How To Facilitate Mathematical Discussion

 

You just started working at a new school.  The students you have are used to listening to the teacher, taking notes, and doing the work. They look at you strangely when you ask them to talk to each other because their last teacher never had them do it.  How do you get them to start talking to each other in a meaningful mathematical way.  I've faced this exact scenario and it can be difficult.

So today, we are going to look at ways to encourage student discussion in your classroom because we know how important it is.  We know that mathematical discussion helps teachers assess student understanding, improve student progress and proficiency, and helps students see themselves as able to do math.

One of the most important things is to foster community within the classroom so students feel safe in expressing themselves.  Students also need to become active listeners so they can listen to what others say along with being celebrated with then communicate. In addition, we have to encourage discourse and help students learn to share how they completed a problem, or how they figure out the approach.  Many students arrive in your classroom without knowing how to share their thoughts. It is important to let them know that engaging in mathematical discourse helps them better understand mathematical concepts. 

As far as posing a question to encourage mathematical discussion?  The question does not always result in a conversation because talk begins with student interaction. When students interact in pairs, small groups, or whole class, they have to be taught to construct viable arguments and to critique each other's ideas. So we have to train students to get the high level of conversation they need. So we have to provide low-risk opportunities for them to 

One way to do it is to encourage something called "rough draft" math thinking.  This is where students are encouraged to share their efforts at solving the problem with their peers.  Students share this information with each other, comment on the attempts, and then revise their work based on feedback and then explain how their thinking changed during this process. In addition, when students talk about how their thinking changed, it gives teachers the opportunity to highlight the value of their work. This in turn shows students how their contributions helped someone else grow.

Another option is to use small groups because many students are not ready to share their ideas with the whole class and this provides a safer situation for them. Small groups is the perfect setting for students to tackle word problems.  When the teacher checks in on the group, they need to ask open ended questions such as "Why do you believe that?" because it helps guide the discussion while deepening their thinking.

Of course, as a teacher we need to model math talk but we don't have to do it out loud all the time.  We can also think about using those cartoon thought bubbles to help model our thinking process.  The teacher models how to solve the problem, then circles a certain part of it before drawing in a thought bubble.  Teachers ask students "What am I thinking here?" pointing to the thought bubble and students can write down their ideas on paper in a text box.  

I will revisit this topic at another time to share more information.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.