Moving On!

Nearly a decade ago, I stepped into the role of Primary Years Programme (PYP) Coordinator in an International Baccalaureate (IB) school. A significant aspect of my responsibilities involved fostering connections among the teachers I collaborated with, aiming to disseminate best teaching practices. While predecessors had opted for newsletters, I envisioned a broader reach, extending beyond the audience of my school's educators.

Thus, the blog "Making Teaching Visible: Observing and documenting best teaching practice in order to connect one good idea to other educators" was born. Infatuated with the book "Making Thinking Visible," many of the initial posts revolved around the thinking routines advocated by authors Ritchhart, Church, and Morrison. The blog's title obviously paid homage to these influential figures and their groundbreaking work.

Over the years, this blog facilitated connections with educators globally and served as a platform for analyzing and reflecting on the essence of effective teaching. My goal has always been to share practical ideas that could make teachers' jobs easier and their efforts more effective.

However, my journey has evolved, and I am no longer in the role of a PYP Coordinator. In the past four years, I've returned to the classroom, and the need for this blog has waned - along with the time I have to write posts! The transition of domains has rendered many embedded pictures as mere "!", serving as warnings that the images are no longer available. I've explored alternative avenues, such as TikTok, to share the ideas I've been learning and implementing - check me out there. Given the lapse in regular updates, I believe it's an apt time to officially bid farewell to this blog.

While I acknowledge the wealth of valuable ideas archived in the over 100 posts on this blog, I've decided against archiving the entire thing. No new posts will be added, at least for the foreseeable future. It's time to embark on a new chapter, and I appreciate the enriching journey this blog has afforded me. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this endeavor. It's time to move on!

Be an Inquirer

Teacher leaders embrace an inquiry stance to focus on learning while not stopping forward progress.

As a former Primary Years Programme Teacher and Coordinator, I know that taking an inquiry-approach to classroom instruction is fundamental. However, inquiry shouldn't just happen in front of students. It's about taking an inquiry stance all the time, which means being a curious learner as a teacher leader, with oneself and with one's students.

As a leader, if you notice something happening in a mathematics classroom that confuses, angers, frustrates, or saddens you, your first steps should be to ask questions to understand. Avoid blaming, shaming, sharing your anger, belittling, or accusing. Instead, ask simple, open-ended, non-confrontational prompts like "Can you help me understand?" As a teacher leader, your goal is to ask questions not to challenge, but because you're curious.

This inquiry stance should also be applied to your own classroom. When something doesn't go quite right, ask yourself, "What can I learn from this experience?" Instead of getting bogged down in shame and embarrassment, focus on what you can do to improve.

To model this inquiry stance with students, start by showing them how to be curious and how to ask questions. You can also model how to solve a problem and the questions you ask yourself as you tackle it. When asking students questions, try to understand their thinking instead of trying to fix it.

You’ll also want to keep in mind the balance of confusion and understanding in your classroom. As MaryAnn from the Making Meaning of Operations case book said, "This situation made me wonder about the wisdom of leaving students in the middle of a misunderstanding," (Case 14, p. 52). We need to find a balance between acknowledging when students' lines of thinking are incorrect with not stopping their forward progress. And as case 18 and case 9 from the same book illustrate, we can find fascination and value in discussing different ways to approach a problem and different perspectives. By embracing an inquiry stance, we can create a more collaborative and engaging learning environment for ourselves and our students.

Repeat to Understand: Improving Math Discussions through Repetition

When students share their mathematical thinking in a group, it's important that everyone's voice feels heard. One effective technique to ensure this is to have another student repeat the thinking of the person who shared. This strategy, which we saw in many Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) videos (as part of the Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics at Mt Holyoke College), was also recommended by my colleague Louisa for my Student Thinking Assignments in the 2021-22 school year.

There are several benefits to using this approach. First, it amplifies the voice of the student who originally shared their thinking and communicates to the class that their ideas are valued. Second, when a student's thinking is repeated, more students have a chance to hear and understand it. In a busy and distracting classroom, hearing ideas twice can help students pay closer attention. Third, repeating the thinking provides an opportunity to check for understanding. If the repetition is incorrect, we can quickly identify any misunderstandings or communication issues.

Echoing student voices by having another student repeat their thinking is a simple and effective technique to use in your elementary math classroom. It promotes inclusion, helps clarify ideas, and encourages active listening among students.

In your next math class, give it a shot and see how it goes. Then leave me a comment and let me know how it worked for you!

Questions to Reflect & Refine

• In what ways could echoing student voices benefit my classroom math discussions? How could it support student learning?
• How might I use or adapt this technique to suit the needs of my classroom and my students? How might I regularly incorporate this strategy into my practice?
• Can I think of any other strategies to ensure that all my students' voices are heard in math discussions?

Ideas that came up based on feedback from others:

• When students are hesitant or afraid to vocalize their ideas/processes, being the "repeater" is actually much lower stakes. They can still be a part of the conversation, but they don't have to vulnerably share their own ideas if they aren't ready to, yet. (Larry)
• This technique is described above in the context of a small or large group, but could also be a strategy students would use in pairs as a way to show their partner was actively listening. The way the technique is used is dependent on the purpose. (Melissa)
• What happens if the math thinking originally shared is incorrect? Do you still have that thinking echoed? (Melissa)
• Repetition is a super important technique. Students teaching, after gaining expertise, can really boost the repetitions. Giving students multiple modeling opportunities advantages all. (Amy)
• This community has potential to build community. (Judi)
• An important precursor to using a technique like this is to lay out norms and expectations for the group. It is also important students know the purpose; to amplify voices, promote inclusion and clarify ideas. This "echoing" technique shouldn't be looked on as a listening quiz, but rather a chance to restate and reframe. (Louisa)
• When students get used to listening to other students' math thinking and sharing their own thinking, the ownership for learning, thinking and teaching shifts towards the students, giving them agency. (Jennifer) 
• This strategy would be useful in other areas as well, not just in the mathematics classroom (Ashley)