This week my students were tackling the topic of decomposing numbers. I assisted my CT with instruction in order to get a better feel of the students I would be working with. We began by coloring lima beans on one side only. Once the students had finished this, we began to play a "game". The students were asked to pull out a set number of beans, shake them in their hands like a dice and drop them on their paper. They were then instructed to place the number of colored beans on one side of a column and the number of white beans on the other. Once we had done this several times, it was pointed out to the students that the number of colored beans plus the number of white beans equaled the total amount of beans they were shaking. They had been decomposing numbers all along! Throughout this lesson, I noticed my CT revoicing students' explanations and reasonings and I noticed wait time that was appropriate for the group. When I was leading the class, I found the wait time to be difficult to measure and depended on my CT for help. Because of the difficulties this class sometimes has, I don't think talk moves 2-4 were used because they would not engage the whole class and could lead to disruptions or off-task behavior. Once the students get used to what is expected from them in math class, I think more discussions would be appropriate and less dangerous.
Looking back, I feel like I should have been more efficient with steps 2,3 and 4: asking students to restate someone else's reasoning, asking students to apply their own reasoning to someone else's reasoning and prompting students with further participation. Because this class only contains students with behavior issues, I found it really hard to monitor students' behavior while also engaging in more productive talk moves. The content that we were going over was not complex, but keeping tabs on the students made it difficult to extend their knowledge further than understanding or applying. I think if I had asked them to go further with their reasoning behind their answers and explanations I would have helped them become more comfortable with their abilities; they may have been able to understand the concept of decomposing numbers, not just finding numbers that add up to 20. I think that if the students were able to explain their reasoning to others and understand others reasoning, it would not only help them with this concept, but hopefully they would be able to apply those reasoning skills to other concepts and situations. As far as participation goes, the students really only participate as much as they are prompted to. I think requiring more out of them would keep them engaged and also further their knowledge. In the future, I would like to engage the students in more discussions about their ideas and reasoning behind the math solutions they come up with. I think that when they are able to explain their answers they will become more efficient in tackling problems they haven't seen before. Participating in discussions would also force the students to become more active participants and this would hopefully get those wheels in their heads' turning. It might also get them to move to more pen and paper tasks, and leaving the manipulatives for practice only.
Mandi,
ReplyDeleteI understand you frustration when it comes to integrating more of the "active" talk moves at the same time that we are supposed to be aware of everything going on within the classroom as well as monitoring behavior and checking for understanding...It can all be very overwhelming for teaching and students if it gets too "busy and active" during the lesson. I think you are on the right track by wanting to ease the more active talk moves as your students become more familiar with you and your math lessons. This will comes easier for you over time as well. Also, maybe small-group discussion would work best for collaborating ideas about math. Maybe you could pre-assign "math collaboration groups" so that they would know what was expected, and it is less hectic for you and your teaching down the line.
Thanks for the level of detail you provided in this lesson, Mandi. And for the honesty in which you show your frustration with trying to engage and work with students while eliciting deeper explanations. Welcome to teaching, Mandi. This is really, really hard to do and I would be highly doubtful to hear that you were able to do it all already.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are seeing some great teaching right now. I like this lesson as well as the way it is ripe for students to engage and think through their own strategies.
Hattie's comment about using the Math Talk Moves with smaller groups or integrating them more slowly over time are sound ideas. But I'm struck by your analysis that you feel your students are ready for them now, if only they could be more engaged. It sounds like you already see some deep thinking in them, so maybe it is the tasks at hand or rather, the complexity of the tasks that need to change so they can be more open-ended and students can create their own reasoning, and therefore their ownership of their thinking.
You're in a good place, Mandi. Continue being introspective on how you can get deeper with your students and engage them to think and share in ways you know they can.
I understand when you talk about finding it hard to administer Math Talk Moves to a group of students with behavior (and for me - attention) issues. I watch my CT work with some of the students with behavior/attention issues and he seems to have such a great handle on administering these strategies and keeping the students' behavior acceptable. I began teaching this week and find this very hard to do. Hopefully, the more practice we get using these strategies, the more comfortable and the better we'll get at it, because I definitely find great success in using these strategies with all students.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your honesty within your blog last week. It is hard, sometimes, to admit that it is often too hard to incorporate an aspect of instruction that we know will be super beneficial, because of other, "environmental" factors. I think that the fact you are thinking about different talk moves you can do (bringing them to a conscious level), is a really productive first step. Not only can you start incorporating them into smaller group instruction (like Hattie suggested), but the more comfortable you get with the students, and on those good days, you will automatically start using them during discussions. I am also working hard with behavior management in my placement, so it will be interesting when I record myself teaching to see how I conduct my mathematical discussions, and if I am incorporating these talk moves in to the lesson. Great blog and pictures! (I like the colored beans!)
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else who has posted a comment thus far, the Talk Moves that when reading about don't sound that difficult to implement, can be really challenging when trying to use them in an environment where we need to monitor behaviors, ensure that all parts of the Direct Teach lessons are being followed with fidelity, and perhaps most importantly, the students themselves are not familiar with the Talk Moves themselves. In my experiences teaching math in my placement (all two days of it!), I've really come to believe that as important it is that we become familiar with how to use Talk Moves, the students, also, need to become used to the idea that their reasoning will be questioned, their ideas will be shared, and at times, they will be called upon to play the role of the "teacher," sharing their thinking strategies with the other members of the class. I'm interested to see how both my students and I grow over the course of the semester in terms of our abilities to work within the "Math Talk Moves" framework!
ReplyDeleteI thought the activity the students did by counting the lima beans was really cool and a wonderful way to allow them to discover the concept on their own (with some guidance of course). THis is one of the more creative lessons I have seen or heard so far. SOmetimes when I think math it is so hard to get past numbers, so I appreciate this post because it has broadened my thinking about activities I can incorporate into my own lessons!
ReplyDeleteI think the balance of math talk moves and behavior management will come with experience. I know you are almost a master in terms of behavior management so the incorporation of math talk moves will come eventually. That is all.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's kind of tough to gauge the wait time for different students. While teaching my first math lesson I found it very difficult to wait long enough to allow them to respond. All too frequently I would burst out with the correct response and not give my students enough time to really process the question. Its great that you seem to have an excellent CT that can help you discover the right amount of wait time for these particular students !
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