Broward Q and A
Table of Contents
Broward
Partnership
Walch is a leading developer and publisher of purpose-built, tailored, dynamic math resources for high school teachers and students.
Walch’s objective is to partner with Broward’s Secondary Math Department and/or its Equity and Diversity Department to develop targeted engaging instructional resources to support supplemental educational programs, including summer school, after school and other opportunities to help students and support teachers in improve teaching and learning outcomes.
Our submission
Below is the 5-minute video that we previously provided, highlighting our content and the Curriculum Engine.
Previous Development Partnerships (selected)
North East ISD
Existing resources for two important courses, Math Modeling and Applications and Advanced Quantitative Reasoning, were dated and overly difficult. Walch worked with NEISD to develop modern, problem based resources that are aligned, engaging and supportive of both their teachers and their students
Winston Salem
WS/FCS needed aligned, teacher- friendly resources for NC Math 1 and 4 and for Foundations of Math.
Beyond alignment, they wanted a problem-based foundation with options for a diverse student population.
Walch organized and enhanced existing resources and developed new ones using the Curriculum Engine in partnership with the district, and delivered them on Canvas and in print in under 6 months
Other
- Boston Public Schools: Summer ELA
- Palm Beach County Schools: Summer Math
- Wake County Public Schools: Foundations of Algebra and Introduction to High School Math
- Cobb County Public School Math: Remediation and print on demand
- Canyons: CCSS with embedded honors
- + more!
Broward and Walch
Walch is committed to Florida (one of our focus states) and we are confident that we can support and enhance Broward’s efforts to improve instructional supports for high school math students. You will have the commitment of and access to Walch’s CEO and senior management and you can be assured of our dedication to this partnership and be confident that we will be both proactive and responsive. Walch owns its content outright (no author royalties or restrictions).
Walch’s web based Curriculum Engine provides the content and tools needed for rapidly defining and building online and print resources to meet new and emerging needs. It is organized around the Florida standards, can inject and leverage district-created content, OER, Walch content and/or content from other sources, in any format, and curate/organize that content for convenient educator and student access.
The Curriculum Engine gives Walch, and/or Broward County teacher leaders, the ability to tailor, enhance, extend and reorder content and lessons to meet specific requirements or respond to evolving needs. That content, lessons and/or courses can then reside on Canvas (we export to common cartridge or we can put it on natively) or reside on the Curriculum Engine (and connect via LTI) and/or be printed, by Broward or by Walch.
Walch resources also include research-based practices and tools to guide teachers in connecting instructional strategies and math content and supporting a diverse student population.
Additionally Walch can adapt resources to include local context and enhance accessibility, both to improve relevance and to better engage students: strategies include
- Incorporating local malls, sports (Florida Panthers, Miami Dolphins), Parks (Anne Kolb Nature Center, Boulevard Gardens Community Center), barbershops and nail salons, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airport, financial literacy and other suitable topics/themes, and
- Increasing emphasis on desired instructional content and strategies: Can include focus standards, spiraling, curriculum slicing, accessible language, consolidation activities and other approaches or strategies deemed appropriate. We can also work together to develop platforms to accelerate learning, such as adaptive assessment and personalized learning paths for work “beyond the classroom”. These paths can include everything from simulations and manipulatives to interactive worksheets and videos.
Curriculum Engine Access
Getting Started
We have setup a DEMO district on the Curriculum Engine called Florida Summer School Demo School 2022.
Access information is listed under Logins.
Here is a link to help documentation on previewing a course: Course Manager | How to preview a course
Help Resources
You can access additional help documentation and training videos on our Knowledge Base.
Below are a few brief videos that highlight accessing the course materials and running reports.
Logins
| Teacher Login | Student Login | Password |
|---|---|---|
| broward.teacher1 | broward.student1 | broward2022! |
| broward.teacher2 | broward.student2 | broward2022! |
| broward.teacher3 | broward.student3 | broward2022! |
| broward.teacher4 | broward.student4 | broward2022! |
Support Videos
Course Details and Sample Lessons
| North Carolina | |
| Alignment | Examples: Each lesson in the North Carolina Math 1, 2, 3 & 4 programs was written specifically to address the NC Standard Course of Study. The Standards Correlations document in the Program Overview of each course provides a comprehensive list mapping the lessons to the NC Math 1, 2, 3 & 4 standards. Each course employs a problem-based model of instruction that supports and reinforces the eight Standards of Mathematical Practice (SMP). |
| Focus | The Walch alignment document shows that all major and supporting standards for the NC Standard Course of Study have been addressed. The practice standards are taught throughout the program. |
| Coherence | The alignment of this series to the NC Math 1, 2, 3 & 4 suggested unpacking documents assures the connections between domains, clusters, units, and courses have been addressed. Each lesson intentionally relates new concepts to students’ prior knowledge, setting the foundation for future learning and allowing access to prior learning. |
| Rigor and Balance | The NC Math 1, 2, 3 & 4 resources provide ample opportunities for students to practice fluency and procedural skills with our scaffolded practice, guided practice, and practice problems by providing students flexibility in their use of procedures and skills to solve problems. These course materials also provide opportunities for building conceptual understanding through our alignment of conceptual activities, which include Desmos and GeoGebra activities and other OERs. Aligned conceptual activities and conceptual tasks can be found listed in the Table of Contents and are accessible in the Curriculum Engine as learning objects. Problem-based tasks provide deeper understanding and integration of conceptual understanding in real-world applications by giving students the opportunity to access concepts and ideas from a variety of perspectives. |
| Equity and Differentiation | Instructional strategies assist teachers in delivering instruction for ALL learners and learning modalities are provided for every lesson, with explicit instructions and suggestions for struggling readers, ELLs, and students with disabilities in the Program Overview. Conceptual activities, found in every unit, address multiple learning styles. We provide a set of Coaching Questions for each problem-based task, which provides scaffolding, differentiation, remediation, and enrichment for all learners. We provide a set of scaffolded practice for each lesson, which provides a DOK 1 & 2 level set of problems. Performance Tasks are included in select units, and the problem-based tasks are found in every lesson. Conceptual activities can also be opportunities for listening, speaking, reading, and writing mathematics content. Problem-based tasks, as well as practices, warm-ups, and guided practice, incorporate diverse protagonist names and real-world examples throughout the program. |
| Other Considerations | |
| Assessment Materials | All test items are aligned to the NC Math 1, 2, 3 & 4 standards. We provide 10 interactive TEI formative practice problems per lesson, and each unit has a mid-unit assessments and unit assessment. Every attempt is made to align all test and practice items not only to the standard but the unpacking documents as well. Our items have been reviewed by educators. More than 20% of these instructional materials include TEI in both the assessments and the interactive worksheets. The problem-based tasks provide opportunities for students to engage in mathematical discourse and critical thinking. Our assessments have well over 13 different item types and also include the Desmos calculator. The aligned Desmos activities provide an opportunity for students to access learning through conceptual experiences and also for the teacher to gather formative data. |
| Curriculum Materials | Our Scope and Sequence follows very closely to what is specified by NC Math 1, 2, 3 & 4 standards. The Teacher Resource Book provides everything a teacher needs to facilitate each lesson and unit in one location. All curriculum materials are available in both digital and print format. |
| Student Materials | The student materials include a student workbook that consists of the following lesson and unit components: warm-up, guided practice, scaffolded practice, problem-based tasks, and two sets of practice problems. Students can also access these components and more on the Curriculum Engine. |
| Teacher Materials | Each lesson offers multiple alternative strategies and approaches. Problem-based and performance tasks include coaching to address the full range of DOK and various degrees of language proficiency. These course materials provide an opportunity for building conceptual understanding through our alignment of conceptual activities, which include Desmos activities and OERs. Common errors and misconceptions are highlighted throughout the Introduction and Key Concepts sections in every lesson, as are contextual step-by-step directions in the Guided Practice. |
| Florida Algebra I Resources | Florida Algebra I Links |
|---|---|
| Course Overview | |
| Unit 1: Relationships Between Quantities and Reasoning with Equations | |
| Topic C Lesson 1: Creating and Graphing linear Equations in two variables | Problem-Based Task |
| Topic C Lesson 2: Creating and Graphing Exponential Equations | Problem-Based Task |
| Additional Resources | Unit 1 Topic C Progress Assessment Conceptual Task #1 |
| Florida Financial Algebra Resources | Florida Financial Algebra Links |
|---|---|
| Course Overview | |
| 5.2: Creating equations and Inequalities in Two Variables and 5.3: Geometric Sequences | |
| Assessments | |
| Stations | |