Supporting Novice Teachers in Leading Discussions That Reach a Mathematical Point: Defining and Clarifying Mathematical Ideas

Leading a whole-class mathematics discussion is complex work. The teacher must attend to and respond to student thinking while continually keeping the mathematical goals of the discussion in mind. This work is especially challenging for novice teachers who are just learning to facilitate classroom talk. The authors present a new sorting-task instructional activity designed to support novice secondary teachers in steering a discussion toward a mathematical point while eliciting and making use of student thinking.