What did you guys do to 212 this year?

Well first let me catch people up who are saying, "What's 212?".  212 is the period of our day when we re-mediate, differentiate, accelerate, and enrich.  We have a Reading 212 class and a Math 212 class. 

Why 212?  Because a few years ago we learned of the 212 degree philosophy.  At 211 degrees, water is hot, but at 212 degrees it boils.  That one extra degree can create steam, which can power a locomotive.  If we all gave one extra degree in everything we did, can you imagine how powerful we would all be?  As powerful as a locomotive?

Our 212 classes are where our kids get one extra degree of personalized instruction based on their needs.  In the past, this was based on Star (or going 2 years back...Scantron) scores.  Kids testing at the top were grouped together, in the middle grouped together, and so on.  What we discovered is that even at each level, the skills needed to fill in the holes or gaps that needed to be filled with knowledge were VAST.  So this year we restructured 212 class.  Students are now grouped by like skill that needs development and each class knows what their skill or focus standard is for each quarter.  The class works on nothing but this standard for the quarter as a means of "filling that knowledge hole" so deeper learning can take place.

After this round of Star Reading assessment (happening this week), we'll reevaluate our groups, resort the kids based on needed standard focus, and get to work filling another "hole".  So far the kids can speak about their learning so much more fluently than they could in the past.  They appear to see a real purpose behind their 212 time.

Our Math 212 started recently.  All kids participate in a standards group focusing on a math standard that needs improvement.  There's NO paper pencil during this short block of time.  Instead, we perform Number Talks and engage in connected math games that build UNDERSTANDING of numbers.  Want to learn more about Number Talks and their impact on mathematical reasoning and problem solving?  Click here:  http://www.insidemathematics.org/classroom-videos/number-talks  We will not be resorting our math groups until after the winter break since we just started them recently.