Reply To: Encourage a discouraged teacher

[Cynthia Wargocki]

I would be interested to hear how she is teaching math (direct instruction, groups, what types of tasks). You may be able to kind of backwards design with her, incorporating the behavioral skills that need to be in place for the instruction to work. For instance if she wants to do a three act task, what expectations need to be in place for students to be able to complete the task (group expectations, accountable talk,…). Are students acting out because there are no expectations or due to math anxiety? You could start with a something small like a math talk and help her implement that practice by modeling and then move on from there. Just some thoughts, not knowing the full scope of the situation. Good luck.

[Cynthia Wargocki]

I would be interested to hear how she is teaching math (direct instruction, groups, what types of tasks). You may be able to kind of backwards design with her, incorporating the behavioral skills that need to be in place for the instruction to work. For instance if she wants to do a three act task, what expectations need to be in place for students to be able to complete the task (group expectations, accountable talk,…). Are students acting out because there are no expectations or due to math anxiety? You could start with a something small like a math talk and help her implement that practice by modeling and then move on from there. Just some thoughts, not knowing the full scope of the situation. Good luck.