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Discovering the Greatest Area of Need in a Mathematics Classroom

  • Discovering the Greatest Area of Need in a Mathematics Classroom

    By Derek Pipkorn, posted July 20, 2015 –

    On average, what percentage of your allotted minutes involves you as the one in control of the learning? In my role as a middle school math specialist, I felt this was a critical question to ask each of the middle school math teachers in my school district. Their answers didn’t surprise me. At best, one teacher stated that she strives for a 50/50 split (with her advanced class); others shared that they usually had control of learning between 65 to 80 percent of the class period. This was alarming, as our math periods are only 44 minutes long. Students were potentially doing math less than 10 minutes a day!

    I must add a disclaimer that I work in a high-achieving district in which roughly 80 percent of the students are considered proficient or advanced in mathematics. Fortunately, I have the opportunity to work with a group of phenomenal math teachers who are always looking to grow their practice and build on their success.

    As I set out to discover the greatest area of need in our math classrooms, it became apparent that our students needed to be more involved in doing the actual mathematics. I immediately referenced my copy of NCTM’s Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All to investigate the best approach to this issue. After reading the Mathematics Teaching Practices, one of them consistently stuck out: Productive Struggle!

    Support productive struggle in learning mathematics. Effective teaching of mathematics consistently provides students, individually and collectively, with opportunities and supports to engage in productive struggle as they grapple with mathematical ideas and relationships. (Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All, p. 10)

    The beauty of fostering productive struggle in a mathematics classroom is that students take complete ownership of their learning. They are no longer waiting for the teacher to go over an example and then take notes. Instead, they are persevering, problem solving, collaborating, questioning, critiquing, and most important, engaging with the mathematics. This is exactly what should happen with mathematically proficient students, according to the Standards for Mathematical Practice. It’s time to let our students struggle and, dare I say it, fail on a daily basis.

     2015-07-20 art1

    In my next post, I will share examples of different ways that I have supported productive struggle in my classroom, as well as the feedback received from students after experiencing a year’s worth of productive struggle.

    2015-07-20 Pipkorn AUDerek Pipkorn, dpipkorn@mtsd.k12.wi.us, is the middle school math specialist for the Mequon-Thiensville School District in Mequon, Wisconsin. He is a member of NCTM’s Classroom Resources Committee. Derek can be found tweeting at @mrpipkorn.

                 

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    Derek Pipkorn - 8/10/2015 11:29:03 PM
    Kari, it sounds like we are fortunate to work with a similar group of teachers! It was quite the surprise when I shared all the raw data. Everyone agreed that they would like to spend more time allowing students to own their learning in the classroom. I even recorded myself teaching Honors Geometry and it was obvious that I needed to take a step back and allow my students additional time to struggle through the math collaboratively. I'd love to hear about some of the professional learning sessions that you put together for your teachers. Thanks!
    Kari Meldrum - 7/28/2015 6:08:38 AM
    Thank you Derek! I am a middle level mathematics specialist for my school district. And, we share the same concerns. Last year I asked the teachers to participate in a time study. Teachers chose three typical days in which to record the number of minutes spent on warm-ups (or other get-started activities), instructional activities (direct instruction, stations, or other engagement tasks), going over homework, students working on homework, and closure activities. The results were not surprising to me when I consider the observations I have made. However, the results were quite surprising to the teachers. Classes, on average, are 60 minutes. And, teachers were spending minimal classroom time on instructional activities. Most of the class time was being spent on students doing warm-ups, teacher going over warm-ups, teacher going over homework and answering students' questions on HW, and finally, allowing students to begin the night's homework. In some cases, as little as 3 minute mini-lessons were given before students were assigned to begin HW. As a follow-up to the time study and the shared results, teachers were definitely more cognizant of their time spent in class and, collectively, teachers reflected on their practice and brainstormed ideas to make "instructional time" more engaging and the bigger part of class time. Additionally, teachers asked me to provide professional learning opportunities that would help them to expand their repertoire of instructional strategies. All in all, the time study was a good exercise. If nothing else, teachers reflected on their practice and saw for themselves the changes that needed to be made in their instructional practices. And, in most cases, the teachers researched and implemented for themselves these changes. Thank you again for your post! Sincerely, Kari