Framing Mathematics Instruction with the TQE Process

By Thomasenia Lott Adams, Edward C. Nolan, & Juli K. Dixon
October 28, 2016

We are glad to have the opportunity to present at the 2017 annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. It’s an opportunity for us to share our knowledge and experiences. We have a combined term of more than 100 years in the field of mathematics education. We’ve taught mathematics in school and institutions of higher education; we’ve presented in local, state, national, and international settings. We’ve captured our thoughts in many venues such as journal articles and book series. You can check out our latest four-part series, Making Sense of Mathematics for Teaching, Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and High School (2016) published by Solution Tree. We’ve spent a lot of time and energy focused on the teaching and learning of mathematics, and we put forth a great deal of effort in professional development sessions with teachers across and outside of the United States.

When asked what we think are three important aspects of the role of teachers of mathematics, we respond with these three words: tasks, questions, evidence. Together, collectively, these topics comprise what we call the TQE Process. We uphold the TQE process as support for teaching mathematics effectively for all students, for all mathematics content and across all grades. Here’s a simplistic break-down of the TQE Process:

• Tasks: Teachers who have a deep understanding of mathematics select good tasks that lead to students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge.
  
  
• Questioning: Teachers who have a deep understanding of mathematics use productive questions.
  
  
• Evidence: Teachers who have a deep understanding of mathematics seek evidence of students’ learning through the formative assessment process.

In our session, we will share classroom video that showcases elements of the TQE Process. We will further explore the TQE Process to help teachers see how to support students making sense of good tasks and asking good questions to collect evidence of students’ understandings and mis-understandings.

Be sure not to miss this session at the 2017 NCTM Annual Meeting in San Antonio:

Framing Mathematics Instruction with the TQE Process
The presenters will use classroom video to introduce the TQE process and how it can be used to frame mathematics instruction with (1) TASKS that promote thinking, prompt discourse, and reveal misconceptions, (2) QUESTIONS that advance understanding and (3) EVIDENCE from the formative assessment process.