Stop Giving the Answers

This group of seventh graders is quickly learning that there are very few answers given in class.  Ask a question and you get a question back.  Ask if your answer is correct and you will be asked the same question.  Have a different answer than your classmates?  Be prepared to share. 

Sharing the correct answers requires little thinking.  In the typical classroom, a teacher may stand in front of the class and read the correct answers to students or even ask students to share their correct answers.  Students correct their work by marking answers right or wrong and then ask for clarification on specific problems.  Additional students may then be asked to present the correct process or at least a process, which works for the given situation.  Take a few minutes to reflect on the level of mathematical discussion and thinking, which occurs when this process of sharing the correct answers is used.  Are students thinking? Are they learning?

Instead of giving the correct answers, peruse the classroom and look for students who have the incorrect answers. Yes, the incorrect answers.  Ask these students to share their work, processes, understanding and reasoning with the class.  Now, facilitate a discussion.  Look at the thinking used by the students.  Ask students to explain their thinking.  Ask students to look for errors in thought processes or calculations.  Can they explain why this process did not work? Can students direct their peers to think of the process in a different manner?  Was the individual on the right track but needed guidance for the next steps?  Take some time to reflect on this process.  Are students thinking?  Are they learning?

Force discussions and thought in the classroom by pushing students out of their comfort zones.  Allow them to come into class without answers.  Start accepting incomplete processes with questions as to where to go next.  Lets be clear.  Blanks and question marks are not okay.  Students must show some attempts and comments as to where they were hitting a roadblock.  And if the other extreme occur where students are getting all the answers correct then they are not being challenging.  Give students work that requires them to think beyond the rote skills and the skill range where they will earn 100%.  Force students to challenge their mathematical thinking. This is where the mathematical discussion and learning will occur.

Assign tasks and activities which have different interpretations and perspectives.  As students ask questions, require the class to come to a consensus.  In other words, when students ask what a requirement means let the class to determine the answer.  Don’t give students your perspective or interpretation.  Allow students to think about the mathematical context and discuss the best ways to approach the situation.  Let students discuss their perspectives and reasoning.  Is there just one?  Is there only one right answer?

According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative (2012), mathematically proficient students make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.  They look for entry points to solutions, make conjectures and develop a plan towards a solution.  The Common Core State Standards Initiative (2012), describes mathematically proficient students as those who can listen to or read the arguments of others, decide whether they make sense, and ask useful questions to clarify or improve the arguments. This can happen when students are challenged beyond the provision of the right answers.

Challenge your students to think.  Develop the mathematically proficient student.  Stop giving the answers and instead give students the gift of learning.

           

Implementing the Common Core State Standards. (2012). Common Core State Standards Initiative. Retrieved October 30, 2013 from http://www.corestandards.org