Do you want to do LESS?
In a world that wants more more more… I want to do less!
As busy teachers with demands that are impossible to meet all of, I want you to utilize the time to do what matters most. I want you to be able to use your time to make the greatest impact possible. So, I think that means doing less SO that… students can do more.
So, as we are mid-May right now, if you’re listening live… you are just a few weeks from the end of the school year and likely FULLY into thinking and planning for next year. I don’t know about you, but I usually plan the last month of school and then my brain totally jumps to next year.
So, here are the things you should do LESS of to help your students do more.
- Talk less
- Do less
- Support less
Now you might be thinking… yeah right Mona. That sounds good but there is NO way that will work. You might be thinking, how will talking, doing, and supporting less let my students lead?
Let’s break it down!
You talking less will give students more time to talk.
Think about it. If you’re talking and explaining… then students are sitting and (hopefully) listening. But the reality is, if you’re talking there is NO guarantee that students are learning. However, research supports that if students are talking then they are engaged in sense making and achievement increases.
“In the ideal discussion-based classroom community, students have the right to speak and the obligation to explicate their reasoning, providing warranted evidence for their claims so S. Michaels et al. 123 that others can understand and critique their arguments. The classroom culture assumes that all students have equal access to the floor and to the academic content, and that all students have comparable discourse experience to make their voices heard and recognized as offering reasoned and cogent contributions. Indeed the ‘‘rules of the game’’ in this idealized classroom community look strikingly similar to the norms of discourse called for in theories of deliberative democracy.”
When you DO less…
Meaning you ask students to do less problems. Then, students can focus their effort on one or two problems to demonstrate deep thinking. Slowing down and really digging into one or two problems will help students develop the conceptual understanding.
Do you remember the 5 strands of Mathematical Proficiency?
These strands are interwoven and developed alongside each other. The best way to do that is through tasks that ask students to practice these skills at the same time… which means you HAVE to do less. You’ll notice that procedural fluency is something that might require more practice, and practice is not a bad thing… but doing less problems that are richer will result in more opportunities to dive deeper and develop math proficiency.
Supporting students less
Will let students build the skills to productively struggle and be empowered to see what they CAN do. This is both math mindset related and math proficiency related. They work together when students see that they CAN do hard thing sin math they are more willing to engage and participate. Students are more willing to do complex work when they find confidence in their successes. When students engage they will develop more mathematical proficiency. They cannot learn math deeply if they don’t engage in the problem solving.
But let’s talk about productive struggle
It’s more uncomfortable for US to watch students struggle than it is for students to struggle. I truly believe that kids are not afraid of minor failures or being off track (and that’s what struggles in the math classroom are). Students have NEVER been ruined for life by spending 8 minutes working through something that has completely confused them. Your teacher heart tells you to save them, though doesn’t it? Mine does!
We’re pulled to guide them, show them what to do to get on the right track. But the truth is… that’s just telling them what to do and it takes away their opportunity to truly learn to problem solve, which is learning to do math.
But you might be thinking, but don’t they need to know WHAT to do? If I don’t show them will they ever know?
Let me be clear, I don’t think that you should NEVER tell students what to do. But I think students need adequate time to explore tasks that are selected strategically to move students toward the math goals.
For example, if you want students to build an understanding of adding fractions… then they need multiple problems over several days to build their understanding of fractions using manipualtives and visual representations, time to talk to their peers and hear their reasoning, time to make conjectures about the patterns they see and truths they see emerging. Then, it is appropriate to say “okay friends let’s pause the conversation here at talk about some fraction truths. This is called a fraction bar, this is the numerator, “what does that tell us?” etc.
We can support our students by allowing them to take the lead in thinking, talking, and solving by doing less.
So, let me know what are you willing to do less of next year to help your students take the lead?
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