While circulating, when we see a common error in a few books we want to address it. You could get bogged down with 1-2-1 support for a few students but potentially miss others and there's an opportunity cost to doing this as other students who have understood the process are left waiting. I saw this happen while observing a trainee teacher recently. Several students were struggling with the same question. The trainee spent several minutes with each student in turn. I watched as students one by one finished the set of questions and were left waiting.
By using this MWB approach, you can gleen how prevalent an error is without having to scrutinise each and every book and you can intervene on a whole class level.
I'd perhaps query the strategy of students discussing the different answers at this point. Might it be better to narrate the correct process of rearranging and then give a follow up question to practice before inviting students to discuss? It depends on how well schema is in place as to how effective this type of discussion is: and if mistakes are being made still, perhaps the schema are not embedded enough yet for purposeful discussion.
Discussing answers is an interesting one. If there is widespread confusion, then I agree that jumping straight into. a clear, consise teacher explanation, and then a follow-up question, is the best strategy. But if there is evidence of knoweldge in the room - let's say 60% of students have got the right answer - then a Warm Call or a Turn and Talk can be effective to help students who are stuggling understand their mistake, and thus confront their misconception head-on. Again, this will need to be followed by a teacher explanation and a follow-up question.
Love this series of articles. Thanks Craig.
While circulating, when we see a common error in a few books we want to address it. You could get bogged down with 1-2-1 support for a few students but potentially miss others and there's an opportunity cost to doing this as other students who have understood the process are left waiting. I saw this happen while observing a trainee teacher recently. Several students were struggling with the same question. The trainee spent several minutes with each student in turn. I watched as students one by one finished the set of questions and were left waiting.
By using this MWB approach, you can gleen how prevalent an error is without having to scrutinise each and every book and you can intervene on a whole class level.
I'd perhaps query the strategy of students discussing the different answers at this point. Might it be better to narrate the correct process of rearranging and then give a follow up question to practice before inviting students to discuss? It depends on how well schema is in place as to how effective this type of discussion is: and if mistakes are being made still, perhaps the schema are not embedded enough yet for purposeful discussion.
Discussing answers is an interesting one. If there is widespread confusion, then I agree that jumping straight into. a clear, consise teacher explanation, and then a follow-up question, is the best strategy. But if there is evidence of knoweldge in the room - let's say 60% of students have got the right answer - then a Warm Call or a Turn and Talk can be effective to help students who are stuggling understand their mistake, and thus confront their misconception head-on. Again, this will need to be followed by a teacher explanation and a follow-up question.
Thanks so much for your comment!