This summer I had the opportunity to read the book, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, by James Liljedah. After reading this book, my curiosity peaked, and I was anxious to do some summer professional development with a few other teachers and coaches from Owatonna. Our team spent two days in Plymouth with presenter Jessica Strom learning more about the 14 teaching practices for enhancing learning. I am excited to break down my learning for you in a series of three blog posts.
“Much of how classrooms look and much of what happens in them today is guided by institutional norms-norms that have not changed since the inception of an industrial-age model of public education.” This is a great quote from the book that matched my thinking over the past few years that the model of education we are a part of is antiquated and what has worked in the past with students and learning is not as effective anymore. The I do, we do, you do does not build deep meaningful thinking. I often thought to myself, I showed them, we did some together, and now they can’t do it themselves. What is their problem? Well, the problem was me! I did the thinking for them and never gave them the opportunity to develop their own understanding. Basically, I was taking away their opportunity to make meaning, make connections and think. When we would get to the now-you-try-one stage, I was met with disappointment by their work. As the book states and I know, the students were either slacking, stalling, faking, mimicking, or try it on their own trying to make connections or find the answer. I thought to myself, I was a strong math student and could memorize procedures very easily. The teacher showed me what to do, I could do it, and I would do well on the test. But…I really didn’t know or understand math. This came to me as a slap-in-the-face moment after reading this book. I need to do better! We need to do better!
As I take you through this book in three blog posts, I will highlight the content, not all because that would be another book, and my thinking. Please know this is just skimming the surface. The author suggested starting with chapters 1-3, so I will address those chapters in this first blog post.
Chapter 1: What Types of Tasks We Use in a Thinking Classroom
“If we want our students to think, we need to give them something to think about.” This thinking should come in the form of a task. Tasks are more than just finding an answer to a simple problem. Tasks should create struggle where students get stuck, experiment, try, and even fail. There are three types of tasks noted in the book.
Highly Engaging Thinking Tasks-When reading about this type of task, I couldn’t help but think about a great book. It is so great, that I don’t want to put it down. I don’t want to stop. I need to know how it ends, even if I can barely keep my eyes open.
Card Tricks-The book states that these are like highly engaging tasks. These make the students think. These are not sleight-of-hand tricks. Honestly, I have not looked into these tasks yet, but plan to over the summer.
Numeracy Tasks-According to the book, these tasks are based on and connected to the lives of our students. These real-life tasks are also engaging involving sports, entertainment, and money.
*Our Building Fact Fluency resource can be used for these tasks.
There is more to this chapter, but this just gives you an idea of tasks and the need for thinking.
Each chapter ends with macro moves and micro moves-I view these as something I can do BIG to make a difference and then what I can do SMALLER to make a difference when my understanding is deeper. Chapter 1-BIG MOVE-Begin each lesson with a thinking task-this should take about the first five minutes.
Chapter 2: How We Form Collaborative Groups in a Thinking Classroom.
“Students, by and large, know why they are being placed with certain other students, and they live down to these expectations.” Many of you may know that I have used “clock partners” in my classroom for many years. These were very intentional heterogeneous and homogeneous groups based on ability, sex, and test scores. This was a time-saving routine when partner work was planned, I would just look at my key and tell the students which clock partner they would work with. This book challenged my past practice and thinking about grouping.
The book suggests groups of 3, not partners, and to make these groups random that change daily. Okay, I can do groups of 3. But RANDOM grouping…daily…why? Can I give up that control? After reading more and thinking about this though, yes, yes, I can give this up. What do I have to lose? But, how do I create these random groups? I could use playing cards, shapes, or numbers. Thinking through this I decided that each day, students would start the day entering the classroom with their random groups posted on the Smartboard. I have used Classroomscreen.com in the past, and this would work great. Students would unlock their wheels, and form pods of 6. Luckily 6 is a multiple of 3 (see what I did there…connected back to math-lol) Pods of 6 would be 2 groups of 3. Students would work in these groups of three all day for all curricular areas. This was not mentioned in the book, but I thought I would try. The students had a lot of questions about changing their seating chart each day, but by day 4 this had become an unquestioned routine. I showed the students that this is truly random by pressing the shuffle button, and told them they might end up with someone they aren’t friends with or even know very well. What a great opportunity to get to know someone or become friends with them. I know what you are thinking. It can’t be that easy, but after two months of school, there haven’t been many issues at all. Students know they will be working with two different people tomorrow or at least one. So far, it has been very seamless and has worked well.
Chapter 2-BIG MOVE-Frequently for visibly random groups.
Chapter 3: Where Students Work in a Thinking Classroom
“When students are sitting, they feel anonymous. And when students feel anonymous, they are more likely to disengage.” This chapter addresses workspaces around the classroom called (VNPSs) vertical non-permanent surfaces. These are vertical workspaces that are large enough for all three students to gather around and show their thinking. I have used small individual whiteboards for many years. Students could write their answers, hold them up, and I could do a quick assessment. As all teachers know, students could have copied from their neighbors, not held their whiteboard up, or even had an empty whiteboard and wanted to hide it. Hmmm, so this vertical space might work. It will allow me to survey the groups, look at their work, and check their understanding just to name a few benefits.
I think I can do this! Wait, where am I going to find enough space for 7-9 groups of 3, depending on the year? I don’t have that much whiteboard space. If I was going to commit to this, I needed to look at my room and see where I could maximize the wall or counter space. After much deliberation, and purchasing a few things, I was able to make it work. Stop by sometime and take a look!
But, is the investment and change worth it? Absolutely, I have to say that with a resounding YES! The VNPSs have been the biggest game changer for me as a teacher. I am able to see misconceptions, use student work to guide my teaching (this will be addressed in a later chapter/blog), and students are up, standing, interacting, and being engaged.
Chapter 3-BIG MOVE-Use vertical non-permanent surfaces (PNPSs)
