Ep 53. The Math Workshop Model for Middle School

Johanna Kuiper 0:00
Welcome to solving for the undefined podcast. I’m your host, Johanna, founder of Miss Kuiper’s. Classroom, the place that equips teachers in creating a healthy math classroom where students can thrive, no matter their academic abilities. But it’s not always about the numbers. And that’s why I’m here, bringing you the formulas to solve your problems, math and otherwise, plus strategies on cultivating that necessary math mindset. And that’s what you can count on. Alright, hello, hello. Welcome to a brand new episode. Day we are joined by me and she is going to be talking about the workshop model in your classroom. Welcome.

Jamie Miller 0:40
Thank you so much for having me.

Johanna Kuiper 0:43
Absolutely. I’m excited about this. So will you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Jamie Miller 0:48
Absolutely. My name is Jamie Miller, I have been teaching middle school math for the past 13 years 10 were spent in sixth grade math. And then the past three, I’ve been in seventh grade math, teaching math, seven algebra and pre algebra. I’m really passionate, obviously, about math workshop and helping other teachers to implement that in their classrooms. And then in my spare time, I love doing CrossFit. I love reading, baking, and just creating resources to support teachers.

Johanna Kuiper 1:20
That’s awesome. So how did you come across the workshop model,

Jamie Miller 1:24
I actually decided to just start researching it probably five or six years ago, when I taught sixth grade math in my district. It was not leveled. So I had students with IEPs, G IEPs, five oh, fours, regular ed everybody together. And I knew that I wasn’t meeting their needs. So I just hopped on the internet and started doing research on my own.

Johanna Kuiper 1:50
That’s really cool. I had a similar experience of I had a classroom with so many diverse needs. And it’s really hard to meet that with using a standard curriculum. So you have to think outside the box.

Jamie Miller 2:05
Absolutely. Direct Instruction just doesn’t cut it anymore. It definitely has its time and place, but solely using that does not reach all of our diverse learners.

Johanna Kuiper 2:16
Exactly. So will you tell us what is the math workshop model?

Jamie Miller 2:20
Absolutely. So math workshop is basically a framework that allows students to work through stations, or some people like to refer to them as centers, where students are learning new material, but then they’re also practicing previous strategies and skills and reflecting on their learning. I think the biggest piece is the consistent or predictable structure. That’s what helps students to be so successful.

Johanna Kuiper 2:48
So what is that predictable structure?

Jamie Miller 2:51
It depends on how you set it up, it’s going to look a little bit different for everyone. In my classroom, we have four centers, and we have four groups. So the centers that I use are called rams are is for review, we’ll do a spiral review station, I like to incorporate a lot of choice here. A is for application. And that’s where my students are applying their skills and problem solving using some sort of activity. M is for math journal. So students are doing writing in math, whether that’s error analysis, doodle notes, an open ended question that they’re working through, and then S is small group, so they are meeting with me. And that’s really the time for me to differentiate. But my students now these are the four stations, they have a general idea of what to expect at each station. And that’s what helps them I think, to be so successful.

Johanna Kuiper 3:51
I liked that there are different components with in that center. It’s not just like a different activity at each station, but it has a different component of what we want a student to be able to accomplish. So I love that you do a spiral review, because students always need to be reviewing things that they’ve previously learned, as well as things that they’re currently learning. And then that application piece, I really like that. And then all the other ones. So tell me what is your small group look like?

Jamie Miller 4:22
So small group, I am typically grouping students based on readiness. So I will have students coming to me based on a skill or a strategy that they need to work on. I will come up with basically an outline of kind of what I want to work on with them. But then students can kind of work at their own pace. It’s really low key. This usually ends up being my students favorite station, they know it’s no pressure. They know it’s where they’re getting the support that they need. So if I have students that have already mastered the content, we’re jumping to some of the higher level problems that I’ve picked out and put To gather to enrich and extend them. And then if I have students that are struggling on some of the basic stuff, we might be going back to supporting standards that then build up to the current content that we are working on.

Johanna Kuiper 5:13
That sounds really cool. Because I know for me, like in my class, I’m thinking of, if I were to implement this, and when I implemented how it would look, and I could see that being really beneficial depending because you can like meet the students where they’re at in that small group, whether they are students who are really struggling with a math concept or are like far below grade level, or their students who have already mastered that concept, you can really tailor that small group time to those kids.

Jamie Miller 5:45
I think that’s one of the one of the biggest benefits to using the math workshop model in your classroom, you’re providing that just right instruction, meaning your kids where they’re at and trying to move them to that next level.

Johanna Kuiper 5:58
What are the some of the other benefits of using the workshop.

Jamie Miller 6:02
So I think if you plan your centers strategically, and you have centers or stations where students can collaborate and work together, that’s super powerful kids being able to learn from one another. And while you’re working with your small group, I always tell my students, you can interrupt me. So you have to problem solve, it’s that awesome opportunity for peers to be able to help one another out. Not to mention, if you think about what employers are looking for employees nowadays, it’s critical thinking it’s problem solving skills, interpersonal skills, leadership. And I think that really requires a shift in the way we teach. And I think that utilizing the math workshop model, again, if you plan those stations, strategically, it really helps our students to be more prepared for the future.

Johanna Kuiper 6:54
And within that to how do you see like the collaboration piece with students, when you are just that one station? Like what do you notice about those other groups that you’re not currently with?

Jamie Miller 7:07
I think it’s super important. Before you even begin using math workshop, there are conditions that need to be met. One of them is classroom arrangement, making sure that you know, your room is set up and ready for stations or centers. The second is having those classroom procedures and expectations in place. So that way your students know what to do for turning in work, they know what to do for getting supplies, because that’s always a huge help. And the third thing is having a really strong mathematics community. So that way, we’ve spent a lot of time doing group work, we’ve come up with norms as to what that should look like, what that should sound like. And then we’re just kind of utilizing that those same norms during math workshop. So students find a lot of success with the partner activities or the group activities. As long as again, you have I think those conditions in place. Okay,

Johanna Kuiper 8:03
I like that. So I’m trying to envision as I set this up in my classroom, what do I need to have in place beforehand, like either physical or like routines and structures? What did you do to set up your first time,

Jamie Miller 8:19
my first time I just kind of, I didn’t start it until closer to the probably the end of the year. So by then I already had the classroom community kind of set up, I just needed to manipulate my desks a little bit, I put the students into groups. And then now I actually have tables in my room. And I found that that’s super helpful for the collaboration piece. Some teachers like to have their students physically rotate from station to station. So thinking about that kind of layout is also really important. But again, I think the biggest thing is just that classroom community, making sure your students know how to appropriately interact with one another. Use strong map talk and dialogue. You know, I agree with you because I disagree with you. Because all of that I think are the foundations to starting math workshop and then just doing your research, you have to understand what it is what it looks like. I think having a support system too is huge. I wish I would have had that when I started whether you have a co worker across the hall, your if you’re admin are really supportive or instructional coaches, having others that you can rely on and having other people come into your room is huge to just getting that feedback from others.

Johanna Kuiper 9:42
That’s awesome. And I love that you said that the classroom community is kind of the foundation which you would put this on, because that is something we’ve talked a lot on the podcast is like building classroom community and like basing it on like math as well. So like using like thinking tasks and And even you said like providing making sure students know like, I agree because or disagree, because so having sentence frames in place that students are seeing often, where it just becomes natural for them to respond in that way. And like intentionally doing team based activities where students have to collaborate in order to succeed, I can think of a bunch of different like, activities for that too. And setting that as the foundation so that this math workshop and the center’s can be really successful. Because as you’re talking about it, I can see the benefits that students could have using this and so having that classroom community to build off of to do this awesome thing is really cool.

Jamie Miller 10:43
That’s huge.

Johanna Kuiper 10:47
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Johanna Kuiper 11:33
So you talked a little bit about like they some teachers have them rotate? Is that something you do? How often do you do that? Is it like during one class period during the week, tell us a little bit about the rotation piece.

Jamie Miller 11:46
So I only have 43 minutes for math class. So I know, I know, I’m probably using math workshop anywhere from two to four times a week, given my 43 minutes, because I have four groups, I then come up with my four centers or my four stations. So for us, it’s going to take two full days to get through those four stations. Depending on your time, you might be able to get through more stations, I like to have like about 12 minutes per station, that tends to be the sweet spot. You could do up to like 14 or 15 minutes, obviously, again, depending on your time. But I think coming up with thinking about your time allocation for class can then help you to figure out your structure and how often you can use it in your classroom. I don’t know if I answered your question.

Johanna Kuiper 12:44
You did. I was telling you like how they rotate in. So you’re you said that they based on your 43 minutes that students would basically do two stations in a class period. So that’s like 24 ish minutes. So what else do you do within the class period.

Jamie Miller 13:04
On day one, before we dive into stations, I will typically have a warm up. And then I’ll typically do a little mini lesson. So let’s say we were working on like percent proportion. Maybe we’ve just been doing the basics of percent proportion, my mini lesson for that day might be more on word problems focused on that. And then we’ll dive into our two stations, and then we’ll have a little bit of time to reflect and debrief on the day. Day two, I’m going to have again, a warm up. I’ll typically skip the mini lesson unless I see something in common during those stations that I need to address. But I’ll typically skip the mini lesson, dive right into our to map workshop stations. And then I want to leave the last like 10 to 15 minutes for reflection. You know, I want to assess my students a debrief, did they master the concept or the skill or the strategy that we were working on during math workshop those past two days?

Johanna Kuiper 14:05
Awesome. I like that reflection piece that you have at the end to kind of like summarize and finish off the lesson before moving on. This is really cool. I I’ve always been curious about stations, but it isn’t something that I’ve ever like deeply looked into. So I’m like envisioning all the possibilities that you could do with stations. And it’s awesome.

Jamie Miller 14:28
So many possibilities. And you don’t have to structure it exactly like me. Some teachers like to be a little bit more flexible in their flow in providing maybe like a learning menu where students just have that whole list of activities that you know you need to complete this. But you can complete these as like optional activities rather than the flow of those stations and then they just pull students as needed. So you don’t have to get stuck in the forestation. For rotations, it’s just that’s what I like. That’s what works for me and my students, but the possibilities truly are endless for how you structure it.

Johanna Kuiper 15:09
Yeah, that’s awesome. And I had a question problem in my head while you were talking, thinking about all of like, the stations that you are preparing, I know some teachers, listening might be like, that’s a lot of work. And I already have so little time to do what I need to do. What would you say to that?

Jamie Miller 15:28
That’s a really great question. And it can be very daunting. When you are first starting and trying to pull all those resources, I would say if you have a curriculum, see what resources you can utilize from your curriculum. When I first started, I was pulling, you know, worksheets. From there, I was pulling hands on activities from my curriculum. And then I would say enlist the support of others. You know, if you have instructional coaches, or supervisors admin, ask them for resources that you can utilize. And then the last place I always go is like Teachers Pay Teachers, and you don’t have to do paid resources, look for the free stuff first. And then you can reuse resources. So kids love math games, and that’s a great station to have to develop that number, sense number fluency. So some days we’ll play 24. And then the next math workshop, they’re playing 24, again, but it’s a different version of it, or we’re, you know, working with different operations or now variables are included, you know, so you can reuse stations. And that’s part of the spiral review piece, too. But it can definitely be very overwhelming at first.

Johanna Kuiper 16:41
Yeah. And I love that you said that we can incorporate to use what you have. And that’s something that I love to implement, as well as like, we have this curriculum. And while it doesn’t always fit our needs, if we pull certain pieces from it, we can create something that works really well for our kids. And having that as a foundation, or like a starting point can be really helpful when you’re starting something brand new, like implementing centers or stations for the first time, not having to worry so much about the materials piece rather than focusing on like the routine, the structure, making sure kids understand the flow. And then also planning like the small group as well. So it’s awesome that we can use even something that’s not fabulous. And work with it and putting it into our classroom for the center’s and stations.

Jamie Miller 17:36
Absolutely. And it doesn’t have to be I know you always see on social media, everything looks perfect and Pinterest, perfect. It doesn’t have to be perfect. As long as it’s effective for you and your students. It doesn’t have to be pretty.

Johanna Kuiper 17:50
Yes. So you said earlier of how often you do this. So you, you technically do like one set of stations for two days? And then do you do a second set of stations like the next two days? And what does that fifth day look like in your class,

Jamie Miller 18:07
it would all depend on the topic that we’re using. If it’s something like trying to think of seventh grade topics. Maybe if we’re working with percents, and maybe one day we’re spending on or two days we’re spending on discounts. And then the next day we’re spending on sales tax, like those concepts are very applicable to one another. So that would be a case where I might do four rotations. A typical week with two rotations might be one day of like kids exploring, I like using building thinking classrooms framework. So having thinking tasks, then exploring, taking notes us coming back together debriefing on those notes, we might do a day then of practice. And then we might have our two workshop days. And then the last day might be something more assessment application, open ended questions. So it kind of just all depends on what we’re doing. And I definitely don’t use math workshop for every single skill, every single concept. Like when I taught sixth grade math, and we had to teach the mean absolute deviation. It just wasn’t a skill that I felt would be the best use of my time for math workshop. You know, pick and choose, it doesn’t have to be every single day. It doesn’t have to be every single skill or lesson and a piece of advice. Definitely don’t leave it for a sub map need to be when you are there. Not when there’s someone else there.

Johanna Kuiper 19:35
That’s a smart idea. I can’t imagine having a sub takeover or something like that. It would be it’d be fun to see the sub report, that’s for sure.

Jamie Miller 19:46
be spinning.

Johanna Kuiper 19:49
Ah, so what are some resources that teachers can use to kind of learn more about this?

Jamie Miller 19:56
One of the first resources that I discovered It was math workshop, the five steps for implementing, which is a book written by Jennifer limp, I highly recommend that. And then I also really enjoyed guided math amped by Reagan Tunstall, that is huge. And then besides that, I think just going to the internet, going to social media. So I, myself have a blog post at Jamie Miller math.com. I also have a freebie in my Instagram account if you go to LinkedIn profile, which has a free download about getting you structured. And then I also created a course called math workshop Academy, where I help you to structure and implement the math workshop model in your classroom. So it’s self paced modules that you can work through. And then there are editable principle and digital resources that you can use immediately, as well as a VIP Facebook group. So we can support one another as we implement, you know, the challenges, the struggles, the successes, and there’s also a ton of bonus content in there as well. But I created the course because I wish I would have had that support and all of the resources in one spot versus me looking kind of all over the place.

Johanna Kuiper 21:21
Yeah, for sure. And that sounds awesome. I can imagine like when starting this, like you said, you wish you had this to help you structure and everything. And I think even like, I really love that Facebook group idea of like, being able to share the wins and get feedback because you are working with other teachers who have implemented or who are implementing the same thing. And that can be really powerful.

Jamie Miller 21:48
Yeah, just learning from one another. I love my Facebook group and seeing what others are doing. Because I’m like, wow, I didn’t think about doing that. I need to try that. So it’s great to bounce ideas off of and if you’re, you know, not having success immediately. It’s also great to have that support of other teachers chiming in and telling, you know, this is what worked for me or hey, why don’t you try this? It’s huge community. It’s all about community.

Johanna Kuiper 22:13
Yes, exactly. In the classroom and with us teachers.

Jamie Miller 22:16
Yes, for sure.

Johanna Kuiper 22:18
Is there anything else workshop related that we didn’t talk about that you would like to share with anyone? Um,

Jamie Miller 22:24
I don’t think so. I think the biggest thing is, it can be a game changer. It is a game changer. I would never go back to just using solely direct instruction. It’s just huge, you will see so much growth, progress and confidence in your students. Every year, I asked my students, what is your favorite part of math class, and 99% of the time, they’re telling me math workshop, or they’re telling the activities that we’ve done from math workshop. So while it seems daunting, overwhelming, it is powerful, it is effective.

Johanna Kuiper 23:02
And that’s so validating to, to like you put all of this work into math workshop and centers, because you wanted students to have those like collaboration skills, that teamwork skills, and they’re telling you that it was the favorite part of their class. That is awesome. I love that. So I asked this question every interview. So what is your favorite math related joke or pun?

Jamie Miller 23:30
What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter? What? Pumpkin pie?

Johanna Kuiper 23:38
Yes, that is awesome.

Jamie Miller 23:41
Related jokes. I’m all about it. Yeah.

Johanna Kuiper 23:45
That is perfect. All right. Can you just say one more time where people can find you to learn more about workshop model?

Jamie Miller 23:53
Absolutely. I am at Jamie Miller math on social media. I would love to connect with you help you if you have any questions, feel free to reach out. And if you are not on social media, just shoot me an email Jamie Miller math@gmail.com. I will be happy to collaborate connect with you. And again, help you get this started in your classroom.

Johanna Kuiper 24:14
Awesome. Thank you so much, Jamie, for being with us today. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Jamie Miller 24:19
Thank you so much for having me. This was great.

Johanna Kuiper 24:21
Yes. All right. Bye. Bye. Thank you so much for tuning into today’s episode. To find all the links and resources to things talked about in this episode, head on over to Miss Kuiper’s classroom.com and click on podcast

Transcribed by https://otter.ai