Chapin, O’Connor, and Anderson’s chapter in planning lessons spoke a lot of the significance of having well thought out and organized lesson plans. Preparation is truly the key to success. As a teacher, meaningful classroom discussions are vital in creating an active and collaborating learning environment. This requires the teacher to anticipate the needs of her students. Questions and talking points need to be set ahead of time. A good teacher also anticipates the responses or potential confusion and comes ready to handle those situations as they arise. The authors also point out that much of mathematical instruction is built upon prior knowledge. The teacher needs to figure out what each student previously knows about the topic and make meaningful connections that add to their prior knowledge.
Chapin, S. H., O’Connor, C., and Anderson, N. C. (2009). Classroom discussions: Using math talk to help students learn. Sausalito, CA: Math Solutions. Chapter 9 – Planning Lessons
The Stein article places a heavy influence on students engaging in active learning. Through classroom mathematical discussions, students learn through each other as well as learning to teach others their own strategies to solving problems. As I fully understand, children and adults can really benefit by explaining their reasoning and approaches to someone. Orally explaining things help students sort out their thoughts and methods as well as clear up any misconceptions that they may have or others may have. Stein also makes a point to discuss the importance of providing high level tasks for children to work through. These provide opportunities for rich math discussions because there are multiple solutions or methods that can be employed to figure out the problems. Through these multiple methods, each student could discuss his/her individual method to their peers. This allows everyone to get numerous strategies to solving one problem.
Stein, M. K. (2001) Mathematical argumentation: Putting the umph into classroom discussion. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. 7(2), 110‐112.
Atkins article discusses the importance of actively listening to each speaker to fully grasp what each child is trying to say. It stresses the significance of having an open-minded classroom environment where discussion is advocated and children feel comfortable to overtly ask questions without worry of judgment. In these classrooms, everyone takes on a role of a teacher by asking for expansion and clarification if they do not understand what a person is trying say. Teachers need to anticipate possible confusion and really listen to what the students need in order to assist their growth.
Atkins, S. (1999, January). Listening to students: The power of mathematical conversations. Teaching Children Mathematics, 289‐295.
Kazemi’s article on promoting conceptual understanding focuses on how to monopolize classroom discussion and make it beneficial to each student. This is rooted in the notion that children need to explain their rationale for figuring out their solutions. It places an emphasis on the process of figuring out the answers instead of just giving the answer. It not only helps the child figure out what steps they took to get to the answer but it helps guide the listeners through their thought process. The justification for this method is that if a child knows how to solve the problem, then they should be able to apply this method to any problem that is similar to the one they had already solved because they already know the process instead of just getting the answers without a reason.
Kazemi, E. (1998, March). Discourse that promotes conceptual understanding. Teaching Children Mathematics, 410‐414.
Monday, October 4, 2010
October 4th post
Chapin, S. H., O’Connor, C., and Anderson, N. C. (2009). Classroom discussions: Using math talk to help students learn. Sausalito, CA: Math Solutions. Chapter 9 – Planning Lessons
Chapter 9 focused in on how to write a quality discussion based mathematics lesson plan, and the importance of a discussion based lesson. The chapter pointed out that the importance of writing a quality lesson plan is to really figure out the intention and purpose of a lesson by making sure to plan ahead of time, the “key concept’s problem-solving strategies, vocabulary, forms of representations, reasoning, and computational procedures that will be presented in the lesson” (Chapin, O’Connor, Anderson, 2009). A strong discussion based lesson plan, identified by Chapin, O’Connor, and Anderson, contains mathematical goals that are clearly identified, requires the teacher to think of potentially confusing concepts that learners might encounter, brainstorming open-ended questions that will further learners thinking ahead of time, and create concrete plan of how to implement the lesson (Chapin, O’Connor, Anderson, 2009). Bringing together all of these aspects in one place, helps to structure a strong lesson plan. The chapter pointed the purpose of a discussion based lesson is based upon the idea that everything that learners do in math is based on what they already know and thus, if they do not understand a mathematical concept fully, they are going to encounter problems (Chapin, O’Connor, Anderson, 2009). Thus the discussion based lesson helps learners work together to create understandings and correct misconceptions, through talk with one another. The main objective while writing a discussion based math lesson plan is to focus on quality big idea questions that will help steer the direction of one’s mathematical talk and help your learners synthesize, apply, make connections, and deepen their knowledge about a mathematical concept.
Stein, M. K. (2001) Mathematical argumentation: Putting the umph into classroom discussion. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. 7(2), 110‐112.
The main focus of the Stein article was about putting learners in charge of their own mathematical learning. It was about creating a discussion based math classroom in which learners work amongst each other to construct their own understanding of mathematical concepts while understanding and noticing other classmates perspectives and representations. The article emphasized the importance for learners to learn math through working through their own misconceptions. It talked about the importance of learners feeling okay to take risks and to really delve into the deeper meanings of mathematical concepts; of finding the connections through working through high level tasks. It also talked about providing learners with high level tasks that allowed for multiple representations of solutions, which allow discourse to come forth into the classroom. The discourse is the source of critique and evaluation. The high level tasks are presented in such a way that learners may come up with multiple ways to solve the problem. In this way, learners must then take a position and really stand by their thoughts by justifying their answers. Through justifying their answers they have to provide explanations; explanations that may or may not slowly change their perceptions or understanding of a mathematical concept. Stein mainly focused on having learners work together to understand a various learners’ solutions, justifying their way of getting the answer, and working amongst each other as a class to figure out if a representation is correct or not. Through the discourse, understandings and misconceptions are addressed as learners work together to figure out correct representations.
Atkins, S. (1999, January). Listening to students: The power of mathematical conversations. Teaching Children Mathematics, 289‐295.
The main focus of the Atkins article is ]the importance and the power that can come forth through teaching math through a discussion based lessons. The article talked about the need of strong discourse within the discussions, in which students and teachers and students and students talk amongst themselves in such a way that they listen to one another, and then respond, making sure to ask questions when they do not understand something (Atkins, 1999). It is not a discourse similar to I-R-E, in which teachers present learners with questions that the learners respond to and then are evaluated on by the teacher. Instead, it is a discourse that involves all participants to really listen to what one another is saying and to try and comprehend one’s thinking. It requires the teacher to step back and really hear what a learner understands and what a learner is struggling with. It requires questions to be asked by other learners when they do not fully understand something. When this sort of mathematical discourse is present in a classroom, real learning can occur, for learners hold the power of learning in their hands and they are able to really work through their understandings and correct any misconceptions. Teachers, in this type of discourse, really scaffold learners by listening to what a learner understands and helping to provide guiding questions that make other learners, and the learner with the misconception, rethink the mathematical concept. It places learners in the role of teachers, as they help one another, through presenting counter representations and by requiring their peers to describe their thinking. The article can be best summed up by Ball’s (1993) quote, presented in the article, that reads, “teachers should take a “bifocal perspective—perceiving the mathematics through the mind of the learner while perceiving the mind of the learner through the mathematics” (Atkins, 1999).
Kazemi, E. (1998, March). Discourse that promotes conceptual understanding. Teaching Children Mathematics, 410‐414.
The main purpose of the Kazemi article was to identify the specific type of discourse that is required for a strong discussion based lesson, a discourse that really helps learners to construct a conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts. The article talks about how an effective type of discourse is one in which learners do not just list procedures but, instead, requires them to justify how they got their answer. It is in the justification of what one does that helps them to understand the mathematical concepts, or understand the misconceptions, that they have. The justification helps them to realize truly what did to get to an answer. The article really focused on the idea of “press for learning,” a type of discourse which focuses on students efforts, understandings, and learning of mathematical concepts rather than the correct answer, supports learners in learning how to construct their own understanding, instead of looking at the teacher for all their mathematical knowledge, and emphasizes more of the process that learners use in getting an answer over the correct answer (Kazemi, 1998).
Chapter 9 focused in on how to write a quality discussion based mathematics lesson plan, and the importance of a discussion based lesson. The chapter pointed out that the importance of writing a quality lesson plan is to really figure out the intention and purpose of a lesson by making sure to plan ahead of time, the “key concept’s problem-solving strategies, vocabulary, forms of representations, reasoning, and computational procedures that will be presented in the lesson” (Chapin, O’Connor, Anderson, 2009). A strong discussion based lesson plan, identified by Chapin, O’Connor, and Anderson, contains mathematical goals that are clearly identified, requires the teacher to think of potentially confusing concepts that learners might encounter, brainstorming open-ended questions that will further learners thinking ahead of time, and create concrete plan of how to implement the lesson (Chapin, O’Connor, Anderson, 2009). Bringing together all of these aspects in one place, helps to structure a strong lesson plan. The chapter pointed the purpose of a discussion based lesson is based upon the idea that everything that learners do in math is based on what they already know and thus, if they do not understand a mathematical concept fully, they are going to encounter problems (Chapin, O’Connor, Anderson, 2009). Thus the discussion based lesson helps learners work together to create understandings and correct misconceptions, through talk with one another. The main objective while writing a discussion based math lesson plan is to focus on quality big idea questions that will help steer the direction of one’s mathematical talk and help your learners synthesize, apply, make connections, and deepen their knowledge about a mathematical concept.
Stein, M. K. (2001) Mathematical argumentation: Putting the umph into classroom discussion. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. 7(2), 110‐112.
The main focus of the Stein article was about putting learners in charge of their own mathematical learning. It was about creating a discussion based math classroom in which learners work amongst each other to construct their own understanding of mathematical concepts while understanding and noticing other classmates perspectives and representations. The article emphasized the importance for learners to learn math through working through their own misconceptions. It talked about the importance of learners feeling okay to take risks and to really delve into the deeper meanings of mathematical concepts; of finding the connections through working through high level tasks. It also talked about providing learners with high level tasks that allowed for multiple representations of solutions, which allow discourse to come forth into the classroom. The discourse is the source of critique and evaluation. The high level tasks are presented in such a way that learners may come up with multiple ways to solve the problem. In this way, learners must then take a position and really stand by their thoughts by justifying their answers. Through justifying their answers they have to provide explanations; explanations that may or may not slowly change their perceptions or understanding of a mathematical concept. Stein mainly focused on having learners work together to understand a various learners’ solutions, justifying their way of getting the answer, and working amongst each other as a class to figure out if a representation is correct or not. Through the discourse, understandings and misconceptions are addressed as learners work together to figure out correct representations.
Atkins, S. (1999, January). Listening to students: The power of mathematical conversations. Teaching Children Mathematics, 289‐295.
The main focus of the Atkins article is ]the importance and the power that can come forth through teaching math through a discussion based lessons. The article talked about the need of strong discourse within the discussions, in which students and teachers and students and students talk amongst themselves in such a way that they listen to one another, and then respond, making sure to ask questions when they do not understand something (Atkins, 1999). It is not a discourse similar to I-R-E, in which teachers present learners with questions that the learners respond to and then are evaluated on by the teacher. Instead, it is a discourse that involves all participants to really listen to what one another is saying and to try and comprehend one’s thinking. It requires the teacher to step back and really hear what a learner understands and what a learner is struggling with. It requires questions to be asked by other learners when they do not fully understand something. When this sort of mathematical discourse is present in a classroom, real learning can occur, for learners hold the power of learning in their hands and they are able to really work through their understandings and correct any misconceptions. Teachers, in this type of discourse, really scaffold learners by listening to what a learner understands and helping to provide guiding questions that make other learners, and the learner with the misconception, rethink the mathematical concept. It places learners in the role of teachers, as they help one another, through presenting counter representations and by requiring their peers to describe their thinking. The article can be best summed up by Ball’s (1993) quote, presented in the article, that reads, “teachers should take a “bifocal perspective—perceiving the mathematics through the mind of the learner while perceiving the mind of the learner through the mathematics” (Atkins, 1999).
Kazemi, E. (1998, March). Discourse that promotes conceptual understanding. Teaching Children Mathematics, 410‐414.
The main purpose of the Kazemi article was to identify the specific type of discourse that is required for a strong discussion based lesson, a discourse that really helps learners to construct a conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts. The article talks about how an effective type of discourse is one in which learners do not just list procedures but, instead, requires them to justify how they got their answer. It is in the justification of what one does that helps them to understand the mathematical concepts, or understand the misconceptions, that they have. The justification helps them to realize truly what did to get to an answer. The article really focused on the idea of “press for learning,” a type of discourse which focuses on students efforts, understandings, and learning of mathematical concepts rather than the correct answer, supports learners in learning how to construct their own understanding, instead of looking at the teacher for all their mathematical knowledge, and emphasizes more of the process that learners use in getting an answer over the correct answer (Kazemi, 1998).
Monday, September 27, 2010
Week 3 Post - Laura Hilfinger
Cohen Chapter 5 Page 7
“The mix in any single group does not have to represent the proportion of minority students or gender balance in your class. Mechanically insuring that each group has equal numbers of males and females or one or two students of color has the disadvantage of making the basis of your decision clear to the students. They will tend to focus on their fellow members as representatives of their race or gender and are much less likely to respond to them as individual persons.” I thought this method of dividing the class into groups seemed like a very unusual way for a teacher to think. Most of the time when my teacher or I divide up the children into partners or groups it is random (we draw sticks), however, sometimes we use ability level to divide the students. For example, after the DRA tests were complete, we divided the class into reading groups according to their reading level. Even though the students in the highest group are sometimes silly together because they are good friends, we left the groups according to their reading levels because in my teacher’s experience this has been the most successful method for her classrooms. For our math groups, we have the class divided randomly in their groups according to their names. We did not look at race or gender when dividing the groups, however we kept some students separated because of problems within the first few weeks. After a few weeks of math workshops we are going to re-divide the math groups according to skill level.
I agree with Cohen’s statement that it is not a good idea to divide groups based solely on gender or race, however in the first grade setting I do not think his reasoning behind the statement is accurate. In our class, the only time we have talked about race was when one boy stated “my skin is darker than your skin so I am going to use a darker crayon”. The other boy nodded in agreement, and both boys continued to color. I do not feel first graders would see each other as representative of an entire race or gender, however this may easily happen in older grades.
Week 3 post
“Groupwork requires careful planning in advance. An orientation session focuses the students on the major concepts underlying the activities and prepares them for the challenges of working together.” (Cohen, E., 70)
This quote was particularly interesting because it is so relevant in my classroom. This concept, for me, is a given based upon the years of student teaching and teaching education courses however, many teachers often need to be reminded of this when planning group assignments. I think that at times, we underestimate the amount of planning and thought that group assignments require. The size and people in a group need to be well thought out. Whether or not you are going to group students together who are similar in terms of their development of that subject or group together higher students with lower students. Some students work really well together while others do not. This group dynamic is something that requires a great deal of thought it order for the group to work effectively together to complete their task. Another option is to let the children choose their own groups. This choice comes with its own benefits and challenges. On one hand, many children may have an idea of who they work really well with and prefer to work with. On the other hand, you risk having children choose to work with people who have difficult times staying on task or getting the groupwork completed. The expectations of the groups also need to be clearly identified. This is one thing we really try and focus on in my first grade class. Without these clear expectations, chaos and confusion is a big possibility. The materials need to be prepared in advance and easily accessible to the group members. A teacher also needs to consider where these groups will be working within the classroom. Each group needs to have enough space where they are able to work without interfering with any other group. There is a great deal of pre-planning that needs to be done before you introduce groupwork into the class. Not to mention what you want the groups to accomplish throughout the group work. As a teacher, you need to make sure that the groupwork isn’t just a filler for the day. It needs to contain rich and meaningful information that the students will obtain.
This quote was particularly interesting because it is so relevant in my classroom. This concept, for me, is a given based upon the years of student teaching and teaching education courses however, many teachers often need to be reminded of this when planning group assignments. I think that at times, we underestimate the amount of planning and thought that group assignments require. The size and people in a group need to be well thought out. Whether or not you are going to group students together who are similar in terms of their development of that subject or group together higher students with lower students. Some students work really well together while others do not. This group dynamic is something that requires a great deal of thought it order for the group to work effectively together to complete their task. Another option is to let the children choose their own groups. This choice comes with its own benefits and challenges. On one hand, many children may have an idea of who they work really well with and prefer to work with. On the other hand, you risk having children choose to work with people who have difficult times staying on task or getting the groupwork completed. The expectations of the groups also need to be clearly identified. This is one thing we really try and focus on in my first grade class. Without these clear expectations, chaos and confusion is a big possibility. The materials need to be prepared in advance and easily accessible to the group members. A teacher also needs to consider where these groups will be working within the classroom. Each group needs to have enough space where they are able to work without interfering with any other group. There is a great deal of pre-planning that needs to be done before you introduce groupwork into the class. Not to mention what you want the groups to accomplish throughout the group work. As a teacher, you need to make sure that the groupwork isn’t just a filler for the day. It needs to contain rich and meaningful information that the students will obtain.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Week 3 Post
“When students are able to connect ideas and concepts to procedures and representations, learning is especially robust. Thus, one of the things we want to talk about in mathematics class is how concepts and relationships among concepts connect to what students already know” (Cohen, 2009).
As I read through the chapters, this specific quote really stuck out to me. In elementary school, I really struggled with mathematics. It never made sense to me, and I never saw the way in which math concepts connect. To me, math was a set of different procedures and algorithms. Nothing actually made sense to me. I know that math was this way for me because nobody really took the time to see if I understood what was going on, let alone, pointed out for me the connective nature of mathematical concepts. For example, I never realized how fractions, percentages, or ratios were all interrelated. Thus, this quote really spoke to me, because, as a future educator, I want to make sure that I really show the connections between different mathematical concepts to my learners. I want to teach mathematics by springing off of learners’ prior knowledge. All learners are going to have prior knowledge on a concept and I believe that my lessons should be differentiated for the different levels of prior knowledge my learners have on a given mathematical concept. In order to work with all my learners’ different levels of prior knowledge, and show connections between concepts, I must provide my learners with higher level tasks that allow for multiple types of representations. Thus, the way my learners work out the problems and describe their reasoning for their answers, the more I will start to understand their mathematical understanding of different concepts and how various concepts connect to other concepts. For those learners who don’t understand as well, I will be able to see what prior knowledge they do hold by how they went about solving the problem or how they justify their reasoning compared to learners who understand the concept. Furthermore, having a higher level task will allow me to differentiate learning for my different learners because I will be able to request those learners who understand the concept to provide another representation. I hope if I am able to really build off of learners prior knowledge and to connect mathematical concepts, my learners will start to understand mathematics as a world of interrelated concepts and start to make sense of math more than I did.
As I read through the chapters, this specific quote really stuck out to me. In elementary school, I really struggled with mathematics. It never made sense to me, and I never saw the way in which math concepts connect. To me, math was a set of different procedures and algorithms. Nothing actually made sense to me. I know that math was this way for me because nobody really took the time to see if I understood what was going on, let alone, pointed out for me the connective nature of mathematical concepts. For example, I never realized how fractions, percentages, or ratios were all interrelated. Thus, this quote really spoke to me, because, as a future educator, I want to make sure that I really show the connections between different mathematical concepts to my learners. I want to teach mathematics by springing off of learners’ prior knowledge. All learners are going to have prior knowledge on a concept and I believe that my lessons should be differentiated for the different levels of prior knowledge my learners have on a given mathematical concept. In order to work with all my learners’ different levels of prior knowledge, and show connections between concepts, I must provide my learners with higher level tasks that allow for multiple types of representations. Thus, the way my learners work out the problems and describe their reasoning for their answers, the more I will start to understand their mathematical understanding of different concepts and how various concepts connect to other concepts. For those learners who don’t understand as well, I will be able to see what prior knowledge they do hold by how they went about solving the problem or how they justify their reasoning compared to learners who understand the concept. Furthermore, having a higher level task will allow me to differentiate learning for my different learners because I will be able to request those learners who understand the concept to provide another representation. I hope if I am able to really build off of learners prior knowledge and to connect mathematical concepts, my learners will start to understand mathematics as a world of interrelated concepts and start to make sense of math more than I did.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Week 2 Post - Laura Hilfinger
In the first grade case study about teaching the class what a triangle is, I think that the student’s small group conversations and the whole class conversation were both helpful in the teacher’s understanding of student thinking. The small group discussions showed the teacher which students were having problems with the objective. I thought it was a really good idea for the teacher to ask each student in the group that was having the most problem for their individual opinions. I thought the fact that she was able to single out each student led her to understand even more that they all were having the same problem. The last student she talked to (Sim) responded with “I don’t think so. I don’t know” and then stated that maybe the turned equilateral triangle was really a triangle but he/she still did not know. She was able to hear that the students were not using any type of formal definition to categorize a triangle, and that they were just remembering triangles that had been taught or shown to them as a “triangle”. I think small group discussions are a great method because she could clearly see the group that needed the most individualized help, and she might be able to assume that the groups who categorized the triangles correctly had explained to the group members why each shape was a triangle.
This type of teaching led Mrs. S to her next activity which was having the students create many individual triangles so that they could discuss all of the types of triangles as a class, and not just equilateral triangles. Remembering what she had learned in small group discussions, she was able to show students differences between small triangles and big triangles, and have the students realize that all of the triangles they had created and put on the board were made up of three sides.Blog post 1 (9-21)
In response to the question “Which of the talk moves seem the most natural for you to use or see yourself using the most? Why?”
Reading Chapin and Anderson’s book Classroom Discussions: Using Math Talk to Help Students Learn taught me a lot of the talk strategies or “moves” that I use on a daily basis. Until this reading, I thought this was just something informal or unplanned that teachers do. After reading this, I understand the intention and significance of the talking moves within classroom discussion.
In my first grade classroom, student involvement is a must in order to maintain the attention of the children. One strategy that my mentor teacher and I use to keep their attention is to frequently ask the children questions. This forces the students to pay attention because they never know what questions will be asked and when. It also allows the children to take part in active learning. Many children in first grade are not familiar with the correct terminology when it comes to math discussions. After we ask a question and listen carefully for their response, we often find that we need to re-ask the question or ask for clarification. Revoicing is a technique that is repeatedly utilized to clarify or reiterate what the child had said. This shows the student that we are really listening to what they are saying. It also demonstrates to the child that what they are saying is meaningful and that they are a valued member of our classroom community. Lastly, it clarifies thing for the other students. They may not have completely understood the question or answer that the student gave but will now comprehend the topic of conversation. This most likely will lead to an extension or expansion of information by that same student (talk move 4) or another child to chime in with their thoughts or opinions. I believe that revoicing is very significant to a successful classroom discussion. It is also extremely easy for a teacher to do which makes it possible to take place without difficulty.
Reading Chapin and Anderson’s book Classroom Discussions: Using Math Talk to Help Students Learn taught me a lot of the talk strategies or “moves” that I use on a daily basis. Until this reading, I thought this was just something informal or unplanned that teachers do. After reading this, I understand the intention and significance of the talking moves within classroom discussion.
In my first grade classroom, student involvement is a must in order to maintain the attention of the children. One strategy that my mentor teacher and I use to keep their attention is to frequently ask the children questions. This forces the students to pay attention because they never know what questions will be asked and when. It also allows the children to take part in active learning. Many children in first grade are not familiar with the correct terminology when it comes to math discussions. After we ask a question and listen carefully for their response, we often find that we need to re-ask the question or ask for clarification. Revoicing is a technique that is repeatedly utilized to clarify or reiterate what the child had said. This shows the student that we are really listening to what they are saying. It also demonstrates to the child that what they are saying is meaningful and that they are a valued member of our classroom community. Lastly, it clarifies thing for the other students. They may not have completely understood the question or answer that the student gave but will now comprehend the topic of conversation. This most likely will lead to an extension or expansion of information by that same student (talk move 4) or another child to chime in with their thoughts or opinions. I believe that revoicing is very significant to a successful classroom discussion. It is also extremely easy for a teacher to do which makes it possible to take place without difficulty.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Chapin and Anderson pg. 1-22
“Which of the talk moves seem the most natural for you to use or see yourself using the most? Why?”
After reading about the five different types of productive talk moves to use to help facilitate a mathematics based discussion, from Classroom Discussions: Using math talk to help students learn, by Chapin and Anderson, I started to realize how natural I already do a lot of the different talk moves. At first, when I read that there were specific ways to help initiate discussion, I was a little nervous that they would be these types of talk that would be foreign to me. Luckily, however, I saw revoicing, and I was ecstatic because I already revoice everything my learners tell me. Being a child development major, I was taught to always revoice, or paraphrase, what a child says. Not only does it help a learner to “clarify his or her own reasoning, and help other students follow,” but it helps students to extend on their thinking (Chapin, O’Connor, Anderson, 2009). In child development, we learned that so often paraphrasing will show a child that you are listening and finding value in what they are saying. When you revoice what they say, they often further extend on what they were talking about because you are paying attention and you are helping them to refocus their thinking. For example, if a child says, ‘I saw a friend this weekend,” and you respond, “So you got to play with one of your friends,” the child may then respond with, “Yea, we got to go swimming in his backyard.” Thus, when I saw revoicing as one of the steps to helping facilitate a math discussion, I was excited because I feel I could possibly already be effective in one of the types of talk. I think that it is crucial to have revoicing in a mathematics discussion, especially for the individual learner. The repeating, reasoning, and adding on to thoughts are great for the actual facilitation of a discussion among peers, but the revoicing is really important for the individual learner. Revoicing shows that you care and it provides learners time to build upon their thinking. Thus, I am really excited to start implementing revoicing in my math lessons.
After reading about the five different types of productive talk moves to use to help facilitate a mathematics based discussion, from Classroom Discussions: Using math talk to help students learn, by Chapin and Anderson, I started to realize how natural I already do a lot of the different talk moves. At first, when I read that there were specific ways to help initiate discussion, I was a little nervous that they would be these types of talk that would be foreign to me. Luckily, however, I saw revoicing, and I was ecstatic because I already revoice everything my learners tell me. Being a child development major, I was taught to always revoice, or paraphrase, what a child says. Not only does it help a learner to “clarify his or her own reasoning, and help other students follow,” but it helps students to extend on their thinking (Chapin, O’Connor, Anderson, 2009). In child development, we learned that so often paraphrasing will show a child that you are listening and finding value in what they are saying. When you revoice what they say, they often further extend on what they were talking about because you are paying attention and you are helping them to refocus their thinking. For example, if a child says, ‘I saw a friend this weekend,” and you respond, “So you got to play with one of your friends,” the child may then respond with, “Yea, we got to go swimming in his backyard.” Thus, when I saw revoicing as one of the steps to helping facilitate a math discussion, I was excited because I feel I could possibly already be effective in one of the types of talk. I think that it is crucial to have revoicing in a mathematics discussion, especially for the individual learner. The repeating, reasoning, and adding on to thoughts are great for the actual facilitation of a discussion among peers, but the revoicing is really important for the individual learner. Revoicing shows that you care and it provides learners time to build upon their thinking. Thus, I am really excited to start implementing revoicing in my math lessons.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)