8th Grade - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for developing conceptual understanding of key mathematical concepts. 

Each unit starts with a “Looking Ahead” problem, which poses a mathematical situation that they will be learning to solve.

Looking Ahead also provides explicit scaffolding to prior knowledge.

Investigation problems frequently involve hands-on activities or models and always involve students explaining why. These problems also frequently involve error analysis. All of these help develop conceptual understanding.

Some Investigation problems can carry throughout a unit, each time adding a layer of complexity to further develop conceptual understanding.

The materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for giving attention to individual standards for developing procedural skills and fluency.

Each unit provides three or four “investigations” where students are given problems to solve that will help develop skills for the Looking Ahead problem.

The materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for students spending sufficient time working with engaging applications of the mathematics.

The instructional materials provide relevant, real-world problems. For example, problems frequently focus on school events for Grade 8.

There are opportunities for students to make their own assumptions or simplifications of situations.

The materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for a balance of the three aspects of rigor.

Almost every investigation provides instructional problems that develop conceptual understanding within an application context.

Overall for the grade, practice problems are about half procedural practice and half application. Some units lean more one way than the other, but they balance out.

Students are asked to complete a “Looking Back” problem that puts everything together. The problem asks students to  explain their reasoning and to reflect to summarize learning for each unit.

The weakest area is fluency. Some students will need more skills practice for some concepts than provided in order to develop fluency.

The materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for identifying and using MPs.

At the beginning of each unit, the practices are listed along with bullets to help students understand how use them. Teachers are provided with explicit connections of the most prevalent practices and which problems they match. The practices are not explicitly labeled for students on the problems, though they use them routinely.

The materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the expectations for attending to the full meaning of the MPs. 

For each investigation:

Teachers are provided with a rationale of how the MPs are used in the problems.

The last thing the students reflect on is a model of a student explanation of how the MP connected to a problem and identifying what other MPs were used, then asks students to identify the MP they used in a different problem.

Students are constantly prompted to explain, analyze, make connections, justify. There are frequent instances of “Do you agree with their reasoning? Why or Why not?”

Teacher Planning for every investigation includes “Orchestrating the Discussion” that prompts mathematical reasoning such as “How did you know? Did you use this in your solution? Name another. Does this work for any? Etc..”

Vocabulary is mathematical and grade-level appropriate.