Reflect after reading Chapters 5-7:
How do we answer questions in a thinking classroom? When and how do we give tasks?
Consider the following questions:
- What is resonating with you from the reading?
- What caused you to pause and think during this section?
Respond and Interact
After reading these chapters, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
I am limited to 30 minutes with each group, which does not leave me with a lot of time, but we often start out with a warm-up of some kind to get their brains problem-solving. While this definitely promotes collaboration with their classmates, I notice now that I may be asking too many questions that prompt them in the right direction. After reading these chapters, I will be working harder to step out of the process a little more to get them working closer with each other.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that did resonate with me is letting the other students fill in a student that might come late. As that is often the case for one reason or another, I feel often times I have to restate the instructions, or go back and explain what we have just done. It would be interesting to watch other students fill them in on the task rather than waiting for me to explain everything again. I also enjoyed the idea of having them stand during instruction or maybe move about the room engaging multiple senses while learning.
Something that resonated with me is that I need to be more cautious about the questions I answer and the way I answer them. The concept of three different types of questions is new to me, but it makes sense. "Keep-Thinking" questions seem to be something that students in first grade don't have much practice with. However, I think that I have the power to respond to their questions in a way that guides them toward asking more keep-thinking questions. I also agree with the idea of giving tasks at the beginning of class. I think this works because students can see their end goal, and they start the task with more attention and interest in learning, rather than struggling through the task at the end of the lesson after having information thrown at them for a significant amount of time. I don't have much experience with giving homework but agree that rebranding homework to "check-for-understanding" would be beneficial!
ReplyDeleteThe chapter on answering questions resonated with me. It was funny to read about the three types of questions (yes, I've answered so many stop-thinking and proximity questions), and experienced the line of little ducklings following me around the room. I like the idea of standing in the center of the room to encourage more independent or collaborative thinking, but it will take some practice and discipline even on my part to not answer questions.
ReplyDeleteI've gone back and forth on the idea of assigning homework. Other than daily reading, I haven't really assigned homework for the reasons shared in the book - those who need the extra practice won't do it. As I reflected on my plan for next school year, I considered sending home optional practice work. After reading the chapter on "check your understanding questions", my plan is to communicate with families about my intention with "check your understanding questions" - providing some options and answers as a safe way for students to check their understanding, make mistakes and learn from their mistakes.
In the past couple of years, there has been a lot of proximity and stop thinking questions asked in my class. One side effect of Covid that really isn’t talked about is how students have become reliant on their parents or others to do the thinking for them. I can relate to the teachers that states having little ducklings in her classroom following her around. I really like the responses the teachers came up with in response to proximity or stop thinking questions. As stated in the book, 2nd graders are not going to stop asking the question if the teacher doesn’t respond. They are just going to get louder. Having taught the new math curriculum this year, I know there will be lots of stop thinking and proximity questions at the beginning of year. As the year went on my students became much better at being willing to think through difficult problems.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 6, there were 2 things that really resonated with me. The idea that gathering students around you to verbally teacher/give directions will increase their thinking. I’ve never thought about asking students to meet in in the corner of the room and then verbally give them the directions to a task. I like the idea of having students come and stand around the white board while we talk about a task. This is something I will definitely do when school starts.
What resonated with me was chapter 5 about how we answer questions in a thinking classroom. I think most primary teachers can strongly relate to the stop-thinking and proximity questions. In my classroom, both types of questions tend to reassure the student or students they are on the right track because they truly are unsure of themselves and how to think. I have often had to remind students to not follow me around the classroom and to raise their hand if they need me, like the line of ducklings mentioned. For other subjects, I have moved around the classroom where anchor charts are posted to review and it is true, that the students are more engaged. I am thinking I need to do this in math as well, because I do have them sit on the rug in front of the screen as we review the slides. The chapter on homework is interesting to me. I always have parents ask for more practice at home, but I know that only a few work on what I provide. And the students who really need extra practice are not getting support at home but instead from me where I can squeeze time in to do so. For this upcoming year, I will ‘rebrand’ (as the text states) and use the term, ‘check for understanding.’ I love this idea and maybe this will give a new outlook for parents and students.
ReplyDeleteI am in buildings all the time, and I get to see and interact with small groups often. However, I don't get to see classroom instruction as often as I would like. Recently, I was able to visit a 3rd grade classroom that was using a lot of the great strategies that resonated with me in these chapters. She was able to move students around the room to engage them in instruction, and learning. This teacher used so many different strategies and multi-sensory tools to engage her students in some of the most simple tasks. If a student didn't know an answer, another student would help them to access information. She was able to avoid the "stop thinking questions" by asking additional open ended questions that led the student to go and seek out more information. I was truly blown away at her ability to manage a room of students, keep them all engaged, and use such a variety of questioning strategies to motivate and move students forward in their process.
ReplyDeleteTasks given at the beginning of the lesson when energy and engagement is high makes so much sense to me. A part that I underlined was: ."just know that the longer you talk, and the longer they listen, the less likely you are going to be able to get them to think." We need our kids to be DOING math within the first few minutes of every lesson.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate experiencing the lesson Renae did when she came to our staff meeting. I'm assuming she did this for all the elementary schools. When reading chapters 2-7, I kept visualizing and remembering our math experience with Renae. The library tables were flipped with removable white boards, we all drew a card to learn what group we were in, the task was projected so everyone could see it, and groups started working. I didn't notice what Teacher Renae was doing during this time (standing in the middle where she can observe all the groups) because my group was engaged in the task. I am so thankful I had that experience with Renae to help deepen the concepts in this book. In a recent car ride, I asked my husband what he remembers about his math classes as a kid. It was the typical response that matches the institutionalized view of how to teach math (desks in rows, going over homework from previous night, teacher teaching, students working on assignment, etc.) I was telling my husband (a data analyst) about what I am learning from Peter Liljedahl's book and how I hope that our own children get math experiences like Peter describes in his book and what I experienced with Renae. In the real world, if my husband's numbers don't align with marketing, or sales, or a different part of the company, then they have to collaborate to figure out why. There isn't a teacher to tell them who is correct. He also writes a lot of codes and build reports that generate data. In his previous role, he often gathered his team of analysts to solve what they were working on... and it was standing up around a large whiteboard with math and coding equations! There is a lot of math collaboration and communication in professions and students need experiences with this to prepare them for real world jobs.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed these chapters as they focused on having students be at the center of the learning. Giving students a task verbally in the first 3-5 minutes while just giving them relevant information not examples on how to solve them really seemed to engage them in the learning. I like the idea of giving it verbally and having them all come in a circle around to hear the task. This will be a big shift from how we have given tasks in the past and will take some time to get used to. I also like the idea of standing in the middle and not engaging with students or giving a smile and walking away to get students thinking. I laughed when reading about the younger students following their teacher because I could definitely see that happening in my first grade classroom. I am looking forward to trying out these strategies and think it will take a bit of practice to not help my students too much or answer proximity and stop-thinking questions.
ReplyDeleteThe two things resonating with me the most from these chapters is the way in which I answer questions and how and where I give directions in the classroom. It is so easy to get sucked into student’s questions and just answer them, but it is so true that it can take away so much from their experience and thinking. Becoming a teacher that has a “thinking classroom” will take a lot of practice and it will also take students time to get accustomed to this type of environment. I do believe it will build much more confident, independent learners that will look less to the teacher for reassurance, and eventually they will be asking less of those habitual questions. I really enjoyed reading through the scripts of the teacher introducing tasks. Immediately catching the attention of students and getting them engaged makes a big difference in their “buy in”. While reading these chapters, I found myself much more often envisioning older students, but I am anxious to find ways to get creative with my classroom space and implement these things with younger students.
ReplyDeleteThe thingsthat resonated with me is the stop thinking questions! In Kindergarten they are always looking for your approval and so the "Is this Right?" questions starts very early on. Sometimes I am in such a hurry to see what each child is working on that I quickly answer and move on. I would like to work on helping students build the confidence and put them back to work on answering that question on their own. A tiny change that I hope will impact their learning.
ReplyDelete“A typical teacher answers between 200 and 400 questions a day”! I feel this. There are a lot of questions in a day. The three categories are interesting and that 90% of these questions are proximity or stop-thinking questions. I thought it was interesting that they got better results from smiling or letting the student know they were heard walking away. Some students want to be heard and school can be a place where they are also listened to. I want my students to be heard but also learn to ask more keep-thinking questions. Giving a task right away in the lesson is something I work towards already and I think it will be even better with the new math curriculum and using the warm-ups. Also, the verbal instructions while writing instructions is something I try to do. Homework was interesting have already seen that the students who don’t need to do homework are the only ones who do it and the ones who need the extra help don’t. I was not planning to send much homework this year, but this made me think about sometimes sending some check-your-understanding questions home could be a good way for students to also show their families what we are working on.
ReplyDeleteAs a kindergarten teacher, much of this reading resonated with me, especially the visual of the teacher walking around being followed by her "ducklings" who were looking for their questions to be answered :) We spend so much time answering questions and seeing our students ask these questions is usually a sign that they are interested or on task. This reading helped me shift my perspective to think about students asking questions as more of a studenting behavior and less of a sign that they are engaged.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea that stood out to me is giving thinking tasks in the first few minutes of a lesson. In kindergarten we spend a lot of time preparing the kids for a lesson, making sure they understand the task and what to do. It is my understanding that the new math curriculum is set up to have them participate in a thinking task early on. I am excited to see how this changes our math lessons and their engagement and thinking skills.
Like many others have stated above, I cannot wait to try a few of these strategies to help me answer keep-thinking questions only. As I was reading and reflecting on my last year, I vividly remembered how exhausting it was to teach math somedays. As I dig deeper, I realize it wasn't the content per se, but that students were constantly needing affirmations or were wanting to reduce their workload by asking stop-thinking questions. This type of problem-solving based curriculum was brand new to them, too! I plan on printing out the list of ten things to say in response to a proximity or stop-thinking questions and try out the smile and walk away. I also look forward to setting my room up with multiple spaces to gather/cluster to introduce a thinking task. Having the new fancy clicker was a game changer for me this year, it enabled me to wander around the classroom and teach from any part of the classroom. This year I hope to move the flat panel around more frequently, or use a vertical whiteboard that can be easily moved around the room, paired with the use of more verbal instructions.
ReplyDelete