If your students are like mine, they
love to talk!
They love to talk about anything and everything...what happened on the bus, their favorite podcasts or TV shows, what their younger brother or sisters are up to, and even what book they are reading.
But when it comes to engaging in meaningful math discourse, it can sometimes be crickets!
I learned quickly that even though my students loved to talk, they did not always love to talk about their mathematical thinking. The fear of being wrong often set in and kept my students as quiet as mice during math. This was a mindset that I wanted to change and change quickly, right from the first day of school.
The National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics (NCTM) defines mathematical discourse, as "ways of representing, thinking, talking, agreeing, and
disagreeing." When students
are engaged in meaningful math discourse every day, it provides you with many opportunities
to listen into their conversations with peers and get a better understanding of
what concepts students fully grasp and which ones remain a struggle for them. It
also provides you the opportunity to give on the spot support, take anecdotal
notes, and informally assess students.
By providing students with the time and appropriate tasks that are specifically designed to spark these types of math discussions, students grow as mathematicians at a quick rate. They strengthen their own mathematical skills, help their peers' level of understanding, and learn from others' knowledge, too.
By providing students with the time and appropriate tasks that are specifically designed to spark these types of math discussions, students grow as mathematicians at a quick rate. They strengthen their own mathematical skills, help their peers' level of understanding, and learn from others' knowledge, too.
Mathematical discourse in the classroom is a win for everyone involved!
With all of those benefits taking place in one math
lessons, engaging students in mathematical discourse is a MUST DO in every upper
elementary classroom. Follow these easy to implement tips to get your students
discussing math in meaningful ways this school year.
Plan Explicit Instruction
As with any expectation you have, having students engage in mathematical discourse is something that
needs to explicitly be taught.
Taking time at the beginning of the year to explicitly teach the expectations you have for math discourse will allow students time to practice how to talk about math problems and strategies with partners in meaningful ways.
I always create class anchor charts of how to engage in math discussions with my students during the first few days of school. I use prepared math discussion stems and discussions questions that I expect students to use when they work with their partner, as a guide to get our discussion going. I always am sure to include students' ideas on the charts, too. Just like when students stop to turn and talk about their reading ideas during reading workshop, students are expected to make eye contact with their math partner, refer to the problem at hand, stay on task, and use the discussion prompts and questions given to them to guide their discussion.
As the year progresses, students will not need the prompts and questions as they have fully embraced these prompts as their own, but they should keep a copy in their math journals as a reference.
Another expectation that I explicitly teach is for students to use specific math vocabulary in their discussions. This means that they can refer to unit specific math terms on our word wall, from our journals, or from our math alphabet. By being specific, students' conversations will truly serve as a tool to increase their understanding.
As with any new skill and classroom procedure, be sure to model, model, model your expectations.
Grab FREE math stems and questions to engage
students in mathematical discourse at the bottom of this post.
Create Safe Partner Zones
When it comes to expecting students to
engage in meaningful discourse it is important to create a classroom climate
that welcomes mistakes!
Students must absolutely feel safe to share their mathematical thinking, especially if they know they do not understand a concept. One way that I create a safe zone for students is by giving them two different math partners. (These math partnerships change every marking period.) Students have a red and green partner during math. Red partners are partners that are at the same math level and green partners are partnerships of one higher math student and one lower math student.
Students develop strong and trusting relationships with both types of partners and are able to learn from both, too. Having both types of partnerships gives all students the chance to shine, help others, get support, and work as a team to complete any task. Most times, red partners are used during instructional work times and green partners are used during math mini-lesson instruction and discussion.
By having designated go to math partners, students will feel safe in your classroom environment and begin to take risks knowing that someone will always have their back. Their interest in solving math problems increases, too! Read more ways to strengthen your classroom community HERE.
Use Manipulatives
When students are given simple
manipulatives to encourage participation and discourse, excitement and involvement
increases tremendously. Two simple manipulatives to use to increase
participation in your classroom discussions are paddle dry erase white boards* and agree and disagree cards.
Students love to use the paddle dry erase boards to show their work and compare their thinking. Kids love holding these by the handle and These are so easy to stack in the classroom and take up very little space. Agree and disagree cards are simple cards that you can make to provide students the opportunity to agree or disagree with their partner or classmate's thinking.
Students love using these cards and the best part is that when students agree or disagree, they have to provide a rationale to support their opinion.
Try these FREE 3rd grade math error analysis tasks to get students agreeing, or disagreeing with mathematical work.
Teacher Tip: When copying your agree and disagree cards, color-code your cards so you can see quickly who agrees or disagrees with a given answer.
Provide Specific Math Tasks and Prompts
While it is possible to ask students to
discuss any question in math, including how to solve an equation, the most
meaningful discourse takes place when students are knee deep in problem solving and error analysis tasks. Problem solving
activities require critical thinking and understanding, planning steps to
solve, and then completing multiple steps to figure out the solution.
Error analysis math tasks are also a great way for students to work with math partners to engage
in meaningful math discourse. These are especially perfect for math discussions
as students are expected to agree or disagree with how a problem was solved and
explain their rationale.
Talking about math truly helps students
understand math concepts and self-reflect on themselves as mathematical
learners. Math discourse aligns with the Mathematical Practices set forth from
the Common Core State Standards. Remember, just like any other lesson or activity,
engaging students in meaningful math discourse must be planned.
You can use any problem solving activity that you already have to try this out, but instead of having students head off to work independently, pair them up, send them off with math discussion stems and discussion questions, throw in some manipulatives, and get ready to listen in and support your learners as they begin to love solving and discussing math tasks!
Their interest in solving math problems increase, too! Read more ways to get your math students to LOVE math problem solving HERE.
