What Is The Spiraling Technique In Teaching.

I often see recommendations for including spiraling in the classroom but for me it is hard because I teach grades 6 to 12 in one room and spend two class periods working with each of five math groups.  It means that I don't often get a chance to follow best practices the way I want.  Thus, spiraling is something I can do.  

Spiraling technique is simply teaching the same material across several grades using developmentally appropriate methods. It involves introducing the concept in a simple form and then building on it to lead students to more complex forms.  

Spiraling comes from brain based research in that it reinforces previously taught concepts while helping reinforce them as students move on. Remember it is not repeating but revisiting a concept.  It is a way of incorporating new information with the old that they already know.  This gradual buildup works better with the way our brains function consequently, students are better able to remember and connect concepts.

In addition, there are three principles involved in spiraling. It consists of  cylindrical learning, increasing depth each time through, and learning by building on prior knowledge. Cylindrical learning is defined as returning to the same topic throughout their time in school.  Each time the student returns to the topic, they are exploring it at a deeper level with more complexity.  Finally, when they look at what they already know, they build from their foundations rather than treating it as something new.  

When done properly, the material that is normally taught within a short period of time, is actually broken into smaller pieces, spread out over a longer period of time, and revisited on a regular basis.  Think of it as starting at the surface and moving deeper with each visit.  

One way to introduce spiraling to your classroom is to it by assigning anywhere from one to five problems a day depending on the time you have available.  The time might only take two to four minutes if you are doing one problem per day and this fits in at the beginning to help settle students down or during the last few minutes of class to wrap it up.

The time you put the spiraling in will depend on your students.  For some classes, doing it at the beginning of the period as a bell ringer or warm-up is fantastic but for other classes, it makes the perfect exit ticket. 

Another thing to look at for the spiral review is the form of the problem.  You might post the problem on a whiteboard while you have students do the work on individual whiteboards.  Or you can set it up so all the problems are on one sheet of paper.  They do one problem a day and at the end of the week you collect it and check it for misconceptions.

In addition, it is important to hold them accountable by checking their work.  You can spot check it, looking for students who might need a bit more attention or look at the completed sheet done during the week and give it a couple points grade.  It depends on you and what motivates your students.

One important thing is to go over the work with students.  One way is to make note of various strategies used by students that you want to highlight without having to ask for volunteers.  If your students are willing ask for volunteers to share their work with the rest of the class.  

Finally, it is often difficult to decide what to ask question on.  Some teachers look at the major topics their students should know by the end of the year and provide questions on those.  Others look at the scope and sequence listed for the grade and choose from that.  It is best to look at the topics that give the students the hardest time and return to those again and again.  

No matter what topics you decide to hit, make sure you have the questions planned out so they build on the students knowledge beginning from the easiest forms to the more complex forms.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.