I interviewed Matt Callaghan who was an enthusiastic believer and teacher of CMP. He had taught this curriculum for the past four years and had student taught using this curriculum as well so it was all he knew.
How does the CMP curriculum align with the national Common Core and NCTM standards?
He hasn’t done the research, but it aligns 85%-90% with the state of Washington and then they have been provided with supplements to meet state requirements (such as teaching waves). He thinks they meet the national standard about 85% Common Core standards and they provide supplements to meet these standards, which he doesn’t follow.
Numerous students are a year or more behind in the basics. How does one address the needs of these students on a daily basis so they can get up to grade level and also experience success in the inquiry to investigation philosophy of the CMP?
He stated that he wasn’t sure what they do for students that are a year behind, but he uses a program called cognitive tutor as a supplement as a core support class for the students. He stated that he does not do remediation that he only looks ahead and offer student that might need extra help on the new subject an introduction to the topic. He also uses IXL.com, which ties to state standards. This gives the students extra practice with the current subject. He again stated that he does not do remediation; they don’t go back to repeat subjects. They front-load the students with information, practice, and basics prior to introducing a subject in the classroom.
What is the role of homework (and accountability) in the CMP?
With 80-minute classes, Mr. Callaghan stated that he gives basic problems for homework that helps him decide if the student gets it or not. They work on the harder problems in the classroom and the teacher doesn’t assign a lot of homework. Mr. Callaghan that the homework doesn’t give him the results. He assigns homework when the students know the subject so they don’t practice incorrectly (which just wastes time). He typically wanted a high level of understanding prior to assigning homework. He didn’t think the CMP model would work as well for 60-minute classes.
CMP Investigations compose of small-groups (pair-share, teamwork, cooperative learning).
Describe several classroom management techniques that ensure all students are actively engaged. Eg, how are individual roles established? Accountability (Group, individual)? Ongoing assessment(s) and checking for understanding?
Mr. Callaghan has the students work at table groups each consisting of four students. He admitted that he is more teacher centered than student centered. He felt that the teacher should create the big idea and repeat it over and over again while the students answered questions. In other words, the kids answer questions, but the teacher is usually the voice of reason and articulates the main concept to the students. Overall, he felt that his students liked math and when they moved out of the CMP program in high school the same students decided that they didn’t like math.
