Reflections on Week 1 of IMP curriculum

The activities that I have done this week with my students were designed to get them used to the new curriculum and improve their confidence.  I think that more than that I have been able to ease into the curriculum as a teacher. I see that I have already done more of these things in one week than I did in the previous 7 combined:

• Teach problem solving skills but NOT by telling them how to problem solve! The students were given a task and then as they figured out how to get closer to a solution I had them share with the class. I asked them to explain how they came up with the idea. I did often repeat  them and use more technical  math vocab but this was exciting to see them generate their own ways to approach tasks.
• Have students think about the process of solving a problem and write in complete  sentences. They were asked to explain the process and write the solution in a complete sentence. This also helps me to cover literacy standards. 
• Help students realize that math is not just about finding an answer and moving to the next problem. The way the curriculum presents the activities the idea that there can often be more than one valid answer is driven home, especially when the students can explain their reasoning. (We have been working on patterns and finding rules for function tables.)