Chapter 7, page 170
As the students explain their thinking, the teacher learns about her students’ mathematical problem solving
strategies. In addition, the students are learning more because now they are engaged in active explanation.
Problem 7.14.
Evaluating teaching: Encouraging students to make their thinking publicSharon Gettis is a third grade teacher who has recently learned about the idea
of encouraging students to make their thinking public, and she has decided to
begin trying to do this during her lessons. Here is a reading lesson in which the
students are discussing a story about a girl named Lauren who is not a good
soccer player but still contributes to her team by being very supportive of her
teammates. As Sharon talks with her students about the story, she wants to
have her students not just answer her questions but explain how they came up
with the answers to her questions. Evaluate how well she accomplishes her
goal in this exchange. If you think she could have done better, identify what
she could have said instead.Several minutes into the discussion, Sharon asks a new question.
Sharon: We’ve been talking about the mistakes Lauren made on the
soccer team. Why did Lauren’s teammates like her so much?
Colby?
Colby: Because she gave them presents and things. [This is an idea
that is not very well supported by the story.]
Sharon: OK. That’s one possibility. How about any other reasons?
Noemi?
Noemi: Because she really helped her teammates play better.
Sharon: Why do you think that?
Noemi: Well, because in the story it said that, like, her friend Savannah
heard Lauren cheering for her, so she ran as fast as she could.Response: With Noemi, Sharon asks a question that does prompt Noemi to
explain her thinking. When Sharon asks why she thinks that, Noemi explains
the textual evidence that she used to support her position. However, Sharon
does not do as well with Colby. Perhaps because Colby got what she viewed as
a less acceptable answer, she decided not to ask him to explain his thinking.
But teachers can ask students to make their thinking public even if answers are
not right. In fact, by following up on a less acceptable answer with Colby,
Sharon could have helped Colby see why the answer was less acceptable. If
Colby had not been able to find any textual evidence for his idea, then he
would learn that his ideas need to be more closely tied to textual evidence. If
he had offered some support for his idea, the teacher could have continued the
conversation to help the students understand why some ideas are better
supported by the text than others.