Educators Talk About Math For All
The Power of Collaboration
Focusing on strategies for successful mathematics instruction
In this 2-minute video, education specialists from the Illinois Resource Center discuss the importance of collaboration in elementary mathematics instruction between classroom teachers and their special education peers.
When we meet now, we decide on a lesson and then from the get-go, we decide how we’re going to adapt it, not only for my students, but for their students as well—which, in the past, we really didn’t. I just made my own accommodations and they did their thing.
– 5th-grade special education teacher
Math for All really opened a new door for me. I knew that certain students needed certain modifications, adaptations, and strategies, but with Math for All, there were these organizers that broke it down into subcategories like, “What do I expect of the task?” “Is it a learning issue and if it is, how would I have different strategies in place so that it can minimize distraction and maximize the student’s attention?”
– 4th-grade general education teacher
When we did the higher order thinking skills, I did not really expect some of my students to be able to use them. But when we got into the lesson and we used some of the accommodations that they suggested, I found that, actually, they could do it.
– 5th-grade special education teacher
I’m teaching third- and fourth-grade math. Math for All showed me that a lot of times something that I feel is a fairly simple thing that I’m teaching is really very complex for kids, and to really look at all of the different things that it takes to build that one concept. I think it just gave me a better appreciation for what we’re doing and how we do it, and gave me some ideas on how to do it better.
– 3rd/4th-grade math teacher