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

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

    Erin E. Baldinger, University of Minnesota; Sarah Kate Selling, University of Utah; Rajeev Virmani, University of Saint Joseph

     

    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.

    Keywords: Definitions; Pedagogies of practice; Teacher education; Whole-class discussions