If five different people in your building explained Tier 2, would you get five different answers? Some people think it means small group instruction. Others think it's a curriculum activity, a program, or just more practice, when it's really none of those things on their own. This episode clears up what Tier 2 really means, what it doesn’t, and ways to shift your mindset about providing support. In this episode, you'll explore: What Tier 2 requires beyond just working with a...
When you hear "Tier 1 instruction," do you picture your whole-group lesson and nothing else? You’re not alone. It's one of the most common misconceptions in the tiered support model. Let’s bust that myth. Tier 1 isn't a one-size-fits-all lesson. This episode breaks down why it's easy to confuse Tier 1 as a whole-group curriculum, what Tier 1 is, and what it isn’t. In this episode, you'll explore: How differentiation lives inside your core Tier 1 instructionWhy small groups can still be Tier 1...
A student solves 3 x 4 without hesitation. Hand them 4 x 3 a minute later, and they treat it like a brand-new fact they've never seen. Rather than treating every multiplication fact as its own separate thing to memorize, what if your students already know more facts than they think they do? This episode walks through a simple way to build that connection using a hands-on model students can see and touch. In this episode, you'll explore: Why defining a property and actually using it as a strat...
Your math block is already packed, and fact fluency practice still needs a place to live, so where's it supposed to go? Rather than searching for one more big chunk of time, the better question is: “Where you already have small pockets of the day fact fluency practice could quietly live?” This episode walks through several natural spots already you already have in your teaching day, plus what the research says about why shorter, spread-out practice sessions build more fluency than one l...
What tools do you reach for to check multiplication fact fluency? If a timed test is the first thing that comes to mind, you're not alone, but that number on the page might be telling you less than you think. In this episode, we take an honest look at what a timed test actually measures, what it leaves out entirely, and why the tool most of us were handed might not be built for the job we're asking it to do. In this episode, you'll explore: What a timed test score can and ca...