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Transitioning to CALM and BeCALM for Online Adult Math Education

by Jean Oviatt-Rothman

I transitioned to adult education from the K-12 level several years ago. When I first started teaching adults online, we used a homegrown math curriculum based mainly on traditional K-12 materials. It was familiar territory for me, but I had a nagging feeling. If traditional math curriculum material had not worked for so many of my students when they were in school as children, why would we expect it to work for them now?

I wanted to try something different. After taking the Introduction to CALM course, I received approval to pilot the Curriculum for Adults Learning Math (CALM) in our Foundations-level (GLE K-5) classes. Once I began teaching, I quickly realized that many students in one class were not yet ready for the CALM lessons, so I incorporated the Beginning Curriculum for Adults Learning Math (BeCALM) and used many of those lessons for that group.

Both CALM and BeCALM focus on practical application and deep conceptual understanding of the big ideas of mathematics. CALM is designed for GLE levels 3-12; BeCALM supports GLE levels 2-4. If you aren’t familiar with the CALM and BeCALM curricula, I highly recommend the introductory workshops to take a deeper dive into each of them.

Teaching CALM and BeCALM Online

Although originally designed for in-person instruction, with some creativity and flexibility you can teach CALM online. My first step was to identify and curate exactly what to teach from CALM. There is so much there, and no one can teach it all at once! With the help of a SABES math coach and using CALM’s Scope and Sequence and Developmental Progressions, I selected Unit 1 (Exploring Area and Perimeter with Landscape Design), Unit 3 (Exploring Benchmark Fractions and Percents with Surveys), Unit 4 (Exploring Visualizations with Percents and Taxes) and Unit 5 (Exploring Visualizations with Decimals in Everyday Life) as the best matches to our program’s math goals for the Foundations-level classes. As I read each lesson, I developed a tagging system to determine which lesson parts were ready-to-teach, adaptable, or not feasible online.

Ready-to-teach lesson components were often discussion-based and only required creating a slide with the question(s) and perhaps with a visual to support student understanding. Adaptable components were those that required finding digital substitutions for students to be able to interact with the math and with each other. I relied heavily on Polypad for digital versions of manipulatives and used an online collaborative whiteboard (we used Miro) for students to collaborate. Occasionally, I introduced another digital tool if it achieved something very relevant and specific for a lesson, but I kept the number of new tools to a minimum. Examples of lesson components that were not feasible online for me often involved measuring items together. We couldn’t provide rulers to students, and everyone was in different settings, so I either skipped those pieces or demonstrated using a document camera.

Because CALM lessons are written for 3-hour blocks, I adjusted pacing to fit my 90-minute, twice-weekly classes—essentially teaching one lesson across two sessions. This required a thinking adjustment for me, because I held the ingrained idea that a lesson should last one class period. I just started calling my lessons part 1 and part 2, which satisfied my type-A tendencies.

I created online versions of handouts in Google Practice Sets, Google Docs, or Google Slides, depending on the type of assignment, but this prep time was comparable to what I spent adapting traditional curricula. When I was using the traditional material, I spent a lot of time trying to make lessons my own by finding or creating supplemental activities or assignments, as many teachers do. However, I was not always confident that what I was using was high-quality. The difference with CALM and BeCALM was that they offered high-quality, ready-to-use resources, saving time otherwise spent searching for supplements.

While BeCALM includes more online-ready materials, keeping students engaged remotely still took planning. I relied heavily on visuals and consistent instructional routines to maintain participation and accessibility. My favorite searchable sites for free images are Unsplash and Pixabay. BeCALM has many instructional routines built-in, and the Adult Numeracy Network Instructional Routines site has lots of additional resources.

Student Impact

I anticipated that students might have some reactions to this different approach to math learning, i.e., focusing on conceptual understanding vs. memorized procedures or steps. Students initially shared negative past experiences with math, so we reframed math learning using brain research and explained that we would be using a very different approach to math learning. Check out YouCubed for additional research articles. With their new understanding of the research that everyone can learn and understand math, I encouraged students to see this class as a fresh start.

The students, especially those working at the lowest grade level equivalents (GLEs), responded so well! Instead of fearing math, now they felt empowered, engaged, and curious. They were motivated by seeing the applications of math in their lives. Since CALM and BeCALM use a conceptual problem-based approach similar to the math curriculum that is now used in many K-12 districts, many of the students who are parents were able to support their children’s math learning at home. They now understood it and felt confident helping. Confidence grew, and students approached GED or HiSET prep with genuine understanding instead of relying on memorized procedures or lucky guesses. Even those with a long way to go stayed motivated, knowing they were building a strong foundation.

Here’s what some students told me:

“I never liked or understood math before. It was not for me. But there’s something about this class and the way you teach it. It’s not so bad now!”

“The one class I always dreaded [in high school] was math. I admittedly probably didn’t put in as much effort into learning as I should have been then when building the foundations in math, but at the same time, it was also becoming more difficult for me to truly understand what was being taught… After a certain point, I had given up on ever believing I could understand… All this to say, my relationship with math has not been a great one for a long time, but through your class and this program, I’ve discovered that I love math. I enjoy using formulas and solving equations, it’s become quite fun.”

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If you are a Massachusetts adult education teacher interested in free professional development coaching on this topic, contact us using the SABES Coaching Request Form.

For other states, please inquire about PD support at adultnumeracy@terc.edu.

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