5 Practices to Orchestrate Math Discourse

There are so many ways to evaluate student thinking... One of the methods we as mathematics educators sometimes forget the value of is discourse. Monitoring student discourse during learning can provide so much more insight into thinking. But how can we navigate mastering evaluating understanding and promoting learning through mathematical discourse?

For our essential session this year (see emails from Mr. Coker regarding the summer math conference being held on August 8 and don't forget to register in Frontline!), we have decided to focus heavily on the types of tasks we deliver and how we can orchestrate discourse amongst students while working on those tasks. Below you will find a sneak peek into our essential session "Evidence of Student Thinking through Mathematical Discourse" with the 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematical Discourse.

The 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematical Discourse 

1. First, we should anticipate student responses. This includes working through problems/tasks in multiple ways prior to delivering to students. Formulate assessing questions (determining student thinking) and advancing questions (accelerating student thinking to the next step/level) for the task.

2. Then, we monitor student repsonses during learning. Using the anticipation guide created prior to the instructional delivery, use proximity to evaluate student discourse with peers. 

3. As you monitor, select student responses that could drive further discourse in small or whole group (student share-outs). 

4. Make sure to sequence the select student responses during the share-out in a way that promotes the flow of understanding. 

5. Finally, always always ALWAYS connect student responses/key responses in a way that synthesizes learning. 

So many of us already follow this sequence of events intuitively in our instructional practice. But I know as an instructor, I often did not place as much value on the first and last stages of the sequence. The past few months as I have been working in classrooms with students and teachers on rich tasks, I have come to understand that each practice is equally important and that discourse is most productive when these 5 practices are followed during task implementation. 

No task is too small or too large to promote discourse amongst students to maximize conceptualization and encourage "math talk". Consider trying the sequence with the next task you implement, whether that is a singular word problem, a short rich task, or a performance task. 

See our page on Math Discourse (Best Practices) here.