Compacting Fractions

I find compacting to be stressful because I’m still not very confident in implementing it in my classroom. I never know quite how advanced to get with pre-assessments because it could be a very minor process that could be preventing students from moving forward. I’m not good at predicting the level of scaffolding the students will need, so some of my attempts since learning about compacting last semester have filed miserable. Some failed because I overestimated the students’ prior knowledge, while others failed because they weren’t challenging enough for the students. It was just busy work. Another frustration I have with compacting is the difficulty some students have with finishing the pre-assessment in an adequate time to benefit from the compacting. I have two students who are very bright but also unfocused. They want to participate in activities that I create, but they never get around to showing me what they already know. It’s also difficult to determine when the students should be involved in class discussions about content they already know to be a model for their classmates and help move the lesson along.
Students in my classroom who are ready for more advanced work are served within my classroom by me; however, because I teach at a magnet school, they also have the opportunity to take AG electives taught by our AG teacher in their identified or recommended subject area (the students do not have to be identified as AG to take the electives). I do not have any students in my class who are so far above grade level that they don’t benefit from some grade level instruction on any given topic. However, there are a few that have benefited from some compacting strategies I have used/modified in my classroom. The students are currently sitting in somewhat clustered settings. My two highest performing students in math are sitting at a table with my four lowest performing students, but they only need to turn their chairs around to join my next two highest students depending on the activity I have planned for that day. During our two week study on fractions, I gave my students a paper and pencil pre-assessment that I created. About ¾ of my class showed that they could identify fractions, but only about 1/3 could draw representations of fractions correctly. The biggest areas of struggle were drawing thirds, sixths, fifths, sevenths, and twelfths. Only two students were about to find equivalent fractions, and none of my students knew what an improper fraction was. I also tested the students’ knowledge of mixed numbers and comparing/ordering fractions. Using this data, I clustered groups of students based on their knowledge of the subject and designed activities accordingly (I tiered! Woo Hoo!). The groups were flexible, and as students showed mastery of concepts, they were able to move to more advanced activities. This led to some peer-to-peer tutoring. Those students that were working on higher level skills initially were responsible for helping out their peers who were ready to move on. This left me to remediate and get students to the point where they could move on. The students seemed to enjoy the responsibility they had to take on when doing independent work that was very different from the class and then explaining it to others. My highest kids stayed consistently two days in front of the rest of the class. I don’t feel like I had enough time to follow up with them after activities to listen to their reactions or carry on in depth conversations about the content. It was also difficult to find uninterrupted time to sit with these students and scaffold their learning. I don’t think I would have been successful were I not collaboratively teaming with a special education teacher.