Dr. Don's Blog

It is very slow to have each student go and look for their own folder in a single file row.
I am often asked about how to make the paperwork of Rocket Math go efficiently and not take up too much time. When I do live training sessions and tell participants about ways to be more efficient I usually get a lot of push back and a lot of “Do I have to..?” So I’m going to offer some ideas, but you may want to do things in a different way. If you can do things another way, just as efficiently, then don’t do things my way.
Here’s 13 ideas that can help.
1) Put a packet of six copies of the practice pages in the folder at a time. Then you don’t have to handle the folders of students until they pass or use up the six sheets.
2) Immediately after the test, collect only the folders of student who say they’ve passed, and have them stick the papers out so you can tell they passed.
3) You don’t have to check every paper–only the ones who have passed by doing enough problems to meet their goal.
4) You don’t have to check every problem–the first error disqualifies them for passing so once you’ve found one, put it back.
5) If students can’t keep their folders in their desks, store them by row or pod of desks, and then have the paper passer for that row distribute folders.
6) Make answer key packets A-Z for each operation (on colored paper) which go into student folders for daily use. No need to be getting new answer sheets this way.
7) Students from 3rd grade on can go get their packet of new sheets, or you can stick them into the folders as you are correcting.
8) Teach students how to sit in their desks, and if necessary move to sit close to their partners. Practice the routine of getting into partners until the class can do it quickly.
9) Set up partners ahead of time, so students don’t wander the room looking for someone to work with.
10) Set up A and B partners and then post on the board who goes first, so there’s no delay there.
11) Monitor closely so everyone stays on task.
12) Teach the routine and then just tell the students to go without a lot of discussion from you. The whole process shouldn’t take more than ten minutes once you have the routine established. Time the class and post your best time. Minimum of two minutes practice for each partner–but send me your best time and I’ll share it with everyone!
13) Use a volunteer or helper to keep the filing crate full of packets of pages. Looking for another Set G is the biggest time waster imaginable.

When practicing Rocket Math, we ask students to say the whole problem and the answer for each problem while the checker listens. Two beneficial things are happening when students do that. (1) They are retrieving the answer from memory. As they go out and find that answer in their mind they are strengthening the neural connections between the problem and the answer. The more times you think about something the easier it is to remember. So that’s the first benefit. (2) The second benefit is the rehearsal of the verbal chain. A verbal chain is a set of words you often say together. In my workshops I always show how this works by saying the final words of the pledge of allegiance, “and justice for …” and leaving off the word “all.” The participants always help me out. Everyone can complete that final word of the pledge because those words “and justice for all” are a verbal chain. You cannot say “and justice for…” without thinking of the next word “all.” Back to verbal rehearsal of the verbal chain for a math fact. When the student says “Nine times seven is sixty-three” enough times, when the student rehearses it aloud it becomes a memorized verbal chain. Then in the future when the student says to himself or herself, “Nine time seven is…” the answer “sixty-three” pops into mind automatically. That popping into mind is the essence of automaticity and it is the goal of all that practice in Rocket Math. [You didn’t really think the goal was to get to Level Z, did you?] What we want is that when student are doing calculations later in school and life they only have to mutter the problem to themselves and the answer pops into their minds. Now they can do calculations and focus on the procedure and the problem rather than trying to recall the answer. That’s how all that verbal rehearsal pays off. And now you know!

Question: We are using Rocket Math in 3rd grade and it is taking much longer than it should for the kids to master a given set of facts. I observed in the room, and the thing I noticed is that the kids are moving through the paired practice section trying to do the problems as fast as they can and are not getting the solid practice they need. Ms. Apple says that she has modeled over and over the correct speed and manner in which to do the practice and the roles of each kid in the practice session. She also commented that the kids will get into an argument about if one of them paused or if they said it correctly or some other procedural issue. Any suggestions beyond more modeling that might help bring this part in line so that the kids get the practice they need?

Answer: Good questions. A few ideas here.

1) Be sure that the paired practice is long enough—e.g., at least 2 minutes and possibly 3 minutes. More practice is better and as they get tired, they will slow down a bit.

2) There is nothing wrong with going fast (everyone can listen faster than anyone can talk), as long as the checker is stopping to correct errors and practice hesitations. The teacher should be sure to model for the students, where she makes a hesitation, and the checker has to stop her to give her the correction procedure. Then as students are practicing, she should circulate, listening for correction of hesitations, and praise that highly, as the BEST thing you can do for your partner—give them extra practice on a fact that were slow in answering.

3) Set up the rule: The checker is always right. Any argument she should respond in the same way. “No arguing. The checker is always right!” This is fair because everyone gets to be the checker. No other policy is workable because there is no way to know and no time to investigate. Just always say, “The checker is always right.”

4) If checkers are having trouble keeping up, make sure that they always “track with their finger.” She will need to make sure that is part of the modeling, and that she praises that behavior when she circulates. “I see some smart checkers who are tracking with their finger!” I’m thinking these should help.

5) Make sure they are taking the un-passed sheets home and practicing there. Give rewards or post on a chart who is taking their sheet home and practicing (the same way) and bringing it back signed by the person who practiced with them. At home practice can make a huge difference, and siblings can do it as well as parents. And three to five days is an OK length of time to pass a set.

6) As a last resort, especially if students are spitting out the problems too fast for the checkers to even hear and everyone is doing it, the teacher needs to stop Rocket Math for a few days. The teacher will have to go back to modeling how to practice, [where she is the student and she picks a student to be the checker] and where the students have to show how the checker should make corrections, as was done in the beginning of the year. But now, with every student who is being her checker she should say the problems too fast to understand, and then teach the checker to say, “I’m sorry I can’t understand you. Go back and speak clearly so I can hear what you are saying.”

Hope this helps.

Question: I am the K-1 instructional coach for our district and I am looking for the contact information for a 1st grade teacher who has done Rocket Math in first grade. We have a building who will be piloting the program in first grade and would like some advice on what time of year is best to begin the program!

Answer: We don’t keep customer contact information to give out–our privacy policy does not allow that. [However, we are about to create a Rocket Math Ambassadors web page for teachers who volunteer to be available to take questions from other teachers about Rocket Math. We’ll announce it in Dr. Don’s Hints and Tips.]

Answer to your second question: You want to know when in first grade to begin the program. The answer to your question is that students can begin math facts in First grade as soon as they understand the concept of addition. This is the kind of information discussed in our Teacher Directions and in our Rocket Math FAQs here in letter “E.”

When are students ready to begin fact memorization in an operation?

When they “understand the concept” of the operation. “And how does one know that?” you might be asking. Well, we’re going to tell you. Drumroll, please. Children “understand” an operation when they are able to compute or figure out any fact in the operation. They can use their fingers to figure out the addition and subtraction facts. Or they can use successive addition to figure out the multiplication facts. Or they can use manipulatives and get the right answer. Or they can draw lines, or horses, or dots, or cookies  (We’ve seen it all.) and get the answer. Somehow, some way, given any fact in the operation, and unlimited time, the child can figure out the answer. Then the child is ready to begin memorizing.

This might be at the start of the school year, or might not be true until November–depending on your district’s scope and sequence. Hope this answers your question.

As Dr. Anita Archer says, aside from teaching, the most important thing a teacher does is monitor students as they are working. This is doubly true during Rocket Math. Far from being a time to sit down while the students are happily engaged in “doing Rocket Math,” this is a time when it is imperative that the teacher must be up moving around and listening to the quality of the practice. Walking around the room to see that everyone appears to be on task is the minimum, but really stopping to listen to the students is the gold standard in monitoring. (Me, I have to squat down or bend over to be able to hear clearly.)

During Rocket Math the teacher should be tuning in and listening to pairs of students as they practice to be sure of several things. (1) Is the student saying the entire problem and the answer each time? (2) Is the student audible to the checker? (3) Is the checker tracking with his/her finger so you can tell if they are following along? (4) Is the checker correcting hesitations, as well as errors? [Give public praise, perhaps after the practice session to every checker you heard correct a hesitation–that’s a really big deal!] (5) Does the checker follow the three step correction?

The teacher cannot know whether or not practice is being done correctly without careful monitoring and listening to the pair of students as they practice. Praise the pair if they are doing it right. Then move on to another pair and monitor them. Keep moving to as many pairs of students as you can during the two to three minutes of oral practice.

By the way, look out for students who go once around and stop! This is supposed to be an endless task. That is why the problems now go in a circle around the outside so the students know to go on to a second lap if they can. The best teachers institute a signal (fist in the air for example) that shows which students have made it to the second lap during the practice time. That should be a badge of honor. It often means that the student has no hesitations on any of the newer facts and will be likely to pass that day. But hard work and diligent working–enough to get to a second lap should be rewarded in any case.

If the teacher finds that students are NOT practicing and correcting as they should it is time to go back to the beginning and model for students how they should practice and correct. More on that in another blog. For now, just be sure to monitor, monitor, monitor during Rocket Math.

How can a teacher run a math fact fluency program with access to only a couple of computers?

Asa asks:
Don, My school doesn’t currently have a fluency program in place and I’d really like to implement one as I think it’s a real need for my kids. I have 65 5th grade students. I don’t have access to technology on a 1 to 1 basis in my classroom. I have a couple of computers and a few ipads. Where would be good place for me to start?

Dr. Don answers:
Hi Asa,  What you describe is like trying to teach reading by the light of a shared candle! Until you have computers (or iPads) for everyone, using computer based programs to provide facts practice won’t work! A paper-and-pencil program is really much more realistic.
The paper-and-pencil version of Rocket Math works really well. Because students work with each other in partner practice they enjoy it. The daily one-minute timings are a good challenge, and the fact that they only have to learn two facts on each set means within a few days they can pass a set. Filling in the Rocket Chart from the bottom up gives them a sense of accomplishment and they learn an important life lesson–that studying and practicing can help you learn!
For one teacher the cost of a Basic annual subscription is $29, so it’s not too expensive to start.

Listen to the Rocket Math in a Nutshell presentation on our home page www.rocketmath.com for a good quick idea of how this runs. Next print out and read the Teacher Directions from our Free Resources page here. Then when you have a clear idea what you’ve got to do, go ahead and get the Basic Subscription. You’ll be glad you did.

Oh, in case you don’t see this word of advice, with fifth graders start everyone on multiplication (even if they are counting on their fingers.) Fifth graders who aren’t fluent with the basic facts are a case for triage!!  If they never memorize another operation other than multiplication they might be able to make it through fractions and other pre-algebra topics if they know multiplication facts–so that is the place to start.

In most schools there are a few children who are not making good progress with Rocket Math. They don’t pass as quickly at each level. Assuming that students are practicing the way they should with a partner (teachers should monitor this closely), and their writing goals are reasonable (sometimes they become unsustainable), you may be looking at students who need more than the usual amount of practice. Some students do need two or three times more practice than their peers. Sadly, these are often the students who do not practice at home either. So the question is how to get them the extra practice they need to keep up with the class. Luckily, Rocket Math lends itself to arranging extra practice.

A school’s first option should be a cross-graded Rocket Math “Bonus” session some time during the school day. Students can work at all grade levels and in all operations in this group. Students should all come with their folder containing all they need. Students should be assigned to the Rocket Math “Bonus” session after not passing a level within four or five practice days.

A teaching assistant or para-professional might be able to run this session, depending on their classroom management skills. It would be better to have the Title I or Special Education teacher run these sessions. This kind of remedial work will really help students.

Students would bring their Rocket Math folders from class to the “bonus” session—because their folder should include their answer key and everything they need to practice. Students do not need to be in the same grade or on the same operation to be partners because the answer keys needed are right there in the folder.

In the bonus session, students would practice with a partner for two or three minutes the same way they do in class. Then the two would switch roles. But then, instead of taking a written test, they could practice again orally but this time on the TEST for one minute and then switch roles. That way no paper is used up and no paperwork is required of the person running this session with students from several classes. The students should be done in less than 15 minutes. This extra practice if done properly and every day should help students to pass within a very few days.

Of course, students with IEPs in math should get a bonus session during the time they are with the special education teacher. And Title I students should get a bonus session with the Title I teacher. But the bonus session should be available based on need rather than labels or categories.