Getting Started With Do The Math Teacher Guide
The Do The Math Teacher Guide is exactly what the name implies. It is a companion resource for teachers implementing the Do The Math core instruction curriculum, which is produced by IXL Learning. The guide provides lesson plans, scaffolding strategies, differentiation tips, and assessment alignment for each unit. It is not a standalone curriculum. It supports the existing Do The Math scope and sequence by giving teachers a clearer path through the materials. I have spent years watching teachers try to navigate these guides without a plan, and the main issue is timing. The guides are comprehensive, which means you can easily spend 45 minutes preparing a lesson that should take 12. My workaround was to print only the pages relevant to the current lesson and highlight the exact language I would use. This cut my prep time significantly and kept me from getting lost in sections that did not apply to that day's objectives.
Do The Math Teacher Guide
The structure of each unit follows a consistent pattern. You will find pacing guides, warm-up activities, guided practice pages, independent work suggestions, and assessment recommendations. The warm-ups are particularly useful because they are designed to activate prior knowledge before the main instruction begins. Most teachers I know skip them, but they actually serve a purpose. Without that activation step, students often struggle to connect new material to what they already understand. One thing that catches people off guard is how the guides handle intervention. If a student is struggling, the guide suggests specific alternative approaches rather than just repeating the same instruction. This is where the guide earns its keep. The differentiation section is not generic advice. It provides concrete adjustments like changing the manipulatives or breaking the problem into smaller steps. I found this especially valuable when teaching mixed-ability classrooms where some students finish quickly while others need more time. The assessment component deserves attention too. The guide includes formative checks throughout each lesson and summative assessments at the end of units. What beginners often miss is that the formative checks are meant to be used in real time. They are not for homework or for grading later. You administer them during the lesson, read the results immediately, and adjust your instruction accordingly. I used to collect them and grade them the next day. That approach defeated the purpose entirely because the data was stale by the time I reviewed it.
Common Pitfalls and Practical Workarounds
There are a few areas where the guide can create more problems than it solves. The pacing recommendations assume a certain amount of instructional time per day. If your school day is shorter or you have limited math blocks, you may find yourself rushing through material that requires more time. The guide does not always account for this variability across different school schedules. Another issue is the assumption that all teachers have access to the same materials and technology. Some sections reference digital tools or specific manipulatives that may not be available in every classroom. When this happens, you need to substitute manually rather than skip the activity entirely. I learned this the hard way when a school budget cut eliminated several sets of base-ten blocks. I adapted by using printed templates and paper squares instead, and the students still grasped the concepts just fine. The most counter-intuitive insight I have found is that the guide works best when you do not follow it strictly. The suggested order of activities is a recommendation, not a rule. I have seen teachers adjust the sequence based on how their particular students respond. For example, if a class struggles with a concept, it sometimes helps to introduce the independent practice before the guided practice section. This is not what the guide suggests, but it can be effective depending on your students' needs.
Access to the guide itself depends on your district's licensing with IXL Learning. Most teachers receive it through their school or district's existing Do The Math subscription. If you are looking to obtain a copy, the standard route is through your district's curriculum coordinator or the IXL Learning website directly. There is no free public version of the full teacher guide, though IXL does offer some sample materials on their site.
What the Guide Does Not Cover
It is important to be honest about what this resource does not provide. The Do The Math Teacher Guide does not include detailed family communication templates or extensive IEP modification suggestions. If you are working with students who have significant accommodations, you will need to supplement the guide with your own individualized plans. The guide offers general differentiation strategies, but those are not substitutes for formal educational documentation. There is also no built-in support for English language learners beyond basic language suggestions. Teachers working with multilingual students often need to add their own visual aids and sentence frames. I created a set of modified worksheets for my ELL students that aligned with the guide's content but added bilingual vocabulary supports. This took extra time upfront but made the lessons much more accessible throughout the year. The guide also does not address technology integration beyond the basic digital components that come with Do The Math. If your school uses additional platforms or apps for math instruction, you will need to figure out how those fit into the framework on your own. I combined Do The Math with a few supplementary apps and found that the guide's structure could accommodate them with minor adjustments.
Ultimately, the Do The Math Teacher Guide is a solid resource for teachers who want structured support without being locked into a rigid script. It works best when you treat it as a flexible tool rather than a mandate. The materials are well-designed, the pacing is reasonable for typical classroom schedules, and the differentiation strategies are practical. Just be prepared to adapt it to your specific context rather than following it verbatim.
