Status & Mindset Interventions
In her book Strength in Numbers: Collaborative Learning in Secondary Mathematics, Ilana Horn writes: “Judgements about who is smart based on prior achievement or social categories violate a fundamental principle of equity and are consequential: learning is not the same as achievement” (2012, p.20). The resources below were curated to help you redefine "smarts" in math, disrupt status divisions, develop growth mindsets, and foster a collaborative math community.
Anticipatory Planning
How often does your planning for math involve searching for the "best" problem and then thinking about how you want to teach the problem? It's safe to say this is how most of us approach(ed) lesson planning. The problem with this approach, however, is that it is teacher focused and neglects to consider how students might perceive and respond to the problem. Conversely, anticipatory planning focuses planning efforts on imagining how students might respond to a problem and using that information to plan questions that will push and clarify student thinking and build understanding by sequencing and connecting approaches students are already using.
If you've ever tried to facilitate constructivist math learning in your classroom and it fell short of your expectations, it's likely because the key factor, anticipatory planning, was missing! The template below can help you prepare to facilitate constructivist math learning in your classroom. Grab a planning buddy and give it a try!
Anticipatory Planning
How often does your planning for math involve searching for the "best" problem and then thinking about how you want to teach the problem? It's safe to say this is how most of us approach(ed) lesson planning. The problem with this approach, however, is that it is teacher focused and neglects to consider how students might perceive and respond to the problem. Conversely, anticipatory planning focuses planning efforts on imagining how students might respond to a problem and using that information to plan questions that will push and clarify student thinking and build understanding by sequencing and connecting approaches students are already using.
If you've ever tried to facilitate constructivist math learning in your classroom and it fell short of your expectations, it's likely because the key factor, anticipatory planning, was missing! The template below can help you prepare to facilitate constructivist math learning in your classroom. Grab a planning buddy and give it a try!
Equitable Group Work
Designing group work that provides all students the opportunity to access the mathematics can be challenging, but is critical to the growth of each and every student. Research shows that students who do the most talking also do the most learning. The resources and videos below outline group work strategies that increase equitable interactions in heterogeneous classrooms (Cohen & Lotan, 2014; Horn, 2012).
Building Students' Group Work Skills
Teaching Group Work
There are significant benefits to establishing a positive group work culture in the classroom. When groups work well together, group members push each other's thinking, hold each other accountable for learning, and build on each other's ideas. However, it takes time and consistent classroom structures and messaging for student to learn and develop robust group work skills.
Strategies such as codeveloping group work norms with students, infusing group roles into your classroom routines, using participation quizzes to reinforce good group work, and accountability quizzes to hold groups accountable for each other's learning will all support students in using each other as resources and build a learning community.
Codevelop Group Norms
Codeveloping group norms with students supports collective ownership of using positive group work behavior. In the lesson outlined in this change idea, students analyze examples of groups working together and decide on norms they want to use for their own group work. Two norms that repeatedly come up are: everyone has the right to ask questions and everyone must be able to explain the groups thinking (leave no-one behind!).
Students in Katerina's 8th grade classroom discuss their experience with group work.
Group Roles as Status Equalizers
Group roles provide a useful structure for ensuring equitable participation in group work. They provide each student with responsibilities and 'sound bites' to support them in engaging productively in learning from one another. Students often feel awkward using them at first, however, once they are integrated students report that they significantly deepen the level of mathematical discussion during group work.
The roles have been designed so that they are intellectually equal and keep everyone 'in the game'. The roles include:
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Team Captain
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Coach
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Accountability Manager
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Skeptic
