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!
Research Lesson Debrief
Debriefing the Research Lesson!
After the lesson the research team meets to debrief. First the team member who taught the research lesson has the opportunity to reflect on how they feel the lesson went, followed by the team members sharing data from their observations. Using their observation notes and student work samples as well as insights from the content and equity commentators, the team discusses the following prompts.
What are we learning about:
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The mathematical concept?
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Student thinking about the mathematical understanding goal?
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Equitable teaching & pedagogy?
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Our research question?
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Our theory of action?
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What do individual team members want to implement in their own practice?
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What is going to happen tomorrow?
These prompts can be found in the final meeting agenda below.
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Meeting #10: Research Lesson Debrief & Reflection
Overview
Gather & Organize
Research & Clarify
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Hopes and Dreams for Students
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Identify strengths & funds of knowledge
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Determine a research question and theory of action
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Determine a content and an equity goal
Research & Clarify
Anticipate & Plan
Observe & Collect Data
Debrief & Look at Student Work
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What did focus students say or do?
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How well did the lesson achieve the content & the equity goals?
Reflect & Share
To view videos from research lessons including an overview of the research team inquiry process, visit our memorialization blog posts from some of our public research lessons:
We are grateful to JFF, KnowledgeWorks’, and the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative and its funders for their support. Learn more at sclresearchcollab.org
