How to design an effective and engaging Math program in your classroom?

• A wide variety of Manipulative is key:

When it comes to Math activities, 'Hands-on means Minds-on'. When you provide a lot of resources related to the topic, learners connect it better with concrete material. The understanding sustains longer and it helps to scaffold the topic better with a visual representation and when it has learned through all senses. Moreover, who doesn't like to work with colourful blocks, beads, connectors, shapes, and rods.

• Provide enough tools and strategies to share the understanding:

Each learner comes with his own learning strengths and profile. When you provide enough tools to show understanding, you are opening the door of opportunities for each one to share his talent. You can use the Multiple Intelligence approach here. Let the learner choose what is comfortable for him. It can be online, worksheets with lots of open-ended questions, reasoning, Manipulative, creation of a model, or oral presentation. At the end of the unit, if a learner can explain the comprehension with reasoning, does it matter what pathway is taken for learning?

• Challenge your students with 'An Inquiry-based Learning'

Respect the diverse learning style of each learner. Moreover, enrich your teaching with open-ended questions and higher-order thinking. Instead of throwing problems of the same pattern, you can give Math tasks to solve. The reasoning will help a teacher to understand what strategy a learner is using while solving the Math problem. 'A curious mind is a creative mind' so Inquiry-based activities will lead students to go beyond the regular processes and train them to think out of the box.

• 'Three-part lesson' method by John A. Van de Walle

I have seen some successful Math sessions taken as the 'Three-part lesson' method. The process is as follows:

Introduction phase: Get students mentally prepared to work on the problem. Provide a thinking process or strategy used in a prior lesson so they can recall and reapply to solve the given challenge. For example, before you start multiplication as a topic, challenge learners to attempt some repetitive addition sums to check the background knowledge.

Work phase: Engage the learners in solving Math problems related to the concept. Introduce with a precise and clear instructional procedure, followed by individual, pair, or group activities. Students can use any comfortable method to solve problems like using manipulative, pictorial representation, of with symbol/number. Be flexible enough to accept the diversity in representation. The teacher's role is to interact with each learner, use Math vocabulary to expand their word bank, ask few provoking questions to trigger the thinking and problem-solving abilities, give exposure of some strategies to the ones struggling and who need scaffolding. A teacher works as an active listener, observer, and note-taker here.

Final phase: Display and exhibit the visual representation of various strategies used by learners on soft boards, walls, or in a Math corner. Post what you have observed, share the solutions explored by students, appreciate the discoveries, strategies, and methods to motivate the learners.

• CPA approach for elementary grades:

'Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract' is one of the highly effective approaches to develop long-term understanding. I have used this method for years and am a big fan of this technique in primary grades. Attached is a picture of one of the soft boards done in Grade 2 class when I taught Subtraction as a concept.

• Add technology to your planning for engagement:

Technology has become an irresistible tool for classroom teaching. It has many benefits so let's discuss a few:

1. Technology brings learning to life. Multimedia, animated explanation, visual and eye-catching instructions attract learners to starve for smart work and ultimately they end up doing enough required practice.

2. Graphic organizers, visual demo, and interactive tools stimulate the brain for problem-solving and logical thinking better than just symbolic representation. Technological tools and Math apps are designed to work as interactive tools so students are more engaged and involved in the process for long-lasting understanding.

3. Some of the Math websites like Mindspark track individual learning records. This is really helpful when you want to scaffold a particular problem individually or class-wise. As a teacher when you know the strength and weaknesses of a particular child, you can make an individualized plan for a progressive result.

4. Technology serves a wide variety of learning tools. It benefits the diverse learning needs so the learners feel confident and independent while attempting the sums.

5. Most of the tools are colourful, enriched with multilingual instructions, easy to access, and self-explanatory. The learners do not feel stress or burden while learning and they are designed to stimulate all senses while learning for long-term memory.

Apart from all these ideas, the real reason to have a successful Math program is the zeel that a teacher brings to the classroom. When you support individual needs, motivate and inspire to take challenges, ensure the learners that it's ok to make mistakes, and celebrate the diverse style of each one, you actually create a positive environment for any subject.