Never say anything......

After doing the Border Task, Sneaky Snake and Crossing the River, I learned that there is more than one way to find an answer to a math problem.   I was taught that there was one way to solve a problem like that, and that is what you do for similar problems. I was rarely showed an alternative.  For the Sneaky Snake, I only saw one algorithm, when there was really many more.   I liked how with each new idea, a student had to explain their reasoning with blocks.  This really expanded my thinking!

 I also like the idea of making sure that both people in your group have to know how to solve the problem and be able to explain it.  I learned that turn and talks can be very beneficial for student learning.  The author of “Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say”, said that he uses that in his classroom too.  I learned that I can use this in my third grade classroom.  I think this would be beneficial to my students who lack confidence in math. 

After reading the article, a few questions arose for me.  If I have a student who says, “I can’t do this” or “I don’t get it”, which may lead them to saying, “I hate math” (because you can’t do it means you don’t like it), how do you get your students to like math?  Is it when they understand that they like it?  What sort of language can I use to encourage my students to like math?  Do turn and talks help students like math more?  Since I won’t have time to visit all groups during turn and talks, how do I know that all the conversations are on topic?  How will I know that during group sharing, that my students will be listening or even walk away with an understanding?

In my main placement, the third grade teachers are trying to implement the turn and talks during math, using the book Math Talk.  I see the correlation between this book and the Reinhart article.  What is great is that I see the students in my class learning from each other.  The other day we were talking about money and one of the questions was quite difficult for the students.  One of the students had an idea that she shared with the group and when I asked a few to rephrase what that student said (to see if they understood what the first student said), they seemed to understand.  I saw real student-student learning take place!