Reflection 3

Sylvia Duckworth. (2015, December 29). 6 Golden rules
for engaging students [Image]. Retrieved from: link.

How can we include everyone in class? This is such an important question that is difficult for some teachers to answer. In class we discussed the 6 golden rules for engaging student that give important guidelines to include and engage all students in class. Many of these guidelines highlight what we've discussed in the past few weeks; provide support to our students, foster a sense of competence, create positive relationships, etc. I will reference these rules when I am creating my lesson plans and when I am in the classroom, to ensure I keep my students engaged and maintain a positive learning environment.

How do we differentiate to allow for all students to participate and to understand? This is another important question for teachers. We talked about differentiating from different approaches which include differentiating: 

• The Content 
• by asking rich and open problems
• by including equity and social justice scenarios 
• by having students set personal goals and strive toward those
• by posing parallel tasks
• The Process (how they get to the answer)
• by letting students work in partners/groups for success according to the objectives of the lesson 
• by varying time according to the needs of the individuals 
• by modelling and using manipulatives and other tools
• The Product (what we expect them to do)
• by changing the amount of work/number of tasks that students have to complete
• by assigning appropriate roles in working groups 

Parallel tasks are sets of two or three tasks that are designed to meet the needs of students at different developmental levels, but get at the same big idea and are close enough in context that they can be discussed simultaneously. 

We were introduced to parallel tasks in class, and got to practice solving these open-ended questions ourselves. It was difficult at first, because I was not used to these types of math problems, and I did not know where to begin. It took me a while to feel comfortable, because I did not know which question to choose, or what process to use to solve it. When I realized that there were multiple answers, and different approaches I could take to find an answer, I felt comfortable diving into the problem and finding a solution. One problem I actually enjoyed was:

Woolley, E. © 2015

It was exciting because I had so many options. I could choose either question, as well as choose from a variety of answers. In this image, I answered both choices. One was more difficult than the other, but had the same big idea. 

We practiced coming up with parallel questions so that we understood how to create them for our own students. I found it challenging to come up with meaningful questions, and being able to differentiate, so that all students could be involved. I enjoy this because it is open-ended, and can be used as a good method of differentiation.

We went on to discuss how to take up these types of problems in class, because they are open-ended. We came up with Common Questions that were applicable to both question choices, so that all students were included in the discussion. For example, for the coin problem you could ask students questions such as:

1. What coin did you start with?
2. How did you decide what coins to use?
3. Could the value of the bear be an odd number? 
4. Did you find more than one answer? 

This way, students could think deeply about the problems, and the questions were relevant to both question options. In the image on the right, shows some of us practicing coming up with meaningful scaffolding and common questions that we can ask our students about parallel questions. This was a good activity, because it got me to think like a teacher and think deeper about what my students are learning, and how I can help them learn, but also understand the kind of questions that show me that they are learning.  

One final important thing from this week’s online modules is that there are multiple ways to solve a problem. Students can approach a problem in different ways, and as teachers we need to accept that students learn in different ways, so they will use different approaches and process to solve a problem. 

The video above talked about how speed does not determine intelligence. Teachers need to move away from the mentality that the students who finish a math problem first are the “smart” students. Teachers need to put an emphasis on the process, not the product. We need to remember that students need time to think deeply about the problem and find the best approach to solve it. Some students need time to analyze and understand the problem fully before trying to solve it. Math is not a race and we need to remind our students of this. We need to give our students time to solve math problems.