Math teacher friend, you are powerful. I’m here to remind you of the 6 math teacher power moves to help you empower mathematicians this upcoming school year!
Peg Smith talks about Ambitious Teaching in her books 5 Practices and The 5 Practices in Practice. I love this term because it’s encompasses teaching… teaching is ambitious. And teaching math differently than how we learned is ambitious. So, as an ambitious teacher, I know you want to know the ways to empower your students to be mathematiicans. You want you to have all the information on what makes students learn best and what moves you can make in the classroom that will make the most impact.
That’s why I’ve created this episode. I have my 6 power moves for empowering your students as mathematicians
The 6 Math Teacher Power Moves:
Power Move #1: Assign/Choose/Write Open Tasks
I know that sounds like a lot and it is. But finding the right tasks is key. Sometimes they are in your book or curriculum resources and sometimes the tasks are just a waste of time or fluff. Choosing the task, writing it if you need to is a power move. As Peg Smith calls them doing mathematics: These tasks require students to deeply explore the math concepts without using algorithmic thinking. These types of problems require cognitive effort and might involve some level of anxiety… because there is some unsure-ness going into the problem. Students have to GRAPPLE. Which leads us to…
Power Move #2: Let Students Grapple/Productively Struggle
Letting students grapple builds confidence and competency. When students grapple each day for a short amount of time with strategic tasks they can apply what they know and see their own capacity for problem solving.
Power Move #3: Pair that Grapple with SEL Lessons
When you notice that students are struggling during grapple time with perseverance, it’s time to teach an SEL lesson. This will enhance students mindset and behaviors in order to problem solve in life as well as in the math classroom. Because here’s the thing, teaching students math is the PERFECT place to teach them the life skills we see many young adults lacking. Math is a place where we naturally have anxiety or might struggle, what a perfect (and relatively safe place) to learn how to come back from failure, how to cope with the feelings of failure, how to try again. It’s much easier to do that with a problem about candy necklaces than it is to do that with a failing college grade or a speeding ticket.
Power Move #4: Confernce and Monitor to assess where they are on the progression to make choices about teaching
This calls up the value of understanding the progressions of student understanding. You really need to understand the math yourself in order to teach the math. That makes some teachers really uncomfortable and I get it. I, myself, have not always been comfortable with diving into math content and thinking about how students can conceptually understand these math concepts. However, it is CRITICAL to being able to support all students. If you have a high achieving student but you only know the 4th grade curriculum… then you won’t be able to fully support that student as she starts to show evidence of her advanced thinking. Instead, if you understand how let’s say fractions develops from the beginning knowledge of equality to fair share all the way to operations with fractions… then you’ll be better suited to support all of your students.
One way I support teachers in doing this is through forecasting what they anticipate students will do. Like the weather you can’t ever FULLY anticipate what students will do, but you will have a forecast of what will likely happen… and you’ll likely have to change that in the moment. However, this will allow you to forecast based on the progression of understanding.
You may have heard of concrete- visual- abstract for the progression of presentations. That is an example of how students representations progress. Students understanding of mathematical concepts also develop along a progression, and those are often represented in the standards. So, another way to become familiar with that is through understanding the vertical alignment of standards.
Power Move #5: Ask strategic questions to get students thinking
Questions are key to get students thinking and to uncover their thinking! In episode 113 I describe the 3 questions you need in your math discussions… I really think they are the ONLY questions you need. Go listen to that episode after this one fro more ideas on questioning.
Power Move #6 Share students work for all to learn from, give students voice and deepen ability to explain reasoning and critique he reasoning of others.
Students work is a MUST for every single math class. You must choose students that have strategies and representations worth discussing and give them the floor to describe their thinking. Then, allow others to SEE their work and discuss it. This is a power move that will bring the Standards for Mathematical Practice alive in your classroom.
I have a BONUS Math Teacher Power Move:
#7 Facilitate math discussions: Math identity (confidence, motivation, self efficacy) & math proficiency (make sense of problems, persevere in solving, explain reasoning, justify, critique reasoning of others, make connections, etc) all happens within a math discussion. I know this power move feels like a WHOLE lot. It sure is. This might not be your focus yet. And that’s okay. I would say this is the most advanced power move and one that can take the most time to get a handle on. In fact, I love this one most because I think you can always improve in this move. Facilitating discussions is something taht requires listening, planning, and moves that are different every time you host a discussion.
So, that was actually 7 Math Teacher Power Moves for Empowering your Mathematicians. Phew!
That is the essence of what I believe makes a great math class. That is the work I’ve been doing for over a decade. Perfecting in my classroom and teaching teachers to do. This is the work with do with my consulting and coaching agency Chicago Math Group and what I strive to provide for you in OnDemand courses at StudentCenteredMath.com
I urge you to pick one or two of these power moves and set a goal for yourself. You definitely cannot tackle them all at once, but one by one you can improve. One way I found it by creating a system for these power moves that works in the classroom daily. That’s where Word Problem Workshop came from… it’s the daily routine I use with my students to engage them in regular productive struggle and math discourse. You can check out the teacher training at MonaMath.com/WPW
And as a sneak peak for my podcast besties… I’m working on the book version!! It’s still a long way from finished and ready to be bought on Amazon. However, I want YOU in this book with me. So, if you’ve used WPW in your classroom or taken the online course, let’s chat! Send me an email or DM on instagram HelloMonaMath on IG or Gmail and tell me your experiences and ask me your questions about these power moves or WPW. And just maybe you’ll end up in the BOOK!
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Guide to Engaging Math Discussions
- 5 Practices for Orchestrating Math Discussions
- Word Problem Workshop
You might also like:
If you have taken Word Problem Workshop, send me a DM on Instagram @hellomonamathor an email at hellomonamath@gmail.com. I would love to chat with you!
🤩 Math Word Problem Workshop
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