:33,364 dots are arranged in a rectangle. 153 00:09:33,364 --> 00:09:34,984 This is all very deliberate and intentional. 154 00:09:35,660 --> 00:09:38,720 And then they have their chart, their number chart. 155 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:40,040 They now circle 24. 156 00:09:40,100 --> 00:09:42,620 So then I'll reiterate how much is 1 12 12. 157 00:09:42,620 --> 00:09:43,340 How much are two twelves? 158 00:09:43,340 --> 00:09:45,650 24. What's the first number you circle on your one 20 chart? 159 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:46,790 12. What's the second number? 160 00:09:46,790 --> 00:09:47,210 You circle? 161 00:09:47,210 --> 00:09:50,990 24. So it's always doing things the same thing in a different 162 00:09:50,990 --> 00:09:52,010 way with a different flavor. 163 00:09:52,310 --> 00:09:55,670 Now we whisper again from 24 to know the next number that, and then I'll 164 00:09:55,670 --> 00:09:56,909 have kids predict, what do you think? 165 00:09:56,909 --> 00:09:59,010 Before we whisper, what do you think the next number's gonna be? 166 00:09:59,100 --> 00:10:02,159 25, 30, 27. They don't know. 167 00:10:02,310 --> 00:10:03,239 So then we whisper count. 168 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:06,149 Okay, we just said 24 was our loud number. 169 00:10:06,569 --> 00:10:07,230 Let's whisper. 170 00:10:07,319 --> 00:10:11,069 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33. 171 00:10:11,300 --> 00:10:11,869 Nope, nope. 172 00:10:12,170 --> 00:10:17,479 34, 35, 36. So how much are three twelves? 173 00:10:17,540 --> 00:10:19,760 36. What are you gonna circle on your chart? 174 00:10:19,790 --> 00:10:23,779 36. So it's very repetitive, but very visual. 175 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:28,729 It's very tactile because they can touch dots. 176 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:31,189 Very iterative. 177 00:10:32,659 --> 00:10:37,220 So huge thing I want kids to see and experience every week at every 178 00:10:37,220 --> 00:10:39,139 grade level in math is rectangles. 179 00:10:40,699 --> 00:10:44,090 The second thing I want them to see and experience, I'm gonna say 180 00:10:44,090 --> 00:10:49,670 every week, but I'm, I really mean every day, every week is iterations. 181 00:10:49,970 --> 00:10:50,869 Iterations. 182 00:10:51,439 --> 00:10:53,000 In the math standards. 183 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,710 The very first year that the word iterate is in the standards, in the 184 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,409 actual standards document is grade one. 185 00:11:03,154 --> 00:11:05,045 We do not have kids iterating enough. 186 00:11:05,134 --> 00:11:06,634 Those are in the content standards. 187 00:11:06,634 --> 00:11:07,384 It says iterate. 188 00:11:07,894 --> 00:11:14,314 Now, in the mathematical practices, the practice standards, there is a standard 189 00:11:14,314 --> 00:11:18,335 called repeated reasoning, which is very closely aligned to iterating. 190 00:11:20,404 --> 00:11:22,505 So I need kids to do this a lot. 191 00:11:22,505 --> 00:11:25,265 Now you might be listening to this and thinking, that's great John 192 00:11:25,265 --> 00:11:27,724 Lee, I'll do whatever you say, but I don't know what that means. 193 00:11:30,634 --> 00:11:31,684 Pin that for a moment. 194 00:11:31,714 --> 00:11:33,454 You've seen an example of it, but pin it. 195 00:11:33,994 --> 00:11:36,214 Then we say, how much are four twelves? 196 00:11:36,274 --> 00:11:37,085 Let's do it together. 197 00:11:37,085 --> 00:11:38,434 Let's whisper count as a class. 198 00:11:38,824 --> 00:11:42,454 Then I released the kids and I said, okay, go ahead on your own 199 00:11:42,574 --> 00:11:45,484 and you're gonna circle how much 5, 12, 6, 12, 7 twelves are. 200 00:11:45,484 --> 00:11:47,045 Now they had one 20 charts. 201 00:11:47,944 --> 00:11:51,184 So one of the questions I wrote on the board is, how many skip 202 00:11:51,184 --> 00:11:52,864 counts by twelves is one 20? 203 00:11:53,194 --> 00:11:54,484 And then I wrote it a different way. 204 00:11:54,755 --> 00:11:56,585 How many twelves is one 20? 205 00:11:57,484 --> 00:11:59,134 'cause that was the last number on their chart. 206 00:11:59,974 --> 00:12:03,665 And then the next question I wrote on the board as they were working then on 207 00:12:03,665 --> 00:12:07,894 their own was, how much is 12 twelves? 208 00:12:10,354 --> 00:12:15,064 You see how that jumped from a very linear, iterative process to very 209 00:12:15,064 --> 00:12:19,894 non-linear, out of context, cognitive science calls that inner leaving. 210 00:12:20,974 --> 00:12:25,474 So I'm using science of learning for mathematics. 211 00:12:25,774 --> 00:12:27,604 In those examples I just gave. 212 00:12:28,684 --> 00:12:29,074 Yes. 213 00:12:29,074 --> 00:12:34,744 Some of what we do needs to be iterative, repetitive, linear, but there needs to 214 00:12:34,744 --> 00:12:42,034 be lots of jolts of what I'm gonna call novelty, because novelty motivates us. 215 00:12:42,244 --> 00:12:45,574 Novelty re-triggers the brain, expect the unexpected. 216 00:12:46,114 --> 00:12:49,204 And the science behind novelty is interleaving. 217 00:12:49,444 --> 00:12:53,345 I use the phrase out of context because for them it seems out 218 00:12:53,345 --> 00:12:54,994 of context, but connected. 219 00:12:55,744 --> 00:12:59,314 But what it does is it breaks the linear, repetitive cycle. 220 00:12:59,794 --> 00:13:06,154 Because if kids only learn in linear, repetitive cycles, if kids only 221 00:13:06,154 --> 00:13:11,314 learn in linear, repetitive cycles, they're falling sh they're falling 222 00:13:11,314 --> 00:13:14,374 short of high math achievement. 223 00:13:15,754 --> 00:13:19,814 “That’s a wrap on today’s look at nonlinear instruction and why our Type A 224 00:13:19,814 --> 00:13:22,215 math habits sometimes hold students back. 225 00:13:23,195 --> 00:13:26,305 Next week, we dive into the heart of the Mastery Math Method: 226 00:13:26,685 --> 00:13:30,244 rectangles, interleaving, iteration, and why kids should be working 227 00:13:30,244 --> 00:13:32,125 with structure—not worksheets. 228 00:13:33,015 --> 00:13:35,064 This is where classrooms get transformed. 229 00:13:35,747 --> 00:13:39,527 And hey—if you’re loving this and want to get the full workshop where 230 00:13:39,527 --> 00:13:43,667 we go step-by-step into the Mastery Math Method, you can sign up to 231 00:13:43,667 --> 00:13:46,437 experience one workshop for just $47. 232 00:13:47,687 --> 00:13:49,657 The link is waiting for you in the show notes. 233 00:13:50,137 --> 00:13:51,247 Leave you comments below.