Math Talk Professional Learning

Today I facilitated a professional learning opportunity with about 10 teachers working with students grades kindergarten through 4th grade.  It was a fun and busy day of learning with fabulous discussions.  The content was developed utilizing online resources as well as content from Visible Learning for Mathematics (Hattie, Fisher, Frey), Talk Moves (Chapin, O'Connor, Anderson), and Number Talks (Parrish).  The books are fabulous, and I would highly recommend a read.  In the meantime, feel free to utilize some of the slides from these Google Slides I put together to help guide our work for the morning.

Math Talk Moves Resource

This is a quick resource to help teachers remember five of the key math talk moves.  The information on the bookmark is based on the information from the book, Talk Moves: A Teacher's Guide for Using Classroom Discussions in Math written by Chapin, O'Connor, and Anderson.  It should be noted that there are other talk moves detailed in the book, this is just a resource for five that tend to be particularly high-leverage in my experience.  See the PDF version of this resource here.

Workshop Model and Small Group Differentiation

When working with teachers looking to better understand the workshop model and small group instruction, consider utilizing these two resources: Workshop Model and Management and Types of Small Groups.  These documents can help to clarify the parts of workshop teaching and possible pitfalls to avoid as you plan.

Math Talk in the Classroom: Open Shares and Targeted Talk

Earlier this week, I was honored to facilitate some trainings in my district around math talk and formative assessment in the classroom.  Above are the two resources that much of the information of the modules I presented was pulled from.  I read both over the summer and they give powerful primary and intermediate vignettes, highlighting powerful math talk in classrooms.  Because I was tasked with sharing information around math talk, the role of math talk in formative assessment and how these two work together to subsequently aid teachers in making sound instructional decisions in the classroom, I have been spending quite a bit of time thinking about my own math instruction.  My realization this summer is that I have some place to grow and that is an exciting prospect.  I am hoping to be a bit more effective and intentional when working with my students in mathematics.  I am using open shares and targeted talk all the time in my classroom.  Math talk is alive and happening everyday, but I don't know that I am as effective as I can be in utilizing that talk to assess my students understanding or misconceptions in math.  In the past I have moved between open shares and targeted talk without always being cognizant of that formative assessment piece.  Perhaps some of that just comes naturally as you teach and you aren't always fully aware of all of the "moves" you are making based off of the students responses, and in some ways that is probably okay.  I do think this will be a goal for me as I enter the school year-- keeping that formative assessment in math talk in the forefront of my mind.  Being aware of the decisions I am making and why.  Becoming more precise, and intentional through the math talk occurring in my classroom and finding more effective ways of pinpointing next steps for my mathematicians in whole-group, small-group and partner work.

For those who may be interested.  Here are some online resources that cover more on math talk, open sharing, targeted talk and formative assessment in math.

• The 5 Math Talk Moves
• How to Get Students Talking
• Four Ideas to Deepen Students Discussions
• The Formative Assessment Cycle
• Common Core and Formative Assessment in Math

Math Differentiation

Today was a fabulous day of professional development offered by my district around math instruction.  So much great learning around differentiation, math talk and formative assessment influencing thoughtful math instruction in the classroom.  As was absorbing lots of new ideas and thinking, I was reminded of a book I began utilizing really heavily last school year.  The book I am thinking of is "Good Questions: Great Ways to Differentiate Math Instruction", written by Marian Small.  This was recommended to me by a trusted colleague and I have to say it is my favorite resource in planning  my math lessons.  The focus of this book is on two easy to implement and extremely effective ways teachers can differentiate mathematics to meet the needs of their students in the classroom; through open questioning and through parallel tasks.  The first chapter or two of this book defines open questioning and parallel tasks for the reader and also outlines how teachers might create their own questions and tasks that inherently differentiated for the needs of learners.  If you look at the 2nd Edition, the final 3/4 or more of the book is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and gives both primary and intermediate examples of open questions and parallel tasks that can be used in the classroom.

What are open questions and parallel tasks?  I need more information...

• Open Questioning:  Open questioning is about asking broad questions that provide opportunities and access points for students at many developmental level to think about mathematics through a variety of approaches and responses.
• Parallel Tasks:  Parallel Tasks are sets of related task that look at the same big idea, but are designed to meet the needs of students at differing developmental levels and that lend themselves to discussions around strategy and thinking.
• Additional Information and Resources:
• Examples of Open Questions and Parallel Tasks
• Differentiating Math Instruction K-8
• Durham Catholic District School Board on Math Differentiation