Integrating Fluency Practice: Grade 6 Mathematics, Volume 1 page vi

Facilitating fluency practice activities

Each activity includes tasks or prompts for the teacher to use when implementing the activity with students. Display pages are
provided for most tasks. The teacher may choose to display the tasks using a digital projection device for whole class display, print
copies for small group display, or print copies for individual students. The tasks or prompts provide a starting place for these activities.
Teachers are encouraged to supplement the tasks or prompts based on the needs of the students and available time.

For some activities, students may benefit from recording their thinking in writing or having possible answers pre-written in student
response card format. For these activities, whiteboards are suggested within the teacher notes. If student whiteboards are not
available, teachers may choose to have students write on their desks or on blank paper inside a sheet protector with dry erase
markers. When using whiteboards, prompt students to show their responses after recording each answer and provide immediate
feedback to each student.

Prior to implementation, the teacher may determine that access to additional resources, such as manipulatives or the STAAR
®

Reference Materials, will benefit students for a specific activity. If so, the teacher can provide these additional resources as needed.

Providing feedback to students

“Feedback is about closing the gap between current and desired learning.”

(Hattie & Clarke, 2019)

For each task within a fluency practice activity, the teacher should provide immediate feedback to every student before proceeding to
the next task. Feedback for incorrect responses should be concise and specific enough to help each student identify and correct any
errors. If consistent error patterns emerge, the teacher should note that re-teaching at a later time may be necessary.

Effective feedback focuses on refining students’ understanding of the content. Some examples of effective feedback are:

If you answered 16, you likely halved the number. The task was to double the number. Please refine your answer. The answer is 16. Try again, this time representing your thinking on the whiteboard to get to an answer of 16. The answer is 16. Some recorded 61. If you recorded 61, you determined the correct digits. However, you did not record the
digits with the correct place values. Try using a place value mat to support your thinking. The answer is (6, 1). If you recorded (1, 6) you reversed the x- and y-coordinates of the point. Why is order important when
recording the coordinates of a point?

This supplemental resource
features collections of fluency
activities supporting instruction
aligned to the Texas Essential
Knowledge and Skills.

Each fluency practice activity
takes approximately 10 minutes
to facilitate as a regular part of
daily mathematics instruction,
intervention, or tutoring sessions.