Heading on an overnight hiking trip with a group of students after school today, so my post will be quick. Two different takes on avoidance in math class — Mathy McMatherson on answer-getting and everything that goes with this mindset in math class, and one of my favorite videos on teaching, Steven Leinwand’s Ignite talk on excellent instruction, which I thought of because he begins it by talking about how to not have math anxiety.
I’m not sure how to connect all of this, but today I’m thinking about routines and the ways they encourage or discourage number sense. There are plenty of things I do in my classroom that I think may discourage number sense, and I’m curious how students interpret and internalize them. I’m thinking in particular about feedback — what types of feedback encourage the answer-getting mindset, and what types discourage it? What types of feedback promote students making sense of mathematics? What types of feedback promote student discourse?
Five Twelve Thirteen 