3 Ways to Get Your Students Back Into Math After a Break

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful holiday break.

Getting students back in the groove after a long break can be a real challenge. After all, they're a little out of practice. Fortunately, a little planning can go a long way to help!

Here are a few ideas for getting your students back on track as soon as possible.

1. Change things up! Move the desks around, change up groups, or change your warm-up routine. If you do something out of the ordinary early on, you’re bound to get their attention!
    
2. Choose an engaging, high-level mathematical task that requires students to think, talk, and work together right away. You can find these tasks in the Carnegie Learning Textbook (check out the Facilitation Notes) and Resource Center, or through a number of online resources like Open Middle.
    
3. Plan to revisit norms on collaboration if needed. Don’t be afraid to remind your students how to work together in math class and practice those norms together again, much like you did during the first weeks of school. You can also revisit The Math Teacher's Guide to a Great School Year for ideas.
    

It may take a little time, but soon your students will be ready to contribute, collaborate, and persevere together!

Got any additional tips to share? We'd love to hear them - leave a comment below.