Vertical Learning Works!

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Vertical Learning Works!

  • November 27, 2024
  • Posted by: Caitlin McCallum
  • Category: Wow Story
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My 3rd grade students have been working on rounding by tens and hundreds. One student, K, really struggles with this. She had trouble understanding the concept of the “bossy number” telling the number in the tens or hundreds place what to do (round up or stay the same).

While students were working independently on IXL, a personalized learning software, Kiara continued to struggle with the concept. I had her at the small group table with a few peers and modeled the concept on the board, using the classroom teacher’s method. Kiara asked if she could write her problem on the board. We worked through the steps to rounding and she caught on very quickly! Vertical learning is a proven successful method.

According to an article on Mathodology.com, “Students can quickly erase and change their work, making it easy to explore different methods and mistakes can easily be removed, in real-time. Students can use gestures, illustrate, draw connections between ideas, and manipulate representations. These acts of physically interacting with a vertical board can reinforce conceptual understanding. They can also work collaboratively with others.”

I would like to use this method more in the classroom and in my small groups!

~written by Beth Vega, LSEM Teacher at Trinity Lutheran School in Hobart, IN