The purpose of my study was to determine if differentiation during the math workshop model will increase student achievement in math fact fluency and number sense. Before my action plan, I taught math with the whole group teaching style. I stood at the front of the classroom teaching all twenty four of my students new concepts while they sat at their tables. I was beginning to grow frustrated with this style of teaching. I had some students understand the material right away, and often seemed bored or disengaged the rest of the lesson. On the opposite end, there were also students of mine who were struggling to understand due to the material being taught above their knowledge level. They would look lost and often disengaged as well, due to the lack of understanding. I often found myself spending most of the work time by their spots, leaving the rest of my class who had questions to figure it out for themselves. I knew that all of my first graders would come in at different levels depending on their understanding of the math concepts taught in Kindergarten. I found, however, that my first graders had a much broader range of understanding than I originally anticipated.
 

My fall AIMSWeb test results showed that 12 of my 24 students were proficient on their math fact fluency test. Additionally, in interviewing my students on how they solved a problem, I was able to determine that 21 of my 24 students used their fingers to solve one digit math problems. This helped me understand that my students were at different levels in their number sense which impacted their math fact fluency. Also, in giving topic tests at the end of every math topic, my class average was a 76%. This represented gaps in their learning. After reflecting on my students' Fall AIMSWeb math fact fluency scores and topic test scores, I realized that I needed to begin differentiating my math instruction. I started to research the benefits to differentiating math instruction, and the results I found were very encouraging. I realized that I could meet the needs of all my learners, those who were on level, above level, and below level. I would be able to push my high achieving students by finding materials that would challenge their thinking. I would be able to find supplemental materials to help my below level students become on level. I would be able to find materials that would push my on level students to grow and continue to practice. I wanted to have all of my students show growth from their Fall AIMSWeb scores to their Spring AIMSweb scores and on their math topic tests.