My school has a new math program for next school year (yippee, hooray) that seems to have a lot of good opportunities for math talk in each lesson. Most of the lessons that I have been able to preview have a section at the end entitled “Student Debrief” which encourages partner talk before sharing with the whole group. Each lesson provides suggested questions for the teacher to ask that vary between low level and high level questions. This is an opportunity to have students explain their reasoning, use “revoicing” or have students restate what another student said.
I will need to evaluate the questions that are provided in the new math curriculum and choose or create some that are conducive to classroom discussion, all while remembering that we are 5 and 6, and that some of us have not been in a structured learning environment before. In order to do this, we need to establish and practice the expected behavior for productive classroom discourse.
The self-evaluation checklist (p. 169-70) looks like a valuable resource that I will turn to frequently, particularly the reminder to try one new or challenging thing at a time.
I agree that the checklist seems particularly useful. It is always important for teachers to be reflective in order to be most effective for our students. I may copy the checklist and keep it with my teacher math materials in order to refer to from time to time.
I found this book to be extremely useful especially in the implementing of classroom discussions. I found a lot of great discussion points and ways to bring students and teacher together when talking on difficult math subjects, methods and processes. I also particular enjoyed the implementing talk in the classroom checklist. As a teacher we sometimes get overwhelmed with the little things where we don't get so involved in participants. The more the students participate the more they are involved and learn the process. I was also excited to read the importance on the expected behaviors in the classroom. Also this should be something that all students by elementary school should know, not all teachers implement these necessary rules in the classroom. If all students know the rules and are on the same playing field, they should be able to be as successful as their peers.
This book provided a number of great examples of how to incorporate discussion into a classroom. Due to the nature of my students (emotional and behavioral disorders) it is very hard to have a productive conversation, but there are a handful of students that really enjoy learning and ask great questions. I have attempted to set the stage for educational discussions and have been able to do so at a very low level. In order to increase the effectiveness of my classroom discussions, I will try to implement partner talk more often. I think this would really help my students although paring and grouping them may be tricky due their challenges. Small group discussions and whole-group discussions have been successful, but I think using the partner talk would enhance the student’s ability to take on other’s perspectives and increase full participation. I know this will take time and lots of coaching, but believe it will have great learning results for my students. My students are already pretty good at agreeing and disagreeing with each other, but I would like to help them take this to the next level and incorporate the reasoning and adding on strategies. They are able to apply reasoning occasionally, but I think they would benefit from the adding on strategy more because they don’t necessarily disagree in the most productive manner. In order to make these strategies successful in my classroom, I will need to continue to remind them of the goals of discussion as well as maintain a respectful and safe environment for sharing.
Were I to begin to implement some of these ideas in my classroom, I was very drawn to the parts of the book that discussed concrete examples and suggestions for the preK-2 grades. While I was reading, it was often difficult to picture my students having the skills to participate in these kinds of discussions, so any time that the examples were at these levels, I felt like I could really begin to see the potential. I really enjoyed the kid-friendly language on p. 153 about how to present the information to students at this level in order to explain to them what we are trying to do and what the rules are—this is certainly something I would include.
I think I would start slow, using the techniques of revoicing and having students repeat each others' ideas before fully delving into a lesson revolving around talk. That way, they would be more likely to be familiar with pieces of the lesson format. I liked the problem in chapter 3 where the teacher asked students to find and discuss different ways to make 37 with the longs and cubes. Our math curriculum (Everyday Math) makes a point of asking students to demonstrate numbers in a variety of ways, but I think I skim over it too often, because it is a task that almost all of my students do well. This might be a nice way to introduce the talk and see where the conversation takes us in terms of number sense and place value with a skill that they are familiar with.
I am definitely more drawn to the partner talk and/or small group talk overall. While I think whole class talk can have benefits, I think for students in first grade, the opportunity and the responsibility to more actively participate more often would work best.
Thanks for your thoughtful responses. Starting slowly is the best way. Once you see success, it is motivating to try another technique. I like how you can picture your students engaged in math talk. Good luck!
Reading through this book provided me with opportunity to reflect upon my own approach at teaching math concepts and procedures and helped me to realize that my math classes are a bit too quiet. During IEP meetings I am constantly reinforcing the idea that our program is language-based and utilizes discussion more often than worksheets. This idea is true of all subjects except my math class. Over the years I have tried to use an “I, we , you(I demonstrate the concept, we practice it together and then you preform the task on your own)” structure to my lessons versus, “present, explain, expect”. I have realized that my math classes are lacking the element of discussion for some of the topics and concepts I covered this year. I think some topics, concepts and procedures are easier to hold discussion about than others, which may account for some of the discrepancy.
Some of the ideas I found interesting and intended to incorporate in my class next year include having students repeat or restate another student’s reasoning or explanation, implement deductive reasoning strategies and finding ways to increase student self-monitoring. In addition, I though that the emphasis placed on having students state whether they agree or disagree with another students reasoning and backing up their own stance with evidence or logical reasoning is an excellent way to gain insight about each students level of understanding. Many of these ideas have a secondary gain of establishing and reinforcing essential social skills needed to work in a collaborative work environment.
Thank you for your thoughtful responses. I admire how you are trying to see the benefits of engaging students in math conversations in what is a non-typical and I'm sure challenging environment. I hope it works well for you.
One idea that I am drawn to from my reading as well as from the video in class today is having students repeat each other’s thinking. I have done it from time to time, but after reading more about the benefit of having students restate another solution or predicting the next step in solving a problem, I am excited to try it more fully with my students. The repetition can help slightly confused students clarify their thinking and for students who were unable to solve the problem to hear a variety of solutions. I also would like to use partner talk more often. It allows all students to share in a lower risk way and allows me to listen in to students’ conversations to monitor their comprehension. Anticipating students’ confusion also seems like a beneficial process. With a prescribed curriculum it can sometimes be easy to just teach the lesson as written and not putting a great deal of thought into it. However, knowing the students and the content, I can anticipate confusion in order to better address my students’ needs.
I'm glad you have found some ideas to try out in your classroom. It will be nice to have a year of Think Math under your belt. You'll have a better sense of where to fit in certain discussions. Thanks for sharing – and good luck!
I found this book very interesting and had a lot of ideas on how to promote student participation. Unfortunately, in my classroom none of these techniques would work. I would with low function behavioral students with autism. So, my teaching is very individualized to the student and there is only one verbal student in my class right now. However, thinking about a “regular” education classroom, there were several ideas that I could see being effective and promote classroom discussions. I particularly liked how in the book and even in the video that we watched today the teachers had the students restate the explanation another student gave in their own words. This was the teacher’s way of seeing if the students understood the material or not. Also, having the students expand on each other’s answers was a great way to facilitate a classroom discussion.
Danielle, I agree. In my past I have worked with students where this would be extremely difficult since they were either non verbal or low functioning. But I was thinking maybe there is a way of using that restate technique with something like pecs or a boardmaker board? That would not only get them to stay on track and task but maybe that would then promote interaction with each other. Just a thought.
Thanks for being willing to engage in the conversation in class and in this blog. I appreciate your willingness to entertain new ideas, even if they may not pertain to your situation right now. I like LIndsay's idea-who knows what ideas may spark in the future. Good luck!
That's a good idea never thought of it that way. My student's are too low functioning for that but I know a classroom that is my building that I may try it with.
My school has a new math program for next school year (yippee, hooray) that seems to have a lot of good opportunities for math talk in each lesson. Most of the lessons that I have been able to preview have a section at the end entitled “Student Debrief” which encourages partner talk before sharing with the whole group. Each lesson provides suggested questions for the teacher to ask that vary between low level and high level questions. This is an opportunity to have students explain their reasoning, use “revoicing” or have students restate what another student said.
ReplyDeleteI will need to evaluate the questions that are provided in the new math curriculum and choose or create some that are conducive to classroom discussion, all while remembering that we are 5 and 6, and that some of us have not been in a structured learning environment before. In order to do this, we need to establish and practice the expected behavior for productive classroom discourse.
The self-evaluation checklist (p. 169-70) looks like a valuable resource that I will turn to frequently, particularly the reminder to try one new or challenging thing at a time.
I agree that the checklist seems particularly useful. It is always important for teachers to be reflective in order to be most effective for our students. I may copy the checklist and keep it with my teacher math materials in order to refer to from time to time.
DeleteThanks for all your ideas. What a great foundation you are creating for your students.
DeleteI found this book to be extremely useful especially in the implementing of classroom discussions. I found a lot of great discussion points and ways to bring students and teacher together when talking on difficult math subjects, methods and processes. I also particular enjoyed the implementing talk in the classroom checklist. As a teacher we sometimes get overwhelmed with the little things where we don't get so involved in participants. The more the students participate the more they are involved and learn the process.
ReplyDeleteI was also excited to read the importance on the expected behaviors in the classroom. Also this should be something that all students by elementary school should know, not all teachers implement these necessary rules in the classroom. If all students know the rules and are on the same playing field, they should be able to be as successful as their peers.
I agree! There is nothing more rewarding than seeing students engaged in productive conversations in math :)
DeleteThis book provided a number of great examples of how to incorporate discussion into a classroom. Due to the nature of my students (emotional and behavioral disorders) it is very hard to have a productive conversation, but there are a handful of students that really enjoy learning and ask great questions. I have attempted to set the stage for educational discussions and have been able to do so at a very low level. In order to increase the effectiveness of my classroom discussions, I will try to implement partner talk more often. I think this would really help my students although paring and grouping them may be tricky due their challenges. Small group discussions and whole-group discussions have been successful, but I think using the partner talk would enhance the student’s ability to take on other’s perspectives and increase full participation. I know this will take time and lots of coaching, but believe it will have great learning results for my students. My students are already pretty good at agreeing and disagreeing with each other, but I would like to help them take this to the next level and incorporate the reasoning and adding on strategies. They are able to apply reasoning occasionally, but I think they would benefit from the adding on strategy more because they don’t necessarily disagree in the most productive manner. In order to make these strategies successful in my classroom, I will need to continue to remind them of the goals of discussion as well as maintain a respectful and safe environment for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThanks for your thoughtful responses. I admire you determination to take on this challenge in your teaching situation. Good luck!!
DeleteWere I to begin to implement some of these ideas in my classroom, I was very drawn to the parts of the book that discussed concrete examples and suggestions for the preK-2 grades. While I was reading, it was often difficult to picture my students having the skills to participate in these kinds of discussions, so any time that the examples were at these levels, I felt like I could really begin to see the potential. I really enjoyed the kid-friendly language on p. 153 about how to present the information to students at this level in order to explain to them what we are trying to do and what the rules are—this is certainly something I would include.
ReplyDeleteI think I would start slow, using the techniques of revoicing and having students repeat each others' ideas before fully delving into a lesson revolving around talk. That way, they would be more likely to be familiar with pieces of the lesson format. I liked the problem in chapter 3 where the teacher asked students to find and discuss different ways to make 37 with the longs and cubes. Our math curriculum (Everyday Math) makes a point of asking students to demonstrate numbers in a variety of ways, but I think I skim over it too often, because it is a task that almost all of my students do well. This might be a nice way to introduce the talk and see where the conversation takes us in terms of number sense and place value with a skill that they are familiar with.
I am definitely more drawn to the partner talk and/or small group talk overall. While I think whole class talk can have benefits, I think for students in first grade, the opportunity and the responsibility to more actively participate more often would work best.
Thanks for your thoughtful responses. Starting slowly is the best way. Once you see success, it is motivating to try another technique. I like how you can picture your students engaged in math talk. Good luck!
DeleteReading through this book provided me with opportunity to reflect upon my own approach at teaching math concepts and procedures and helped me to realize that my math classes are a bit too quiet. During IEP meetings I am constantly reinforcing the idea that our program is language-based and utilizes discussion more often than worksheets. This idea is true of all subjects except my math class. Over the years I have tried to use an “I, we , you(I demonstrate the concept, we practice it together and then you preform the task on your own)” structure to my lessons versus, “present, explain, expect”. I have realized that my math classes are lacking the element of discussion for some of the topics and concepts I covered this year. I think some topics, concepts and procedures are easier to hold discussion about than others, which may account for some of the discrepancy.
ReplyDeleteSome of the ideas I found interesting and intended to incorporate in my class next year include having students repeat or restate another student’s reasoning or explanation, implement deductive reasoning strategies and finding ways to increase student self-monitoring. In addition, I though that the emphasis placed on having students state whether they agree or disagree with another students reasoning and backing up their own stance with evidence or logical reasoning is an excellent way to gain insight about each students level of understanding. Many of these ideas have a secondary gain of establishing and reinforcing essential social skills needed to work in a collaborative work environment.
Thank you for your thoughtful responses. I admire how you are trying to see the benefits of engaging students in math conversations in what is a non-typical and I'm sure challenging environment. I hope it works well for you.
DeleteOne idea that I am drawn to from my reading as well as from the video in class today is having students repeat each other’s thinking. I have done it from time to time, but after reading more about the benefit of having students restate another solution or predicting the next step in solving a problem, I am excited to try it more fully with my students. The repetition can help slightly confused students clarify their thinking and for students who were unable to solve the problem to hear a variety of solutions. I also would like to use partner talk more often. It allows all students to share in a lower risk way and allows me to listen in to students’ conversations to monitor their comprehension. Anticipating students’ confusion also seems like a beneficial process. With a prescribed curriculum it can sometimes be easy to just teach the lesson as written and not putting a great deal of thought into it. However, knowing the students and the content, I can anticipate confusion in order to better address my students’ needs.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have found some ideas to try out in your classroom. It will be nice to have a year of Think Math under your belt. You'll have a better sense of where to fit in certain discussions. Thanks for sharing – and good luck!
DeleteI found this book very interesting and had a lot of ideas on how to promote student participation. Unfortunately, in my classroom none of these techniques would work. I would with low function behavioral students with autism. So, my teaching is very individualized to the student and there is only one verbal student in my class right now. However, thinking about a “regular” education classroom, there were several ideas that I could see being effective and promote classroom discussions. I particularly liked how in the book and even in the video that we watched today the teachers had the students restate the explanation another student gave in their own words. This was the teacher’s way of seeing if the students understood the material or not. Also, having the students expand on each other’s answers was a great way to facilitate a classroom discussion.
ReplyDeleteDanielle, I agree. In my past I have worked with students where this would be extremely difficult since they were either non verbal or low functioning. But I was thinking maybe there is a way of using that restate technique with something like pecs or a boardmaker board? That would not only get them to stay on track and task but maybe that would then promote interaction with each other. Just a thought.
DeleteThanks for being willing to engage in the conversation in class and in this blog. I appreciate your willingness to entertain new ideas, even if they may not pertain to your situation right now. I like LIndsay's idea-who knows what ideas may spark in the future. Good luck!
DeleteThat's a good idea never thought of it that way. My student's are too low functioning for that but I know a classroom that is my building that I may try it with.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea :)