Reflect after reading the Introduction and Chapter 1:
Why do the types of tasks matter in math classrooms? Why is the delivery important?
Consider the following questions:
- What is resonating with you from the reading?
- What caused you to pause and think during this section?
Respond and Interact
After reading these chapters, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
I was nodding as he was describing the "studenting" behaviors. I also felt convicted when I read, "Thinking is a necessary precursor to learning, and if students are not thinking, then they are not learning." It reminded me of so many math lessons where I just stood up there and asked kids to do what I was doing. They weren't thinking at all - they were just mimicking me. 😳 I hope they had a better teacher somewhere down the road. lol.
ReplyDeleteLooks like it's just me and you Ranae!! (hahaha) I bet you were an amazing math teacher! The fact that you are always looking for a new and better way to teach is how I know you did right by your students. I am enjoying co-teaching with Stephanie and finding that my math brain is turning back on!
Delete🧡 I am planning to swing by soon to watch this co-teaching magic. Can't wait!
DeleteI felt the same. I couldn't place what those "studenting" behaviors were until he started listing them and I thought, "oh yeah, I know they types 😅". I was one of them! The faking was a big one for me and I remember how stressed out I was that 1)not only was I stressed about not understanding the content, but 2)I was afraid I would be found out. I wasn't encouraged to think, nor did I feel I could think "right". I often wonder how many of my students are experiencing the same stressors and how to balance out encouraging them while also letting them struggle. It is so easy to get discouraged when they struggle or get down on themselves. I'm still working on how to support them without taking that opportunity away from them to think.
DeleteWhat caused me to pause and think during this section was the crazy card trick I watched him do on Youtube. It immediately made me start trying to figure out, mathematically, how that was possible. I realized at that moment how powerful that initial thinking was to inspire me to figure it out. I currently have another tab open with his website and looking for the card tricks. (hahaha) I also thought the quote "Mimicking is an addiction that is easily acquired at lower grades and difficult to give up at higher grades." His point that mimicking leads to short term success without long term learning resonates with me also. How many times have I had to sit with a math problem and try to remember the steps needed to solve, not really thinking about the math? Jane could've been my math teacher! My core memory of math class was trying to remember the steps of solving, and never why we take those steps to solve.
ReplyDeleteI am having the concept of "mimicking" vs. thinking really resonate. This is especially true for when state testing approaches and there is a sudden panic to get as many things taught as possible and no time to give them exposure to what they could need for the state test. I got really excited by the thought of changing norms and really connected with the parts where he talked about changing as many norms as possible because of my tendency to want to change everything in an effort to do what is supposed to be better for kids. I know we all feel that way. I am also recognizing that 2 distinct feelings are going on within me as I read this first part, and they are 1.)I am motivated to change for the better and 2.) I am overwhelmed by the thought that this is an issue at a systemic level and I don't have the time or bandwidth to make all the very best changes right now like I would want to. For this reason, it is noticeable that I have my own biases to reject that which is causing me to stress out. I really appreciate that so far, this book has been a source of challenging those biases with concrete results and careful research. I appreciate the outlining of how the research started, what they were wrong about in how they approached it and how they corrected their approach in changing only one variable at a time.
ReplyDeleteI hope this all makes sense. I am geeking out lol.
I can relate Ashlie! the first time I read this book...I felt like I had SO much to chew on (almost too much!). But I like how each chapter ends with some ideas of micro moves and macro moves. Makes it feel a little more freeing like "I don't have to do everything...just one or two small things will make my classroom better."
DeleteYour point number 2 is so relatable to me! It is also part of why I haven't made the time to get very far into this book yet (but I am determined to get through it in these next two weeks) because I won't have the excuse that I don't know better and will have the knowledge to make shifts in my practice... but it's the bandwidth part that I worry about too!
DeleteA few sentences that sum up my main takeaways from this section are on page 20, "Problem solving is a messy, non-linear, and idiosyncratic process. Students will get stuck. They will think. And they will get unstuck. And when they do, they will learn..." This resonates with me because even though I know the end result of that "getting stuck" will be that they learn, my first inclination is to want to support and give guidance through the problem solving process to make it more efficient and less messy for my first graders. Allowing them to get "unstuck" on their own has been a conscious shift I am working on making this year as we navigate our first year using this curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI also am really interested in trying out some primary level highly engaging thinking tasks. I appreciate the examples by grade band that were given!
The section about instructional norms caused me to pause and think. I've never thought about the layout of a classroom as building instructional norms for students which could impact the thoughts a student has about how a class is going to go. It makes complete sense students would assume the class they walk into is going to be like all the rest based on the set up, this could be most impactful for striving students. It makes me wonder what I can do within my own classroom to breakdown the norms students have developed based on classroom space. I also personally struggle with what will this look like and how will it work because of the norms I have developed over the years as an educator. I need to embrace the discomfort. It seems we come in with our own norms of what a classroom should look like, and these norms impact students' norms and viewpoints on how a class is going to go.
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