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How + Why I Am Changing My InSTRUCTIONAL PractIce ?
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I recognized the same flaws in my classroom that you may have observed; lack of math skills, little or no retention and understanding, no ability to apply skills to contextual situations. The shift to common core gave me the initial boost to look around and see how I could improve my practice and phase out these flaws. I started by searching the internet and found ideas in education presented as TED talks. As I found ideas that resonated, I made plans to implement them in my classroom. By integrating the following 6 ideas as essential pieces I've made my classroom rigorous according to how CCSS defines rigor as ...
"Pursuing conceptual understanding, procedural skills and fluency, and application with equal intensity" 
The first of these was the talk by Sal Khan about his Khan Academy. Khan displays the countless videos introducing math topics and the thousands of interactive exercises on his site that let students work at their own pace and display mastery of skills, more than simply completing them with partial comprehension.
Our model is learn math the way you learn anything, like the way you learn to ride a bicycle. Stay on that bicycle, fall off that bicycle, do it as long as necessary until you have mastery. 
                                                                                                                           - Sal Khan founder of Khan Academy
Khan states how absurd it is to move students on to new skills if they have not mastered prerequisite skills. The comparison he makes is being an 80% bicyclist, can't turn left or stop, then learning to ride a unicycle.

IDEA #1                                           DEMAND STUDENT MASTERY OF MATH SKILLS 
    Implemented from Khan Academy                     not just covering math skills hoping they stick

Sal Khan continues and encourages teachers to use the time they have with students more effectively.
By removing the one size fits all lecture in the classroom and letting students have a self paced lecture at home and then when you go to the classroom letting them do work ,having the teacher walk around, having the peers actually be able to interact with each other these teachers have used technology to humanize the classroom.        
                                                                                                         - Sal Khan founder of Khan Academy
Sal shares the idea teachers had given him to flip the classroom by using his videos to introduce topics and his exercises to work on mastery as homework, allowing for more interesting problems in class together.

IDEA #2                          STUDENTS LEARN + PRACTICE MATH SKILLS ANYWHERE
         Implemented from Khan Academy    not just through lectures, guided practice and book work in class      
  
This inspired me as I had always wanted to spend more time on the "fun" stuff, big problems and projects that allow students to interact, but felt restrained needing to cover topics in lectures and do more practice.
The question of which activities would be the best use for precious class time remained. I found answers in a second TED talk by Dan Meyer. He started the idea of 3 ACT Math and using multimedia to hook students.
(Speaking about filling a water tank) So now we have the real deal. How long will it take it to fill it up? And then even better is we take a video, a video of someone filling it up... Students are looking at their watches, rolling their eyes, and they're all wondering at some point or another,"Man, how long is it going to take to fill up?" That's how you know you've baited the hook, right?
                                                                                                                            - Dan Meyer pioneer of 3 ACT Math
Dan uses captivating clips that draw questions from students motivating them to find answers with math.

IDEA #3                        ENGAGE PUPILS VIA REAL-WORLD MULTIMEDIA PERPLEXITY
     Implemented from 3 Act Math not just giving students "real-world" contrived questions from a textbook

These types of problems are complex and context rich making math meaningful in finding answers to kids' own questions. This is in contrast to a textbook that drags students along in computation without reasoning.
 I'm here to tell you that the way our textbooks -- particularly mass-adopted textbooks -- teach math reasoning and patient problem solving, it's functionally equivalent to turning on "Two and a Half Men" and calling it a day.
                                                                                                          - Dan Meyer pioneer of 3 Act Math
Meyer makes a case that textbooks represent math as well as sitcoms show all of life's troubles.
IDEA #4                          DEVELOP PATIENT PROBLEM SOLVERS + MATH REASONING
 Implemented from 3 Act Math + Phil Daro    not just highlighting the shortcuts via computation tricks + formulas

Although both learning to master math skills and how to apply skills to context help students' retention immensely, there remain some aspects of understanding left unclear without deeper development.
Concept Development Lessons help students and teachers realize the CCSSM requirement that “Proficient students expect mathematics to make sense.” These lessons are designed to reveal and develop students’ conceptions, and misconceptions, of significant mathematical ideas and how these connect to their other knowledge.

     - Math Assessment Project (MAP) website        Designers of Concept Development Lessons 
IDEA #5             USE CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT TO DEEPEN UNDERSTANDING 
    Implemented from MAP not just implementing math tools, but discussing them for true understanding
These lessons / tasks developed by the Math Assessment Project are great as they encourage and structure discussion that lead students to deeply understand concepts and common fallacies related to the topic. 
We have all seen math discussions in classrooms and it is common for the most advanced students to drive these conversations and for those who struggle not to contribute. I searched for something that would allow ALL students to collaborate and give input and even share their ideas anonymously with the class often.
Think of the paper “exit ticket” of the past, but administered when needed during a lesson with instant digital work samples from every student. Nearpod redefines the “exit ticket” concept completely. Don’t be selfish and keep all of those awesome work samples to yourself. Launch correct and incorrect work to all students’ screens so discussion can immediately ensue. 
                                                                                             -Cathy Yenca experienced Nearpod blogger
IDEA #6              USE NEARPOD APP TO COLLECT AND SHARE ALL STUDENTS WORK
      Implemented with Nearpod        not just putting students in groups to pick the brain of the smart kid
I use Nearpod every class on our iPads to collaborate effectively on 3 Act Math problems and other projects. Using Khan Academy to master procedural skills and fluency, 3 ACT Math Problems to practice application of these skills in context, rounding out conceptual understanding by using the concept development lessons, and collaborating together via the Nearpod application has helped phase out the flaws I noted in my class dramatically and is forging a classroom that is both rigorous and relevant, while fostering student success.  
Find out exactly how I 
or simply view the examples &