Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Baillie/LaMay Co-Taught Algebra
The focus of this month's culture of thinking is questioning. This year in co-taught algebra I, we are focusing on constantly asking our students "why?" or "what makes you say that?". We don't want our students to just memorize steps and procedures, but we want them to understand WHY are they doing it. Consistently asking students "what makes you say that?", gives us a better way of understanding student thinking and learning, as well as their misconceptions, In addition, the students have become accustomed to the questioning, and it has increased their ability to reason mathematically and has greatly improved their communication skills when working in groups with peers. Using questioning that cultivates mathematical reasoning allows students to translate the mathematics into words, make connections to the real world and show much deeper thinking. It also allows us an avenue to help scaffold problems for students when their are having difficulty initiating a task. Overall, we have seen a tremendous improvement in student learning and engagement by focusing on the questions that we ask the students and use to guide classroom conversations.
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Sometimes, there is hesitation about making thinking visible in a "Co-Taught" classroom with struggling learners. I say it can/must be done, and in fact, Ms. Baillie and Ms Lamay accomplish it every day! It might look a bit different in a co-taught Alg 1 compared to an "advanced" math class, but it is possible ...
ReplyDeleteKatie and Miranda - I like that we have a common language between math and LA. LA can be so subjective that I often ask students "why" or "what makes you say that?" I think this empowers students to share their thinking and they feel more comfortable doing this once they realize that different perspectives are accepted by teachers and students and there isn't just 1 right answer. Plus, as you mentioned above, it helps us to help them!
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