3

You Can’t Build a Sand Castle on a

Classmate’s Head

Being Explicit in Kindergarten Math

Lisa Seyferth

Over my years of teaching kindergarten, I have thought a great deal about being
explicit with students about my expectations for how they are to behave in class.
Each year brings new students and new situations where I have to be very clear
about what I want my students to do or not do. This year, for example, was the
first time I had to tell them not to climb into the sand table. What is more, I had
to tell them not to build a sand castle on top of a classmate’s head. The crushed
look on their faces when I was not delighted with their innovation (very much
like the kids in Hop on Pop[Dr. Seuss 1963] when told they must not hop on Pop)
was even more surprising to me than the sand castle itself.
I have a tape playing in my head of my former principal saying, “You can
teach for the behavior you want.” This idea is such a powerful one. I often hear
teachers say, “My class always does [this wrong thing]” or “Susie can’t [do that de-
sirable social behavior]” as if the thing they are stating is a static, permanent fact.
I usually think, and sometimes say, “But you can teachthem [not to/to].”
In the past few years, my thinking about when to be very explicit about be-
havioral expectations has extended into when to be very clear about the mathe-
matics of an activity. Again, this is such a powerful, and also simple, idea, but I
didn’t think about it much before for a couple reasons. One, which is embarrass-
ing to admit, is that it is easy not to be thoughtful. I could present a lesson, teach
a game, show a worksheet, and then send the students off to do it. “Here is how
you play Racing Bears, here are the materials, this is your partner, now go play.”
(If I was being explicit about behavioral expectations, I might also talk a bit about
how to be a good partner, how to play calmly, and how to clean up.) The lesson
might go well from a management point of view, but I was not always successful
in making sure that all of the students worked on or thought about the mathe-
matics at the heart of a particular activity or game.