Audio: Engaging Students and Supporting Educators with a School-wide Math Plan

Engaging Students and Supporting Educators with a School-wide Math Plan.

When Lipscomb Elementary School set out to improve their math practices, they looked for ways to engage students, support educators, and implement a long-term, school-wide math plan that would help all kids succeed.

In this audio profile, principal Michelle Contich and three members of her team share highlights from their experience, and offer suggestions that other schools might find helpful.

One practice that educators have found effective (and which helped students see math as fun) is creating personalized math challenge folders. As differentiation coach Linda Kirby says, “once [students] had the challenge folders, they were eager to … get out that challenge folder that was designed specifically for them.”

Students also use math notebooks for Journaling About Math (or JAMs). Third grade teacher Hailey Kornman explains that “journaling about math really allows students to show their thinking… It allows them to draw; in earlier grades we paste things into the journal, in later grades we use different formulas but it just allows them to access information in new ways.” Example photos of JAMs are included below.

To listen to the audio profile, scroll down. You can download the transcript here.

Student Demographics 2020
Number of students K-5	640
Students eligible for subsidized meals	5%
Students receiving special ed services	12%
ELL	2%
African American students	2%
White students	82%
Hispanic or Latino students	3%
Asian	10%
Two or more races	3%
Student mobility rate	4%