Model the Learning

Before we begin, take a moment and read the number sentence below out loud . Don't think about it too much, just read it as you normally would to a class or colleague. On Language This past year, I have been doing more work in looking at how aspects of literacy creep into (and affect) how we teach and learn math. One theme that reoccured in different contexts was language, and paying close attention to what we say when we are teaching math. Over time, many of us adopt "shortcuts" when it comes to talking about the symbolic representation of mathematics. We may know what we mean to say, but for students who struggle, the meanings of these shortcuts are not always apparent, and might even cause confusion. The following are three very small, deliberate changes in language I am trying to work into my practice moving forward. Though each is a simple change, I'm having a hard time undoing decades of bad habits! "Equals" Based on some of our work on...

Our final question in The Math Pod (#themathpod) twitter chat this past week ( see the archive here ), was built on Cathy Fosnot's challenge for us in the first podcast: What is the difference between questions meant to guide students to a specific answer vs. questioning to support development as a mathematician? So in the chat we asked: What kind of questions can we ask to support development as a mathematician? What would you actually say to your students? Here are some of the answers from the participants in the chat: What kind of questions can we ask to support development as a mathematician? What would you say to your students? Tell me about what you're doing. What do you wonder? Tell me more? How did you know that? What if i change this? Really??? (especially when they're right!) Can you explain what she just said? What made you think of that? How did you figure that out? What does this remind you of? Have you seen what (anoth...