Development of Videos

The School

The classroom videos were shot in a small Midwest town middle school during the school years 2006-2008. The school had been using the CMP2 curriculum for several years and in all three grades (6, 7, and 8).

The school district is rural. Many of the parents work in nearby large towns and some are employed in agriculture. The population is mostly white with a strong German heritage. A large portion of the population is low SES. Incomes and house prices are very modest, below median national incomes and prices.

The classes are heterogeneous, with two-to-four students with special needs in each class. State mathematics test scores are significantly above the state average.

Recording the Classrooms

Students worked as normally as possible, given the commotion of video equipment. They quickly learned to ignore the extra personnel. Recording occurred for several consecutive days to capture all or most of an Investigation in a Unit.

At the end of each day the teachers reflected on their mathematical goals, the evidence that the goals were/were not accomplished and how these findings will affect planning for the next day. The Teacher Reflections are also captured in the video(s).  

The video was shot in real time with no repeats and edited to decrease the length to create main focus and for convenient viewing. There may be occasions when a viewer might think that the teacher does not follow up on something. However, we see less than 50% of what transpired.

Thank You

We are deeply indebted to the teachers and students in the videos who have volunteered to share their classrooms and reflections with the hope that the discussions that are stimulated by the videos will result in more engaging and thoughtful considerations and collaborations about what it is possible and how it might be accomplished in CMP mathematics classrooms.