Illustrative Math in Minnesota

This year I am implementing a brand new curriculum, Illustrative Mathematics.  I am really excited as they always have had great mathematical tasks on their site. This summer they released their full 6th-8th curriculum.  Understandably so, it was based around the Common Core Math Standards.  However, in Minnesota we do not use the Common Core.  So my excitement was diminished when I realized that a complete re-organization of their units was needed to successfully do this in MN.

So after many hours I have come up with a plan.  It is briefly outlined below for 7th and 8th grade.  I will hopefully blog a little about this as I go.  I am sure changes will be needed, but right now, I am feeling pretty good about getting this done.

While I am excited to be diving into a new curriculum, and excited about all the amazing problems my students will experience this year, I do have a couple concerns.

1. I am trying to plan a curriculum I am only superficially familiar with.  Some of the units are out of the order to help students group ideas and give the class a better flow.  I am worried that some units will reference ideas we have not had a chance to go over yet.

2. 7th grade math in MN is packed to the brim with math.  It is hard to get in all the standards every year.  (I usually fail at this.)  Even with the IM units I have a planned 39 weeks of instruction.  This is too much.  I already know that.  We will see how the timing works out.  Since MN has packed so many standards into 7th grade, and those standards don't align perfectly with Common Core, I have had to grab some 6th grade units and some 8th grade units, while only getting to skip one 7th grade unit (7.7).  So with some of these units I will have to cherry pick the lessons so they flow into the big learning target ideas.

3. I will still have to supplement some higher end 8th grade material.  In Minnesota, the 8th grade math standards are all the linear parts of algebra 1.  So some things are not currently included in Illustrative Math.  So I plan on using some of my old CMP curriculum to hit these learning targets.  I hope when IM finished their HS curriculum, I can grab some units from there instead.