I love to start most of my lessons with two questions: What do you notice? What do you wonder?This sharing of student thinking is very powerful.
Lets take a look at it in action…
To start my fourth graders off with a unit on fractions, we dove into a Mathematics In The City Curriculum to solve Day One’s Field Trip Problem. The premise of this scenario is that students are taking four cars to different field trips around the city. The school provided submarine sandwiches for each group to eat at lunch. Group size differed and so did the amount of sandwiches given to each group. Students are tasked with the problem of finding out if the distribution of sandwiches is fair and to determine how much of the sandwich each student will eat for lunch.
Before reading the scripted story, I posted four photos to the board (provided by MITC). Each photo showed the various groupings and sandwiches. I gave students a few minutes to Notice and Wonder before we started to chat about what we saw.
I have found through the years that its always best to write down everything students say. For example one student noticed that in the poster two boys looked like they were thinking. Essentially, it didn’t help with what was mathematically happening, but I noticed that by writing this thought down, it helps with student buy in. This willingness to continue the mathematical journey goes a long way. They feel great about sharing something. It must be valuable if the teacher is writing it down…right?
So what happened in this 10-minute process? Students noticed the sizing of groups, how many sandwiches each group received, which group got more sandwiches, how many total sandwiches are there, how many total children are going on the field trip. They wondered what the groups would do with the subs, wondered if the subs would be split, wondered if each student would get the same amount, and wondered how to cut the subs fairly. They set up the entire story problem before I even shared the scenario! At this moment, I have super engaged students that did all the heavy lifting, and are ready to tackle the problem with great understanding of the goal.
Whether you are a teacher, tutor, or a parent trying to help your child with homework, I challenge you to start a lesson with: What do you notice? What do you wonder? I’d like to hear about your success. Comment below!
Lets take a look at it in action…
To start my fourth graders off with a unit on fractions, we dove into a Mathematics In The City Curriculum to solve Day One’s Field Trip Problem. The premise of this scenario is that students are taking four cars to different field trips around the city. The school provided submarine sandwiches for each group to eat at lunch. Group size differed and so did the amount of sandwiches given to each group. Students are tasked with the problem of finding out if the distribution of sandwiches is fair and to determine how much of the sandwich each student will eat for lunch.
Before reading the scripted story, I posted four photos to the board (provided by MITC). Each photo showed the various groupings and sandwiches. I gave students a few minutes to Notice and Wonder before we started to chat about what we saw.
I have found through the years that its always best to write down everything students say. For example one student noticed that in the poster two boys looked like they were thinking. Essentially, it didn’t help with what was mathematically happening, but I noticed that by writing this thought down, it helps with student buy in. This willingness to continue the mathematical journey goes a long way. They feel great about sharing something. It must be valuable if the teacher is writing it down…right?
So what happened in this 10-minute process? Students noticed the sizing of groups, how many sandwiches each group received, which group got more sandwiches, how many total sandwiches are there, how many total children are going on the field trip. They wondered what the groups would do with the subs, wondered if the subs would be split, wondered if each student would get the same amount, and wondered how to cut the subs fairly. They set up the entire story problem before I even shared the scenario! At this moment, I have super engaged students that did all the heavy lifting, and are ready to tackle the problem with great understanding of the goal.
Whether you are a teacher, tutor, or a parent trying to help your child with homework, I challenge you to start a lesson with: What do you notice? What do you wonder? I’d like to hear about your success. Comment below!
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