Strategy #2: Create An All Access Pass – Discussion

[Patrick Kosal]

I completely LOVE the idea of building anticipation in students and having them notice and wonder in order to spark curiosity. What’s incredibly hard to do as teachers is to be quiet instead of telling them what’s mathematically unique about the problem. It takes a lot of trust to wait for students and sometimes they just aren’t seeing what you need them to see. I want to work on improving my questioning strategies and wait time techniques in order for student voice to drive the learning instead of just being a time-filler until the teacher swoops in to save them and tell them what’s mathematically valuable. Lots to ponder here!

[Michelle Reichel]

I love the idea of the Curiosity Path. I have noticed a difference in the accessibility of math in my classroom when using Three Act Tasks, which follow this path. I need to do this more on a day-to-day basis.

[Pat Morris]

I enjoyed the curiosity path, and by creating low floor/high ceiling tasks we are able to reach learners of all levels in any particular lesson. I will be sharing these strategies with the staff once we all return.

[Amy Kopcznski]

I used Notice and Wonder in my classroom many times last year and loved it! I had to stick with it though because when I first asked my students to give me notices and wonders for a visual representation or a video I got a lot of blank stares and cricket noises. They were not used to being asked a question that did not have one correct answer. I found that giving them quiet think time at the beginning was key and then I could lessen the amount of think time to a couple of minutes later in the year. Allowing them to share ideas in trios or with a partner or other structures also increased confidence in my students. I found that the notices came easier for them than the wonders and we had to work a bit more on those. The explanation of the process from the both of you has given me some ideas on how I can improve this for my students. I need to give more follow up information to build the anticipation and incorporate estimation.

How often do you do activities like these with your students? Are these used only when lauching new content, weekly, daily?

[Lisa Hudson]

I am looking forward to using the curiosity path when I return to my classroom next fall. I am wondering how I will use it next week when we explore circumference. I have a cross-section of a tree trunk that I would like to incorporate but I really do wonder how I can do it online without the give and take of a live classroom!

[Laura Johns]

Of course I don’t have a classroom know, but I am trying to do some of these using Zoom. The idea of using peardeck seems intriguing. I am going to persue that. There have been many comments about having to be patient and keep quite while students skirm. I just had that experience with a student as we went through Math Is Visual’s Area of a Rectangle and Area of a Triangle. I found it difficult to wait for the student to count up the squares and make estimates. But I think he might have made the connection! We’ll see.

[Maria Carmela Sanchez]

MY greatest take away is how to start a more effective lesson plan using the 4 strategies. This session is very informative. I didn’t realise that anticipation is one strategy to help students solve math problems. I used this strategy when I was still teaching in a school for the deaf. It just came out from nowhere while during my lesson, I saw my students’ frustration and struggle in analysing word problems. Right there and then, I changed an old problem and I saw their curiosity and smiles in their faces. From then on, they always looked forward to the challenges and diligence in solving word problems.

I will continue using this strategy and apply the rest of the strategies in my lessons.

[Nicolette Kranz]

Withholding information from students in math is a good things and will help them!

[Valerie Silver]

I only have a very few students who will respond in class to anything. Is it the fear of embarrassment? And, Trying to figure out how to reward participation and risk-taking and showing thinking vs right answers.

[Debra]

I love the curiosity path, I can engage my students in this way without recreating the wheel, changing objective of lesson or throwing out the curriculum. All this requires is a strategic shift in how I engage my students on the front end.

[Luke Waitrovich]

1. Notice and wonder is a great way to lower the floor and engage all the students.

2. What do you do if you make a mistake when choosing which information to withhold?

[Virginia Lee]

Takeaway: I want to construct a situation where kids will construct the problem, then narrow the situation down by providing more info to look like a problem that will address the specific learning goal. And the more visual it is, the better.

[Kristin Priola]

In trying to support counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, I presented differentiated questions to three different groups of third graders. I presented a picture of feet of several of the teachers. It was intriguing to try to match up whose feet went with who. But the question posed, was “How many feet do you think are in our school?” We then went through the estimation process. Then we made a list of teachers. Then I told them the number of students. Some figured out how to skip count by 2s, others used multiplication, some used repeated addition to get class totals and then added. This was repeated with hands (counting by 5s) and toes (counting by 10s). They were engaged and excited to use math to solve a real world problem.

[Mereana Povey]

Hi,

I also like the students to be curious and wondering how this is all going to work out? Building that bonding is very important to, between teacher and students. The more we know them, the easier it is for us to teach and know where there next steps are going to be.

Thanks!

[Rebecca Hyde]

Thank you for the 4 step pathway! It’s super easy to follow it as I create lesson plans. I love that it helps create a low floor, high ceiling environment…I’ve always struggled with how to keep my higher kids interested as I cater to my lower kids…I’m sure a problem most of us have struggled with.

[Kyle Pearce]

Yes ! We have been there and that is why we’ve spent so much time trying to figure out a repeatable way to engage all learners. Glad you’re enjoying it. Give it a shot and let us know how it goes!

[Michael Scott]

Withholding information is a great but I do think as someone wrote earlier that a teacher needs to stick with because students are not used to these types of lessons especially secondary teachers.