Guy Becker

Professional Inquiry Project: Math Essential Learning Outcomes and

Strategy Database
Niton Central School
January April, 2016
Project Overview
The purpose of this project was to help staff at Niton Central School gain meaningful
knowledge on the essential learning outcomes in mathematics at each grade level that are laid out
by Alberta Education. To be clear, it was not the goal of this project to determine what outcomes
from the math program of studies were important, and which could be ignored. Instead, I was
approached early on in my PSIII internship to help fill a gap in the understanding of where
students start to lose their grasp on number sense and math fact fluency as they progress through
elementary and into junior high. There had been previous attempts from the administrative
perspective to determine essential learning outcomes within the mathematics curriculum that
needed further instruction at each grade level. A previous document had been created and
brought to the school by an administrator that had transferred to Niton Central. However, this
document was incomplete and in no way personal to the staff at Niton Central School.
Before I began the process of inquiry, I needed to identify a question that the staff could
work together to answer. This question changed a number of times. The first question created and
posed to math teachers was: what do you believe are the five most challenging math outcomes
for students to grasp at your grade level? However, after further discussion, the staff discovered
that even though some outcomes may be less challenging at each grade level, they are being
forgotten. The staff was concerned that they were not planning an adequate amount of time
within their math courses to focus on significant outcomes that students need to achieve and
master in order to excel in further elementary and junior high math classes. The overarching
question for this professional inquiry project became: what outcomes are essential for students to
know at each grade level in order to be successful in mathematics in the following grade level?
The focus began to shift towards a continuity of knowledge and understanding of mathematical
facts and number sense.
It was my goal to create some significant and concrete products for this project. The
success of creating these products will be discussed later, but the staff was excited to see a
concrete document outlining the mathematics strands at each grade level. Under each strand, the
essential learning outcomes to assist math teachers in their planning would be listed. This
document could be posted throughout the school and in each classroom to ensure that students
and staff did not lose sight of their end goal of ensuring continuity in math fact fluency and
number sense. In order to support the essential learning outcome identified by staff, I also
decided to create a strategy and resource database in the form of a secure Dropbox account for
staff to share resources that supported essential learning outcomes under each strand. This
project was tedious, and time consuming, but the products and future of math education at Niton
Central School will benefit.
The Process
The idea for this project came about after I attended my first PLC meeting at Niton
Central just prior to beginning my internship at the school. As previously stated, the staff wanted
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Guy Becker

to identify the essential learning outcomes for mathematics at each grade level in order to ensure
continuity in the understanding of math fact fluency and number sense from K-9. I began my
research for the project by observing math lessons from K-9 with a follow-up with each math
instructor. I asked three follow up questions: 1. Would you say you were working with some of
your most essential math outcomes today? 2. How well do you feel the students understand the
outcomes? 3. What strategies do you feel are most important in teaching these skills? The
responses so these follow up questions were positive, and the responses that I received helped me
to add some starting essential outcomes to the document that the staff began to collaborate on.
Further research was done at the beginning of February at the annual NCTCA convention
in Edmonton. At the convention, all of the math instructors at Niton Central School, and myself
attending three seminars by mathematician and instructor Kim Sutton. This presenter is one of
the worlds leading scholars in identifying strategies for mastery of math fact fluency from
elementary and into junior high school. The seminars that the staff attended provided us with
strategies and resources to use in our classes to assist students in remembering math facts such
as: multiplication, addition, divisibility rules, and subtraction methods.
From this point in the process, the plan from the project proposal begins to shift.
Following the presentations by Kim Sutton, I uploaded the math essential learning outcomes
document that I began to Google Docs for staff to edit as they saw fit. I also began to use weekly
PLC meeting time to discuss further questions with the staff, and ensure that they understood the
goals of the project. The rest of the PLC meetings began to shift towards planning the annual
Niton Central Math Blitz for elementary students. This math blitz began by grouping students
into their highest math fact skill section. This was done by using a timed drill that gave students
random numbers to see how they would use them in various operations. For example, if a
students was trying to find two number that were equal to ten, the student would take the random
number that they were given, and have to come up with another number that would add to equal
ten. Students that completed a designated number of questions in a given time interval and
achieve full marks would move on to the next level of the blitz. This math blitz focused primarily
multiplication and addition facts, but also included divisibility rules, knowledge of doubles, and
doubles plus one. I was able to take a group of students to focus on fluency with multiplication
facts for two, five, ten, zero, one, and eleven. After two weeks, I was moved to work with the
group that was focusing on multiplication facts of three and six.
Following the three week math blitz, I was able to begin collaborating with staff to create
the math essential learning outcomes product that this project intended to create. The resources
and strategies used gathered from the NCTCA convention and used in the math blitz laid the
foundation for the strategy and resource database that would also be created. The staff began
adding to the essential learning outcomes document in mid. February, and continued into April.
Meanwhile, I facilitated discussion for the essential math outcomes at each grade level. I also
created an organized Dropbox account that organizes folders into grade levels, which contain the
math strands present at each grade level. Within these folders, resources for essential outcomes
can easily be added and changed. The essential learning outcomes document was also added to
this account for ease of access to the entire project. The login for the Dropbox that allows access
to both products can be found at the end of this report.

Guy Becker

Was it a Success?
This professional inquiry project had both successes and failures. Indeed, the process of
creating such a significant document with staff collaboration proved to be more challenging than
I had originally thought. Many outcomes have been added to the NCS Mathematics Essential
Learning Outcomes document, and a great amount of discussion has been held in PLC meetings
on the topic. Nonetheless, the document is not yet complete. I realized that the process of
solidifying these essential learning outcomes will come through trial and error, and they may
change over a number of years. The document and strategies will remain with the staff for the
foreseeable future.
This project continued to discussion on the extent to which students are achieving
essential learning outcomes in mathematics at each grade level in order to excel in mathematics
in further grades. Staff members have remarked that because of this project, they now have an
easy document to access to continue to work on these outcomes to assist them in their planning.
The staff have also been given the login information for the Dropbox strategies and resource
database to add significant resources that will assist in helping students understand challenging
and essential math outcomes at each grade level.
What I learned
The most significant learning that I received from this project was that the development
of number sense in and fact fluency in students early in their educational lives is paramount to
their overall education. I have also gained valuable skills, resources, and strategies for teaching
elementary mathematics in my own educational career. As a social studies education major, I
began this project knowing that it would help me develop a skill set in an educational area that I
saw as my weakest. I am happy to say that I would embrace the opportunity to teach math at any
elementary grade and welcome the challenge of giving students a full understanding of the facts
and concepts covered within the curriculum. If I had the opportunity, I would remain with the
staff at Niton Central and continue the development of the products in the coming school year. I
wish them the best of luck in their continuation of the project.