The author presented a math task asking all his 3rd graders to find ways to count seven sets of eight donuts, arranged in grids of two-by-four. He hoped this task would lead students toward fluency in single-digit multiplication, albeit in a manner that was inherently personalized learning, with students choosing their own methods to reach an…

Summit San Jose is part of the Summit Public Schools network, a group of charter schools in California's Bay Area. In 2011, when Summit San Jose first opened its new high school with a cohort of 9th graders, the teachers decided to pilot Khan Academy. At the time, they had piloted their math resources and platform with five classrooms in Los…

Team Assisted Individualization (TAI) in mathematics and Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) are among the best researched and most effective of all cooperative learning methods. TAI was developed to apply cooperative learning techniques to solve individualized instruction problems. Relevant research on both methods is discussed.…

An algebra teacher changes the dynamics of her classroom by recognizing the conflict between students wanting the freedom to make their own decisions and teachers wanting to limit that freedom and wanting to control the students. The adoption of self-paced classroom instruction where students had to master each concept before proceeding to the…

Like writing workshops, math and science workshops create flexible environments where students actively learn, share, and explore concepts at their own pace. Format consists of a mini-lesson, an activity period, and reflection. Teacher- and student-directed varieties are explained and compared. (Contains 18 references.) (MLH)