How To Teach Illustrative Math
By Takia McClendon
Illustrative Mathematics is a problem-based curriculum that gives students opportunities to solve problems, share their thinking, and make sense of grade-level math.
In many classrooms, students are missing the prerequisite skills they need to complete the work.
The Proficiency Project helps you fill in those gaps so that you and your students feel successful in the classroom.
Our approach is simple: build fluency, teach explicitly, and give students plenty of opportunities to practice.
This guide explains how we supplement Illustrative Mathematics so that your students learn and enjoy math.
Start every lesson with a review.
Have you ever spent weeks teaching a unit only for students to forget all of it by the end of the year?
Daily Review helps students retrieve older material so they’re less likely to forget it.
What It Looks Like
Select 1 or 2 Additional Practice problems from last week, last month, etc. Display the problems on the board and have students solve them in a notebook.
Students work for 5 or 6 minutes independently as you monitor and support as needed. Review the answers with the whole group.
Help students memorize their math facts.
As students navigate complex problem-solving, math facts should be committed to memory.
“Just knowing” the answers frees up their cognitive load to focus on grade-level concepts and procedures.
What It Looks Like: Use our daily, 5-minute routine to help students commit their facts to memory.
Teach new concepts and procedures.
Illustrative Mathematics lessons require students to use prerequisite skills as they work through grade-level activities.
Unfortunately, many of our students are performing multiple grade levels behind in math.
Teach them exactly what they need to know to be successful in the lesson.
What It Looks Like
After the lesson Warm-Up, explicitly teach new concepts and procedures.
Include the definition or formula, procedural steps (if applicable), a few examples, and common misconceptions or non-examples.
Use the lesson activities as guided practice.
After you teach the new concept or procedure, give your students an opportunity to do the math.
Guided practice means that you start by working through the problems together, but by the end, students are prepared to solve them independently.
What It Looks Like
Launch the activity as a class. Read and annotate the problem(s). Let students work in pairs or small groups as you monitor and listen to their thinking.
Allow students to share and explain their work so that you’re not the only one doing the talking in the classroom.
Never, ever skip independent practice.
After the lesson activities and synthesis, it’s time for students to demonstrate their understanding and practice the skill.
This helps them begin the process of moving new content from short-term memory to long-term memory.
What It Looks Like
Students take 5 minutes to complete the Cool Down independently. At the end of the Cool Down, review the correct answer so that no student moves on to independent practice with misconceptions.
Then, students work independently to complete practice problems aligned to today’s lesson.
Ready to get started?
Explore the Proficiency Project Framework, download the tools you need, and teach the math so it works for the students in your classroom.
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