Productive Math Talk Math Alliance April 3, 2012

Why promote communication in math classrooms?  Mathematical thinking of students is aided by hearing what their peers are thinking.  Putting thoughts into words pushes students to clarify their thinking.  Teachers can spot student misunderstandings much more easily when they are revealed in discussion instead of remaining unspoken. NCTM-- “a respectful but engaged conversation in which students can clarify their own thinking and learn from others through talk”

What researchers have found …  For many teachers, its not easy to implement in mathematics classrooms.  Few American classrooms display consistent or even occasional use of student talk.  Most classrooms consist of lecturing, asking students to recite, or posing simple questions with known answers. Classroom Discussions: Using math talk to help students learn p. 5

Listening in on a classroom

Learning Intention WALT: Understand how to use classroom discourse to help students articulate mathematical ideas We will be successful when: We can identify the purpose and value of the ground rules, formats, and moves when engaged in a data lesson.

Tools for Classroom Talk  Ground rules for respectful talk and equitable participation  Five productive talk moves  Three productive talk formats

Thinking about the homework reading At your table  Each person shares one point that stimulated your thinking.  Make a connection to your own classroom experience.  Identify commonalities among your group.  Be prepared to share out one idea that you had in common

Why all the talk about classroom talk?  Traditional Classroom Talk  Lecture  Quizzing (Guess what I am thinking)  Sharing time  Group recitation  Student presentations  What is different about what we are considering tonight?  Is this too much for students with disabilities?

Ground Rules and Equitable Participation: What would be posted in your classroom?  Conditions for Respectful and Courteous Talk  All Students have the opportunity to engage in productive talk about mathematics

Talk Formats Different ways teachers configure classrooms for discussions  Whole group – provide students with practice reasoning opportunities  Small group – provides opportunity for more loosely directed conversation.  Partner – provides an opportunity for students who may have difficulty speaking up.

Moves for Supporting Productive Talk  1. Revoicing : Teacher repeats some or all of what the student has said. Students verify what was said.  2. Repeating : Asking students to restate someone else’s reasoning.  3. Reasoning : Asking students to apply their own reasoning to someone else’s reasoning.  4. Adding on : Prompting students for further participation.  5. Waiting : Using wait time.

Experiencing Talk Moves During a Lesson  You will be experiencing a brief data lesson.  Use the card at your table to keep track of the talk moves and formats used throughout the lesson.  You will use the cards to help you during the debriefing conversation.

Lesson Learning Intention and Success Criteria  We are learning to…understand how to extract data from a contextual situation, and represent it as a graph.  We will be successful when…we can interpret a graph from contextual situation and justify our reasoning using information from context.

Ground Rules  Listen to the complete answer without interruptions or comments.  Everyone participates.  Honor everyone’s thinking  When creating work to share, make it large enough for all to read.

GAISE: Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education  Formulate Questions  Collect Data  Represent Data  Interpret Results A Framework for Statistical Problem Solving GAISE Report (2007)

Graph a Story

Critiquing others work Post your table graph in the front of the room. Analyze the charts….  How are the charts similar?  What questions do you have about the charts? It may sound like  “I don’t understand…”  “Why did you….”  “I like the way you…”

Apply

Identifying talk formats and talk moves  Talk Moves  Which ones did you notice?  Why were they used?  How helpful were they/could they be?  How helpful could they have been for students with language barriers? Why?

Troubleshooting  Read your assigned problem/concerns With your table group  Clarify the problem/concern  Share your experiences with this  Clarify the suggestions and add to them  Make a poster with both problem/concerns and suggestions (by the authors and you)

Break Time!

Models of Co-teaching

Using Your Best Listening Skills  Prepare for listening  Mentally review the information given to you  Categorize the information  Make notes of informational details  Use a signal as a cue to remember ideas  Seek to differentiate and make connections between inferences facts and opinions  Plan to determine roles based on the lesson, the person you are working with and the students you will teach

Models of Co-teaching  One teach, one observe or assist  Station Teaching  Parallel Teaching  Alternative Teaching  Team Teaching

Reviewing our Collaborative Teaching  Did our co-teaching allow us to use our individual strengths?  How might the students benefit from the co- teaching of this lesson?  What factors would contribute to the success of our teaching?  What challenges did we have to address?  What skills that we have explored in this class might we draw upon when teaching collaboratively?

Binder Project, Part C

Lessons in the Curriculum that Address the Big Idea Process Description of the Lesson(s) Lesson Suggestions for Differentiation StrengthsWeaknesses 1) Formalizing a question that can be answered with data My Suggestions of Other Ways to Teach Towards Understanding of the Big Idea My Suggestions of Other Ways the Lesson Could Be Differentiated

Getting a head start…  Find 1-2 other people who are teaching at the same (or similar) grade level and using the same text  Find a lesson from your book that addresses one of the four statistical processes  Using the Binder Project, Part C reflection form as a guide, develop a differentiated lesson using the Math Alliance Lesson Plan format.  But before we start…

Reflection on the reading  On a post-it, write down your name and one idea from the reading that you want to try.  On another post-it, write down your name and one idea from class that you want to try.  Bring to the front and stick to the appropriate poster  As you work, use the class poster as a resource for differentiation strategies; if you have questions, ask the person who wrote it.

Work Time!

Lesson plan debrief: Strengths of the textbook lessons:Ideas for supplementing lessons:

In closing…  Read Standards for Mathematical Practice #3, Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.  Highlight words or phrases that connected to the discussions on Talk Formats/Talk Moves.  In what way will Talk Moves help to develop the Standard for Mathematical Practice?