5 Moves of Math Discussions

Move 5 stood out to me the most, mainly because I have a hard time seeing this modeled in my first grade classroom. Though I have students that need the time to be able to think through what they are going to say, the attention span of my students are very short and they have difficulty waiting for each other. One way to compensate for this that I have observed recently is by allowing for a time when everyone is required to think and no one is allowed to talk. Then follow that with a time just for sharing.

Looking at move 2 I think that calling on students to restate what their peer said can be abused if not handled carefully. I have seen teachers use this in a negative way to humiliate students for not listening. For example if Billy is being loud while someone else is trying to explain something a teacher may purposely call on Billy so restate what the other student was trying to say knowing full well that Billy will not be able to do it because he was not listening.
While this may or may not be beneficial to get Billy to stop talking out of turn it certainly is not helpful for helping Billy understand the math concepts better.
If used correctly however this move helps students who are auditory processers to deepen their understanding. It also lets student who are listening hear the same concepts explained from the perspectives of several of their peers. So, if what way of explanation does not make sense to them hopefully one explanation will

In case study #2 the teacher uses several moves in her initial conversation with the small group of students about triangles. She asked the students to give the reason why they put the shapes in to the categories that they did. She then typically restates whatever the students’ voiced back to her. She draws in students who have remained quiet by inviting them to reason (move 3) why they either agree or disagree with different concept presented. I like that the case doesn’t end with the teacher just realizing the students’ misconceptions about triangles but the case goes on to show how the teacher used the information gathered in the conversation and turns it into a related lesson to help correct the misconception.

The move that seems to come the most naturally is revoicing. I think this seems the most natural to me because I have worked with younger children for a good portion of my education. Because of the fact that many kids at this age are still learning the correct pronunciation for words I got in the habit of restating what a child said to me just to make sure I understood the child correctly. Even though I used this mainly with younger children I can see the benefit of using revoiceing with all people. It lets the person who you are listening to know that you heard them and it give them a chance to re-explain in case you understood them incorrectly.