Helping students listen to each other 🗣️🔇👂

Could the following happen in your classroom?

Have you secured your place for Marvellous Maths 3? The closing date is 12th October!

An example from the classroom

Here is something I witnessed in a classroom I visited recently.

Year 11 students were working on a set of Corbett Maths 5-a-day as part of their Do Now. One of the questions was this:

Following on from my coaching session the day before, the teacher was employing Book-to-Board: students worked independently on the questions, writing their working out and answers on the sheet, and then when the teacher instructed, transferred their final answer to each question in turn onto their mini-whiteboards so the teacher had an immediate sense of whole class understanding.

As the mini-whiteboards were being held aloft, I moved to the front of the classroom to get the teacher’s view. Whilst the majority of students had the correct answer of 160%, there were serval answers of 38% visible.

As we had discussed, the teacher decided to seize the opportunity, and dig into what might be an interesting misconception. So, he asked one student, Emily, who had an answer of 38%, to explain her answer.

And this is where things got interesting…

Here is the layout of the classroom, with the star indicating where Emily was sitting, and the circle where the teacher was standing:

Emily explained her answer to the teacher. Her explanation was clear and concise. The teacher then asked the class if anyone could explain where Emily had gone wrong. Silence ensued. After a few seconds, taking the silence as a singal that the class could not interpret Emily’s answer, the teacher explained Emily’s mistake himself, and asked Emily if that made sense. Emily nodded, and then the teacher modelled the correct answer.

What are your thoughts on this teaching moment?

What happened next…

I moved to the back of the class and quietly asked three students if they could tell me first what Emily’s answer was, and second what explanation she gave. The triangles indicate where the three students were sitting:

None of the students could tell me either Emily’s answer, or the reason she gave.

Why do you think this happened?

Why, why, why?

I think there are two possibilities as to why the three students I asked were unable to tell me Emily’s answer or explanation:

1. They were not listening

2. They were unable to listen

The first may be the natural assumption, and quite rightly. It is hard enough getting students to listen to the teacher, let alone listen to each other.

But following Tom Sherrington’s musings on the view from the back of the classroom that he shared on a recent episode of my Mr Barton Maths podcast, this second possibility was in my head.

Emily held up her mini-whiteboard so the teacher could see it. Her neighbours may have had a glance as to what she put, but no one else in the class was able to see her answer. Emily then directed her explanation towards the teacher in front of her, speaking at a volume appropriate for a one-to-one conversation. To anyone behind Emily, or sufficiently far away to the side, this response would have sounded something like: mulpph oowird fralompd…

So, even if the students were trying to listen to Emily, it would have been near impossible to do so.

Could this happen in your classroom? I know it certainly could in mine.

What is the solution?

I think there are a few things we as teachers can do to improve both the ability and incentive for students to listen to each other. Let’s stick with Emily. The teacher could have…

1. … borrowed Emily’s mini-whiteboard and showed it to the class, or written her answer up on his board. This would have given the rest of the class a better chance of being aware of Emily’s answer.

2. … encouraged Emily to project her voice more loudly.

3. … asked Emily to turn around to face the majority of the class instead of talking straight to the teacher

4. … repeated what Emily said

5. … asked a student to repeat what Emily said

The first four ideas create the conditions where students are able to listen to each other, the last one gives them the incentive to actually do so. And if another student cannot repeat what Emily said, then the repercussions need to be appropriate enough to ensure the norm becomes: in this classroom, we listen to each other.

So, the next time you ask a student to share an answer, consider:

1. Can the rest of the class hear the answer?

2. Have they got an incentive to listen?

What do you recognise in your own teaching?

What do you agree with, and what have I missed?

Let me know in the comments below!

🏃🏻‍♂️ Before you go, have you…🏃🏻‍♂️

1. … secured your place on our Marvellous Maths 3 CPD day? ***closing date is 12th October***

2. … checked out our incredible, brand-new, free resources from Eedi?

3. … read my latest Tips for Teachers newsletter about using Call and Respond to check calculator use?

4. … listened to my most recent podcast about surviving and thriving an Ofsted inspection?

5. … considered booking some CPD, coaching, or maths departmental support?

6. … read my Tips for Teachers book?

Thanks so much for reading and have a great week!

Craig