What is a Student Centered Math Classroom?

What is a Student Centered Math Classroom?

A student centered math classroom is complex, yet simple. The main point… the students are doing the work– the thinking, doing, exploring, figuring out. The teacher is the guide on the side in that exploration and sense making.

Student centered practices create equitable classrooms. Read about 4 Ways to Build Equity and Engagement in Math here.

Why Student Centered Math Classroom Practices?

Student centered math classrooms create a safe classroom community that allow students to take risks and form deep understanding of math concepts. Through student centered practices students feel confident, free to explore, and make mistakes. Students learn by doing.

Student centered practices build students self efficacy. Through these practices students come to believe that they can achieve deep mathematical thinking. Their self efficacy and confidence grow.

Teachers in a student centered class get to be truly creative- balancing their content knowledge, instructional moves and knowledge of their students to make decisions and craft experiences. Teachers develop their instruction in response to what the students know and can do, making the classroom truly responsive to the students.

What a Student Centered Math Classroom is NOT…

Often teachers think that student centered means the learning is completely up to the students. Another misconception is that students have unlimited freedom and choice. Teachers worry that if students have too much choice or freedom they will not learn and be out of control.

Student centered classrooms are structured, routine, and highly planned. Students do get choice in a student centered classroom and that helps build ownership and a safe classroom community. However, the teacher still maintains the road map, the plan for where the learning is going!

Student centered math classrooms are not teacher directed– the instruction is not delivered in the “I do/ we do/ you do” format. Instruction is structured in a “workshop” type model. Teachers resist showing, explaining, or telling. Instead, teachers facilitate conversations that empower students to tell what they did, and explain their thinking supported by examples from their own experiences.

Student centered classrooms are not out of control or “easier” on the kids. In fact, the goal is that the rigor and expectations are high for all students. The intent of a student centered classroom is that students are all being challenged while also collaborating tosupport one another to deeply understand.

Student Centered Math Classrooms are Like an Iceberg

It is a balance of control— almost like an iceberg— where on the surface it looks like the kids are running the show, but really underneath it all its an expertly planned operation that is allowing students to construct meaning that is all moving in the direction of a deep understanding and joyful experience with math! 

What is the Student’s Role in a Student Centered Math Classroom?

Community Member

The foundation of a student centered math class is a solid classroom community. Students must feel seen and respected by their classmates and their teacher. Much time and energy is put into establishing and nurturing this community. Students are part of the creation and healthy of their classroom community. The teacher uses social emotional lessons and concepts to help students develop relationships, collaborate, and feel a sense of belonging.

Risk Taker

In a student centered math classroom students must take risks to learn. The classroom community provides a safe place to take risks. A place where students know their risks and consequential mistakes will be used to build new understandings, not laughed at or ridiculed. Students know that learning requires risk and that getting uncomfortable is part of the learning process.

Active Learner

Students must be active members of a student centered classroom. Every single thing that happens in the classroom requires that students work together with their peers and teachers, no child can just “take a ride”. Instead, every child must participate and contribute in a student centered classroom. This ensures that every child is making their own meaning, leading their own learning journey, and developing the skills to learn.

Reflector

A huge part of a student centered classroom is reflection. In order to move forward after mistakes in our learning or mishaps in our community we must reflect on what happened, why it happened and what we will do differently next time. This reflection is essential to deep mathematical understanding as well as developing the skills of a learner. Students actively reflect to build their skills in the student centered math classroom.

What is the Teacher’s Role in a Student Centered Classroom?

The teacher holds the road map on the student centered classroom journey. As teachers, we plan to let our students drive their learning, but we hold the map. So, we always start with planning. High quality, throughout plans are essential in student centered math classrooms.

Knowing Students Deeply

Teachers start their planning for a student centered classroom by knowing students deeply. This includes knowing students’ as people and as problem solvers. Giving students opportunities to allow us to know them, allows us to keep them as our primary focus. Teachers do not assume we know the level of a student based on a test score or past work. Instead, we offer opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding and we listen in, ask questions, and observe to get a full picture of what our students can do and understand.

When we plan we think about what do our students know, how can we build on that. Our lesson plans build on our students current understanding because it allows our students to attach their new learning to existing.

Planning Long Term

The teachers main job in a student centered classroom is in the PLANNING.  We chart out long term plans with standards in mind, prioritizing them and ordering them. Then, we use those standards to plan assessments and performance tasks to assess students along the way. Finally, we plan instructional routines including problem choice, discussion questions, and prompts that will push our students to achieve by deeply understanding the math.

Planning Math Tasks

Choosing a math task is essential in the planning process. Finding a high quality math task that drives students toward the standard that is both challenging and approachable is key. Once a task is selected, teachers then plan for those tasks considering the progression of understanding that students go through as they solve such problems. Teachers plan out all possible ways students might approach a problem and consider what questions to ask a student at each level.

Planning Discussions

Planning for discussion is another important aspect of the planning. Teachers use templates and strategies to listen in as students work and choose worthy examples of student reasoning to share with the greater group. Teachers plan for social emotional learning lessons to facilitate discussions that are both engaging and help students become better communicators. Teachers use discussion questions that are open ended and non-leading to help students examine and go deep into concepts to achieve lasting understandings in students.

Planning Assessments

Assessments are also planned with students in mind. Teachers plan formative and summative assessments using their long term plans, lesson plans, standards, and curriculum. These assessments help teachers better plan future lessons and choose more appropriate problems to achieve the ultimate goal of a deep mastery of standards and a true understand of the math concepts. Teachers treat assessments as methods to gain better understanding of their students.

Planning Small Groups & Conferences

As teachers plan they consider how conferencing and small groups will be used in their instruction. Teachers plan to listen during these times to truly understand their students thinking. They plan nudges and questions using their progression of understanding to move students toward a deeper understanding of the math concepts. Teachers plan for which math manipulatives to introduce for certain needs of students. These are referred to as “just in time” supports– meaning supports and scaffolds that are given to students on an as needed basis which allows the teacher to keep the expectations high for all students.

Facilitating

Teachers facilitate their plans in the classroom with the purpose of keeping students’ thinking at the center of the instruction. Teachers expertly listen, using what they hear and observe to build skills within the student centered instructional practices. Teachers use moments within the lessons to build both math confidence and a positive math identity while also filling in math skills that may be lacking ALL at the same time as holding the bar high. Expectations are not lowered for students that struggle or have holes in their learning. The expectations remain high and the level of support and teacher facilitation changes based on student needs, continuing to keep the student at the center. The mantra of a student centered math class can and should be… EVERYONE CAN ALWAYS DO MATH JOYFULLY!

More information about Student Centered Math Classroom:

This episode of Honest Math Chat

This article from Edutopia scratches the surface & can help you get started.

Student Engagement Strategies on this article.

What is a math discussion? Questions answered here!

4 Simple Steps to Teach ANYTHING in a student centered math classroom!