Elementary math chat is a weekly math chat where participants come to discuss best practices, examine student work, explore routines for reasoning and research that guides and supports pedagogy centered on problem and student based learning.
Welcome to #elemmathchat! Introduce yourself by telling your name, position, and location. Are you more of a passive learner or an active one? Explain.
Donna here! I'm the lower school (K-5) math coordinator at an independent school in Houston. Glad to be moderating tonight! I like to be actively engaged in my learning! #elemmathchat
Welcome to #elemmathchat! Introduce yourself by telling your name, position, and location. Are you more of a passive learner or an active one? Explain.
I am Melynee 6-8th grade Math teacher for Ss w/ disabilities in Oklahoma. I am an active learner. I seek opportunities, look for connections, engage in conversations, and then use and tweak my understanding as needed #ElemMathChat
Q1 Math is a subject that is very often teacher-centered. T shows Ss what to do and then they practice. What impact does that have on understanding and engagement? #elemmathchat
Hey Donna! Glad to here tonight, thanks for leading us! Thought of you this week when @MJE2ndGrade made their 1,200 hundreds charts this week!! #elemmathchat
A1 Teacher showing and telling does not equate to learning. Promotes memorization for the time, but not teaching, discovering and conceptual learning #ElemMathChat
A1 I think students are unengaged--bored--when they are only asked to memorize procedures. The more teaching is student-centered, the more engaged they are! #ElemMathChat
a1: If it stays teacher centered, then the kids don't get as much of a chance to explain their thinking, to collaborate with others and to let the teacher see what they know & don't know yet #elemmathchat
RT Q1 Math is a subject that is very often teacher-centered. T shows Ss what to do and then they practice. What impact does that have on understanding and engagement? #elemmathchat
A1 T's thinking is one way of looking at a problem. Ss will always come up with something different. T may inadvertently send the message it's the ONLY way to get to a solution. #ElemMathChat
Q1 Math is a subject that is very often teacher-centered. T shows Ss what to do and then they practice. What impact does that have on understanding and engagement? #elemmathchat
Q1 Math is a subject that is very often teacher-centered. T shows Ss what to do and then they practice. What impact does that have on understanding and engagement? #elemmathchat
A1. Show and Tell teaching is teacher driven rather than student-centered. Just because we say it doesn't mean they get it.
Students need time to engage, investigate and construct meaning. #elemmathchat
Q1 Math is a subject that is very often teacher-centered. T shows Ss what to do and then they practice. What impact does that have on understanding and engagement? #elemmathchat
Howard. Math science for 5th and 6th grade. Private full inclusion campus in the Silicon Valley.
Active learner. I have to do it to learn... #ElemMathChat
Q2 Many of our practices in math instruction are very passive. Homework, bellwork, and note-taking are several that come to mind. What are suggestions for making them more active? #elemmathchat
A1: huge question! Anything T directed involves forcing Ss to understand in the way the T does. Ss never get the chance to develop and refine their own ideas. That’s a very limited approach #elemmathchat
A1 Ss also begin to think of math as specific procedures to solve “problems” but if the problem looks slightly different they struggle to apply the procedure #elemmathchat
A1: Intro of new concepts tend to be teacher centered but allowing students to discover ways that “work for them” and share/collaborate with each other is what keeps my students engaged and hungry for more #elemmathchat
a2: pick activities that actually have meaning for the kids. Change it up, I feel like we try to change the warm up on a daily basis! #ElemMathChat Think about how we can integrate technology... limitless possibilities
A3 I don't do traditional bell work, I don't give homework, and notes are completed after the exploration and students are writing them for themselves from what they have discovered. #ElemMathChat
A1
When math class is organized through the lens of our students, we are better at starting where they are - with THEIR thoughts - followed by careful thought about what experiences are needed next.
#elemmathchat
A2: homework discussions and conversations. Find someone you used a different strategy from you, compare. What about note making instead of note taking? Like let’s experiment and write down what we see?! #ElemMathChat
Q2 Many of our practices in math instruction are very passive. Homework, bellwork, and note-taking are several that come to mind. What are suggestions for making them more active? #elemmathchat
A2: We can engage our kids by having them solve problems worthy of their attention in collaboration with peers, talk math (turn and talk), and build mathematical models to support thinking, etc. #elemmathchat
A2: homework discussions and conversations. Find someone you used a different strategy from you, compare. What about note making instead of note taking? Like let’s experiment and write down what we see?! #ElemMathChat
Q2 Many of our practices in math instruction are very passive. Homework, bellwork, and note-taking are several that come to mind. What are suggestions for making them more active? #elemmathchat
RT Q2 Many of our practices in math instruction are very passive. Homework, bellwork, and note-taking are several that come to mind. What are suggestions for making them more active? #elemmathchat
A1
Teacher-centered practices limit our students' interest in mathematics, not because it is less fun, but because our students come to view the subject as rules to follow instead of as a lively subject full of sense-making and understanding!
#elemmathchat
It also helps others. Sometimes student think blows my mind because they think of other ways that we may not have and can help their peers connect and learn! #ElemMathChat
A1: Teacher centered = boring & low engagement! Making making student centered allows for a deeper understanding and more extensions of learning possible. #elemmathchat
We should brainstorm ideas that could cover an entire years math strands. For example tearing down an american made bicycle: fractions (bolts), ratios (gears), circumference (wheels)... Start a shared site and crowd source it... #elemmathchat
A2 We have to get them talking and explaining their thinking! I love daily routines like Number Talks, Steve @SteveWyborney Splat! and Cubes, Which One Doesn't Belong are among my favorites. #elemmathchat
Q2 Many of our practices in math instruction are very passive. Homework, bellwork, and note-taking are several that come to mind. What are suggestions for making them more active? #elemmathchat
A2: a key to breaking the passive nature of trad math is authentic contexts. So much of elem math is terrible pseudocontext. Meaningful problems lead to active and engaged learning experiences #elemmathchat
Q3 How can we use questioning to make math instruction more student-centered? How does our questioning often allow students to be passive learners? #elemmathchat
A1
I think the chart here might help us better think about the "approaches" we take in class. Notice the Roles and Goals rows!
More details:
https://t.co/9CGYMzNpNY#elemmathchat
A3 We can make our questioning more open-ended. We are often too direct and leading, just asking students for the "right" answer. "Why" is the best question ever! #ElemMathChat
A2: Active learning can present itself in many forms, during number sense routines, exploration, problem solving, etc. Ex. we do open exploration of materials (e.g. loose parts) which leads to lots of counting collections and the Ss building conceptual understanding #elemmathchat
Bell work is something students engage in when entering class. It is usually "naked number" math problems intended to spiral content. I use warm up work that is very interactive, we learn problem solving, use talk moves #ElemMathChat
A3: By asking our mathematicans, "How did you come up with that? Please explain your thinking. Tell me about the strategy you used." All very open-ended questions, there is no right or wrong answer here #elemmathchat
A2
Again, if we want our students to take a more active role, it might be helpful to take a look at the following chart and reflect on our goals/roles:
https://t.co/9CGYMzNpNY#elemmathchat
I’m lurking. Too tired. Just got home. Had to run some remands my with fam. It’s been a long week. You’re representing us, oh so very well! #WestAveEs#elemmathchat I’m wondering where @BrittKaspar is at? She’s have lots to share. Don’t you think?
Note taking and anchor charts in my classroom are a collaborative effort between T and St. as well as between St and St...I let the kids come up with what our anchor chart should contain, what’s important and what works for them. #elemmathchat
Q3 How can we use questioning to make math instruction more student-centered? How does our questioning often allow students to be passive learners? #elemmathchat
A3: questioning techniques help us learn more about our s’s as mathematicians, steer the discussion, & focus on the right part of the mathematics. I think the most powerful is teaching/modeling for s’s how to question the world around them in a mathematical way. #ElemMathChat
Q3 How can we use questioning to make math instruction more student-centered? How does our questioning often allow students to be passive learners? #elemmathchat
RT Q3 How can we use questioning to make math instruction more student-centered? How does our questioning often allow students to be passive learners? #elemmathchat
Q2: I like to get my students up moving. Using tape in the floors during geometry, whiteboards, human number mines, using chalk outside, student created task cards.. #ElemMathChat#studentengagement#studentcentered
A3: By asking our mathematicans, "How did you come up with that? Please explain your thinking. Tell me about the strategy you used." All very open-ended questions, there is no right or wrong answer here #elemmathchat
A3 ?s What do you #noticewonder What patterns do you notice, what relationships do you see What does this tell us, What have you done like this before, compare & contrast Great ?s promote great thought, strategies, connections, growth #ElemMathChat
Q2: I like to get my students up moving. Using tape in the floors during geometry, whiteboards, human number mines, using chalk outside, student created task cards.. #ElemMathChat#studentengagement#studentcentered
A3: For me, it is all about the questions. Sometimes it is a, “Can you say more about that?” Sometimes, “How can you be sure?” “Are there two solutions here that seem similar? How How are they different?” And...”Will that always work? How do you know?” #elemmathchat
Q4 Students clearly need to practice math concepts to obtain mastery. How can we make practice more cognitively demanding and less “drill and kill”? #elemmathchat
A3
"Questioning" can mean 2 things:
1. The initial problem we give our students today to think about/work on
2. The way we interact with students as they are thinking to force them to continually think
While both are important, the 2nd is truly student-centered
#elemmathchat
Two years ago, I was saying “do you have any questions?”. Last year I switched to “what questions do you have?” It made a difference. Today I tried “ask me two questions”. And they did! And those ?s led to more ?s. It amazes me that the littlest things have such a big impact!
A3: often questioning strategies support T to S interactions. Ss need to care about the learning of their peers. That mindset influences my approaches to questioning #elemmathchat
Q3 Allow students to come up with the questions...if they can generate questions and know the correct/appropriate answer, then they have mastered the concept. During and/or at the end of units, my students create a product (game, quizizz, Kahoot!, etc.) #elemmathchat
A3: I love how @TracyZager#BecomingMath book goes into detail on how the questioning of a teacher not only impacts instruction but also builds a community of learners where students take risks, because they are safe. We need this! #elemmathchat
Yes!!! Sometimes I don’t respond and let others respond by either agreeing or disagreeing and helping them guide one another in the right directions. #ElemMathChat
A2. Want to consider ZPD when planning for practice. It's that just right level of practice that challenges and motivates students to push on. Also like practice that is collaborative, fun, and meaningful. #elemmathchat
Q4 Students clearly need to practice math concepts to obtain mastery. How can we make practice more cognitively demanding and less “drill and kill”? #elemmathchat
A4: I say it all the time but I LOVE games. Not only do math games provide practice but some of the strategies s’s pick up on to “win” is so worth its weight in GOLD for problem solving 💪👍👍 #ElemMathChat
Q4 Students clearly need to practice math concepts to obtain mastery. How can we make practice more cognitively demanding and less “drill and kill”? #elemmathchat
A3
I actually think it is difficult for many to move from a questioning stance of funnelling (trying to get students to the right answer) to focusing (trying to understand student's thinking of specific things)
See:
https://t.co/f855iMUNVX#elemmathchat
A3: I love how @TracyZager#BecomingMath book goes into detail on how the questioning of a teacher not only impacts instruction but also builds a community of learners where students take risks, because they are safe. We need this! #elemmathchat
RT Q4 Students clearly need to practice math concepts to obtain mastery. How can we make practice more cognitively demanding and less “drill and kill”? #elemmathchat
Rather than the passive - answer the review questions at the end of the chapter (YUCK) I love to do a gallery walk type activity where the students move from poster to poster, adding their answers, critiquing the other answers, drawing pictures, etc.. #elemmathchat
A3 as a T, when you are listening to Ss responses, are you listening for a right answer, or for evidence of developing understanding? Listening evaluatively or interpretivly? What you are listening for will change the questions you ask. #elemmathchat
Ditto to A4!!! Games are a fabulous way to practice and most the time they don’t even realize they are practicing and there is great discussion that can arise too. #ElemMathChat
For sure, but allowing the students to lose first because they are not being strategic and then asking "I wonder what math might come into play here so you could win? Hmmm?" Gets them every time! #elemmathchat
#elemmathchat I think a good way to get kids to understand the concept is to just teach it in different ways. I guess this may still be "drill and kill" but it would be more fun
Sorry I'm jumping in late
A4
I've been thinking a lot about "practice" lately... and tried to come up with the difference between what I think "practice" is and what it might have looked like when I was a kid.
Here's what I came up with:
#elemmathchat
A4: When it comes to practice I favor qualityover quantity. Still, the problems have to be worthwhile. Numberless word problems are great. Allowing students to supply their own numbers and then build models is great too. Open middle problems are super-engaging. #elemmathchat
A4: small group instruction allows for hands on practice while challenging their thinking! Stations that are differentiated and allow for choice. #ElemMathChat
A4: drill and kill targets procedural fluency, and none of the other strands of proficiency. If the practice doesn’t bring out more than computation, it’s going to be lacking. #elemmathchat
A4
I've been thinking a lot about "practice" lately... and tried to come up with the difference between what I think "practice" is and what it might have looked like when I was a kid.
Here's what I came up with:
#elemmathchat
Q5 Students in math class are often “consumers”—answering questions, doing worksheets, etc. How can we move them toward being “producers”? #elemmathchat
A4
Math games are great!
But let's consider one step further... If the game doesn't involve thinking and making choices on the part of the players, then it isn't any more advantageous. Should be about raising the level of thinking, not just about fun
#elemmathchat
I LOVE this. We have been posting similar things on B.B. around the school for the kids, but I love getting families involved! I may steal this!!! Thanks! #ElemMathChat
A5 I think having the students create their own problems and then complete them would be a good way to move students towards being "producers" #elemmathchat
A5: numberless word problems, math theater, creating patterns, exploring patterns, making conjectures, making mathematical models, using mathematics to model #ElemMathChat
Q5 Students in math class are often “consumers”—answering questions, doing worksheets, etc. How can we move them toward being “producers”? #elemmathchat
Q5 Students in math class are often “consumers”—answering questions, doing worksheets, etc. How can we move them toward being “producers”? #elemmathchat
A4: 6 envelopes, each with a different item on front. Groups work together to solve & put their answers inside envelope. They pass to the next group and start the next envelope. At the end, each group analyzes, critiques, & corrects answers in the envelope #elemmathchat
RT Q5 Students in math class are often “consumers”—answering questions, doing worksheets, etc. How can we move them toward being “producers”? #elemmathchat
#elemmathchat I think it would be awesome to have the students get into groups, and give each other math problems that they create. They can demonstrate their understanding of the topic and have fun teaching each other.
A5: Commit to talking and showing less. Give students an opportunityto try their thinking out with peers and revis as needed. Focus discussions on student work and student thinking. Listen way more than talk. #elemmathchat
Q5: giving students choice in how to show their learning and understanding. Making @Screencastify videos, producing questions for peers, etc. #elemmathchat
A5: been thinking about this a lot. We do too many throw away assignments. Ss do work, we discuss, T assesses, work gets sent home and thrown away. Can we do more meaningful work that lasts beyond the school year? That actually impacts the school or community? #elemmathchat
a5 we are in the early stages of learning about factors and multiples, started with arrays (DESMOS has great activities for this!) Challenge was to take photos of arrays they saw in the world and come back and share. FUN! #ElemMathChat
RT Q5 Students in math class are often “consumers”—answering questions, doing worksheets, etc. How can we move them toward being “producers”? #elemmathchat
Q6 Why is it important for students to move beyond learning rote procedures and develop deeper understanding and the ability to communicate their mathematical thinking? #elemmathchat
A5 instead of giving Ss definitions of vocab words & mathematical properties, wait until they are ready to create their own generalizations #elemmathchat
A5
I think moving our students from consumers to producers requires us to reflect on the questions we provide for our students.
Maybe we really need to analyze the verbs we are expecting our students to be doing each day
#elemmathchat
A5: been thinking about this a lot. We do too many throw away assignments. Ss do work, we discuss, T assesses, work gets sent home and thrown away. Can we do more meaningful work that lasts beyond the school year? That actually impacts the school or community? #elemmathchat
Q5 Instead of workbook page 45 #s 1-16 to show understanding of adding/subtracting decimals, students roll dice, create their own practice problems for others to solve, and are checked by peers #elemmathchat
A5 games play an important role in a math class. I strongly believe games can’t just be disguised flash cards with dice to decide which multiplication I recite. Real games involve logic, hypothesizing, planning, counting, mental calculations, spatial reasoning... #elemmathchat
A5: been thinking about this a lot. We do too many throw away assignments. Ss do work, we discuss, T assesses, work gets sent home and thrown away. Can we do more meaningful work that lasts beyond the school year? That actually impacts the school or community? #elemmathchat
A6: bc students deserve to know mathematical ideas do not live in silos. That mathematics is beautiful and connects to so many things in so many places! #ElemMathChat
Q6 Why is it important for students to move beyond learning rote procedures and develop deeper understanding and the ability to communicate their mathematical thinking? #elemmathchat
A5: Turn them into the producers by turning the tables. They are the ones making connections. What do you notice? What do you wonder? Asking them questions and using inquiry that allows them to explore and create #elemmathchat
A6
We have a goal for mathematics in our board (see below) which goes well beyond recall. If we are going to meet this goal, it will require that our students are experiencing mathematics in a much deeper way.
#elemmathchat
A5 let students see math as the answer to a problem, not the start of a problem #3actmath style learning where we present a puzzling situation and students NEED to use math to resolve their curiosity. #elemmathchat
RT Q6 Why is it important for students to move beyond learning rote procedures and develop deeper understanding and the ability to communicate their mathematical thinking? #elemmathchat
A6: Honestly, I’m not sure what the math my Ss will need in the future looks like. I do know they’ll need to make sense, look for patterns, collaborate to solve problems, communicate their understanding effectively, & think deeply. We ought to practice those things! #elemmathchat
A6: Besides the fact that it's a mathematical process standard... it's about forming individuals who can share what they know. I mean this is what life is about! #elemmathchat
If OUR goals involve handing out assignments so we can mark them... then we might be missing the point of school.
Remember, the goal OF school isn't to do we AT school... It's to help develop students who can think mathematically!
#elemmathchat
A6: In last high level math class I took, ALL the math could be done with software. Knowing what to do and interpreting the results was more important than performing calculations. As I reflect on how I use math in everyday life, those are the skills that matter. #elemmathchat
A6 Because they can then
Make sense of problems/persevere
Reason abstractly
Construct viable arguments critique reasoning of others.
Model w math
Use tools
Attend to precision.
Look for
& make use of structure.
Look for/express regularity in repeated reasoning
#ElemMathChat
Q6 Why is it important for students to move beyond learning rote procedures and develop deeper understanding and the ability to communicate their mathematical thinking? #elemmathchat
A5 I think we are doing our Ss a great disservice if they leave school each day thinking math is something we do to them, rather than a tool for thinking to understand their world. #elemmathchat
A4
I've been thinking a lot about "practice" lately... and tried to come up with the difference between what I think "practice" is and what it might have looked like when I was a kid.
Here's what I came up with:
#elemmathchat
Giving the students an answer w/out a problem attached to it. Then letting them use their knowledge of what they’ve learned to create a problem for it! For ex., the area is 32”. They decide what the dimensions are and what the possible perimeters could be! #elemmathchat
It might be a computation problem, context (word problem), graphs, number lines, anything really that you want them to practice and make connections with. The error analysis at the end is always super powerful! #elemmathchat
I learned this activity at an @MCTM_MO summer PD and @McCoyMathMom created/shared it with all the participants. I called it Pass Along... I can not recall the original name. #elemmathchat
In reply to
@MathCoachCorner, @MCTM_MO, @McCoyMathMom
A7
Seems to me that there are many places to turn to find rigorous math activities, but the best of these are helpful for us to see connections between 1 day and another... not just a 1-off activity.
Kids should be thinking every day!
#elemmathchat
Open Middle is a favorite that really gets kids thinking. Number Less Word problems really allows them to make sense and understand word problems too! #elemmathchat
Q4 Students clearly need to practice math concepts to obtain mastery. How can we make practice more cognitively demanding and less “drill and kill”? #elemmathchat
Authenticity of the mathematics is so crucial. When I taught 5th grade, if parents reported doing something cool with their kids that had math in it (like building something) I accepted that in lieu of HW, because it was more valuable #elemmathchat
A7 there are more sources now than ever. But remember it’s not the task, it’s the talk. Ts make sure Ss are engaged in the important math thinking, talking and connecting to the math you care about. #elemmathchat
